With interview decisions continuing to arrive, we thought it might be a good idea to discuss challenging interview situations. While most interviews are straightforward opportunities for the interviewer get to know more about the candidate’s personal/professional background, goals, reasons for selecting a specific school and leadership/team experiences, some interviews vary dramatically and can include some peculiarities. What constitutes a tough interview?

1) Stoic interviewer: Some interviewers can be unemotional, refusing to give any indication whether the candidate is impressing him/her or not. Of course, when a candidate is under intense pressure, the lack of approval can be misunderstood as a sign of disapproval. The key in managing a stoic interview is to tune out the interviewer’s lack of emotion; the candidate should be thinking of answers and should not be distracted by the interviewer him-/herself. “Read” the interviewer in real time can be challenging, and candidates should instead focus on showcasing their strengths.

2) Philosophical questions:  Most candidates are ready to discuss their experiences and accomplishments, but many are not prepared to discuss their values and philosophy on life. HBS in particular likes to understand candidates’ motivations and will ask questions like “What is your motivation to succeed?”  “What drives you?” and “What gives you purpose in life?” The key to answering these questions is pretty simple: prepare for them in advance (after all, you are being warned right now!).  You can’t assume that all questions will be experiential.

3) Persistent questioning: Sometimes a tough interviewer will continuously delve deeper into a subject, for example, by asking, “Can you be more specific about your goals?” two times and after the initial question. These kinds of unusual pressure tactics can be disconcerting, but the key is to simply stay on topic. The interviewer is asking you about a subject that you know quite well, and that subject is you! So, again, by avoiding the distraction of the tactic and sticking to your agenda, you should be fine.

At mbaMission, we offer more interview advice via our Interview Guide, available in our online store, and through targeted mock interview sessions.

After visiting campus or interviewing, many candidates choose to write thank you letters to their respective hosts. So, what makes a good thank you note?

1) Personalization: When writing to your host/interviewer, it is important that you show sincerity by personalizing your letter. By handwriting your letter and mentioning specifics about your conversations and experiences, you will continue to foster your connection with the individual and show that your visit truly made an impression.

2) Brevity: Your letter should be no more than a few sentences long. By writing several paragraphs, you can create the negative impression that you are trying too hard or that you simply do not respect limits (possibly even suggesting that you might carry on too long in class). By being brief and sincere, you will make a powerful impression that will yield results.

3) Speed: You should send your letter within two or three days of your visit, at the most. After a week, your interest may logically fall into question or your host may simply forget some of the details you are trying to reinforce. By writing immediately, you will create the impression that you have been energized by the experience and are eager to maintain your connection.

Thank you notes are generally not a “make or break” aspect of your candidacy, but they can establish continuity. We encourage candidates to follow up with such notes because they are a low-cost way of reinforcing a positive impression/relationship.

For some reason, the conclusion of the American Thanksgiving weekend tends to signal the beginning of the rush toward second-round deadlines. Many candidates who are just contemplating their applications tend to call us and ask, “How many schools can I apply to at this stage?” The answer to this question is not that simple.

First and foremost, the answer is “quality before speed.” As a candidate, you are far better off completing three schools with 100% of your effort than five schools at 60% effort. MBA Admissions Offices will notice sloppy mistakes, and they will weigh the fact that you did not show consideration in your application and thus may not care all that much about their respective programs.
One thing some candidates forget or don’t realize is that they do not need to commit to a specific number of schools up front. Most often, we suggest that candidates master one application and then apply what they have learned to the next. Generally, attacking five schools simultaneously can be problematic, but if you make significant progress on one school and then launch into the next, you can do so with the confidence that you will be completing each with a degree of excellence.

For each candidate, the number of target schools will vary depending on the candidate’s professional and personal schedules, written communication abilities, risk profiles, ambitions, etc. It is important that you approach your applications methodically, recognizing what is realistic and then working aggressively—but not haphazardly—toward your ends.

As interview decisions continue to be released, it is important to remain calm and let the Admissions Committees do their work. While it is natural to be apprehensive if you have not yet received an interview invitation, you will not increase your chances by calling the Admissions Office and asking if they do indeed have all of your files or if an interview decision has been made. In fact, such calls can actually have a negative effect on your candidacy, inadvertently positioning you as pushy or even belligerent.

Admissions Offices are increasingly transparent and should be taken at their respective words. If they say they are still releasing decisions, then they are in fact still doing so. If they say that the timing of your interview decision does not signify an order of preference, then it does not. As painful as it is, unless something has changed materially in your candidacy, all you can really do is wait patiently and try not to think about the decision or second guess your status. 

