Each year, the Clear Admit platform, created by former Wharton graduates, researches the questions that entrance interviews focus on. to the great business schools. It is a very useful guide for candidates from all over the world.
The filters to access the best business schools in the world are very demanding and tremendously effective. The most prestigious schools pride themselves on having meticulous selection processes that are perfectly designed so that the best candidates are in their classrooms every year.
And every year, Clear Admit asks those applying to the world’s leading business schools for information about one of the procedures they use in their choice: Thus, candidates share information about the questions asked in the access interviews or about their duration or formats.
Clear Admit is an MBA admissions consulting platform founded by Wharton MBA graduates. The Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) itself considers it a useful resource for those applying to a business school.
The idea is that, beyond the basic questions, Each business school covers topics that have to do with its culture and priorities.
Thus, for example, at the aforementioned Wharton School, team debates, known as TBD, are common, in which Teams are organized on the field and given 25 minutes to prepare a five-minute presentation in front of second-year MBAs and decision makers.. The objective in this case is to check what roles the candidates assume and how effectively they work as a team.
At London Business School, candidates typically review a case with their interviewers, while at Chicago Booth The questions focus on how prospective students have evolved during their careers.
Harvard Business School takes an analytical approach that includes drilling down into a candidate’s employer, including the mission of the company from which it comes, the business model, the needs of the market, or the quality of leadership.
Without going into the specifics of each school, the basic questions a candidate can expect are along the lines of “why have you thought about pursuing an MBA?”; “because here?”; or “why now?
If we look at the objectives, the questions refer to what these are in the short and long term after graduating; how the specific program that is intended to be taken can help achieve these objectives; or what is the candidate’s plan B (or C) if applicable that it finally did not land in the company or in the sector that has been proposed.
Work history is also taken into account. And the candidate should be prepared to answer questions such as what projects they are currently working on. You should also be able to explain any conflict you had with a co-worker, how you handled it, and what the outcome was.
In the same way as is done in many job interviews, Another typical question asks what has been the biggest challenge you have faced in your career. and, of course, what has been your greatest professional achievement.
And personal life cannot be ignored. In interviews to access an MBA, aspects related to how the candidate spends their free time may be relevant.; what motivates you; personal achievements, strengths and weaknesses (and how these are overcome).
If we leave aside the general issues, The list that Clear Admit prepares each year based on the particular needs of numerous schools becomes a very useful guide so that no admissions tribunal can reject the candidate.
Wharton’s interest is focused on the team, and the questions will be aimed at finding out how he thinks his team did: what went well, what you would do differently, what was the biggest challenge during TBD and how you overcame it, or what was the most impactful interaction you had.
At Chicago Booth they are interested in knowing how you seek to improve your leadership skills. They will ask you to talk about a time when you failed, and they will also be interested in how you motivate people, and how you have grown in an area of work since you started. This year’s list asks you to recount a time when you had to adapt your leadership style to foster collaboration, as well as a time when you had to influence someone above your level. Another important question: “Tell about an experience that changed your view of the world.”
If you decide to approach Columbia Business School, be prepared to answer why you chose the career you have; and you will be asked to explain a situation in which you had to build consensus to solve a problem. They will also ask you for a tip: “Tell something about yourself that is not on your resume.”
For the Yale School of Management, the most important thing is how to ensure people’s voices are heard.
At Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business, they’re interested in knowing why you’re embarking on a career change; and also a project in which you did well, but that you never want to do again.
For Harvard Business School interviewers, it’s important to know how the styles of your current and previous employers differ; who triumphs in each place and which one he liked the most; how your team influences the business health of the company; And what advice would you give to your colleagues who want to work in your current sector.
In the case of IE Business School it is important to know where you would look and what steps you would take if you were advising a company whose turnover had increased and its profits would have decreased last year.
London Business School recruiters are interested in why you are attracted to London, as well as some time when you worked in a challenging environment.
At the MIT Management Sloan School they want to know some time when you had to change a process and explain or convince others around you. They’ll ask you to explain what excites you at work or what kind of professional development you’ve done since you started working.
The questions at Stanford would be “what would you say to your younger self”; some time when she thought of something before anyone else on her teamor a time when something you wanted to accomplish was finally blocked.
The changes in the GMAT test for access to the best business schools in the world that occurred in mid-2023 gave rise once again to debate access filters to the most prestigious programs and about his philosophy of recruiting the best.
It is a unique characteristic that, above money and other pressures, Large business schools seek to recruit the smartest candidates first; then to those who offer a profile that fits the institution; later to those who have an effective recommendation and, finally, they look at the academic record and what these future students have done.
Large institutions like Harvard or MIT They go every year for the 25,000 smartest and best prepared candidates in the world. They look at that first and foremost, and many of those institutions use admission tests like the GMAT.
The first major filter has to do with the fact that all large schools set a first requirement as their goal: that the average to enter is very high, to be sure that they are getting the upper segment of candidates.
Others are added to this first filter. When applications arrive from candidates They don’t have that much purchasing power.they are interviewed. At this stage they are no longer looking for the smartest, because they have already been selected. Here the school goes for those who show more confidence in themselves. It is analyzed whether they fit into the different groups; in the way of doing things, in the methodology and in the values of the school that can select them.
