MBA interview prep: what actually gets tested

Every MBA candidate has sat through a job interview before, and that experience works against them here. An MBA interview is not a repeat of a job interview, and it is not a second round of the essays. It tests whether the story behind an application actually stands once someone starts questioning it in real time.

Some candidates prepare talking points at the career-narrative level and stop there, then lose their footing the moment an interviewer pushes past the surface. Others over-script their answers so tightly that the material cannot bend when a question comes from an angle they did not rehearse. And plenty wait until the interview invitation arrives to start preparing, then assume a quick review is enough when the story needs real work.

This session is designed for candidates who are serious about their MBA interviews and want to understand not just what to expect, but what an interviewer is actually listening for underneath the answer.

During the session, we will discuss:

• Why prior interview experience does not transfer the way most candidates assume, and what an MBA interview tests that a job interview never touches.
• The difference between a narrative that reads well on paper and one that survives being questioned live, piece by piece, by someone trained to find the weak spot.
• Why waiting until the invitation arrives is the most common timing mistake candidates make, and why what looks like a small gap by then is rarely that small.

Susan Berishaj, founder of Sia Admissions, will walk through what separates candidates who freeze or flatten under real probing from candidates who can answer from any angle, no matter where the question comes from.

Register to submit your questions in advance, attend live on Thursday, September 24 at 10:00 a.m. ET, and receive the replay directly in your inbox.

Ready to prepare for your own interview? Schedule an MBA interview coaching consultation to find out where your story is strongest and where it still needs to hold up under real questions.