Olin (Washington University St. Louis)

"I just finished my interview, It lasted all of 20 minutes. Fingers crossed My question were: 1. Introduce yourself 2. Why Olin? (since you’ve done some research talk about the global immersion program) 3. If you were to decide or compare the schools you are selected for, what are the factors you will use to make your decision? Is St louis city a factor? 4. What will you contribute your class? 5. How has working with people from other background helped you in the workplace. Share an example. (trick DEI question) 6. Why an MBA now? (follow up questions on my goals) 7. Do you have any questions for me?"

"The interview was taken online (via Zoom) and lasted for about 35 minutes. An AdCom member took the interview. It was a pleasant experience as she made it an engaging conversation throughout. The questions were: - Introduce yourself and tell me why you want to do an MBA and why at WashU Olin - Post-MBA goals and target companies (then a follow-up question based on my resume) - Tell me about a time when you dealt with conflict within a team - Tell me about a time when you experienced failure and your learning from it - What excites you about St. Louis? Also, would you like to ask me anything? I'm also adding the questions from the Kira interview that I completed earlier: Q1. Introduce yourself to your future classmates at WashU Olin. (1 min) Q2. If you could travel anywhere, where would you travel to and who'd you take with you? (1 min) Q3. What is the best piece of advice you have given to someone? (1 min) All the questions were of video type and prep time was 30 seconds for each."

"I was interviewed by an admissions recruiter. Due to some error my interview got delayed by 10mins. It lasted for around 20-25 mins. Shortest one so far. 1. introduce yourself. 2. how did you come to know about Olin? why Olin? 3. post MBA goals. dream company? 4. time when you partnered with someone to complete a task. 5. how do you define success? 6. What global trends do you see affecting businesses? how will they affect your current industry and your desired industry? 7. what excites you about St.louis? There was no time left for me to ask questions."

"I had my MBA interview with Emily Lucero. She has been really conversational. Questions asked- 1. Tell me about yourself. 2. Why OLIN? 3. What are your core values? (they are aligning your values with their data-driven values-based pillar) 4. How do you think your values have overtime and How your early life values have transformed you? 5. How have you implemented any global outlook or international experience in your work? She gave me the option to skip this question and let her ask another one. But I stayed with this even though I didn't have any international experience as such. She appreciated that. I advise to try to answer and not flee from any question. 6. If you are admitted to all the schools you applied to, how will you decide which one to go to? 7. What were your areas of improvement? 8. Do you have any questions for me? P.S: Treat the interview like an honest conversation."

"Straightforward interview. Conversational. 10 questions each about a 90 seconds and then I asked 4 questions. Discussed on the same. 25 mins overall. The questions asked were similar to the ones in the earlier debriefs."

"Hi All, Just had my interview and it was a bit weird I must say. It went on for only 20 mins. Interviewer looked more nervous than me and never smiled once even though I was smiling all the way. Surprisingly he did not ask Why MBA and Why Olin, which I thought were mandatory questions for Olin as they themselves highlighted in one of their seminars on admission. At last, interviewer said hope to see you in summer - which was probably the only positive thing in the interview. Lets see how it goes!"

"Had my interview half an hour back! I was a nervous wreck but the interviewer was nice and tried to build my confidence throughout. Standard questions like - Why MBA? - Why Olin? - What are the three things that I look for an MBA? etc., were asked. An ethical dilemma that I had faced and useful feedback that I had received from someone were some of the other questions. It went on for 35 minutes... Hoping for the best"

"1. Tell me about yourself 2. Why MBA now? 3. Short-term and long-term goal 4. Global industry trends that you implemented in your organization 5. 3 things that you were successful in and you were able to teach others 6. Tell me about a time you worked as a team and solved a problem 7. Tell me about a time you faced a failure and your learning 8. Tell me about a time you faced an ethical dilemma 9. Questions about community involvement 10. If we offer admission is there any reason you will not be able to join? 11. Any questions for me?"

"I had my interview with Ashley on the 7th. The interview went well and was really more of a conversation. The interviewer trying to get a feel for me as an individual as opposed to a corporate robot :) Since it was a skype interview and scheduled for the middle of a working day, I had booked an occupied meeting room at the office for the time slot, settled in with a do not disturb sign outside the door and tested/retested my internet connection. No surprises! To the questions, like a said they were very conversational; 1. Walk me through your resume and follow up question on certain decision points 2. The MBA trifecta - why MBA, why now and why Olin? 3. Questions about my short-term goal? 4. How I would cope with the cultural shift of moving the US 5. If admitted how do you intend to contribute to the school and student body? 6. Any questions to ask? The questions looked more than this when I was answering them, so I have probably missed out one or two (I must have had more than 2 cups of coffee that day) My advice to potential interviewees: Treat it like an honest conversation and you will be fine. Be in the moment and relive your career decisions and that way your passions would come out."

"I applied to Olin Business school in R2 in Nov,2015. I got an interview invite in January, 2016. However, there were really odd-timing slots on skype. My interview was at 2 a.m. in the night, so I was pretty pissed off as to why they don't care about the people who are living in Asia. My interview was with a person who had graduated from Olin and joined admissions team. He was a really interactive guy and asked me about things to delve deep into my experiences. We also had a common friend who was my colleague earlier and his batchmate in Olin thereafter. So we quite discus about her. The questions asked were: 1. Short term Long term goal? 2. Why MBA? Why Olin? 3. What criteria do you have for selecting B schools? Give me 3 points 4. What if you get selected to all the schools in which you have applied? 5. Any leadership experience you would like to share, Personal or professional? 6. teamwork experience ? 7. Any unique thing about you that is not in your resume? 8. My social community initiatives. he was really interested in what do I do besides job and apps. Overall this was a really nice experience, since he was a student an year earlier, he was quite considerate of situation of mine. Verdict : Converted Olin but got less amount of scholarship. I had decided to go there if there were a little more scholarship."

