I'm sure this is a very unusual blog post for this site, but as I was recently admitted to Booth and Kellogg's Part-Time MBA programs, I wanted to publicly share some resources I made for myself in preparation for the interviews.
First off shout out to gmatclub's interview debriefs, I relied heavily on those to get an idea of what questions might be asked of me. I copied all the questions from the debriefs from both schools into separate spreadsheets going back two years, removed duplicates, sorted into categories, and then by how often those questions were asked.
There seemed to be seven main categories of questions:
- Professional History/Background
- MBA/School
- Goals
- Behavioral
- Teamwork
- Leadership
- Wrap-up
The specific questions in those tended to change per interview, but there were certainly some that were more frequent that others. In particular, there are a key set of questions which looked to be guaranteed to be asked (in some wording)
- Walk me through your resume/career history
- Why do you want an MBA? And why is now the right time to get one?
- Why this school?
- What are your short and long term career goals?
- Some question about your experience on a team
- Some question about your leadership experience
- Asking if you have questions for the interviewer
But within each category I found there were a common set of questions, as listed below. I've marked them by whether the question was only asked by Booth, Kellogg, or both schools and a prioritization, a semi-subjective, semi-quantified ordering of how important having a good answer to that question is based on how frequently it's asked. If I were to redo this I would have kept track of the numbers explicitly.
1. Professional History/Background
Basically a getting to know you overall, an elevator pitch of your history professionally and academically. You will certainly be asked something along these lines.
| School | Priority | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Both | 1 | Walk me through your resume/background (undergrad/work history/background in general, very much looking for why you chose those jobs/companies/industries/roles/left job) Be able to pick one or two bullets to talk about in detail. Expect follow ups about various roles/bullets. How has your experience changed over time/how have you evolved over time? How have your day-to-day/responsibilities changed over time |
| Both | 1 | What clubs/organizations do you see yourself getting involved in at Kellogg/Booth? (Usually quite a bit of digging into this one) |
| Both | 2 | Tell me about yourself? (not just resume walkthrough) - Basically 30 second elevator pitch |
| Both | 2 | Why those jobs/companies? |
| Kellogg | 2 | Why did you change roles/industries? And/or Why did you not change jobs (if been in same role for a while)? (Generally looking to explain your job history in detail) |
| Kellogg | 2 | Why that major/school? |
| Both | 3 | Tell me something about you not on your resume |
| Kellogg | 3 | Tell me a story from either your childhood, young adult days or from recent time that had an impact on you.(some follow up questions on this) |
| Kellogg | 3 | What are your responsibilities at work/in your current role? What's day to day like? What is your current team like? Do you have direct reports? |
| Kellogg | 3 | What do you like most about your job? What do you dislike? |
| Kellogg | 3 | What extracurriculars do you have? What do you do when not working? |
| Kellogg | 3 | What was your favorite work experience in the jobs you held? Least Favorite? |
| Kellogg | 4 | If you could redo, would you change your career path? |
| Kellogg | 4 | If you started a startup, why? |
| Kellogg | 4 | Tell me about international experiences you have had |
| Kellogg | 4 | What geography do you want to work in? |
| Booth | 5 | How did pursuing a career in {YOUR_FIELD} help you with your people skills? |
| Booth | 5 | How do you give back to the community outside of the professional side - Volunteer work |
| Booth | 5 | Tell me about a professional failure |
| Booth | 5 | Tell me about a professional success |
| Booth | 5 | What did you learn from your volunteering experience? |
| Booth | 5 | What were the insights you gathered through {xyz major project/role}? |
| Booth | 5 | Where do you think you have generated the most impact, professionally or personally? |
2. MBA/School
Again, you will 100% be asked questions from this section, you should have an answer as to why you are wanting to get an MBA and attend that specific school. After that there's going to be other questions about the school specifically often.
| School | Priority | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Both | 1 | Why do you want to attend Kellogg/Booth specifically? What convinced you to apply to Kellogg/Booth? (These reasons should be unique to Kellogg/Booth, if reason x also applies to other school why not that school? Should be genuine and show deeper research than just what you can find online) |
| Both | 1 | Why MBA? Why now? Why Weekend/Full-Time/Executive/1-Year MBA? |
| Both | 1 | What courses and professors at Kellogg/Booth? Why? (Usually quite a bit of digging into this one, basically need to show research on Kellogg/Booth) |
| Both | 2 | How will you contribute/give back/get involved at Kellogg/Booth? |
| Kellogg | 2 | How will you differentiate yourself at Kellogg/Booth? How will you stand out? What do you bring to Kellogg/Booth that's unique? |
| Both | 3 | What will be your biggest challenge at Kellogg/Booth? |
| Kellogg | 3 | What is a strength + weakness in your application? |
| Both | 4 | What other schools have you applied to? |
| Kellogg | 4 | What will you struggle with while getting an MBA? |
| Booth | 5 | 2 years from now - looking back after you graduate from Kellogg/Booth- what legacy would you have left |
| Booth | 5 | Do you visit friends who went to Kellogg/Booth? |
| Booth | 5 | How do you think you'd fit into Kellogg/Booth's culture? |
| Booth | 5 | If you attended classes, what did you think of them? |
| Booth | 5 | My view on Chicago Approach and how it will be different from education at college. |
| Booth | 5 | What professional improvement do you want to get out of an MBA? |
3. Goals
A natural follow to why MBA is what your goals are going to be. You can often answer this as part of answering "Why an MBA" but if not it'll be followed up on almost certainly. Booth and Kellogg want ambitious students.
