MBA Interview Preparation
An MBA interview is more than an opportunity to repeat what is already in your application. It gives an admissions interviewer the chance to understand how you communicate, think about your experiences, respond to follow-up questions, and present yourself in conversation. Having interviewed and evaluated MBA candidates from the admissions side, I’ll help you prepare for both the questions you expect and the ones you don’t. We’ll identify the experiences and examples you should be ready to draw from and practice discussing your career progression, accomplishments, leadership, goals, why you want an MBA, and what you could contribute to the MBA community. We’ll also work on how you communicate and your clarity, concision, listening, presence, and ability to respond naturally rather than relying on memorized answers. The package includes a realistic mock interview followed by detailed feedback on both the substance of your responses and how you came across as a candidate. You’ll leave with a flexible interview framework, strong examples to draw from, and greater confidence communicating who you are, what you’ve accomplished, and where you want to go.
What's included
Before our session, you will submit your resume, relevant application materials, and the interview approach used by your target school. That advance preparation allows me to use coaching time for preparing, practicing, and refining how you communicate your experiences and goals. We’ll discuss the areas an interviewer is likely to explore, identify strong examples you can draw from, and conduct a realistic mock interview with follow-up questions. I’ll then give you detailed feedback on both the substance of your answers and how effectively you communicated them. This is for the person asking: How do I walk into my MBA interview prepared and confident without sounding rehearsed?
- We will go over your target school’s interview format and approach, including school-specific considerations.
- I'll help you development of a flexible bank of examples demonstrating leadership, teamwork, impact, challenges, career decisions, and community contribution.
- I'll prepare you for key MBA interview topics, including your career goals, why MBA, why now, why this school, and what you will contribute.
- We will conduct a mock MBA interview tailored to your target school and interview format.
- I will provide feedback on your responses, including content, structure, specificity, and clarity.
- You will receive guidance on interview presence and thoughtful questions for your interviewer, whether the conversation is virtual or in person.
Meet your expert
Donelle B.
11 Years Leading Kellogg Part-Time MBA Admissions
I spent 11 years leading admissions for Kellogg’s Part-Time MBA Program, where I recruited, interviewed, and evaluated candidates and helped build four incoming cohorts each year. That experience gave me a firsthand understanding of how admissions professionals assess not just individual parts of an application, but the strength and credibility of the candidate as a whole. Today, I bring that perspective to my work with MBA applicants. I help clients step back from the individual requirements of the application to understand what is distinctive about their candidacy, where questions or gaps may exist, and how their experience, goals, and reasons for pursuing an MBA fit together. My broader career has included leadership roles in higher education and my current work in workforce strategy and policy. Across these roles, I have spent my career evaluating, developing, and advising people at important points in their education and careers. My coaching style is thoughtful, candid, and highly individualized. My goal is not to manufacture a version of you that you think an admissions committee wants to see. It is to help you make sound strategic choices and present a clear and well-supported case for your MBA candidacy.
