By the time you get through the interview in MBA admissions process, you could be already miles prior to the places you were just a month or two earlier, when you initially started preparing your business school applications. Still, while you’ve perhaps turned into proficient on yourself, your interview skills will be a little rusty (or, maybe you never fully developed them to start with).

While no two interviews are similar, we’ve conducted sufficient of them (and still have prepared enough clients for them) that we know the way to spot one that’s helping your cause vs. one that’s continuing to fall into the tubes. Here are some signs that your particular admissions interview is going well:

  • You appear as confident without having to be arrogant. Many interview experts stress that you should project confidence, while some tell their clients that they absolutely cannot come off as arrogant. They’re both right, and you need to strike a balance between both. You wouldn’t want the interviewer to feel sorry for you as you sweat through every question and answer, but as little humility is actually appealing.
  • Your answers are concise. Probably the surest sign that an interview goes badly is when you end up rambling through answers. This means that you weren’t prepared with the question, or you possess an answer but can’t present it in a brief, consistent way. Your answers should be conversational, but should always have a very clear beginning, middle, and end, and should take no more than a minute or two each.
  • You manage to get all your application themes on the table. If you get into an interview knowing that you really need to drive home your leadership capability and your logical skills, for example, then you certainly must do that at the end of the interview! Interviews often start off with “Walk me through your resume,” or “Tell me about yourself” — this is a great way to hit in your key themes immediately.
  • It’s a two-way conversation. Interviewers will differ prominently in their style, however, you ideally won’t doall of the talking during your interview. Comments like “That’s interesting, let me know more,” and “That’s pretty impressive,” are good signs that you’re getting throughout to your interviewer.
  • …but it’s still an interview. Ideally, you’ll be able to strike a brilliant balance between having a pleasant conversation but still maintaining the structure of the interview, ensuring that your themes are covered and that your interviewer covers everything he is required to cover.. After all, whenever your interviewer is finished he should certainly answer some questions with regards to you, and that he can’t do that if you’ve just spent 45 minutes talking about politics and football. Make it pleasing, but do not forget that it’s still an interview!

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