Would you like a Free Profile Evaluation?

IVEY MBA Interviews

Ivey MBA Interview

Everything I understand about the admissions process at Ivey is that it’s all about your overall profile and then how well they think you’ll fit. Reducing things to GPA / GMAT is really not at all how Ivey looks at applicants. Just keep in mind lots of applicants I talked to have crazy high GMATs. On the fit side, first get to know the people there to be best prepared for the Ivey MBA Interview. Because everything is case based you have to talk in class and interact with peers. They want to test this in the interviews. Go to events, do the class visit, web sessions, email them, take them up on phone calls if they offer, ask intelligent questions. Don’t creep them out or waste their time but make an effort to know people. Find out who all is on the adcom (they will tell you) and introduce yourself to all of them. Last thing you want is someone reviewing your app who doesn’t know you. By doing this you’ll also get a sense of how your stats look and if you need to say re-write the GMAT or get some more work experience and of course you can take these learnings to the Ivey MBA Interview.

Who will interview you, and how long will the interview last?

Like most Canadian schools, the IVEY interview is taken by a Career Management Team. The interview is usually done by one member from the team. 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 questions.

IVEY MBA Frequently Asked Interview Questions

Professional experience-related questions

  1. Tell me something about yourself, or Walk me through your resume.
  2. What are your short-term and long-term goals?
  3. Why MBA? or Why now? or Why an MBA at this stage of your career?
  4. Why IVEY?
  5. What is your Plan B? in case your primary goal does not happen?

Personal qualities-related questions

  1. What are your key strengths? Can you give some examples, please?
  2. What are your key weaknesses? Can you give some examples, please?
  3. How can you add value to the Class? or Why should we take you?
  4. Any reasons why we should not select you?
  5. Interests and Hobbies related questions – why do you do it, what have you achieved/learned?

Frequently Asked Situational & Behavioral Questions

  1. What is your leadership style? Can you give an example of a project you led?
  2. What would you describe are your greatest achievement to date?
  3. Give me an example of a time you failed.
  4. Give me an example of a time you faced a conflict. How did you handle that?
  5. Give me an example of a time when you did not meet a client’s expectations. What happened, and how did you attempt to rectify the situation?

The last one – Do you have any questions for us?

  1. Can you please tell me how international exchange students and schools are assigned?
  2. How club leadership is selected?
  3. Any other questions you may have in regards to the program.

 

IVEY MBA Interview Questions – 1

Hi,

Just be yourself, expect the interviewer to have gone through your application(including essays), so collaborate your answers accordingly. Also expect standard questions like Why MBA, why Ivey, strengths, weaknesses, future goals, etc. Also expect to go in detail related to your experiences and have suitable examples and logic of why you did the way you did specific things(for eg, i was asked how i felt when i was transferred to a ‘not so good’ place in my organization for my honesty, what got me through that period, etc. which was mentioned in one of my essays).

In the end, just be yourself, it is not going to be a stress interview but surely a detailed interview.

Best of luck for the interview.

Received an Interview Invite?

Need Help with Interview Preparation?

Check out our interview Preparation focused services to get started with your Interview preparation

IVEY MBA Interview Questions – 2

Finally had the interview application submitted on 20 march. The ivey changed the dates from 5 to 20 April due to a glitch in the system. The interview lasted for 35 min approx.

The interviewer was Amanda career management officer. the connection at ivey was not good and I had to speak up at the webcam and take pauses as she was cutting me out through answers.

The questions were tricky although she said the interview was not to trick me. Introduce yourself, why I started this particular business, example of innovation, mistakes in the past, why mba at this point of profession, how are the admission decisions from other schools going on ( I told her it was in process and ivey was my preferred choice), if not accepted to mba then what, 3 qualities that admissions committee would have you stand out, 3 qualities that i possess related to leadership ( I gave 3 and she asked example of one them in real life experience), example of conflict with team member in past setting and how I resolved it. My biggest weakness and how i overcome it, what feedback I received from my supervisor/ peer etc and what I learned from it. My short term and long term goals and the bridge between them. List of companies that I would like to work for in Canada. She asked what was the most negative thing about Ivey (this question preplexed me as I was not expecting this).