| School | Priority | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Both | 1 | Tell me about your short-term (3-5 years) and long-term (10+ years) career goals. (They should be connected and ST should lead to LT and an MBA should be crucial to these goals. Should include target companies/fields) |
| Both | 1 | How will you achieve them post-MBA? |
| Both | 1 | Why those goals/jobs/companies? |
| Kellogg | 2 | What is your plan B & C in case you can't achieve your short/long term post MBA goals? |
| Both | 3 | Do those companies recruit Kellogg/Booth students? |
| Kellogg | 3 | What if Kellogg/Booth doesn't happen? |
4. Behavioral
After the above it gets far more varied and specific to the reviewer. I found that there are a large number of "behavioral" questions to get an idea of what you are like as person to see if you'll fit into the culture.
| School | Priority | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Both | 1 | What are 3 of your strengths and 3 areas for improvement/weaknesses (personally and as a leader)? According to yourself and teammates? |
| Both | 1 | What is your most significant accomplishment? (leadership/work) |
| Both | 2 | How would you describe yourself in 1-3 words? |
| Both | 2 | Tell me about a time you failed. What did you learn? (This does not need to be the same as a mistake) |
| Both | 2 | Tell me about a time you had to deal with conflict in the workplace. How did you resolve it? What did you learn? |
| Both | 2 | Tell me about a time you worked with a difficult/toxic person, how did you deal with it? |
| Kellogg | 2 | If you met a coworker after 5 years today what is the one new development in yourself that you would tell them. |
| Kellogg | 2 | Tell me about a professional setback you've had and how you navigated it |
| Kellogg | 2 | Tell me about a time in your life when the situation(s) really tested your resilience and how did you overcome it ? |
| Kellogg | 2 | Tell me about a time when you received constructive feedback. (sometimes asked for 2-3 times) |
| Kellogg | 2 | Tell me about a time you gave critical/constructive feedback to someone |
| Kellogg | 2 | Tell me about a time you had to navigate through ambiguity? |
| Kellogg | 2 | Tell me about a time you had to pick yourself up and try again? |
| Kellogg | 2 | Tell me about a time you were challenged (in general, as a leader, from a coworker). How did you overcome those challenges? |
| Kellogg | 2 | What is your biggest growth opportunity at the moment? |
| Kellogg | 2 | What was the most challenging assignment you have done and your learning from it. |
| Kellogg | 3 | How have you dealt with negative feedback from colleague/manager? |
| Kellogg | 3 | Tell me about a time you had to deal with diverse perspectives? |
| Kellogg | 3 | Tell me about a time you made a mistake. What did you learn? |
| Kellogg | 3 | Tell me about a time you've had difficult colleagues? How did you handle it? What did you learn? |
| Kellogg | 3 | Tell me about an impact that you made in your surroundings, industry or on people ? |
| Kellogg | 4 | How do you prioritize |
| Kellogg | 4 | Tell me about an experience when you were unsure of the outcome and how you managed it? |
| Kellogg | 4 | What are 2-3 areas you could improve on? |
| Booth | 5 | Favorite means of communication at work |
| Booth | 5 | Give me an example where things were difficult but you did the right thing. |
| Booth | 5 | Give me an example where you convinced someone in a challenging situation. |
| Booth | 5 | How did you become interested in XYZ? |
| Booth | 5 | How do you handle unfamiliar situations / tell me about a time you dealt with an unfamiliar situation (the context being that I'm looking to career switch) |
| Booth | 5 | Tell me about a time when things did not go as expected |
| Booth | 5 | Tell me about a time when you helped someone - personally |
| Booth | 5 | Tell me about a time when you helped someone - professionally |
| Booth | 5 | Tell me about a time when you received feedback that surprised you |
| Booth | 5 | Tell me about a time where your perspective on something was changed. |
| Booth | 5 | Tell me about a time you dealt with a high-stress situation |
| Booth | 5 | Tell me about a time you didn't see eye to eye with a colleague; how did you resolve it? |
| Booth | 5 | Tell me about a time you had a miscommunication with someone; how it impacted work and how you fixed it to ensure it wouldn't happen again. |
| Booth | 5 | Tell me about when you have had a disagreement with someone at work and what the outcome was. |
| Booth | 5 | What are your strengths & development areas according to your managers? Elaborate on your development area |
| Booth | 5 | What do you do for fun/hobbies/with free time? |
| Booth | 5 | What is a strength you're hoping to expand upon at Kellogg/Booth? A weakness you're hoping to improve? |
| Booth | 5 | What is the gender dynamic where you work? |
| Booth | 5 | What is the race dynamic where you work? |
5. Teamwork
I then grouped a number of questions that seemed teamwork related, as business school students will work in teams at school and at work (especially Kellogg) so there's a need to see how you are in a group.
