Stanford: Interview Transcripts & Notes
GSB has a rolling interview invite window. The GSB interview is conversational and may last about one hour. It was more about building a rapport with the interviewer and was less about explaining career path or future goals. The interview format and style seem representative of GSB's education. It's usually with an alum and the tone, for the most part, is friendly, not drilling the way that some (though not all) HBS interviews can be. The questions tend to be more on the behavioral side. We haven't seen a difference between the way the interviews are handled for the normal rounds vs. the deferred rounds, so deferred (ie: college) candidates should prep in the same manner. More details can be found here.
Stanford interview: alumni, approx. 10 years out, in person
She was SUPER nice. Very friendly, we sat on her couches/chairs in her office, the whole office was very friendly, and she told a lot of personal stories throughout
• Tell me about yourself - went really well
• Biggest accomplishment, and follow up questions -- I think we spent a good portion of the interview here
• Team question - follow ups, difficulty, fixing it
• Experiences at Company X - team situation, why I left
• Why MBA, some quick follow ups about career ambitions
• Why GSB
• questions for her
Didn't have any time to talk about extracurricular experiences and there were a lot fewer questions than I expected, but overall I think the tone of it was very positive.
(Client was accepted)
Interview Report
He completely skipped introductions. Interview was explicitly focused on recent, professional examples. Explained the structure of the interview, immediately asked the first question:
1. What’s a situation you went out and beyond, where you did something you weren’t asked for? (Follow-up questions on concrete numbers, strategies, how I handed this over)
- Talked about how our Sales Team struggled to generate leads, how I set up outbound marketing, how this is now around xx% of our sales pipeline
2. What’s a situation where you were a leader ? (Lots of follow-up questions)
- Talked about how after we launched our XX, we needed to adapt quickly to feedback, restructured my team and we reduced XX times to XX weeks instead of 4 months. Asked a lot into the team dynamics.
3. What’s a situation where you developed someone? (Follow-up question where I actually had to help him on a concrete problem)
- Talked about XX, the XX owner who wanted to become a XX, how I helped him become a XX, later built up our first XX teams, now is Head of XX at a Startup in XX. In the follow-up explained how XX was not super strong in thinking things through analytically, and I modeled with him every use case in an excel file, which he then later applied through his domain.
4. What’s a situation where you needed to get resources? (Follow-up on how the sales team reacted, how I convinced them to allow to delay the sprint)
- Talked about when demand really scaled, I needed time for a XX sprint to create a scalable operations organisation, how I convinced our sales team to delay new project intake for weeks by prioritising urgent deals, and re-using existing teams to delay a bit the intake, then went on to build our XX system and process documentation and hired XX members to scale
5. What’s a situation where you were blocked? (Barely any follow-up)
- Talked about how I learned from XX when I wanted to introduce our pivot, I wasn’t first able to convince our CEO, because I was too theoretical. How I came up with a very concrete plan, analysed our own deal pipeline, ran a market analysis and saw XX as the potential vertical, and came up with a concrete action plan (who would we need to hire for our XX team, who would be the team lead consultants we would need to recruit)
6. Why Stanford? No follow-up
- Talked (very shortly) about XX, about my XX setback, and then about: 1. Finding collaborators 2. Learning skills I need 3. Hands-on building during GSB and 4. Fundamentals of XX where I can go to the School of XX
Then over to my questions, which were:
A. How did the MBA change you personally?
B. What would you have done differently during your MBA?
C. How’s the GSB Alumni network here in XX?
Interview Report
~30 minutes on behavioural questions and I never was asked any tell me about yourself, why GSB, or why MBA questions.
Interviewer role is in collecting data points for the evaluation and that he would be asking questions assigned by the GSB.
He dove into asking a lot of "tell me about a time when..." questions. Many of them, so I feel that I really got to show a lot of sides to myself and explain work, personal life, and university stories.
Towards the end, he emphasized that he is only one data point and that people with great interviews don't always get in
Interview Report, Alumni Zoom Interview
- Brief introductions (not a full "tell me about yourself")
- Why Stanford?
- Can you tell me about a time you supported a struggling teammate or team?
- Can you tell me about a time you formally or informally led a team through a challenge?
- Can you tell me about a time you or your team faced an unexpected result from your work?
- How did you change your approach?
- How did you measure success? - Follow up question after I discussed how our standard playbook answer was not going to work in a scenario we faced
- Can you tell me about a time that you failed?
- What does community mean to you and how do you contribute to it?
- What is your proudest life (emphasized life, not just professional or recent) accomplishment?
- Any questions for me?
- Tell me about something you're proud of
- Tell me about a time you had a member of leadership that you work with disagree with something / be difficult to work with
- Tell me about a time you built a team culture
- Tell me about a time you lost an argument / your way of doing something wasn't chosen
-Tell me about a time when you made an impact
-Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond what was asked of you
-Tell me about a time when you convinced a group of people to do something differently
-Tell me about a time when you developed others
Stanford GSB Deferred Admissions (College Senior) Interview:
Interviewer started by introducing herself and then jumped straight into behavioral questions.
