Hi everyone,

I just got done with my CBS interview, and honestly, it was quite an unexpected experience. The interviewer got fixated on one particular point while I was answering the “Tell me about yourself” question, and we ended up spending almost half the interview discussing it.

Throughout the rest of the interview, she kept interrupting my answers with follow-up questions like, “Why not this?” or “Why not that?” It felt like I was constantly being challenged, and I struggled to navigate the conversation the way I had expected.
CBS was my absolute top-choice school, and I genuinely feel like I might have messed this one up pretty badly. Should I take this as a sign that I’m likely to get dinged? I’m honestly feeling so upset right now. 😭😭

Hey Everyone!

I recently received an interview invite from Darden with a GMAT waiver and am now preparing for the interview.

A little about my profile: I’m an Indian female applicant with around 6 years of work experience at Parle Products where I’ve worked in brand management and marketing, handling brand strategy, consumer insights and marketing campaigns.

I’m looking to connect with Darden alumni or current students who could help me understand the interview format, share insights into the admissions process, and conduct a mock interview.

I’m happy to pay for professional mock interview sessions, so if you’re a Darden graduate, a current student or know someone who offers this please DM me.

Would really appreciate your help. Thanks in advance!

Hi all,

I have my HBS interview in 2 weeks, and I wanted to hear some tips from candidates who just gone through the interview, or people who can shed some light about how not to die from stress needing to know every single bit of my application left-to-right. My application has many many stories, I switched a job mid-way, I have a 6 month period living abroad, I'm more anxious about the interviewer digging into a small project I had many years ago and not remembering every tiny detail about it. How deep did you learn every part of your application?

How did you allocate the time between studying your CV bullets and preparing stories and examples for behavioral questions?

What makes the difference between a candidate reaching the interview stage and not passing it, and someone who's got accepted?

I'm really nervous, hope you guys can help me take it easy.

I'm also nervous that beside HBS, I didn't get any interview invitation so far (did interview with Kellogg, but they interview everyone). I got dinged from Booth, haven't heard anything from Stanford and Yale, and my only hopes besides HBS are Wharton next week and MIT.

How the hell can I get my shit together? It's the most stressful experience I've ever had.

I have 7 years of great work experience with demonstrated growth in management positions in nonprofits, with a 3.69 undergraduate GPA in a liberal arts degree, not quant. I know I can write strong essays and really make my case for getting an MBA to support mission-driven organizations.

My GMAT Quant isn't great even though DI and VR are strong, and while I'm working on getting it up, wondering about my chances for NYU/Columbia R2 as-is.

Hello all,

I applied for the full-time (2 year) Rotman MBA August 2027 start date & got accepted! I was expecting a little more scholarship in the offer and hence am unsure whether to accept the offer or not. I also wanted to apply to other US schools for 2028 start date (would apply next year after taking the GMAT). With this, I would also reapply next year for the same Rotman MBA program, just starting a year later. My question would be whether declining my offer for the August 2027 start date would harm my application chances if I reapply next year? Should I also just accept the Rotman offer right now, which is obviously a lot less riskier and more certain than hoping US programs would take me in (no clue what my GMAT score would even be).

As title suggests - looking for some insight into how needs-based scholarship works.

For context - I make around $120k, however in the last 3 years (which I understand is the look back period) it was more like $80k. I have around $150k in stocks/savings. I am from the UK.

NB if I was applying to something (MBA or other) in the UK there is no way I would qualify for anything needs-based, but I know US is different, average salaries are a lot higher etc, hence looking to understand.

The catch: a lot of the savings is from my parents - given to me to help with undergrad tuition and saving for a house deposit. I need to give this back; the idea was that they would provide an interest free loan. If I wasn’t doing an MBA I would’ve aimed to return this within a few years, to the tune of about $100k.

So my question is: 1) would need based aid take into account the fact most of the savings aren’t mine/ need to be given back. 2) if so, would my revised profile (salary + say $50k savings) be in the realms of qualifying for aid?

