Admissions Interview Tips from the UCLA MBA Program

Earlier this week, the MBA Insider Blog at the UCLA MBA Program offered up some timely insider tips  to help you prepare for the MBA admissions interview experience.

As we’ve noted before, the purpose of the interview is twofold: it gives AdCom a chance to see a candidate’s personality, leadership qualities and motivation for pursuing an MBA; and it also lets applicants tell their own story beyond the essays and other materials in the application.

The good news? This advice from the UCLA MBA holds true pretty much no matter where you’re applying.

Interviews are a dialogue or exchange between two people. Steer away from pre-rehearsed speech and over reliance on your résumé. Admissions is interested in getting to know you as an individual, so follow the queues of the interviewer.

The length of the interview does not indicate how well the interview went. Though the UCLA MBA schedules 30 minute interviews, they may vary a bit.  Deviations from the schedule are random and unrelated to an individual candidate.

Do not expect the interviewer to give you feedback ”“ literally or figuratively.  Be careful to avoid any interpretation of verbal or non-verbal communication, as both may mislead you.

Interviews are not a popularity contest. The interviewer is assessing your fit for the UCLA MBA program, not whether or not the two of you would make good or best friends.

For more guidance on how interviews are structured at the UCLA MBA, read the entire post here, or click for more posts containing Application Advice for the UCLA MBA.