1. Tell me about a time you overcame an obstacle
2. Tell me about a time you made an impact on someone’s life
3. What value drives you forward in life?
4. Why not PhD?
5. Why MBA? Why now?
6. Why Stanford?
7. Is there anything you wish you had a chance to talk about or wished I had asked you?
We then talked about advances in healthcare technology and the pharmaceutical industry. She asked me what innovations in the field I was excited about and how I hoped to contribute. We spent about 20 minutes talking about this
Stanford GSB Deferred Admissions (College Senior) Interview:
--What is an accomplishment you are proudest of?
--[In response to my answer] Walk me through the conversation you had. What happened? What happened next?
--Tell me about a time when you were blocked on something.
--Tell me about a time you developed/coached someone else.
--Tell me about how you put together the XX Track.
--Why GSB?
--Why MBA?
--Any questions for me?
--Started with a 2 minute intro of himself.
--Then I did a quick intro of myself, my company.
--Asked for a time I took an undefined project/role and ran with it. Talked about my XXX business experience.
--Followed with several follow ups about who I worked with, how I took things to the next level.
--Asked for a time I was blocked from achieving something. Continued to talk about XX and how a XX got in the way of the timeline. Several follow up questions including
--How did I try to push back on this adverse decision, who did I go to to unblock this, what was the outcome
--Asked about a time I had to use a team/people to get what I wanted (basically how do you bring people together)? I talked about the X deal
--How did I work with people across different teams? What skills did I employ?
--Asked about a time I started something/did something new within the company. Talked about starting the XX group.
--Followed up with, who did I go to get that started? How did I get people to join and the company onboard?
--Why GSB? I combined my why MBA and my why GSB
--Asked him questions
-Light discussion into interesting academic concepts/classes
--Behavioral questions, tell me a time when you were blocked on a project, tell me about your internships, and tell me about a time you built team culture
-Why I wanted an MBA, why Stanford, and what I wanted to do after an MBA.
--One person who was particularly difficult to deal with or I had conflict with
--Weave through overcoming challenges to all my stories
1) Conversational vs. challenging in tone
2) Starts with general get-to-know-you questions
3) Behavioral questions
4) Opportunity to ask questions
- Why business school?
- Why Stanford?
- From here it was pretty conversational. Questions became specific, mostly asking for more detail in my responses.
- Tell me about a time when you've had to make a difficult decision.
- most of the other questions fed off of the conversation/were specific to my experience.
- Tell me about a time you had a tough interaction with someone.
- Tell me about a time you mentored someone.
- What is it that you want to do after your MBA?
- Is there a question you wished I had asked you?
- What do you think defines a good leader?
- Do you think these qualities are innate or can be learned?
- Which of these qualities do you feel you have?
- Which of these qualities do you think you can improve upon?
- Do you think b-school can help you develop leadership? How?
- Tell me about a time where you feel you shined as a leader.
- What actions/qualities helped you to succeed?
- How did others react to you?
- What did you learn from this experience?
- Describe a time where you influenced those above you.
- Why was it important to influence others?
- How did they respond?
- In retrospect are you glad you did this?
- How could your actions have been improved upon?
- What book are you reading right now?
- Why do you want to get an MBA?
- What will you do if you are not admitted anywhere?
- What other schools are you applying to?
- When did you first decide you wanted an MBA?
- Can you describe a time when you were part of a team that failed?
- Do you take responsibility for the failure or attribute it to others?
- What did you learn?
- When did you realize you were failing?
- Did you try to salvage the situation?
- How could you have changed the outcome?
- What are your three greatest strengths?
- What is your biggest weakness?
- How do you work to improve upon weakness?
- What do you think of social media’s impact upon political movements?
- What is your favorite non-business book?
- Tell me about a time you let down team members.
- How did they let you know they were disappointed?
- How did you respond?
- What would you change?
- What was your favorite subject in undergrad?
- Why did it appeal to you?
- What would you do if you were not pursuing business?
- What do you think it takes to build a great company?
- Which of these qualities do you feel you have?
- What type of phone do you have?
- Why did you choose it?
- Tell me about a time you questioned authority.
- How did you feel before confronting?
- How was it received?
- Did you have any regrets?
- What book are you reading now?
- Why did you select it?
- Who is your role model/mentor?
- How do you manage this relationship?
- What qualities do you most admire?
- Are you a mentor to anyone?
- How do you manage this relationship?
- Do you find it easier to manage up or down?
- How do you feel about networking?
- How would your friends describe you – 5 words
- What is most inspiring about a great leader?
- What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
- What qualities are you working hardest to develop in yourself?
- How do you go about working on these things?
- What qualities do you think are most critical to success?
- Tell me about a time you leveraged these qualities to be successful.
- What do you do in your free time?
- Talk about a time where you took initiative and created / came up with a project or new idea.
- Talk about a time where you led a team (i.e., not necessarily a new idea as in the first question but more from an execution perspective).
- Talk about a time where you dealt with difficult team members and how you dealt with the situation and those people.
- Talk about a time where you operated at a level beyond your deemed authority level (i.e., not in a negative way, just were you took on more responsibility).