Feel crazy even writing this because in the UK, needs based is for people in challenged financial circumstances and I am certainly not that. But I know eg HBS/GSB give aid to roughly 50% - and have heard of others who I would perceive as very comfortable obtaining aid.

An MBA at a school that doesn’t give merit based scholarships is clearly a huge financial decision, particularly if I would need to return to UK and deal with loans on a UK salary (looking more likely given visa situation).

Appreciate any thoughts/ please dm as well if you have any detailed experience you’d be willing to share. Thanks all

I keep hearing a good consultant gives you a strategy for each school, not just essay edits. But I guess I'm not sure what that looks like on actual. So if you worked with either firm, did you get a written plan for each school? Did it show how your resume, recs, and essays tell one story, or was it general advice?

I am a 21-year-old BBA graduate who isn't very interested in pursuing an MBA. However, business owners and shopkeepers around me keep telling me that doing an MBA and taking up a job is necessary because running a business is full of frustration nowadays.

Since I mainly hear one side of the story, I want to hear from people who actually pursued an MBA and are working jobs: What has your real experience been like? What are the frustrations and rewards of your corporate journey, and what would you recommend to someone in my position?

myquals: BBA graduate

I found a program I liked. It’s a very large public university. My friend went to law school at said university and said the career services department was horrendous. Are the odds likely it’s terrible across the board and to even avoid the business school like the plague?

What are your favorite bang for your buck public university MBAs? I’m in PA and we have Pitt and Penn State. Open to any state. Not sure Id get into top 50 programs.

I had received an invite to interview with kellogg and had logged on to my application page and could initially see the option to choose an interview slot. I didn’t choose a slot then and have logged on again now and the option to interview itself has disappeared. Has this happened with anyone else? I still have 9 hours left for the 48 hour deadline to cross but I’m a little worried if I’ve lost the option now or is it just a technical glitch? can some please help asap thanks!

I scored a 685 on the GMAT Focus recently.
I am an Indian male (23 Y) working in IT for a top MNC(1 year work exp), working with clients across the world in a cross functional team across different timezones. I graduated from a Tier-1 Engineering college with a 3.9 GPA.
I’m currently working on some side projects for class 11 and 12 students and I have started volunteering in NGOs and I do CrossFit on the weekends.
I have a lot of extracurricular experience from my college life as well, I was heading a fest team for a Double ISO certified fest and I was the president of a Product Management club

I am planning on selectively applying only to a few of the top European MBA Programs, preferably INSEAD, LBS and HEC Paris.

I have decided to apply once I have around 4 years of work exp, could someone please give me some honest feedback of where I stand? Whether I would have to boost my GMAT score as well because I don’t know if a 685 would be sufficient considering I come from an oversaturated pool of applicants.

Hello all! Still waiting on Stanford interview invite… am I cooked if I have not yet received one? We are almost to November!

Hi- i am considering Darden for MBA and would appreciate if you can share any thoughts and insights on what Darden looks like for students and the kind of attributes they are looking for to see if i can be a good fit

Some MBA programs list their interview invite date at X date but their final decision date at a later Y date. If I don't get an interview invite by day X, does that mean I was rejected, or is there a possibility of a waitlist? Do they let you know you have been waitlisted by day X, the interview invite date, or day Y when final decisions are released?

I still haven’t received portals for Stern, Anderson, Marshall or Foster?

