IE Spain MBA Interviews

IE Business School interviews are generally taken by the admissions committee and alumni. IE Business School MBA personal interview generally last for about 30-40 minutes. The atmosphere during the interview is very relaxed and the interviewers behave in a very friendly manner with the interviewee.

IE Spain MBA Frequently Asked Interview Questions

1. Tell me something about yourself?
2. Walk me through your resume?
3. Why MBA? Why IE Spain school?
4. Why MBA now or Why MBA at this stage of your career?
5. What is your short & long term goals?
6. What is your Plan B if consulting/Investment banking does not happen?
7. What are your key strengths? Can you give some examples please?
8. What is your biggest weakness ? Can you give some examples please?
9. How can you add value to the Class?
10. Why should we take you?
11. One reason that we should not select you?
12. Interests and Hobbies – Be prepared!.. questions as basic as “Why do you do poetry (or any other activity” may be asked.
13. 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?
14. 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?
15. Do you have any Question for us?

IE Spain MBA Interview Questions – 1

Since I live in Madrid, my interview took place at IE, with a guy of the admission department.

I would split the interview in two parts.

First one: The easiest one: Walk me throught your resume, why an MBA?, why IE?, why now? what are your mid and long term goals?…

Second one: quite weird and pretty difficult from my point of view . What is 99/2? What is the nearest international airport you have to your city? How many wheels are there right now? Then a practical case. The gave me a some info about a company similar to Netflix. This company had some economic and strategic problems…what plan would you do to improve the situation? (they gave me 5 minuts to think about it). Then…he asked me about inflation, and also asked me to tell him the latest economic news I had read.

I guess that, with this part of the interview, they want to see your hability and creativity to face uncommon situations and under pressure.

And finally he asked me to tell him everything I knew about the IMBA program, the three different periods, how long they are…

To sum up, I would’t say that it’s a piece of cake at all. Actually I would say that it’s one of the hardest interviews I have seen.

I recommend you to prepare for it!

Best of luck to everyone!

IE Spain MBA Interview Questions – 2

Interview Report:

It was taken by an Admission committee member. She was friendly and understanding, in short, it was a pleasure to talk.

Some questions:

1. Walk me through your resume.
2. hobbies.
3. If you can go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?
4. Some question about my current job
5. Elevator-pitch to Donald Trump
6. current events and its impact on the world.
7. how was moving to Estonia from India? will there be similar challenges to move to Spain?
8. If you leave everything now and start a business what would it be, what will be investment and business plan
9. How many beer bottles will there be in your city on a Friday-evening?
10. 20 years from now there is an article on you in a magazine. what will be the title and why?
11. what will your friend say about you?
12. what will someone who don’t like you say?

IE Spain MBA Interview Questions – 3

Hi,

The questions for me were not about personal matters but more like analyzing a situation. I was first asked what project would I endeavor in if I had USD $50k and one month; the second question was about the pros and cons of globalization; the third question asked about something that was being done or that I would propose in my current work to help the environment. The first two questions are video recorded you are given 30 seconds to prepare and 1 minute to answer. The third question is written, you are given the question and then straight away 5 minutes to answer.

I would suggest you practice on the Kira website, you´re given unlimited practice trials before doing the real thing. The questions are somewhat different in practice than the real one but I found it key to feel comfortable answering before a camera, make sure you watch the replays of the practice questions as you will notice some gestures you might be repeating too much or find yourself not looking at the camera.

Hope that helps

IE Spain MBA Interview Questions – 4

I had my interview last week and it was very pleasant. I am from Germany and had no choice to do an interview on campus; therefore got an skype interview.

Questions

– Walk me through your CV and start with the first post graduate work experience

– What do you do at your current job?

– Why MBA?

– Some specific questions on my CV in terms of living abroad

– Question ie should have asked and I put in the application

– What country i would choise to travel and why?

– Situation: 6 person on a team, deadline for an assingment tomorrow morning, 3 agree with a approach to finish the assignment, 3 disagree, you are not able to catch the 3 people who disagree. What do you do?

IE Spain MBA Interview Questions – 5

The application process was pretty straightforward. IE allows a lot of freedom with the essays.

