Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Johnson interview - Analysis

The interview was with a member of the AdComm and once I dialed in, she came on-line almost immediately. After intimating me about not having gone through my application and that the interview would last 40-45 minutes and would be conversational, she jumped straight into it! (No breaking of ice... no casual chit-chat... quite a change from my previous experiences!)

The questions followed a similar pattern and thanks to ClearAdmit, I was prepared -

· short term? long term? why now?
· why Johnson?
· why specific immersion? how will it help in meeting your career goals?
· which other schools? on west coast?
· specific example where you faced a challenge and how did you overcome it?
· specific example where you worked with a team-member who was not performing and helped him?
· specific example of leading a team/your leadership style?
· any weaknesses that you see in your application? strengths?
· any questions you have?
· anything more that you want Johnson to consider as part of your application?

It is so close to the other Johnson interview experiences I have read about that it almost seems that they follow a script and the way she asked the questions, this experience was the closest to an 'official' interview that I had so far... and frankly, I am not delighted with the outcome! (I probably should be more careful what I wish for :( ) I feel, my responses to the specific example questions came of as long-winded and garbled... not as succint and incisive as I would have liked. Also the barrage of questions gave me no time to think and that put me on the back-foot and not being face-to-face with the interviewer made me extra-conscious of my voice. I also could not judge her reactions to my responses (they are normally very inscrutable but it helps!) and over the phone I felt that she was really quite unimpressed :(

Overall, I am glad that I did not opt for telephonic interviews for any other school and as much as I would have liked to travel to Ithaca, this time I really had no option! I just have to keep my fingers crossed till Dec 17th... Wish me luck!

6 comments:

Clear Admit said...

Hi Coronet,

Congratulations on another great interview! We're glad that the Clear Admit Wiki helped you prepare and thankful that you shared your Ross interview with us as well. Would you also be willing to share your Johnson and Yale SOM interviews in the Clear Admit Wiki?

As before, you can click here for Johnson and here for Yale, or simply e-mail the text to wiki@clearadmit.com.

Happy belated birthday! And continued good luck in the admissions process! Thanks again!

Sincerely,

Lauren

MBAlmighty said...

Hi Coronet,

Thanks for posting the Johnson interview debrief. It seems a straight-from-the-textbook kind of interview.

Hey I have a question - Did you mail out your transcripts to Cornell? If so, when did it get updated in their system that they received it? I sent it about 3 weeks back, yet it doesnt say 'received' on their online form.

Good Luck for the results!

Coronet said...

@MBAAlmighty - I did mail my transcripts to Cornell and they do ask you to wait for 4 weeks before the status is updated online. They do give you sufficient time to resend the docs in case they get 'lost in translation'... Mine was updated around the end of the fourth week... Good luck!

Vani said...

Hi Coronet,

Thanks for sharing your interview experience. Best of luck!

I strongly believe that a current student or an alumnus knows the best about their school, and what qualities their school looks for in an MBA candidate. So, I suggest MBA candidates speak to as many alumni/current students as possible before the interview.

Regards
Vani
http://www.interviewbay.com
- Get Ready For The Interview

MBAlmighty said...

Thanks for the response. All the best for the results! :)

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