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(This is the fifth in a series of blog posts in which Julie DeLoyd, a Veritas Prep GMAT alumna-turned-instructor, will tell the story of her experience through the MBA admissions process. Julie will begin her MBA program at Chicago Booth this fall. You can also read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 to learn Julie's whole story.)
Applications are in. I can’t stress about edits anymore. I can’t do much of anything.
I had stopped touring around the same time that I had my initial b-school epiphany, so with my essays and applications out of the way I was insanely bored. Though I had started to teach for Veritas by then, my days were achingly devoid of activity. This is when I made a terrible discovery… the Business Week B-school Forums.
Most of the applicants hanging out on these forums were the “superstars”—the uber-anxious superstars. Most of the posts were from people who scored above 700, came from Ivy league backgrounds, and had some grand job title. Rumors and ill-founded advice ran amuck. Applicants tried to divine any tiny inconsequential “advantage” they could find. As for me? I loved every second of it.
Truth be told, I didn’t have anything else to spend my time on, but the drama and intrigue of the b-school forums were my favorite new soap opera. A soap opera that was on all day, every day.
I didn’t find many other folks on the forums that were much like me. I tried to post messages to pull the other non-traditional candidates out of the woodwork. Mostly, it didn’t work. Fortunately, a new hurdle approached.
Within a few weeks of each other, I started hearing about interviews. Chicago Booth was the first to let me know. I was invited to interview and I set up my meeting with a local Boston alumnus for beginning of November. Michigan invited me to what they called “Super Interview Saturday” (the meaning of which was fodder for many BW forum strings) but that wouldn’t be until early December. Kellogg invites every applicant to interview, so I set my interview for the end of October.
I used every online tool I could find to prepare for my interviews. I posted to the forums. I discovered Admissions411 and ClearAdmit which collected user-generated feedback about b-school interviews, applicants’ stats and results. I started brainstorming answers to every question I found online, and started practicing the “Why MBA? Why Now? Why Here?” in the mirror. Every interview I’d ever done was for a coffee shop or other service job, where the main purpose was to show how friendly I could be. I’m good at those kinds of interviews. This was a whole new thing.
I had to tweak my stories so I would have enough answers if my interviewer asked me more than two “team” questions. (I have very little team experience, since I’ve only ever worked for myself.) When you spend hours talking to yourself, you start to feel a little weird. I could only hear the weaknesses in my spiel. I had to fight the critic in my head that said the interviewer would see right through me. I should have done some mock interviews with my Admissions Consultant, but I didn’t really think about it. I suppose I was avoiding the possibility of having someone else tell me I was doing something wrong. It was a silly thing to be scared of, and it would have been a great benefit.
First up: Kellogg!
I was nervous and screwed up applying my lipstick. In seldom-worn heels, I hobbled over the cobblestones to the interviewer’s office in Boston. Pretty much right off the bat, I could sense it wasn’t going that well. My interviewer, an alumna, didn’t seem to “take a shinin’ to me” (as we say in the South). In my musical career I was used to getting validation, oh, every three minutes or so—maybe I was expecting a lot. I wasn’t used to interviewing with someone who was critical and I didn’t expect her to ask so many follow-up questions to clarify my answers. At the end of the interview, I once again grimaced at my wonky lipstick in the elevator mirror on my way out. Kellogg had rolling admissions, so I knew I could hear back in a matter of weeks, but I wasn’t particularly optimistic. At the time, Kellogg was my top choice, but the interview was a bit of a downer and my excitement for Kellogg began to wane.
Next up: Chicago Booth!
The following week I had my next interview—this time for Chicago Booth. I met my interviewer at Starbucks, and sat down with a vanilla soy latte and an edition of the Economist to wait for his arrival. When he arrived, I found he was what one might consider a pretty “typical” Booth dude. He had been in finance since school and everything about my past and my goals were entirely out of his realm. He asked very similar questions to those in the Kellogg interview, but he was genuinely excited about my answers. Essentially, I had him at Hello. Maybe the trial run had helped, or maybe he just liked me more than the Kellogg interviewer did. Either way, our conversation went on for almost an hour and a half. It started to feel as though he was trying to sell me on Booth, instead of it being the other way around. I loved that he was so excited about the school; it was contagious. He even said that if there was a problem with my application, he sometimes steps in to help out—so I should stay in touch.
Most admissions committee members will say that the interview is only yours to screw up. If it’s good enough, it won’t hurt your application. I found that on rare occasions, a great interview can really work to your advantage. My interviewer contacted me the following week to tell me he had submitted my evaluation and had given me the highest possible marks on everything. I believe this played a part in my later financial aid offer at Chicago.
3rd up: Michigan!
Michigan’s “Super Interview Saturday” was a weekend of tours, dinners, and dancing and felt more like a sell weekend than an interview weekend. The interview was only 30 minutes and was conducted by a current student. I had already done two at this point, so I felt very confident and I believe that showed. I also noticed that the group of people selected for this weekend were all students that had a lot in common with me. I even met another woman who was vegan for environmental reasons—just like me. Most people either worked in something do-gooder-ey or wanted to after b-school. I really appreciated that; it made me feel a lot less alone.
Before my actual interview took place, I had the experience that every applicant should aim for. When one of the AdCom (admissions committee) passed me in the hall and saw my name tag. She stopped me, and said, "You’re Julie Loyd? (I was still going by my maiden name then) I read your application. You’re the musician, right? You sound fascinating.” It made me laugh at the time. But that’s the ultimate goal—-to have the AdCom, Admissions director, or Dean know something striking about you from your application so they immediately remember who you are from your name.
So it was with a warm fuzzy feeling that I approached the second half of my wait, post-interviews—or so I thought.
NEXT UP: The results, the wrench, and the “Benjamins.”
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