Sample Questions & Suggested Answers

Justify your decision to pursue the MBA program?

Don't tell the panel that you are looking for a "challenging job in a good firm with lots of money, status and glamour". Instead, you must convey to the interview panel that you have made a rational and informed decision about your career choice and your intended course of higher study. There are broadly four areas which your answer could touch upon:

• Career Objectives: You could talk about your career objectives and how the two year MBA program will help you achieve them.
• Value Addition: Value addition will essentially be in two forms knowledge and skills.
• Background: This is where you connect your past to your future. If you are an engineer, try and say that the MBA course and your engineering degree will help you do your job better in the company that you will join. You should be able to convincingly justify how your engineering qualification will help.
• Opportunities and Rewards: You could also at this stage mention the opportunities that are opening up in organizations for management graduates. At this stage mentioning superior monetary rewards for management graduates may not be a bad idea.

Why do you think you would enjoy your chosen area of study (Eg: Marketing)?

Marketing is key to the success of any organization and the function has always appealed to me, because it requires a combination of creativity, strategic and analytic ability - all qualities that I feel I possess. Through discussions with some of my seniors, I have a pretty good idea of what it's like to work toward taking up a marketing job, and I know I will enjoy the work. 


How do you spend your spare time?

I have a good collection of books of different genre and enjoy reading. In addition, I love driving during late evenings or on rainy weekend afternoons. Also, for the last two years I've been volunteering at the local children's hospital on Saturday mornings.


What are your strengths and your weaknesses? 

First of all, take time to write down 3 of your strengths and 3 weaknesses. These are examples from personal life; you can quote your relevant real professional life examples. 

"Since my childhood, I have a habit, if I want to go to a movie and my parents wanted me to finish my maths homework first, then I used to solve the Math’s problems first and also I used to make sure that I do it correctly. I would not care how much effort was involved, how much convincing was required, so my first strength is that I am a determined person.

Secondly, I have a habit, when I take up some work; I make sure that I do it very well. It was my dad’s 25th birthday. All my family members had completed the decoration, but I started when everybody finished, because I was not satisfied with the way it was done. I worked alone for four hours and at the end of it, everyone appreciated it. Moreover, my father, for whom it was a surprise, was delighted. My second strength is that I love perfection and I achieve it most of the times.

Now as I have told you about my strengths I would like to share with you something. One of my strength of being a determined person is also my weakness. When I take up some commitment, I invest so much energy, hard work and efforts in it that I sometimes neglect my personal life, social life, health and family life. I still remember I have not visited my very close friend since last 2 years. My strength of being a determined person is also my weakness.

My mother tells me that I spend a lot of money. I think she is right and but from other perspective, I think what I am doing is also right. Whenever I buy something – clothes, watches, shoes, I buy best quality products, and good products or services are always expensive. My second weakness is that I spend a lot of money on quality products.”

The first thing you need to do prior to interviewing is assess yourself. This includes listing your strengths and weaknesses, your accomplishments and achievements, reviewing your strong and your weak subjects, and recording some of the key decisions you have made in your life.

You should then review your interests, the disappointments you've encountered, your work environment likes/dislikes, your business and personal values, your goals, needs, restrictions, and life style preferences.