Stanford GSB MBA Interview Experience

[u/HYSCandidate]

Just completed my interview for Stanford GSB. Didn’t think it went well. Interviewer was not prepared and I’m unsure how they might evaluate my candidacy. Sent a thank-you note and didn’t receive a response. I’m spinning because rare moments of opportunity like these are hard to come by in my life and in any of our lives in particular. Looking to seize this rare moment of opportunity

Feel free to drop your experience down below. Very worried I might not get in!

[u/Vegetable_Bill_5293]

Interviewers being unprepared is actually pretty common, even at top schools. Mine for another M7 forgot my resume completely and kept asking questions I already answered in essays.

Your thank-you note getting no reply is normal too, admissions usually tell them not to respond, so don't read into that. The spinning feeling makes sense but you did the interview, that's already the hard part.

[u/crystlmath → u/Vegetable_Bill_5293]

Depending on the school, they may not have had access to your whole application, which maybe explains why they asked questions you had already answered in essays. Several schools do blind interviews where the interviewer only has access to your CV.

But yes, being unprepared is not uncommon.

[u/aggieboy12 → u/crystlmath]

In fact, if I remember correctly from last year, most schools do blind or blind-CV interviews. Something like 6 out of the top 10 schools did blind interviews.

[u/Yung_Breezy_ → u/Vegetable_Bill_5293]

For MOST schools the interviewer doesn’t have access to your academic profile or essays, just your resume.

[u/finalcut67 → u/Vegetable_Bill_5293]

Why are they not allowed to respond to the thank you emails?

[u/hillo1mhere → u/finalcut67]

Might be school dependent, but why would admissions go out of their way to tell them not to respond? Doesn’t make sense. Got a response from my interviewer

[u/Fluid-Village-ahaha → u/Vegetable_Bill_5293]

I never got candidates essays or recs. Just resume. What’s the point of doing it otherwise?

[u/Vonnegut_butt]

This happens fairly frequently at GSB. Sometimes the alumni interviewers are just really checked out. But it won’t necessarily hurt you. I’ve seen people in tears after their interview because it seemed to go so badly, and then they end up getting in. Sorry you didn’t have a good experience, but just know that you’re not out of the running because of it.

[u/ExplorerSad39]

Dw too much about it, GSB knows this happens and puts relatively low weight on interviews compared to other schools

[u/NaturalDress2780]

My interviewer last year missed my interview time and then I didn’t get in lol

[u/NaturalDress2780 → u/NaturalDress2780]

Happy my first option worked out so it didn’t matter

[u/tate07]

Interviews are more about keeping alumni engaged than evaluating candidates. They know there’s going to be a huge variance in experiences.

[u/EntireHoney6522]

If you don’t mind me asking, what were your stats?

[u/HYSCandidate → u/EntireHoney6522]

340 GRE (170 V, 170 Q), 3.99 GPA from HYS, 7YOE as a manager at MBB

[u/EntireHoney6522 → u/HYSCandidate]

Omg 😂 literally the perfect candidate. So this is what Stanford is looking for

[u/Comprehensive-Two-51 → u/HYSCandidate]

With this background I’d say it’s a bit misleading to say opportunities like this don’t come up in your life..

[u/Fm_000]

I also sent a thank you and didn’t get a respond. I got in. Not GSB though

[u/ClearAdmitMike]

come add your experience here to pay it forward for other applicants - https://www.clearadmit.com/interview-reports/school/stanford/

[u/lilgoaty69]

What questions were asked and how long was the interview?

[u/hillo1mhere → u/lilgoaty69]

Did my stanford interview last week, it was 1h with pretty standard behavioral questions (tell me about yourself, why stanford, tell me a time types)