For my questions I asked her what are various restaurants, activities in London, clubs, accomodations, companies of interest at campus etc.

One of the most challenging interviews so far. The interviewer kept on pressing on my negatives.

She said to expect the decision in 3-4 weeks time.

Any body has any other experience or was is it just me????

IVEY MBA Interview Questions – 3

I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Ivey Business School in February 2016.

Interview

It was quite amicable and it took about 50 minutes.

Mostly just behavioral questions like why MBA? Why Ivey? Why now? Leadership example, etc. What the school looks for is your potential rather than your current accomplishments. Be sure you clearly know what your career goal is and how you can leverage what you gain from Ivey to achieve that goal.

IVEY MBA Interview Questions – 4

Hi All,

I interviewed with IVEY on the 9th of March with a member of the Career Management Team. I would like to share my experience, so that people who are yet to interview may get a fair idea of what to expect.

I have interviewed with quite a few schools over the past 12 months or so, and have admit offers from a couple of them, however the interview that I had with IVEY was quite unlike any other MBA admission interviews I have ever had. The questions asked were very personalised and specific to my profile and the application I had submitted. I had expected a lot of questions outside of work since I have significant community and other experiences outside of work, however 95%, or even possibly 100%, of the questions were related to my professional experiences. A lot of the questions were cases related to my work. Almost all of the questions were behavioural questions, but none of the questions was generic.

I am not happy with my performance in the interview though. I cannot comment on whether it was good or bad, the outcome will testify that, but I can say I am not 100% satisfied with my performance.

However, I can say I am extremely impressed by the quality of the interview and the entire interview process. The turnaround is going to be 2-3 weeks. I hope I make the cut, and will wait for further news from IVEY.

IVEY MBA Interview Questions – 5

The video essay will be an extempore component. You can practice as many times as you may want before the actual essay. There will be two questions. For each question, you will be given 30 secs to prepare your answer. After those first 30 secs, you will have 60secs to answer the question. The questions are fairly open-ended and entirely behavioural in nature. Make sure to dress professionally.

Below are a few questions you can expect (based on my experience with both ROTMAN and IVEY):

– Which is your dream travel destination, and why?

– Who is your inspiration in life, and why?

– What personality traits define you as a person?

– Why did you choose IVEY? What is it that you like the most about IVEY?

– Why did you decide to pursue MBA? Why now?

– What are your hobbies or interests? What do you usually do when you are not working?

– If you could reset your life and start all over again, what course would you choose? What things would you not change, and what things would you change?

The format, the types of questions and even the platform, KIRA, is same for the ROTMAN video essays as well. But since IVEY is introducing this for the very first time, my gut feeling is the weightage to this component will not be as high as the written essays and LORs.

IVEY MBA Interview Questions – 6

The questions were tricky although she said the interview was not to trick me.

  1. Introduce yourself
  2. why I started this particular business
  3. example of innovation
  4. mistakes in the past
  5. why mba at this point of profession
  6. how are the admission decisions from other schools going on ( I told her it was in process and ivey was my preferred choice)
  7. if not accepted to mba then what
  8. 3 qualities that admissions committee would have you stand out
  9. 3 qualities that i possess related to leadership ( I gave 3 and she asked example of one them in real life experience)
  10. example of conflict with team member in past setting and how I resolved it.
  11. My biggest weakness and how i overcome it, what feedback I received from my supervisor/ peer etc and what I learned from it.
  12. My short term and long term goals and the bridge between them. List of companies that I would like to work for in Canada.
  13. She asked what was the most negative thing about Ivey (this question preplexed me as I was not expecting this).
  14. For my questions I asked her what are various restaurants, activities in London, clubs, accomodations, companies of interest at campus etc.

