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com
Daniel Kim

Interview
Guide
Harvard Business School

2019–2020
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Daniel Kim

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What role does the interview

play in the admissions process?
MBA programs employ a holistic evaluation process, so the interview represents only one aspect of the ad-
missions decision. Still, it is a very important and influential element of the admissions process and should be
approached with the same level of attention as the other parts of your application.

“The [invitation to] interview is a positive indicator of interest, but is not a guarantee of admission; it serves
as one element among many that are considered as we complete a final review of your candidacy,” the Har-
vard Business School (HBS) website states.

HBS also uses the interview as an engagement tool by encouraging all invited applicants to come to campus
to interview. In addition to the interview, an HBS campus visit may include sitting in on a class, touring the
campus, listening to a faculty panel, and mingling with current students.

Our past clients describe HBS interviews most often as “friendly,” “conversational,” and “warm.” Also, “Why
HBS?” is a common question. Therefore, the admissions committee wants to not only learn why you are right
for HBS, but also ensure you understand why the program is right for you.

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What is the admissions

committee’s perspective on
interviews?
HBS uses interviews primarily to get a feel for applicants’ personality and communication skills and to ensure
that they are well versed in what HBS has to offer and why it is the right MBA program for them. We believe
that HBS is truly interested in hearing what you have to say and wants applicants to take full advantage of this
opportunity to explain their story and qualifications beyond what is conveyed in the electronic application.

You have the opportunity to shine in the
interview process. We want to get to know you
beyond what we can learn on paper. The best
advice I can give is to be yourself. Each person
who comes in to interview has a different
experience and background. Bring your
individual perspective, your voice, to the table.
 HBS Direct from the Director Admissions Blog, 1/18
[There] is no stock list of questions. Each
interview is tailored to each candidate, and
the interviewer will have read the application
in full. … The reason we like that is it allows us
By the time we invite people to the interview
stage, you have about a 50% or 60% chance
of being admitted. The interviews for us are
very different than at least other interview
processes I have been a part of. They are
different in the sense that we are trying to
get to know someone in a really deep way
and again project how they will perform in
the program. Things that come up that are
different in our interview process is we have
an incredibly small group of people who do
interviews. We do that because we want them
to be very well trained and try to eliminate as
many biases as we can.
 Chad Losee, Managing Director of MBA Admissions and
Financial Aid; Poets&Quants, 9/16

to get beyond the surface of the resume and

go to something really interesting you might
have said in your essay or something your
recommender might have mentioned that
you accomplished that we want to hear more
about.

 Chad Losee, Managing Director of MBA Admissions and

Financial Aid; Poets&Quants, 9/16

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[We] are looking for all the same things in the

interview as we are in the application. At the
end, we write up notes about your interview
and those notes go into your file. But it’s not
that the interview is more important or less
important than the application. Everything
is read in full along with the interview
notes before we make a decision. It’s really
important for us to get to know you well, but
it’s not more important than the application or
any other part of the process.

 Chad Losee, Managing Director of MBA Admissions and

Financial Aid; Poets&Quants, 9/16

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What type of interview can

I expect?
Invitation-Only Process

Interviews at HBS are “by invitation only,” meaning that the Admissions Office extends invitations to selected
applicants after reading their application—and only those invited applicants can schedule interviews.

Comprehensive Format

At HBS, interviews are “comprehensive,” meaning that the interviewer will have reviewed the candidate’s en-
tire application at least once before the interview and will possibly use that information to customize the con-
versation. Therefore, the interview could include very specific questions about the applicant’s work history,
target industry, educational background, or essay content. In addition to providing clarification on whatever
topics the interviewer raises, HBS applicants should seek to add new information beyond what is covered in
their application, such as additional stories, recent accomplishments, or further reflections.

