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UCLA Anderson MBA Interviews
The UCLA Anderson MBA Interview questions revolve around your reasons for an MBA, career goals, interest in UCLA Anderson, and professional/personal experiences as outlined in your application materials. As an interviewee, you should be prepared to provide concise yet insightful responses showcasing strong communication skills, demonstrating knowledge of our program, and ultimately expressing why you are a great fit for UCLA Anderson. The style is very conversational – be prepared for an exchange of ideas, and come with a few thoughtful questions to ask your interviewer. Our interviews are about 30 minutes in length and mostly conducted by 2nd year students, either on-campus or via Skype. Remember there’s no preference for one platform vs. another so utilize whichever one fits your needs best.
As stated on the official website –
“Interviews are a way for us to get to know you as an individual and understand how you’d fit into our community and benefit from our career counseling. UCLA Anderson is a very collaborative school which is why the majority of our interviews are conducted by second year full-time MBA students. We feel that it is important to include our current students in selecting the next class, and they are also the best resource for you to ask how student life really is here.
Here are the five most important interview tips to help you succeed:
- Treat the interview with the same professionalism that you would an employment interview. Be on time, dress professionally, and make sure that your resume is up-to-date.
- Be prepared to succinctly walk your interviewer through your resume in 2-3 minutes, highlighting key milestones and achievements.
- Be clear about why you are pursuing an MBA and why UCLA Anderson is a good fit for you. Know yourself, where you’ve been, where you want to go, and how UCLA Anderson fits in your story.
- Treat the interview as a conversation. The interview is an opportunity not only to share your story, but also to learn from your interviewer.
- Showcase your personality, share what you are passionate about, and demonstrate how you can contribute to our community.
Remember to relax, be genuine and enjoy getting to know your interviewer. ”
UCLA Anderson MBA Frequently Asked Interview Questions
- Tell me something about yourself?
- Walk me through your resume?
- Why MBA? Why UCLA Anderson school?
- Why MBA now or Why MBA at this stage of your career?
- What is your short & long term goals?
- What is your Plan B if consulting/Investment banking does not happen?
- What are your key strengths? Can you give some examples please?
- What is your biggest weakness ? Can you give some examples please?
- How can you add value to the Class?
- Why should we take you?
- One reason that we should not select you?
- Interests and Hobbies – Be prepared!.. questions as basic as “Why do you do poetry (or any other activity” may be asked.
- 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?
- 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?
- Do you have any Question for us?
UCLA Anderson Interview Questions – 1
Applied Round 2, Interviewed on January 19th, 2017. Was interviewed by a Second-year student in a small conference room on-campus, took exactly 30 minutes. The interview was blind, but the interviewer had reviewed my résumé beforehand.
1. Tell me about yourself.
2. Walk me through your résumé.
3. Why are you pursuing an MBA? (I answered this like a goals question)
4. Why Anderson?
5. Interviewer asked 3-4 behavioral questions centered around core principals at Anderson (i.e. leadership, teamwork, collaboration)
6. Do you have any questions for me?
This was my first interview of the season, and was way more laid back than I had been preparing myself for. The interviewer took notes on my resume the whole time, but otherwise there were no surprises and conversation flowed casually and naturally.
UCLA Anderson Interview Questions – 2
Went on campus to the Anderson school of business, dressed in appropriate business attire for a relaxed discussion-style interview
Blind interview with a 2nd year student, he only saw my résumé.
Questions:
- Outside of your professional life, what are you interests and hobbies?
- Why are you pursuing and MBA?
- Why pursue an MBA at this point in your life?
- Given your prior professional and personal experience, what can you contribute to Anderson?
- Tell me about an experience in your life in which you failed.
- How will you become involved in the student body and culture at Anderson?
The interview was very relaxed. The interviewer made clear that he is not involved in the final decision process but being interviewed is a good sign and he will submit his write up of the interview to the admissions committee in a prompt manner.
UCLA Anderson Interview Questions – 3
Interview was ~30 minutes on campus and pretty informal. The interviewer asked pretty basic, behavioral questions:
- Walk me through your résumé.
- Why an MBA/Why now?
- Explain a challenging situation and how you overcame it.
- What would you have done differently?
- Anything else on your resume that you’d like to talk about?
The interview felt much more of a “fit” interview rather than being roasted about resume details. I’d recommend preparing by ensuring you can speak to your résumé, have a clear perspective on why MBA/Anderson, and having a few “stories” you can pull from to address behavioral questions.
UCLA Anderson Interview Questions – 4
I was interviewed by a 2nd-year student via skype in late October, approximately 3 weeks after the application deadline.
The interview was blind-based, conversational and casual. The interviewer was very friendly and he shared a lot about his experiences at Anderson. He gave me some good comments during the interview, so I felt quite positive and enjoyed it very much.
List of interview questions:
- Self-introduction
- Career goal, a few follow-ups regarding specific types of company, location, etc.
- What do I do with my current job
- Why MBA? Why Anderson?
- Teamwork experience
- Specific clubs interested
- Questions to ask him
The interview lasted for ~30 minutes. There were no unexpected questions. I asked him about his AMR project experience and what surprised him the most after he went to Anderson. I felt that the Anderson community was very diverse and collaborative from what he shared, and the students are very proud of being part of it.
I ended up getting the admission offer with a scholarship.
UCLA Anderson Interview Questions – 5
This was a blind interview. The questions I was asked seemed pretty standard:
- Tell me about your education and career path to this point in your life (He had my resume in front of him and I walked him through it).
- Why do you want to pursue an MBA?
- What interests you about the career move you want to make? (After telling him I want an MBA to get into consulting.)
- What about UCLA Anderson interests you in particular?
- Tell me about a time you were in charge of a project.
- Tell me about a time you disagreed with a superior
Afterward, he gave me time for questions. Overall, the interview was fine. There was nothing out of the ordinary, and I was much less nervous about it than my others. That could be due to it being over Skype. Just be prepared to tell your story and answer a few behavioral questions about your work experience. Also have something to say about why you want to go to UCLA. Ended up on the wait list, but got accepted to my top choice.