| School | Priority | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Kellogg | 1 | Tell me about a time you worked with people who were different from you (ideally in a team). Opportunities and challenges? |
| Kellogg | 1 | Walk me through a challenge that you have come across when working on a team? |
| Both | 2 | What role do you play in a group setting/group project? |
| Kellogg | 2 | Tell me about a time when you worked in a diverse team, what you enjoyed, what was challenging/rewarding, what did you learn, benefits/drawbacks - Diverse could mean multicultural or something else |
| Kellogg | 2 | Tell me about a time you demonstrated teamwork? |
| Kellogg | 2 | Tell me about a time you worked in a team. What kind of team member are you? |
| Booth | 3 | Give me an example where you worked in a team with different point of views/opinions. How did you handle it? |
| Booth | 3 | Tell me about a time when you had to convince a team or a group of something |
| Booth | 3 | What is your ideal team? |
6. Leadership
MBA students are expected to become leaders, and they want to see demonstrated experience as one before, this is a chance to talk about leadership at school and work.
| School | Priority | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Both | 1 | Tell me about a time you demonstrated leadership? At work and/or everyday life? |
| Both | 1 | What is your leadership style? How has it evolved over time (particularly from undergrad to now)? What makes you a good leader? Give an example of your style. |
| Both | 1 | What kind of leader are you? / What does leadership mean to you? |
| Kellogg | 2 | Do you lead a team? Do you have any direct reports? |
| Kellogg | 2 | Tell me about a time when you led a team that had people with different opinions. What was rewarding, what was challenging. |
| Kellogg | 2 | Tell me about a time you lead a team (should try to show substantial impact) |
| Kellogg | 2 | Tell me what you look for/value in a leader |
| Kellogg | 2 | What leadership strengths will you bring to Kellogg/Booth? |
| Kellogg | 3 | Tell me about a time you had to lead a team but weren't designated team lead/did not have formal leadership/had to assume leadership when it was not given to you/had to step into leadership |
| Kellogg | 3 | Tell me about a time you took a bold decision as a leader |
| Kellogg | 3 | Tell me about difficulties you find in leading a team |
| Booth | 4 | How do you make the offshore employees keep motivated considering the cultural and time difference |
| Booth | 4 | How do you manage to lead a big team of {#} people |
| Both | 4 | How would your friends/colleagues/direct reports describe you as a leader? (Sometimes just 3 words, or free response, strengths/weaknesses) |
| Kellogg | 4 | How do you manage people older/more experienced than you? |
| Kellogg | 4 | Tell me about a time you lead a team and things did no go well |
| Kellogg | 4 | Tell me about specific leadership roles and responsibilities you've held at work. Which ones did you like the most? |
| Kellogg | 4 | What are your strengths as a leader? |
| Kellogg | 4 | What challenges did you face with managing your direct reports? |
7. Wrap-Up
Finally there's going to be a chance to ask questions. I highly encourage you to have some questions prepared, show your interest.
| School | Priority | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Both | 1 | Anything else I should know? Is there anything I should have asked that I have not? |
| Both | 1 | What would you like to ask me? Note: You should not ask questions that imply you have not researched the school |
| Booth | 2 | If the AdComm could be told one thing about you, what would it be? |
All this prep let me do well enough on the interview to get admitted to both schools and I ultimately chose Kellogg and quite happy there!
Top comments (1)
I found it to be quite informative and helpful for those who are preparing for a job interview with the company. You provided a comprehensive list of questions that candidates may encounter during their interview process, along with explanations of what the interviewer is looking for in each response.
I particularly appreciated the emphasis on cultural fit and values alignment, which are becoming increasingly important factors in the hiring process. You also provides tips on how to prepare for the interview, such as researching the company's mission and values, and practicing responses to common questions.
I found this article to be well-written and insightful, and would recommend it to anyone preparing for a KelloggBooth job interview or looking to improve their interview skills in general. How about interview questions for Restaurant Menu Canada , and Menu Prices Australia