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Where will my interview
take place?
On Campus, In Person
Many HBS interviews are conducted face-to-face on the school’s
campus, and the school encourages all who can visit the campus to
do so. Although the location of your interview has no influence on your
chances for admission, in-person interviews can sometimes feel more
natural, with you and your interviewer sitting down together in a quiet
space at the school to have a conversation about your candidacy.
On-campus interviews also allow you to interact with students and
admissions representatives during your visit.
Off Campus, In Person
HBS offers off-campus, face-to-face interviews in hub city locations
around the world, to which admissions officers travel.
Remote
HBS also offers Skype interviews. However, the school’s website
states, “Neither the timing of your interview invitation nor its format,
whether in-person or via Skype, implies anything about the status
of your application or affects your candidacy.” These interviews
generally follow the same format as the other types of interviews the
school offers, but some candidates may have difficulty establish-
ing a connection with their interviewer when they are not physically
face-to-face. If you do a Skype interview, treat it exactly as you would
an in-person interview. Find a quiet place with a reliable connection,
remove any possible distractions, and dress the part!
How long will the
interview last?
The HBS website states that interviews last
30 minutes. According to our past applicants,
interviews rarely go beyond the allotted time
slot.
30 minutes
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Who will interview me?

Admissions Committee Members

At HBS, admissions officers are the only people who interview candidates, both on and off campus. Many of
our past clients have reported that two admissions officers interviewed them at once.

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Extra component:
Post-Interview Reflection
Unlike most business schools, HBS requires all interviewed students
to complete a “Post-Interview Reflection” within 24 hours of the
interview. This component is intended to be a way for the candidate
to reflect on the interview while it is still fresh in their mind. “It’s very
interesting for us to hear how well we did get to know you. We certainly
have our impressions from the interview and we do our best to be fair
and as objective as possible, but then it’s really important for us to
understand how you as the applicant have experienced that,” HBS’s
former managing director of MBA admissions and financial aid told
Poets&Quants.
HBS’s website states, “Detailed instructions [for completing the
Post-Interview Reflection] will be provided to those applicants who
are invited to the interview process.” Be sure to follow all instructions
provided. As with the application essay, this Post-Interview Reflection
is typically open-ended; you can structure it however you wish and
write about whatever you want to tell the committee. HBS urges inter-
viewed applicants not to approach this reflection as a formal essay but
instead “as an email you might write to a colleague or supervisor after
a meeting.”
As soon as your interview is over, jot down all the topics covered and
stories you discussed. Consider how well you feel you expressed
yourself as a candidate and what you would bring to the class, and
think about any piece of you or any specific story you may have missed
sharing or would like to expand upon. If you interview on campus, also
note any observations about your time there. For example, sitting in
on a class might have reminded you of a compelling past experience,
or participating in the case method may have provided insight into
an approach you could use in some way in the future. Whatever these
elements are, tie them to aspects of your background and profile while
adding some new thoughts and information about yourself. This last
part is key—simply describing your visit will not teach the admissions
committee anything about you, and a flat statement like “I loved the
case method” will not make you stand out. Similarly, offering a sum-
mary of everything the admissions committee already knows about
you will not advance your candidacy and would constitute a lost op-
portunity to keep the committee learning about who you are.
In terms of length, we have seen successful submissions ranging from
400 words to more than 1,000. We recommend aiming for approxi-
mately 500, but adjust as appropriate to thoroughly tell the admissions
committee what you feel is important, while striving to be succinct.
Note that HBS specifically mentions that emails that give any indica-
tion that they were produced before the applicant had the interview
will “raise a flag for us,” so do not over-prepare before the day of your
interview, and do aim to truly reflect on the experience you have dur-
ing the interview and campus visit.
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What do past mbaMission

applicants say about the
interview experience?
Our clients who interviewed with HBS in the past few years consistently described their interview experience
with the school as “nice,” “friendly,” and “warm.” Many have noted how fast-paced the questions were. Yet,
HBS is not interested in putting candidates on the spot or trying to stump them, but rather in making sure that
applicants have a solid grasp of the ways the MBA program would benefit them and how they would fit with
the school’s community. Because only admissions officers conduct interviews at HBS, the interview is also a
good opportunity for the applicant to ask questions about the program and the HBS community.