When it comes to interviews, many worry that there may be a single challenging question that leaves them awkwardly silent and that such a moment will be the symbolic end to their respective candidacies. Well, we are not suggesting that you underestimate the impact of such an experience, and you should definitely do your best to prepare, but, sometimes even a well-prepared candidate can be “stumped.” So, we offer a few tips on how to handle this kind of situation:

• Don’t launch into a story: Your instinct may be to just start speaking, hoping that you will find the right story as you progress. This is a very high-risk strategy because, if it goes wrong, it can compound the problem. Instead, you might consider a pensive pause and take a moment to search for the story internally. You might even say, “That is a good question. I am going to have to think about it for a moment,” before answering.
• Take a glass of water: Many interviewers will offer you a glass of water at the beginning. Take the water and use it throughout the interview as a buffer to buy time or allow yourself to slow down. If you get stumped, the water can offer a brief opportunity to pause naturally, alleviating any awkwardness before you begin.
• Maintain your poise: If you absolutely cannot answer a question, you should not get overly apologetic or grovel. Simply acknowledge the fact that you are having trouble with the question and politely ask if you might come back to it at the end. This is not a best-case scenario, but it is certainly far better than rambling and apologizing.
• Forget about it: If you cannot answer a question, accept it and move on. If you spend the rest of the interview thinking about that moment, you will be distracted and struggle with the questions that continue to come to you. If you confidently move on and make the best of the rest of the interview, you should be able to overcome a single awkward moment.

As interview requests increase from a trickle to a flow, a few questions begin to trouble MBA candidates.  Should I travel to campus to meet with the Admissions Committee, or should I meet with an alumnus in my area? Further, if I am on campus, am I at a disadvantage if I meet with a current student instead of an Admissions Officer?

Well, the good news is that Admissions Officers constantly emphasize that there is no additional weight given to meeting with a member of the Admissions Committee and state that all interviews are treated equally. (Logically, what incentive do they have to mislead you? Why would they want to disadvantage one group of candidates over the other? ) That written, we do advise candidates who have not yet visited their target campuses to seize the opportunity to do so via their interviews. If time and funds are not at issue, candidates should elect to travel to campus, as they can “kill two birds with one stone” — they can experience and evaluate a target program that is within their reach, all the while revealing their personal interest to the program itself.

This time of year, many students will start to interview with their target MBA programs. Many candidates will inevitably fret and think to themselves, “What if I don’t know the answers?” The good news is that, as the title above states, the MBA interview bears no resemblance to a TV quiz show. The Admissions officer, alumni or current student who interviews you will not be asking you questions about esoteric topics and will not expect that you will answer questions pertaining to the management disciplines, about which you will learn more next year. The vast (vast!) majority of interview questions will pertain to your life and experiences, meaning that you will have the answers in hand, as you enter the room.

As a first step toward preparing for your interviews, you should reacquaint yourself with your own story – read your essays, contemplate pivotal moments in your life and consider your major accomplishments and failures.  By doing so, you will have the basic knowledge necessary to perform.

This week, with deadlines looming for so many candidates, we thought we would share a piece of advice that might help remove some deadline stress. When you complete your application(s), it is always a good idea to find one individual (two at the most) you trust – whether this person is a professional consultant or an individual who has insight into the application process – to read your essays one last time and give you feedback. However, when you do so, we strongly suggest that you limit your feedback to one or two individuals.

Because the application process is subjective, you will discover that as you add readers, you will also add new and different opinions. Soon, a multitude of alternatives might appear, and while these ideas will not necessarily be “right” or “wrong,” as there are countless ways to market a single candidate’s stories, they can create unnecessary uncertainty.

So, we are not suggesting that you ignore critical feedback, but we are suggesting that you not complicate your final days and create doubt where it may not be due. If one or two readers support your ideas and emphasize that your application needs minimal work, you are probably best off ending your feedback loop there and pressing submit.

Every once in a while, a concerned candidate calls us and says something like: “Star491 wrote that Wharton won’t read past the 500 word limit, but IndianaHoops09 wrote that 10% over the limit is fine. Meanwhile, WannabeTuckie says…” While some of you may be guffawing as you read this, the truth is that many people find it difficult not to read the various message boards and some find it even more difficult not believe what they read. So, at the risk of stating the obvious, message boards are completely unregulated and the opinions expressed by the anonymous posters should be viewed skeptically. For every claim that an individual knows something authoritatively, there is always another claim that another individuals knows the opposite to be true. Round and round we go….

So, our message to you is to ignore anonymous posters and this should be valuable advice now, as you complete your first round applications with your sanity intact. However, as the year progresses, it will become invaluable to you, as many posters begin to make unsubstantiated claims about admissions statistics (offers given, GMAT scores of accepted candidates, etc). If you tune out the noise now and simply focus on creating your best applications, you will be far better off.

Should I use Calibri or Times New Roman font? Should I list my GPA to the third or fourth decimal place? There are not enough characters for my full title, so should I write “Vice-President” or “VP Sales”?

As candidates near the finish line for the first deadline, small questions will start to appear—small questions that often merely require judgment to answer. No one was ever kept out of HBS for listing his/her GPA to the third decimal point or for abbreviating a title. Remember, the admissions officers are not punitive. They are not mean-spirited people, reading your application and just searching for reasons to reject you. So, if you have a small lingering question about the application itself, you can connect with the Admissions Office and ask them. Most often, they will ask you to… use judgment.  As long as your broad story is compelling, the smallest details should take care of themselves.