Sunday, December 21, 2014

Interviewing for Cox MBA

If someone asks me, I would say : Just Know Yourself Well and read through each point of your application. The concept behind cracking the interview is : Who are you ? Where do you want to go ? Why do you think Cox can help you get there ?

The interview usually begins with hitting the first aspect - Who are you ? An aspirant will usually face the question belonging to the type : "Tell me about yourself ? " or "Introduce yourself" or "Tell us something about you" or "Walk me through your resume".  To crack this question, you must have done your resume in a step-by-step manner. I would suggest an applicant to speak a few lines about his education background (undergrad) , what you did in your undergrad, if there are any interesting experiences there, be sure to mention it. Next, move to the professional experiences. Give the interviewer a picture of what you have done in your work in nutshell. Bullet Points to be specific. 3-4 interesting projects or activities will do. Next, you can talk through 3-4 of your hobbies and extracurricular activities. You can slip in your strengths and weaknesses in a terse manner here. End the game with a light on a few awards and recognition. Do not stretch too much. Keep it simple, crisp and to the point. Practice it many times because you are going to make this presentation of WHO YOU ARE to almost every interviewer and B-school that you interview with and first impression is important.

After having done this question, every interviewer will want to know what is your career goal and aspirations. Before interviewing you, the Cox admission team will have read your application essay and that means they will be knowing your career goal. However, they can still ask you about WHY do you want to become a Consultant Or What interests you in the e-commerce sector ? If you have mentioned entrepreneurship somewhere- long term or short term - support it. The interviewer would like to know what exactly is your idea ? The concept behind this question is that : you really know what you are looking for and rather more importantly - why you are looking for that thing. Applicants should also keep a Plan-B ready. The success of any team or an individual in this competitive world is that they have a Plan-B in place in case their Plan-A fails. It may be a football pitch or an entertainment world, Plan-B is a must. After all, Cox wants to help you reach your goal and hence, they need to know your vision elaborately !

Next, you must have made a thorough research of the B-school and have a fair amount of idea of why you are applying to this B-school. For me, I was looking to land up in the business of entertainment and Cox houses the only program by the Walt Disney - the BLC's Disney Institute Program held in Florida stands out uniquely for Cox. All B-schools will somehow or the other have a good personal leadership development curriculum and Case competitions and Cox has each of them but the DI program stands out for it. Similarly, one must have come across certain aspects of the school that they like. Just mention it point wise to the interviewer's WHY COX question. It shall convince the interviewer that you have made a research and cox can very well help you reach your goals.

These are the basic questions. Rest of the questions you will face are the Strength and weaknesses. For example : how will your friends define you in 3 key words or what are you doing to address your weakness. There may be questions from professional background such as "tell me about a time when you have handled situations out of scope of your work / beyond the scope of expectations" . Team based questions such as "a time when you have handled conflicts. How did you handle it". Extracurricular related questions such as "what you love outside work and how it makes you unique".

A good interview generally lasts 30-35 minutes. So, it is important to keep to the point and present properly. Rehearse the definitive questions well before the actual interview and give your best to the admission team. Let them see the best of you as that will help them understand you better. Cox has one of the best admission team which works hard, is open to talk to each and every applicant, professional when it comes to results. The best part- they understand you.

Happy to serve the Mustang family !

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