(I received the video essay for Foster, but not the log in portal)

im a guy pursuing a tier 2 electrical engineering major in my first year and i really dont have any interest in engineering im just doing it because my family forced me to but i wanna do something in high finance like IB or PE i have a coursera subscription and am trying to study financial concepts and stuff so it would be really helpful if i could get some advice

edit 1 : mesa bots downvoted

People who got accepted into top business schools for MBA like maybe INSEAD, M7, LBS etc recently (first of all, congratulations 🩷) what were your profiles like? Academics, and what else is necessary? Pls I would like to know more about what I should be doing these 4 years in my university (BBA student, Finance major and Marketing minor)

Thanks in advance 🩵

Hello everyone , I need some assistance regarding mba in europe someone who experienced or been there can guide through processes i have 1.5 years of experience after completing my graduation , Looking ahead for positive responses,Thanks

I am a big 4 consultant (international student) hoping to use the MBA to pivot to MBB in the US. Given the rising costs of an MBA, would you still say it is worthwhile to pursue the MBA? Would using a masters program which is often 50% cheaper be an easier way to simulate a post-MBA role? What is the value prop of a US MBA now for international students, especially given the immigration climate.

Hi everyone, I'm a final-year B.Tech CSE student (graduating 2027) at IILM University, Delhi. My resume is attached with personal details removed.

My background:

About 1.5 years of cross-functional experience across brand strategy, UI/UX, full-stack development, and growth

Co-founded two ventures (a student freelance marketplace and a streetwear label) and am currently building a logistics SaaS platform

Currently working as a growth intern at a D2C brand

Target roles for now: Brand, Growth, Founder's Office, Business Analyst

My end goal:

I want to reach VP/board-level leadership in a corporate setting in the long run. My plan is to work for 1-2 years first, then do a top MBA in India (ISB is my main target) as a stepping stone toward that.

Funding:

I'll be financing the MBA through an education loan, so placements, average packages, and ROI matter a lot to me.

What I'm confused about:

Which exam should I take, CAT or GMAT, if I'm only targeting Indian B-schools?

Is 1-2 years of work experience enough before applying, given my profile is more startup-heavy than traditional?

Realistically, which colleges can I target (ISB, IIMs, others) with this profile?

Which B-schools are good for ROI if I'm repaying a loan, and how easy is it to get an education loan for them?

How do I start preparing while balancing a job and college?

If anyone with a similar profile has gotten into a good program, I'd love to hear how you approached it. Feedback on the resume is also welcome.

Thanks in advance!

When I applied for deferred programs I had no full time work experience, didn't write my essays as well as I could now, and had a worse score.

Now I retook my GRE and got a 340 (170, 170, 6.0W). Also have a 3.8 undergrad GPA/3.95 masters GPA in Computer Science. I also got a promotion to Senior Software Engineer I in 1.5 years and have experience showing clear leadership. I have a lot of substantive stories to tell in my essays now compared to before when I was applying with with the stories from the few internships I had.

I think deferred was much more competitive than the normal cycle so I should have more success in the normal cycle. I am interested in IB so my dream schools are Wharton/Harvard/Booth/Columbia + Stern as a safety

Should I just drop it and reapply again (planning to reapply next fall at 2 YOE/hopefully matriculate at 3 YOE).

Would really appreciate any advice

Someone here posted that "Darden interviewers never read your resume." Someone else responded "in most schools they don't read it". Let me tell you something about HBS: your interviewer already read everything. The essays, the resume, the recommendations. Alumni interviews at other schools start from zero. HBS starts from your file, and a specialized adcom member across from you is testing whether the picture holds together.

It moves fast. Ten to twenty questions in thirty minutes. They will cut you off mid-sentence and move on. That is not rudeness. The pace is the test. Can you be precise when you have forty-five seconds? Can you structure an answer and demonstrate a trait when you have zero time to improvise?

The prep is not rehearsing answers. Read your own application like someone trying to poke holes in it. Find the three places where the story is soft. The job change that looks sideways. The promotion that took too long. That person you mentored a decade ago. The goal that doesn't quite follow. Have a thirty-second version of each, because you will never get the two-minute version out.

One more thing people miss. Within twenty-four hours you write the reflection. How well did we get to know you. It is the last word of your application and most people waste it summarizing. Don't summarize. Say the one thing the conversation didn't quite get to.

Questions welcome in the comments or DMs.