IVEY MBA Interview Questions – 7

Just be yourself, expect the interviewer to have gone through your application(including essays), so collaborate your answers accordingly. Also expect standard questions like Why MBA, why Ivey, strengths, weaknesses, future goals, etc. Also expect to go in detail related to your experiences and have suitable examples and logic of why you did the way you did specific things(for eg, i was asked how i felt when i was transferred to a ‘not so good’ place in my organization for my honesty, what got me through that period, etc. which was mentioned in one of my essays).

IVEY MBA Interview Questions – 8

I am from India and had a Skype interview last Friday. Here are the questions asked:

  1. Run me through your resume
  2. What do you currently do in your role
  3. Why MBA now and why Ivey
  4. A time when you did something unpopular. Looking back would I have changed anything. What aspect of all that you did led to your success?
  5. A time you felt frustrated. Looking back would I have changed anything.
  6. What do you for fun
  7. Why do you think a career in consulting would be suitable for you
  8. Which other schools did you apply to and why
  9. How would you contribute to the Ivey experience
  10. What clubs would you like to participate in at Ivey
  11. A time when I made a decision with limited data. Looking back would I have changed anything.
  12. Questions for the interviewer

Other details

  1. The interview went on for 45 minutes
  2. The interview was very casual and interactive

IVEY MBA Interview Questions – 9

My interview was held on May 17, 2023. Mark Vandenburg from the Ivey Business School interviewed me. He is an employee of Ivey’s Career Management. He immediately put me at ease during the interview, which was quite conversational.

He asked me the following questions:

– Tell me about yourself.

– Why do you want to do MBA?

– Why do you want to do MBA in Canada?

– How come Ivey?

– Describe a project in which you contributed to the success of your team. What did doing it teach you? 

– Do you have anything you wish you could have done differently?

– Can you describe a different project where you successfully facilitated cross-collaboration between teams?

– Describe a situation when you caused a team to fail.

– Tell me about a current Canadian incident that would make a suitable case study, given that you wish to work as a consultant.

– Describe your start-up project experience for me. Have you discovered anything significant?

– What outside of the classroom will you do for Ivey?

– How will you ensure that you succeed in the IVEY MBA Program?

He offered me 15 minutes to ask him questions during the 60 minutes of the interview. On my list were three or four questions. Three to five excellent questions related to your profile should be prepared.

IVEY MBA Interview Questions – 10

I had my IVEY MBA Program interview on March 09, 2023. Before I discuss what I discovered during my interview, I’d like to stress the value of maintaining a casual tone. I discovered this after numerous unsuccessful interviews. Prepare a couple of stories from your professional life.

Following questions were asked:

– Tell me about yourself.
– Why do you want to do MBA?
– Why do you want to do MBA in Canada?
– Why do you want to join Ivey?
– Despite having an engineering background, how did you end up in consulting. 
– Why did you leave engineering, exactly?
– What about working in consulting did you like the most?
– In what circumstances did you act as a change agent? What actions did you take, and what resulted?
– What issues did you encounter as a team leader? What lessons have you learned?
– What are your limitations and strengths?
– How did you handle cross-functional projects? 
– Sometimes, employees have other goals that conflict with those of the project. How do you prioritize your work while aligning them?
– Please describe your thinking/processes when working on an innovative project. 
– How can you generate original ideas?

After that, he gave me almost 20 minutes of the 60-minute interview to ask him questions. About five questions were on a list I had prepared. Prepare five or six questions to ask the interviewer before the interview. For each of the aforementioned questions, try to have at least two levels of responses, two examples, and a counter-question.

Application Prep

with unlimited Edits

&

100% Refund

(If not admitted to School)

Interview Prep

3 Mock Interviews

$ 350 / ₹ 25K

100% Refund

(If not admitted to School)

What Can We Do For You?

Profile Evaluation

Take our Free Profile evaluation and figure out your strengths and weakness

Application Prep

We help guide our clients through the entire application journey

Interview Prep

Need Help with your Interview Prep? We got you covered via mock interviews

Free

Profile Evaluation Workshop 

With Ameer

Want to get your profile evaluated?

Open chat
Hi,
This is Ameer
Do you any questions?