MBA Interview Prep

Be ready for your big moment

MBA Interview Prep

You’ve been invited to interview – congratulations! You now have greatly improved your chances of getting in, and now is the time to prepare with gusto. Even if you’re confident about your interview skills, you have a short window to impress, so you need to focus on the essentials, get to the point quickly and prepare to adapt to various MBA interview styles.

If you’re feeling nervous, you’re in good company – many applicants find the MBA interview the most stressful part of the entire process. Our team has conducted thousands of real admissions interviews worldwide. Build your skills and confidence with our invaluable insights and coaching, and learn how to make the best possible impression during your interview.

What to Expect in an MBA Interview?

“Tough interview questions aren’t motivated by schadenfreude,” says Fortuna Co-Founder Judith Silverman Hodara, former Wharton Acting Director of Admissions. That said, Judith admits to throwing a curveball question to shake an overly rehearsed candidate from their script or to deepen the conversation.

In her timeless article on how to approach 10 tough MBA interview questions, Judith writes, “the purpose of the interview is to get a stronger sense of who you are and how you think, your authenticity and professional presence is key.” And while that may be the main purpose of the interview, the format and focus varies enormously from one school to the next. In terms of what to expect, start off by learning who is running the interview.

Tops schools such as Stanford GSB, INSEAD, Columbia, and Kellogg have their alumni conduct admissions interviews, while schools such as UCLA Anderson and Yale SOM assign second year students to the task. Alumni and student interviews are typically held “blind” meaning that the interviewers are only provided with a copy of your resume, not your full application. But there are the exceptions, such as INSEAD, that provide the full application to alumni interviewers and allow candidates to supply their essays as well (if you so choose).

Among the M7 schools, Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan are the outliers as members of their admissions board and staff members, not alumni, interview candidates. As Fortuna’s Karla Cohen, former HBS Associate Director explains in her article on how to ace the HBS interview, “whether you do your HBS interview in person or over zoom, expect a seasoned interviewer who has read your entire file and prepared a set of Harvard Business School interview questions with you specifically in mind.”

Like a Job Interview, MBA Interviews Should Be Taken Seriously

You put a lot of time and energy into your application to business school and now you’ve received an invitation to interview. That’s very good news as it means that the school believes you have potential.

And if the invitation to interview came from an elite MBA program, you have all the more reason to be elated. Among M7 MBA programs, your prospects of admission are generally between 1 in 10 and 1 in 18. But secure an interview and your shot at acceptance at any of their MBA programs has just improved to about 1 in 2.

Whether the invitation is from an M7 MBA program or not, now is not the time to leave anything to luck. The interviews can make the difference between getting admitted or not. Just like any important job interview, you need to prepare seriously. That’s the only way to ace an interview with a top business school.

Interviews generally last 30 minutes to an hour which means you have very little time to impress your interviewer. As Fortuna’s Malvina Miller Complainville advises in her essential article on prepping for an interview for an M7 MBA, “Schools will be looking for your leadership and communications skills, your ability to articulate your career ambitions within the context of the MBA, and whether you’re a good fit for the school.”

Who MBA Interview Prep is Ideal for

The stakes are high, you’ve come so far, so getting this final communication right is essential.

As former admissions directors and business school professionals from the world’s top business schools, my Fortuna colleagues and I have prepared thousands of candidates for interviews with top MBA schools. In fact, that’s one of many services we offer in our MBA Start-to-Finish Packages in addition to the Traditional Interview Prep we offer a la carte.

Interview prep is ideal for you if:

You get tongue tied every time you practice with a friend or on your own.

Preparing for interviews can be scary. Fortuna coaches know that and know how to help candidates prepare to be the best version of themselves in any interview.

You want to do a mock interview with someone who really knows what the schools are looking for and who will provide you with critical feedback on how to quickly improve.
Your best friend, colleague, or parent certainly mean well but their knowledge of the business school landscape is limited.

You need to perfect your brief 2-minute elevator pitch in response to the question “can you walk me through your resume” or “tell me about yourself”.
This is where you first impressions are made and if done correctly you will provide your interviewer with material to ask you more specific questions. Getting this wrong is a recipe for interview disaster. Are you saying too much or too little? Are your key messages strong and clear? These are just some of the areas you will cover in Fortuna’s MBA Interview prep.

You need help with some of the trickier questions, such as “tell me about a time you dealt with conflict at work” or “what are some of your weaknesses”?
Candidates often trip up by trying to avoid the tough questions or trying to perform the imagined role of perfect candidate. Showing humility, as well as self- and situational awareness is critical.