Here is a sample of what our past clients have told us about their interview experience at HBS:

I felt really great about it. [The interviewer]
welcomed me and started off with some small
talk around where I was traveling in from,
etc. She didn’t necessarily seem to have a set
agenda/list of questions—the conversation
progressed naturally. She asked questions
she seemed genuinely interested in hearing
more about based on what I was saying, etc.
I left the interview feeling really happy with
the experience, and I greatly enjoyed the
conversation.
[Both interviewers] were very kind, and I could
tell they were genuinely trying to understand
me and my story. The interview was exactly
30 minutes and consisted of approximately
25 questions, so it was very rapid fire (which
I’d anticipated). I didn’t feel like they were
trying to trick me, but were instead looking
for additional detail behind my transitions,
activities, and personality.

The interview drilled in on my specific project

The interview was mostly focused on my
professional career and more specifically
on my company. The interview went by very
quickly. I was not asked any questions about
why an MBA, why HBS, or career goals. It was
conversational and very friendly.
experience and the business models of the
companies I am involved in, almost like mini
cases embedded in the interview to make sure
I can react fast and think on my feet (e.g., a lot
of topic-switching intermingled with why, why,
why).

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The experience went by very quickly—even
though I was prepared for it to fly by. The
interviewers introduced themselves and
then we dove right into questions about
technical topics that I’ve worked on. There
were no direct questions about why an MBA
or anything like that. Rather, I believe they
used the questions to see what my deeper
motivations were. Additionally, since I do not
come from a quant background, I think they
pursued technical questions to test quant
skills without directly asking about them.
Overall, it was a positive experience and I
enjoyed speaking to them.
Most of the interview was conversational and
flowed smoothly from topic to topic. There
were few instances when I could visibly notice
more engagement from the interviewer. None
of the questions were a surprise, nor were
there any brain teasers. The interview stuck
to the 30-minute time frame. The 30 minutes
passed very quickly.
My interviewer was warm and welcoming. He
asked many questions, one after another, and
stuck to a strict 30-minute time frame. The
interview flowed like a conversation, and it
was evident from the specific questions he
asked that he knew my application in depth.
I found the questions to be broad-based
but aimed at getting to know me better
as an overall candidate. In particular, [the
interviewer] was very interested in learning
more about [X industry in my country], how
it’s different from the U.S. and Europe, and
how I see it evolving. He also touched on my
future goals and some of my hobbies outside
of work. The tone was conversational but
also attentive, as he often asked follow-up
questions off the cuff. In summary, I think
that he knew my application thoroughly and
wanted to test whether I knew my application
as thoroughly as he did.
[The interviewer was] very friendly,
sympathetic, and engaging—he would
complete my thoughts, finish my sentences,
and nod encouragingly. Not at all the dead-
pan response I’d expected. Questions were
probing but inquisitive, nothing ‘gotcha’ style—
it was like a good conversation.
My interview felt relaxed and comfortable,
probably because I had anticipated each
question as a potential question. While it does
go by quickly, it did not feel rapid-fire or like I
was being grilled. I expected questions about
my essay, though, so I was surprised that
there were none.
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My interviewer really did seem focused on [The interview was] pleasant but fast-paced.
taking the interview along a path that followed The interviewer did have a list of questions
from one question to the next, which was she wanted to cover but gave me enough
nerve-wracking because we spent a lot of room to answer at ease. [There were] lots of
time not talking about me. For example, he cross questions, but not with the intention to
would ask about a company I’m working with, put you on the spot.
then about what I thought of that company,
what they did well, etc. But it was pleasant and
engaging. I think a lot of it was designed to
see how you handle the line of questioning I’ve
seen them use in the case method classes—
pushing you to clarify your ideas on the spot,
think deeper, etc.