"Had a great interview experience with a current student. The questions were standard: - - - Walk me through your resume - - - Why MBA - - - Goals - - - Why Olin - - - Extracurricular activities - - - Any extracurricular activity which you led from start to finish - - - Any questions you feel that I haven't asked and will add value to your candidacy - - - Any questions for me? At the end he said he said that he personally felt that I gave a pretty good interview. :-D . So here's hoping I make the cut."

"Done with my interview half an hour back. Questions asked: 1. Walk me through your resume. 2. What are the things you wish to highlight in your resume that would matter to us? 3. Why MBA? 4. Why Olin? 5. Why you took construction industry as your career path? 6. What are your hobbies? 7. How you will contribute to Olin Class? 8. One thing which you want me to ask you in depth? 9. 3 things you see while selecting a school 10. Whats so unique about you that will make you an interesting candidate amongst your peer group at Olin. 11. Questions for us.. Thats was more or less of it. Ashley was sitting with a super-strict face...Scared!! :P"

"R2 applicant here, and just had the interview yesterday. It was more of a conversation rather than an interview. Jason asked me some standard questions such as: why Olin, walk me through your resume, What were the reasons why I chose my major in undergraduate, What else you would like me to know about you. Besides, he was so nice providing me with much information about the MBA at Olin, and let some time at the end of the interview to answer my questions. After the interview, he even reach out to his colleague to discuss and then give me further information about one finance-related course that I had asked in the interview. In general, the interview was very informative and comfortable. My advice is that you just need to be relaxed and be yourself. Good luck!"

"Hi Guys, I had my interview today at Ahmedabad. It was taken by Ms. Jan Snow. She was very nice and friendly. Questions Asked: 1. Difference between USA and India's study (I have done two international internships so it was kind of related to that) 2. Short term and long term goals 3. Why MBA 4. Why now 5. Leadership and Teamwork experience 6. What strengths your colleagues will highlight about you? 7. What strengths your supervisor will highlight about you? 8. Why OLIN? 9. What do I do in free time? 10. What other colleges have you applied to and if you get a call from everywhere, how will you decide? 11. Questions for me? Overall it was a very nice experience."

"I was anxious as I had not received the interviewer's Skype id even after sending an email asking for it. But I received a video call as per scheduled time - advise you to login and stay online at 5-10 minutes before start time. Below are some of the questions that I was asked: 1. Tell me about yourself 2. Why MBA? 3. Why now? 4. Why Olin? 5. How and when did you decide to apply? 6. Couple of "describe a situation when..." questions 7. Anything else that is not covered in your application but you would like us to know? 8. Questions for me. After a recovering from a connectivity issue, the interview went on for about 25 minutes."

"Standard questions: 1. Walk me through resume 2. Why MBA/Why now 3. Short term goal/Long term goal 4. One example about collaboration 5. How do you know about Olin/Why Olin 6. 3 factors to choose school if accepted 7. Any questions I thought I rambled on the whole interview... However, unless you come from non traditional background, which may make the interviewer resort to some behavioral questions, I think the questions are pretty standard."

"I think it went well. I was much more confident than my last interview a couple of days back. She asked me to take her through my Resume and my accomplishments. I was asked about 3 factors that I would consider if I were to choose between offers from different schools. The rest of the questions were about my short term and long term goals, why I chose Olin for my masters and why I chose to apply now. The interview went on for about 30 mins. I'm expecting a response from them by the end of the month."

"Just got done with my interview with Jason Brown, Pretty standard questions like - Introduce yourself, - What's your story - What are your goals, - Why MBA and - why now, - some behavioural questions and in the end if you were selected in all universities you applied in, which will you select and why. Overall it was a wonderful experience, they are looking for someone who can best fit in the Olin community."

"I had my Interview with Megan Waite yesterday. Interview lasted for almost 30 min. Skype got disconnected in the middle and she switched her video off after that. I felt nervous as I was just speaking to my Webcam. She said she has my resume and essay, and started asking questions after introducing herself. 1. Tell me about your story, you can highlight your achievements. 2. Why do want an MBA? 3. Why Olin? 4. Why ‘Specific Industry’ as mentioned in your essay? 5. Why ‘Specific Company’ as mentioned in your essay? And then she said she would ask few questions where she would assess my fit with respect to Olin’s core values. 6. Given a choice, would you work in a team or independently, and why? 7. Did you ever differ with your team member? 8. Tell me about a time when you displayed your team skills 9. How would you contribute to Olin? 10. If you were admitted in 5 schools, what 3 aspects would you consider while selecting a school? That was all. Finally I asked two questions, one on exchange programs and the other on restaurants in St. Louis, for which she answered. Hope this helps."

"Was interviewed by Colton. The interview started right on scheduled time. Colton tried to make me very comfortable letting me know that the conversation was about getting to know me better. The questions were pretty straight forward except a couple I guess (as far as I remember). He had read my resume and essays. He clarified at the start that there would be about 10 questions. Tell me a little bit about yourself/your story Why do you want an MBA now? What made you select the platform/Concentration "Consulting" in your Olin application and how did you decide that as against the concentration you pursued during your previous MBA in India? What is one creative thing that you did at work? What would be 1 most significant reason why you would join Olin? Which other schools have you applied to? Tell me about a time when you had success because of your ability to deal comfortably with a foreign national? (quite curve-ball) Do you have any questions for me? The interview lasted for 30 min (including my questions and his introduction) KM"