In our traditional MBA Interview Prep we will

Brief you on what to expect through a detailed MBA interview strategy session.

Your Fortuna coach will walk you through what to expect in your interview and what are the key elements you need to prepare.

Perhaps there’s a gap in your resume that needs explaining. Should you mention it in your elevator pitch or later and what’s the best way to position it? Or perhaps your GPA wasn’t as strong as it should have been and you’re not sure how to respond to a question on that. These are just some examples of the types of exchanges you may have with your coach regarding strategy.

Conduct your mock interview via Skype or Zoom, providing real-time feedback and coaching to enhance performance

Nothing beats practice with a coach. Your Fortuna coach will ask you the same questions your interviewers will and then stop, give feedback, and start again. Candidates make incredible progress in our mock interview sessions. Their elevator pitch is tightened and more interesting. They are much clearer in their messaging on why an MBA with X school and why now. Our candidates improve dramatically, and not just their messages, but their communication style, too.

Ensure you’re interview ready – not over-rehearsed, but someone who can speak with confidence, reflect on past experiences and clearly convey your personal strengths and future potential.

While it may seem counter-intuitive, the best prepared candidates are the ones that are the most natural in their interviews. Our coaches provide candidates with important tips on how to stay calm and how to break the ice and establish a positive connection with their interviewer. They provide nuanced input on communications style and body language. We ensure that our candidates have prepared pertinent questions for their interviewer.

In our experience, the thorough preparation done with the guidance of an expert and caring coach, is a major confidence booster. And feeling confident is invaluable for acing an MBA interview!

View Fortuna's MBA Interview Tips for essential prep tips, advice, videos, and school-specific insights.

How it works

1

During this process, we do a deep dive into your profile and then work with you to develop the strategic positioning of your candidacy. We’ll work together to develop a clear storyline and personal branding, with a plan for mitigating any weaknesses and a timeline for your plan of attack. In this phase we also brainstorm essay approaches and discuss how to best prepare recommenders to write an impactful letter on your behalf.

Strategically Position Your Candidacy
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We help you with targeted b-school research and outreach, through extensive alumni networks, clubs and associations, faculty research and career opportunities, to reinforce familiarity and understanding of the institution – its personality, its people and its ‘fit.’ Throughout the process, we’ll ensure your interactions reflect well on your candidacy, from campus visits to adcom correspondence. Every single “touch point” can affect the final decision.

Conduct School Outreach
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Our in-house MBA resume expert will work with you on your resume to provide a coherent narrative and compelling quantifiable examples of skills and levels of responsibility – results achieved, leadership, team building, analytics, persuasiveness, etc. We also accompany you as you complete the application form, handling any questions about transcripts, resolving ambiguities related to studies and professional experience, and formulating explanations for chronology or absent materials.

Create a Coherent Narrative in CV & Data Forms
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We’ll work with you to identify your best possible choice of recommenders, and then we’ll develop a strategy with you for mobilizing those individuals effectively. This includes developing briefs for them on characteristics and examples to develop, and a step by step plan to ensure timely submissions. This is a critical step that needs careful planning—from selecting the right champions to preparing them to write a powerful letter of support.

Solicit Recommendations
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Throughout this multi-part process, we’ll guide you in producing an initial draft of target school essays that reflect multiple examples of leadership and outstanding achievement from professional, academic and community experience, as well as a clear and detailed post-MBA career vision. You’ll receive feedback on content, flow, structure, amendments and style, with clear direction for subsequent rewrites. This iterative process continues until your essays reflect the best possible presentation of your candidacy.

Craft & Polish Essays
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We review your social media presence for content and strategic insights — from LinkedIn and Facebook to Twitter and other channels — ensuring that everything that reflects on your profile tells a coherent, positive story.

Audit Social Media
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We will perform a final review of your entire application. This includes any remaining modifications, and fine-tuning of essays, as well as verifying status and input from recommenders. We’ll also field any last-minute questions.

Review the Final Application
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We will brief you on how the school with which you are interviewing conducts this part of the assessment process, and how they evaluate your performance. We will advise you on how to prepare, and then put you through your paces in a mock interview, providing feedback and coaching to enhance your delivery and messaging. We’ll walk you through what to expect, the finer points of managing your interview time, appropriate follow-up and how to address your understandably sweaty palms. You will be interview ready – not overly rehearsed – and able to speak with confidence, reflect on past experiences and clearly convey your future potential.

Prepare for Interviews
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Wondering what to do or what not to do? Whether you're choosing between multiple offers or you're a waitlisted candidate, we'll provide smart advice on next steps.

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