Advice from Past Clients Who Have Interviewed at HBS

Come prepared ready to discuss everything
in your essay and resume two to three levels
deeper. They are not looking to trick you,
but they want to see how you will comport
yourself in a case study, so they are looking
to see how you think on your feet and defend
ideas and opinions. I was surprised at how
many questions fit into 30 minutes, and it
went by quickly. Definitely sit in on a class
if you can—they want to know that you
understand what makes the HBS case method
unique. Also, after the interview, sit down and
write down the questions you were asked and
your responses. It happens quickly, but my
notes were very helpful when I sat down to
write my Post-Interview Reflection that night.
The interview is an opportunity to show your
personality and reveal new information the
admissions committee doesn’t already know
about you—they are looking for people who
will bring distinctive perspectives to the
classroom.
Know your resume and application inside
out. Be able to talk about every bullet
of your resume in detail. Know your
weaknesses (especially if you know what your
recommenders write about), and be able to
talk about how you’re working to overcome
them.

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Be able to answer the ‘why’ behind the
decisions you’ve made. Know your industry,
know the trends, have an opinion on the future
of your industry and your company. Know the
overall market landscape well and how you
want to progress your career in your chosen
field, including your ideal firm you want to
work for. Don’t overprepare, but be confident
in your answers and your stories.
Really know your story inside and out. Know
the ‘why’ behind each transition you’ve made
and how it relates to who you are as a person.
Know your application. Be prepared to quickly
shift to another question if something sparks
your interviewer’s interest in the middle of
your answer.
I think it is helpful to know your resume and
essay cold. You should have some stories
that offer color to what your application said.
I also think it is helpful to read business news
in the lead-up to the interview. I also think it
is helpful to read about industries that you do
not know about. Lastly, I’d say that it is most
beneficial to know what you want to say but
not necessarily know how you want to say it
(i.e., don’t rehearse responses)—be genuine
and allow for the opportunity for new thoughts
to arise as you respond.
Know your industry well and be ready to
talk about trends and companies in the
industry. Also, analyze any organization in
your application, whether a school club or
volunteering organization, like a business,
and be ready to discuss how they could be
improved. Besides these, just know your story
and application very well, and while reviewing
your application, keep asking why.
Overall, I’d highly recommend visiting a class
before the interview. They really want to see
you’ve done your diligence and know what
you’re getting into with the case method. It’s
also clear reflecting on the interview and my
class visit that the two are meant to be quite
similar experiences.
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How can I prepare for the
interview?
Although the focus and style of HBS’s admissions interviews can vary,
you should expect to be asked about your personal, professional, and
academic experiences and could receive questions meant to reveal
your knowledge about the school.
HBS interviews typically start with a career-oriented, open-ended
question or prompt, such as “Tell me about your industry.” or “Tell me
about your current company.” This is your chance to briefly introduce
yourself, both personally and professionally. Since discussions about
your views and experiences on your own company and industry are
common during HBS interviews, be prepared to comment on any large
recent developments or transactions that occurred in your company
or industry, future potential trends within your sector, overall market
landscape, and recent/current events related to your industry.
HBS interviews are notoriously fast-paced and often include many
questions about your professional accomplishments and leadership
potential. According to our past applicants, these questions—often
seemingly intended to find out why applicants made the decisions
they did in their career—tend to take up the majority of the interview
time. Be prepared to provide detailed information and stories in these
subject areas beyond what is presented in your resume and applica-
tion. Practice describing your projects to someone who knows nothing
about your role or industry, which is similar to what you will do with your
classmates during case study discussions at HBS. This demonstrates
your communication skills and ability to explain and translate your
world to others who are not familiar with it.
The interviews at HBS sometimes include career goals questions or
prompts, such as “What do you want to do after your MBA?”
At times, HBS interviews include school-specific questions. These
could include “Why do you want to come to HBS?” or “What are you
looking forward to at HBS?” If you are not ready to answer these types
of questions in detail, you must invest the time necessary to get to
know HBS thoroughly and to identify the programs, centers, clubs,
classes, professors, extracurricular opportunities, and other resourc-
es it offers that relate directly to your plans and your personality.
Rarely, HBS interviews include personal questions to help the inter-
viewer evaluate whether you would be a good match for the program.
We strongly recommend that you practice vocalizing your responses
rather than just writing them out on paper. Try using a timer to get
a sense of how long you typically take to answer each question, and
practice in front of a mirror to detect (and then practice minimizing)
any facial tics or distracting hand gestures. Mock interviews can be
particularly helpful and revealing; provide a friend or family member
with your resume and a list of possible questions (see the next section),
and then have them interview you for 30 minutes and give you feedback
on your performance. Guard against preparing your responses word
for word and memorizing them, however, so that you do not sound
over-rehearsed and artificial. For more in-depth interview preparation,
consider scheduling a mock interview with an mbaMission consultant!
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Practice interview sequences

