After submitting your MBA application, you endure weeks of nervous anticipation before ideally being invited to interview. You then start to prepare for the interview, ready to prove yourself to the admissions committee. You take your tour, sit in on a class, and head to the Admissions Office only to find—gasp!—a second-year MBA student waiting to interview you! You think, “This school must not take me seriously as a candidate. I must be some kind of second-tier applicant that it does not really care about!” If you find yourself in this situation, take a deep breath and reconsider.
What is the admissions committee’s job? Quite simply, the committee strives to find the best candidates for its program. So, whether you interview with a member of the committee, an alumnus/alumna, or a student, your interview will be considered equally. Why would an admissions committee put a huge group of candidates at a disadvantage? What would be the point of interviewing an applicant if the admissions committee did not consider its school’s alumni reliable interviewers? Why would the committee solicit the help of students if it sincerely believed those individuals were not capable of rendering an appropriate judgment?
All this is to say that if you find yourself on campus and being interviewed by someone other than an admissions committee member, do not worry. This is not a reflection of the school’s impression of you or an indicator of how likely you are to ultimately be admitted. Maintain your focus, and remember that your story and your ability to connect with your interviewer are what truly matter in your interview.