- Tell me about a recent book you read that was not related to work.
- What motivated me
- What am I reading, favorite book
- What would supervisors say I need to improve on
- Why MBA, Stanford
- How have I been exposed to leadership given I'm bottom of totem pole
- Best class, learning experience in undergrad
Interview Location: Conference Room @ his office
Beginning: Share about his experiences & career path in context of Stanford GSB
Length: 1 hr 1 45 minutes
- How did you decide what to do / What brought you to your current company?
- Why do you need an MBA now?
- Why Stanford?
- Where else are you applying?
- How do you get people to buy into your vision? And do things you believe are right?
- Tell me when you were on a team with problems what did you do?
- Which website ands books are you reading currently that is not related to your profession or future interests?
- Why do you think you are successful?
- What drives you? What gets you out of bed in the morning?
- What would you do if you did not get in anywhere.
Asked:
- Why did he choose GSB?
- How has GSB shaped his life?
- Which clubs/organizations were he involved in?
- Are there any “must-take” classes he would recommend?
- Why an MBA?
- Why now?
- Why Stanford?
- What are your career goals?
- Why did you make the decisions you’ve made – School X, Employer X, etc.
- What are your overarching goals? What gets you out of bed in the morning? Tie this to a specific story or example. This is a partially personal question…
- What is it specifically that you expect to learn from the diversity at Stanford?
- Describe a time when you were placed in a diverse situation and you learned something positive from the experience? Something negative?
- What is the last book you read?
- What do you do in your spare time?
- What do you think the qualities are that define a leader?
- What specific leadership skills did you learn from job X?
- How were those leadership skills tested/challenged in a later situation and how did you handle it?
- What made you choose my major in undergrad.
- How much of your job are you working by yourself with your team and how much do you work with other organizations.
- Tell me about the best leader your worked for and also describe the worst leader you worked for.
- Tell me about your most memorable leadership experience. She said I could go back as long as I want.
- What book have you read recently and how did impact your thinking.
- What do you like to do outside of work.
- Why an MBA now and why is it so important to you.
- What would you do if you did not get in anywhere.
I had my interview with an alumnus (GSB ’XX) at his office in Walnut Creek, CA. Both my interviewer and his receptionist were extremely friendly and made me feel welcomed immediately. He had misplaced my résumé and asked me for a copy. He reviewed it in front of me and asked me quick questions like, “How long has the bank you work for been in business?” He also noticed that I had run in the San Francisco Marathon and informed me that he had run in the same race. The interview stayed very conversational from this point forward as we discussed the race and he moved to outlining the interview process. He told me that he would be unable to comment on his opinion of my candidacy upon the conclusion of the interview and that the interview was just one aspect of my application and would not “make-or-break” me. He spent about 30 minutes asking me questions, which I have outlined below. He had a piece of paper in front of him entitled “Sample Interview Questions”, so I assume that these are fairly standard questions.
1. Why do you want to go to business school and why are you interested in an academic experience at Stanford? (No surprises here!)
2. What motivates you?
3. Describe a time when you created something new.
4. Tell me about a time you led a team in a setting outside of your profession. What did you learn? What challenges did you face?
5. Tell me about a time you failed.
6. Tell me about a time you had to manage conflicting priorities.
7. Tell me about an intellectually stimulating and thought provoking experience you had outside of work, through a book, play, class, or school project.
Not to many follow up questions and he never really challenged my responses.
He then allowed me to ask questions and we spend the next 15 minutes discussing those. At the end of my interview he gave me the contact information of some individuals involved in similar projects as I had outlined in my career objectives. Overall, it was a great experience and I left feeling confident and with a great impression of Stanford.
The overall dynamic felt okay, but it was a very short interview.
- Before we get into your background, why don't we cut straight to the point and tell me why you want to go to business school? (Got cut off before I could give the third point.)
- What do you want to do after business school? (Again, cut off before I could give detail.)
- Have you met any entrepreneurs while at KKR
- Did you choose this articular group at your company?
- Which of the two companies that you have worked at did you learn more from?
- Do the companies you have worked at have similar cultures?
- Where else did you apply? How are you going to choose?
- What about Stanford worries you?
- What do you do outside of work?
- What books have you read recently?
- Well what do you want to know from me?
So all in, maybe about 15 - 20 minutes of me answering questions and 10 minutes of her answering questions. No "tell me about a time when you..." questions. Nothing specific about leadership, entrepreneurship, etc. She was pretty good about cutting me off a few sentences into an answer.
The interview was pretty informal, more of a chat. Interviewer started off by explaining her background and then asked me to talk about my work experience in chronological order focusing on why I changed each job. Then she asked me the questions below. After I got down answering she asked me if I had any questions and then we just talked about her Stanford experience. At the end she wished me luck and promised me that she would submit her feedback on time. Also she said that I would know the decision before her.
- Why do you what an MBA?
- What value will you bring to the school?
- What do you do outside of work?
- Tell me about a big accomplishment
- Tell me when you were on a team with problems what did you do?
- What do I not know about you?