The following five lists present exact questions, in order, asked in actual HBS interviews during the 2018–2019
application season, as reported by our past clients. Although you can never be certain which questions you
will receive, and questions will undoubtedly vary to some degree, these samples serve to illustrate how an
HBS interview is likely to progress.

Note: Identifying information about the applicants has been removed. Some questions have been edited for
clarity.

Sequence 1
1. Explain your experience on your current team.
2. What was a challenge and what was a positive from when you worked on your project?
3. Why did you switch from your last role into this one?
4. What did you learn from [X leadership program]?
5. Tell me about your internship. Why didn’t you go into [that field]?
6. Tell me about why you are interested in [X field].
7. Teach me about [X technology] and how you think it will transform the industry.
8. What did I not ask you?

Sequence 2
1. Help me understand what your start-up does.
2. How is your product going?
3. What have you learned from your start-up experience?
4. Would you go back to [your current employer after HBS]?
5. Tell me about a time when you and a colleague wanted to take different approaches.
6. In [X project], what went less smoothly than expected?
7. How would HBS be transformational for you?
8. Did you visit HBS?
9. Which class/case did you see?
10. What did you think of the case?
11. What type of person would you like to sit next to in class?
12. Tell me about [a quote from your essay].

Sequence 3
1. Where have you just arrived from?
2. How does your new role differ from your old one?
3. How did you get to your new role?
4. How did you choose your undergraduate major?
5. You led a sizable team. How did you do that? What did you learn?
6. You mentioned that you like icebreakers. What is interviewing with you like?

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7. What skills are you working on?
8. Was your role [at X company] quantitative?
9. Walk me through what you actually do.
10. What’s the state of [X project]?
11. How did you end up at [your company]?
12. What didn’t you like about your first job?
13. Your resume shows you were clearly very successful at this company. What made you so successful?
14. Did you ever really mess up in your new role?
15. Your new role sounds like [it provides] what you described that you wanted out of business school. Do
you still need to go?

Sequence 4
1. Why was it important for you to share [X fact] about your upbringing in your essay?
2. Tell us about your time at [X company]. Why did you transition to [Y company]?
3. Tell us about a news story you are following outside of your industry.
4. What is a company or a leader you admire outside of your industry?
5. Tell us about the role you play on a team.
6. What are three of your strengths/weaknesses?
7. Tell us about [X volunteering activity] you participate in.
8. What do you do?
9. Describe your organization.
10. How do you fit into your organization structure?
11. What is your communication style like?
12. Did you sit in on a class? What did you think?
13. What does your ideal HBS class look like?

