The Last Mile: Crushing Your Deferred MBA Interviews | dMBA Weekly Check-In: April 14, 2025
Applying to the deferred MBA is kind of like running a marathon, and it's gonna take some work to cross the finish line.
Happy Monday! Next Monday is Marathon Monday here in Boston, where over 30,000 of the world’s greatest long-distance runners come to compete in the world’s oldest and most famous marathon event.
Around the 20-mile mark of the Boston Marathon, runners will encounter the so-called Heartbreak Hill, notorious for being the point at which athletes start to “hit a wall.”
Applying for the deferred MBA is a lot like running a marathon. Okay, not really. That’s definitely an exaggeration. But think about it: you’ve done all the research. You’ve picked out your schools. You’ve passed your exams. You’ve even submitted your application.
Now it’s time to push to the finish line in the last mile. It’s interview time.
In today’s check-in:
Quick plug on MBAxcel Coaching!
On Your Radar: This week’s deferred MBA admissions events
Tip of the Week: Don’t relax just yet. It’s time for interviews!
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Join fellow deferred MBA applicants on Discord and LinkedIn to discuss admissions tips, share feedback, and navigate the world of dMBA programs together.
In our Discord, you’ll find…
School-specific forums
Channels for specific application requirements (GMAT, GRE, essays, interviews, etc.)
Voice channels/study lounges
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On Your Radar
UVA (Darden): Future Year Scholars Program Overview
When: Tuesday, April 15, 2025, 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM EDT
Where: Virtual
Details: Interested in learning more about the MBA degree and the deferred enrollment pathway? Join Katherine Alford and Merav Frazier from Darden Admissions to learn more about this opportunity.
Harvard (HBS): 2+2 Program Application Q&A
When: Wednesday, April 16, 2025, 9:00 AM to 9:30 AM EDT
Where: Virtual
Details: If you’re a final-year undergraduate student (or master’s student) contemplating or gearing up to apply for the 2+2 program, this virtual session is for you. The session will be hosted by a member of the MBA Admissions Team and will include a short presentation on the admissions process and plenty of time for questions. As this event will be primarily Q&A based, we encourage you to attend a 2+2 Program Information Session beforehand and come with questions. We look forward to meeting you!
Northwestern (Kellogg): Kellogg Future Leaders Last Minute Application Tips
When: Monday, April 21, 2025, 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM CDT
Where: Virtual
Details: Join us for a virtual chat with members of the admissions team to get your application questions answered. We'll cover everything you need to know to submit your application including essay, recommendations, and deadlines.
Editor’s Note
Many dMBA schools offer on-campus events regularly, which I do not always include in these posts. I’ll usually highlight them here if they are deferred MBA-specific.
Looking for a full list of dMBA admissions sites?
Check out our FREE updated 2025 dMBA admissions guide here!
MBAxcel Tip of the Week: Don’t relax just yet. It’s time for interviews!
It’s that time. You’ve submitted your applications. You’ve breathed a sigh of relief. It’s finally over.
Or is it?
It isn’t. Trust me. Over the next couple of weeks, you’ll likely start receiving some interview emails. Perhaps you already have! Congratulations!
For many of the deferred MBA programs, getting an interview means you’re already almost there. According to GMAT Club, for many schools, you have over a 50% chance of admission if you complete an interview. That’s huge!
You got an interview? Congrats!
Take a pause and give yourself a pat on the back. You deserve it. This is a huge accomplishment!
But the work isn’t done yet. Now you actually have to do the interview — and do it well.
So let’s do this.
Know what you’re in for.
Every school does interviews differently. It’s important to keep in mind the key anomalies:
Who’s interviewing you?
For most schools, a member of the admissions staff will be the one getting to know you in your interview. For others, schools will invite alums or current students to interview deferred MBA students.
While that’s not a drastic difference — after all, an interview is an interview — it helps to know your audience, especially when it comes time to ask your own questions at the end.
If you know you’re being interviewed by a current student, ask about their MBA life! Learn about why they chose to attend the school in question. This is someone who can be a valuable connection to stay in touch with and learn from.
If you’re being interviewed by an admissions counselor, think about what you’d like to learn more about the school! It’s probably not as effective to ask about student life and actual classes because they likely do not have that experience to speak about.
Your interviewer may know nothing about you!
Some schools opt for a “blind interview,” which means that your interviewer would have never seen your application or even heard your name before logging on to the interview. Keep this in mind: if your interviewer has read your application before, perhaps you don’t need to spend much time explaining the same topics from your personal essays or resume. However, if they’ve never seen or heard of you, it’s best to be as thorough as possible about your background for context.
What are the components of the interview?
Most schools will have a typical situational/behavioral 30-45 minute interview; however, some programs also have additional components.
Wharton, for example, also requires a virtual “Team-Based Discussion,” in which you work with fellow candidates on some type of business case. As you might know from experience, group interviews are a completely different beast to tackle than the normal one-on-one, so it’ll require you to practice a completely different set of skills to successfully complete it.
Other schools may require you to do a video interview — that is, an interview with no interviewer. If you’ve never encountered this, basically, you’ll be given a prompt and have a certain allotted amount of time to respond. These don’t sound too bad in theory, but in reality, doing an interview with no immediate feedback from a person on the other end nodding or listening is super awkward if you’ve never tried it. Practice by recording yourself talking to your webcam with some common interview questions.
What are they looking for?
Just like the written application, every school is looking for something different. It’s not a drastic difference, but much like people, different MBA programs value different aspects of your application, depending on the program’s culture.
An infamous example: Harvard’s MBA interview is notoriously difficult, designed to throw you off your game and stump you. The purpose of the HBS interview is to see how you perform under pressure: do you breathe and lead on with confidence, or fold to tough questions?
Make sure you have a clear narrative.
This should reflect your application. By this point, you should know exactly why you want an MBA and why you want to go to the school you want to go to. Keep those answers as your guiding star throughout the interview! Try to tie your answers back to your overarching goals with the MBA.
As I said last week, it’s not enough to be a 4.0 GPA, 800 GMAT, non-profit-starting star student. Why do you want an MBA? Why do you need an MBA? And why are you applying for it now, years from when you’ll actually attend?
Practice your answers to these questions until you can speak about them confidently.
Be unequivocally yourself.
It is so easy to recognize BS. Remarkably easy. You likely have a BS detector yourself.
Your interviewer likely does too.
Even if you’re not remotely as confident and well-spoken as you are emulating, that’s perfectly normal. That’s fine. Everyone puts on their best face during an interview!
Being unequivocally yourself means sticking to your values and being honest with yourself in your answers.
Ask specific, targeted questions.
As with any interview, come prepared with lots of great questions. Of course, do your research first — you don’t want to ask questions that are completely Google-able.
This is a chance to show not just the fact that you care and did your research, it’s also a great opportunity for the interviewer to learn about the way you think and inquire about the world. Don’t miss out on this opportunity!
Practice, practice, practice.
What more can I say? The best way to prepare for the interview is to dig your heels in and start practicing. If you don’t have one already, recruit a friend to be your interview prep buddy (and pay them in food or goodwill, of course).
Postscript.
This marathon is not over yet, but you’re so close! Remember, the deferred MBA was never a sprint. It’s always been a slow-burn. Time to close this out.
Looking to get some feedback on your essays or resume? As a thank you for reading to the bottom of this email, message me “what’s good?” and I’ll give you 30% off of any of my coaching services!
We’re nearing the finish line! Let’s go!