They can be submitted through video, pictures, etc. All of mine were written though.

As for the interview, I only had one interview. I was very relaxed and around 40 minutes.

They asked about my CV, achievement, short and long terms goals, etc. Other than that

a couple of questions of any social work and projects. The most “out of the ordinary” question

was “what city would you say represents you and why?”.

If you have any follow-up question, feel free to get in touch.

All the best.

IE Spain MBA Interview Questions – 6

Interview was okay. My interview was with the Admissions Director for my country and we had communicated extensively before the interview through email so I had a fair idea of her personality.

It was primarily general questions Why MBA, why now, future goals, why Europe and why IE. I believe I had very convincing answers and did a very thorough job of convincing her that I’d done my research about IE.

My tips would be to make sure you have done your research about the program, spend at least 2 days going through the IE website. Find something to talk about from the website about the school/program that appeals to you particularly. Ideally it should be something relatively obscure that even the person interviewing you wouldn’t readily know that it exists on the school website.

Additionally, be honest if you are applying to other schools (and you should be). Provide a good reason why you are applying to the other school(s) and how it has/or is stronger in something that IE isn’t and why it appeals to you.

This makes you come across as a serious candidate who has done his/her research and knowing that you are also exploring other options, also puts a gentle pressure on the adcom to accept you in the program.

IE Spain MBA Interview Questions – 7

I had a couple of STAR format questions but most of them focussed on my experiences and personality, which was refreshing. The interview itself was conversational and the Admissions Director is a very pleasant person to interview with. FIT was definitely the focus of the interview and it went pretty well I thought. IMBA program brochure was very helpful – I’m yet to see a brochure with so much info from any other schools.

I was also asked what other programs I applied to and which one I would choose if given admit in both! a lil awkward but I tried to give an honest answer.

I think IE is a very proactive and dynamic school and they are trying to do a lot of things! Hope to hear some good news soon!

IE Spain MBA Interview Questions – 8

For the interview, it was with the Admissions Director out of the Toronto office that I had already been in contact with prior to submitting. There was also an IE event the day before where a visiting professor came to teach a class so I had a chance to meet her there in person. Some tips — be prepared for “traditional” interview questions in addition to “MBA” questions. I got some of the tried and true questions like “What has your biggest challenge been in your career?” “What would you say your strengths are?” etc. I had prepared mostly for “MBA” interview questions so these were a bit of a surprise for me. Also, they seem to be much more focused on fit than on your background. Make sure you can explain exactly what it is about IE that attracted you to it and take some time to go over the program structure in detail. Go over the website thoroughly and pick out a few things that interest you so you can mention them in the interview. I got an obvious response when I pointed out specifics in the program.

IE Spain MBA Interview Questions – 9

For those waiting for the interview result, I got mine in around a week but I’ve seen others wait for two or three weeks. I would be patient and I’m sure you did fine.

In my case it was a face to face meeting and the person interviewing me had completely different questions to what you would expect. He was very focused on the business side of my work experience. So be sure you know your numbers. Other than that relax and use the experience to learn. I asked a lot about IE and the program and I got honest answers. That cemented my love for the school and program.

IE Spain MBA Interview Questions – 10

The first interview was via Skype with the Los Angeles office (I’m from the Western US) and was very straightforward. Questions like tell me about yourself were followed by a walkthrough of my resume. We had a brief talk about why IE, why now, and my career goals. The interviewer was very personable and easy to talk to. This interview was conversational in nature and flew by.

The second interview was via Skype with an admissions officer located on-campus in Madrid. This interview was more strenuous. He wanted some more info regarding my education and a small gap I have between my AA and BA degrees. He also dug deeper into my work experience and wanted a rundown of day-to-day duties I fulfill. He gave me a case to work out that involved production capabilities and demand and asked me to provide a recommendation for the fake client. We finished with him asking me how many wheels were at the local airport.
From what I’ve been told, the second interview was necessary due to my limited work experience. Both interviewers gave me very positive feedback during the interviews and I felt like they both went well, even the more strenuous second one. I think my work experience gives me a tough road to climb for an admit, but I’m looking forward to hearing from them with a decision.