Sequence 5
1. Tell me about your decision to go to [X college] from high school.
2. What is one thing you would tell your first semester self in college if you could have a do-over?
3. What are five characteristics of a good manager? Why?
4. Grade your managers on a scale of A to F on each of the five criteria points.
5. Why did you give both managers the same grade in [X category]?
6. Tell me one spontaneous thing you have done.
7. What is one piece of feedback you received that you disagreed with? Why?
8. If you had 18 months to do whatever you want, where would you want to work, who would you like to
shadow, and where would you want to live?
9. Tell me one thing you do outside of school and work.
10. You talked about your interest in [X hobby]. How will you apply it to being a leader?
11. How should a leader balance humor? Do they need to have a balance?
12. Tell me about a time when you had a conflict with someone.
13. Do you have any questions for me?

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14. What are your thoughts on [X merger]?
15. What was different between the culture of [X company] and [Y company] that you worked for?

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Notoriously challenging
questions
Having performed thousands of mock interviews over the years and reviewed even more post-interview
reports, we believe these are the six questions that MBA applicants find most difficult to master. Note that
questions marked with an asterisk are particularly common at the school in question (in this case, HBS).

Why should we take you?

Be ready to articulate your two or three greatest strengths and to support each one with a thoughtful anec-
dote that validates your claims. Research your target school so that you are able to relate each of your high-
lighted strengths to an aspect of the program in a meaningful way; this will simultaneously show that you have
done your homework on the school and that you are a serious and thoughtful applicant.

To which other schools are you applying?

List peer schools only. You do not want to give the impression that you consider the school at which you are
interviewing either a “safe” choice or a “reach.” Be prepared to discuss your target school relative to the peer
institutions you mention and to identify specific characteristics about the target school that you find more
appealing on the whole.

If you are not accepted to any business school this year, what will you do?

A large part of mastering this question lies in how you respond, rather than what you say. Project confidence
and show that your plans for the future involve a high level of intentionality. A suitable answer would be some-
thing like this: “I am hopeful that I will be accepted to your program this year, but if not, I will definitely reapply,
because I know an MBA is important for me as I seek to transition in my career. I know I need to develop my
skills in the areas of [areas of importance to you] to achieve my career goals.”

What are your weaknesses? or What have you learned from a failure?

Be honest. Any attempt to disguise a weakness or shift responsibility away from yourself will actually be det-
rimental! Show that you are cognizant of areas or ways in which you can improve, and then express a sincere
interest in making a positive change. Reveal how and what you learned from a failure and, if possible, provide a
subsequent example in which you succeeded with your new approach.

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What have we not covered that you wish I had asked about?*

Have a mental list ready of your best attributes, most impressive accomplishments, and reasons for target-
ing the program. Then, if any remain that you have not broached by the time you are asked this question, this
is your opportunity to share them. If, on the other hand, you have truly exhausted all your material, you can
instead offer a quick overview that recaps your strongest points and stories: “We discussed my early promo-
tion at American Express, my reasons for wanting to attend this program specifically, my career goals, my
leadership experience with Friends of the New York Public Library, and my passion for photography. I think we
have everything covered.”

What other questions do you have for me?

Always have a few thoughtful questions prepared about your target program to show that you have researched
and are genuinely interested in the school. Keep in mind that questions vary depending on the person in-
terviewing you, so you should tailor your queries accordingly. For example, an alumnus may not know about
the latest on-campus news but can talk about his personal experience at the school and subsequent career
success; a student interviewer would be unable to discuss post-graduate topics but can provide insight into
courses, professors, and clubs. Avoid basic questions like “What makes this program special?” or “What cours-
es do you have for aspiring consultants?” You should already know the answers to such questions at this point.

Demonstrate that you have advanced knowledge of the school by including references to specific offerings
and resources in your queries: “I am interested in an individualized First-Year Project. How many students
pursue these relative to the more conventional option?” Such nuanced questions help prove your authentic
interest in the program.

