Texas McCombs MS BA Interviews
There are four different interview types: on-campus with a student, via Skype with a student, off-campus in your local city with an alumni interviewer, or at a HUB city location with an admissions officer. Interviews typically last anywhere from 30 minutes to 40 minutes. Interviewers do not have access to anything about you or your application, except for your resume, so the interview is blind. Most interviewers check applicants for their confidence, clear and concise communication of career goals, concrete examples of teamwork and leadership, in-depth knowledge of our MS BA program, and overall genuine enthusiasm. Also, prep well on your secondary skills like self-awareness, communication style, and “hire-ability.
Texas McCombs MS BA Frequently Asked Interview Questions
- Why an MS BA now? Why now?
- What do you want to see in your fellow students?
- How will you contribute to the class?
- What will your colleagues say about you?
- Tell of a time in your professional life when you worked with someone who was not pulling their weight?
- How do you want to be associated with McCombs 10 years after you graduate?
- How would your boss describe you? How would your co-workers describe you?
- What other colleges have you applied to?
- What are you most passionate about?
- Describe an achievement you accomplished in your professional life?
- What is the strongest part of your application?
- Is there anything you would do differently when you think about your college experience?
- What kind of internship opportunity are you looking for after your first year and with whom?
- Is there anything you are not looking forward to about business school?
Texas McCombs MS BA Interview Questions – 1
The interview took place on a Friday when the school was also offering tours, student and alumni panels, etc. After meeting my interviewer, we walked to a small room with one table with two chairs; I’m guessing it was a team study room. The interview was blind but it looked like my interviewer had made a few notes on my resume, so I believe she had spent a couple minutes with it before we talked. While we were performing the interview, my interviewer had an actual interview form in front of her with questions in one column and then a space for her to write responses. This was different from my other interviews where notes were taken in a notebook (or on my resume) and the interviewer didn’t have a list. I think this made McCombs’ interview feel a little bit clunkier / less freely flowing than some of the others, but it was still largely conversational and behavioral.
Questions
A lot of boilerplate type questions:
- Why MS BA/Why McCombs
- Tell me about a time you worked in a team
- Tell me about a time you faced a challenge at work
- Describe your leadership style
- What types of activities will you be involved with at McCombs
- What questions do you have for me
I was also asked a few specific questions about my background and my resume (what does XXX on your resume mean, etc), so it is important to know where you’ve been and where you want to go.
Two questions that caught me off guard:
- What do you like to do in your spare time
- I was asked a few follow ups on this, and it came at the end of the interview so I think it was more about assessing fit than it was to open me up/make me feel comfortable.
- Where else are you applying and where do you rank McCombs
- I was able to truthfully answer this in a positive manner because at the time I really loved McCombs, but it was also more in kind of my safety range which made it important for me to stress how much I loved the school, how good of a fit it was, etc. I can see this question tripping someone up, especially since McCombs is a little lower on the rankings, smaller, etc.
Texas McCombs MS BA Interview Questions – 2
I had applied to McCombs in Round-1 and I had the option of having an interview with either a current 2nd year student, or an alumnus or with an Adcom member. I went for an interview with the Admission Director in New Delhi.
The interview was pretty simple, structured and straight. I was informed before the interview that all McCombs admission interviews are blind i.e. the interviewer has access only to my resume and none of any other application components. The interviewer started off with saying that he has a set of predefined questions based on which he’ll conduct my interview. We also discussed in brief about the terrible winter smog and pollution in Delhi, Overall, it was 30-min. interview and the questions asked in the order were:
1- Mention one project you’ve done where you’re proud of your accomplishments.
2- Some follow-up questions based on answers to the above question.
3- Why do you need an MS BA at this point?
4- Why McCombs?
5- What if you don’t get into your target job profile? What’s a backup plan?
6- Why should we take you and what are the things you can teach to your class from your experience?
7- What are the other schools you have applied to?
8- What are the strongest and weakest parts of your application?
9- What did you learn about yourself after going through the complete application process?
10- What are your hobbies and how do they help you grow?
11- Any questions for me?
