Imperial MBA Interview
The Imperial MBA interview is a chance for you to add an extra dimension to your written application and allows us to hear directly from you about your motivations and goals. They also want to learn more about your career aspirations, wider interests and how the MBA fits with these. What is it about the MBA program that fits with your professional ambitions? Are there particular modules or Professors that specialize in areas you’re interested in?
Crystal Grant, Director of Admissions, and Phil Carter, Head of Programmes Marketing & Recruitment, have put together an in-depth guide on how to succeed in your MBA interview.
Who will interview you, and how long will the interview last?
Like most B-schools, the Imperial interview is taken by a Panel. The Panel usually consists of 2-3 professors. The interview typically lasts for 25-30 minutes or may extend to 35-40 minutes in some instances.
Will the interviewer have read my application?
It is always safer to assume that the Panel members have access to your complete application. In most instances, they would have read it completely. Unless the school specifically says that it will be an blind interview. Mostly North American Business schools in US and Canada have an Blind interviews, European and SE Asian schools conduct interviews via Alums or panels which have full access to your entire application.
How can you prepare for your interview?
Like most MBA Interviews, your interview will mainly revolve around a pretty similar set of MBA interview questions. You can never predict what questions will be asked, but with enough research, you can predict what are the most commonly asked questions in these interviews. We have created a short FAQ list below to get you a jump start, and we also have a free guide linked below to help you prepare for these commonly asked interview question.
The Imperial Interview panel will evaluate each candidate’s performance in terms of quality of work experience, diversity, leadership qualities, social sensitivity, and multifacetedness.
As a general approach to selecting a candidate for the program, a multi-factor model is used. These factors include academic track record, GMAT/GRE scores, quality of work experience, performance in the interview, and writing ability test. A composite total score will be calculated for each applicant using the multi-factor model. A merit list is prepared based on the composite total score. The offer of admission will be made to a certain percentage of applicants on the merit list. The number of offers made will depend on the availability of seats. The number of offers will be further subject to the candidate meeting a minimum cutoff in terms of the composite score and/or for any other factor score that the admissions committee may decide on
Imperial Business School MBA Frequently Asked Interview Questions
- Tell me something about yourself?
- Walk me through your resume?
- Why MBA? Why Imperial Business school?
- Why MBA now or Why MBA at this stage of your career?
- What is your short & long term goals?
- What is your Plan B if consulting/Investment banking does not happen?
- What are your key strengths? Can you give some examples please?
- What is your biggest weakness ? Can you give some examples please?
- How can you add value to the Class?
- Why should we take you?
- One reason that we should not select you?
- Interests and Hobbies – Be prepared!.. questions as basic as “Why do you do poetry (or any other activity” may be asked.
- Some Situational & Behavioral Question
- What would you describe are your greatest achievement to date?
- Give me an example of a time you faced a conflict while working on a team. How did you handle that?
- Give me an example of a time when you did not meet a client’s expectation. What happened, and how did you attempt to rectify the situation?
- Case questions are fairly common in MBA interview especially for consulting aspirants. Below are a few sample for to practice for:
- How many Golf balls can fit in a Boeing 747?
- What’s the global market size for smartphones?
- Do you have any Question for us?
1) Why MBA why now?
2) What else experience you need to get in VC and what position you are looking for?
3) What is Plan B?
4) What do you think could be the biggest challenge for achieving this goal?
5) What do you bring into the class ( experience)? if you are in a study group not meeting the deadline,, how do you tackle this situation?
6) What kind of Leader you are?
7) What do you think – the name of the attribute of a leader? what else? Which business leader you admire? Why? If your leader change today, what strategic approach you will take?
8)What is the greatest innovation in the last 10 years?
9) How do you stay updated in recent news and topics?
10) What caught your attention these days ?? what topic?
She was very cold at the beginning but at the end, she smiled and supported me with all the answers. Best of luck to all.
Imperial MBA Interview Questions – 2
Apart from the usual questions like why mba, why imperial etc she asked me:
1. You did GRE and your score is a bit low? Are you retaking GRE?
2. How much quant experience you have ? how much you use quant experience in your day to day job? Like budgeting, forecasting or analyzing?
3. What would be the biggest challenge for you during the program?
4. Do you have any questions for me?
Hope this helps! All the best!
Imperial MBA Interview Questions – 3
In my case I was asked
1. what they found in me that differentiate me with others.
2. Instances when I showed leadership.
3. What qualities I could improve upon.
4. Post MBA scenarios.
Imperial MBA Interview Questions – 4
Yesterday was my interview.
I would just suggest that have a little knowledge about current business news
Apart from that it was quite a normal interview.
Just be positive and humble
Imperial MBA Interview Questions – 5
I finished my interview and it went really well in my opinion. My interviewer was Crystal, very nice lady. Questions asked were pretty much straight forward: why MBA, why Imperial, What unique attribute do you bring to the class etc. No tricky questions.
Apart from this I would suggest you to stay aware about the current business news & topics.
All the best!
Imperial MBA Interview Questions – 6
I was interviewed away from the Campus with Advisory committee.
Interviewed on: Dec 6, 21
“Zoom interview with the head of the advertising commission.”
(since he was 12 minutes late, I believed I’d misread the time zone, and I came dangerously close to having a heart attack)
-Why MBA? Why now, and why Imperial specifically? (did not in any way ask me to “tell me about yourself””)
-questions pertaining to teamwork, such as what aspects of teamwork you enjoy the most, what difficulties arise, and how you resolve disagreements
a time when you were able to show leadership
-navigating challenges
-failure
-using a scale from one to ten, how attainable are your goals?
-activities that you will do out both now and later on in the program
-the difficulty that the sector is currently encountering
-the most exciting innovation to come out of your field in recent years
-How do you manage to stay current with the overall business?
-questions for him
There were further inquiries, but these are the most important ones and the ones that have stuck with me the most.
He asked a great deal more questions, and while some of them were plainly pre-written, others seemed to flow naturally from the talk; still, he felt compelled to ask all of them.
The interview took on a conversational tone, and he was really easy to chat to throughout the process. Instead of lasting for 30 minutes, it lasted for 45.
Imperial MBA Interview Questions – 7
Imperial MBA Interview Questions – 8
I was interviewed on Skype on: Nov 18, 20
The Ultimate Decision: Admitted
“We’ve reached the end of the interview. There were quite a few inquiries to be made. In a nutshell, I learned a lot from the experience. The following is a selection of the questions:
1. Please tell me about your background.
2. Why get an MBA, and why now?
3. What are the plans after completing the MBA from IMPERIAL?
4. Post-MBA Backup Business Plan
5. Obstacles confronted by your sector
6. What kind of businesses are Post-COVID?
7. Describe some of your experiences with innovation
8. How do you plan to deal with conflicts that arise within your team?
9. The most difficult of all situations
10. Your past mistakes and the lessons you’ve learned from them.
Overall, a difficult endeavor. However, it was still a pleasant discussion.
Imperial MBA Interview Questions – 9
Imperial MBA Interview Questions – 10
Step-by-Step Guide
To Preparing for your B-school Interview