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Daniel Kim
What if I get stumped during
the interview?
Many applicants worry that during their interview, they will be asked
a challenging question that will leave them awkwardly silent and that
the moment will effectively put an end to their candidacy at the target
school. Although such an experience would certainly be uncomfort-
able—and we suggest, of course, that you definitely do your best to get
ready for your interview so as to avoid this kind of predicament—some-
times even well-prepared candidates find themselves “stumped.” We
can assure you, however, that an awkward pause in an interview will
not cancel out all the positive elements of your application. Still, being
ready for such a situation, should one occur, is important, so we offer
the following tips on how to mitigate an uncomfortable moment:
1. Resist the urge to launch into a story. Your instinct may be to
just start speaking, hoping that you will find the right story or
answer as you progress. This is a high-risk strategy, because if
it goes wrong, this can compound the problem. Instead, pause
for a moment to recall an appropriate story. To buy yourself a
little extra time, you can even say, “That is a good question. I am
going to have to think about it for a moment,” before answering.
2. Take a sip of water. Many interviewers will offer you a glass of
water at the beginning of your meeting. If your interviewer does
so, accept the offer, and then use the water throughout the
interview as a buffer to buy time or help yourself slow down.
If you get stumped, taking a sip of water can provide a brief
opportunity to pause naturally, alleviating any awkwardness
before you continue speaking.
3. Maintain your poise. If you absolutely cannot answer a ques-
tion, do not get overly apologetic or grovel. Simply acknowl-
edge that you are having trouble with the question and politely
ask if you might come back to it later in the conversation. This
is not a best-case scenario, but it is certainly far better than
rambling and apologizing. A confident approach during a tricky
moment may even impress!
4. Forget about it. If you simply cannot answer a question, accept
the fact and move on. Do not dwell on the situation. If you spend
the rest of the interview thinking about that moment, you will be
distracted and struggle with any subsequent questions.
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Daniel Kim

What should I wear to the

interview?
Although HBS does not specify a dress code on its website, you can safely assume that you should dress in a
professional manner, regardless of where your interview takes place.

Follow these rules to look the part for your MBA interview at any school:

1. Always follow any guidelines the school provides on dress code.

2. If the school does not specify a dress code, wear business attire for an on-campus interview as well as
for an off-campus interview with a member of the admissions staff.
3. Business casual attire is often best when meeting an alumnus/alumna off campus, though you may
consider politely asking your interviewer about proper attire in advance.
4. Jeans, T-shirts, and ripped, wrinkled, or unclean clothing are never appropriate.
5. Showing some creativity and style is okay, but do not go overboard.
6. Avoid wearing strong-smelling perfume or cologne.
7. Bring a copy of your resume printed on nice paper.
8. Make sure you turn your cell phone off.

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Daniel Kim

Should I send a thank you?

In short, you should always send a brief thank you email after your interview. Write and send the note as soon
as possible after your interview—the same day or the next is ideal. Interviewers usually need to submit their
feedback on candidates within 24–48 hours, so you want your message to be received quickly. Be sure to ask
for your interviewer’s business card or email address before you finish the interview, if it has not already been
provided.

Follow these tips to write an effective thank you note:

1. Be sure to mention specifics from your conversation or visit.

2. If you realized after the interview that you forgot to make an important point about your candidacy,
you can (succinctly!) include that point in your thank you email.
3. Always check to make sure you have spelled all names correctly in your email, including the name of
your interviewer, the school, any program or course you discussed, or any professor you met.
4. Limit your email to no longer than a few sentences. Keep it direct, clear, and to the point.

Here is a sample thank you message:

Dear Mr. Jones:

Thank you for meeting with me to discuss my interest in XYZ School’s MBA program. I appreciated your
valuable insight into the advanced finance classes, particularly Professor John Smith’s “Portfolio Invest-
ing” course. Should I be so lucky as to be accepted, I will definitely enroll in that class and know it would
be incredibly helpful in my future investment career. After speaking with you and several students, I am
confident that XYZ offers everything I am seeking, both personally and professionally. Thank you again
for your time, and I hope to see you on campus this fall.

Warm regards,

Jane Doe

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Daniel Kim

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