MiF interview

Congrats, you've made it through the application and were fortunate enough to get called for an interview. Here is my experience with the process.

- Who will interview you?
The program will ask an alumnus who lives/works in your area to sit down for a chat. In my case it was a 2006 graduate of the program.

- When and where will the interview take place?
That's up to the interviewer and you; you basically make whatever arrangements that suit both of you. I interviewed in a coffee shop after work, but a fellow classmate interviewed on a weekend. Coming from work I was dressed in standard work clothes, i.e. suit, but my classmate was specifically told to dress casually.

- What do you discuss?
The short answer is that every interview is different. It's my understanding that the program will send a list of questions or points they would like cleared up to the interviewer, but the interview structure is up to the interviewer.

My meeting was really a casual chat, where he occasionaly asked a question but most of the conversation seemed to flow naturally from topic to topic. We talked quite a bit about my motivation for the program, what I aim to get out of it and what I plan to do afterward. This was probably the most important part of my meeting and speaking to classmates and alumni everyone agrees that this is the interview's main focus. In that regard, be sure to know your story well. Be able to explain what you want to do, why, and how the program fits into your plan. In my case I discussed the job I wanted to do, what skills I lacked in doing it, and how the program will bring those skills.

On a related note, I was asked about which electives I would take to get those skills and what kind of company I aimed to work in post graduation. Look over the elective list and think hard about which companies you will target in your job search in case this comes up. Also think about your job search strategy, this was part of our discussion also.

Other than motivation, we talked mostly about his experiences in the program, which led to great discussion. We talked about everything from his job search experience, classes and the level of academic rigor, programs such as Taboo (a culture fair), and classmates. Note, the classmate discussion led to brief behavioral questions about my experience with teamwork as teamwork is key for many of the courses. The questions weren't out of the ordinary though.

Have questions to ask prepared of course, but in my meeting there really was no Q&A part. The questions I wanted to ask, about coursework, living in London, etc. seemed to naturally come up in our conversations.

All in all my meeting was perhaps an hour and a half. The main point is to know very well your motivation very well. Do that and you should be fine.

Best of luck