Hello P&Q readers, and welcome to my advice column! My name is Karen Marks, and I am the Founder and President of North Star Admissions Consulting. I’ve been helping people get into their dream schools since 2012, and before that I was the Associate Director of Admissions at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business. Today, my goal is to give applicants the accurate, insider information they need in order to succeed and make good decisions. Want your question answered in a future column? Ask away, no topic is off limits!
Happy 2025! It’s January and many second round applicants are awaiting an invitation to interview at the business school. I’m often asked what it means if you’re offered a business school interview – and what it means if you’re not.
- Business school interview invitation = Good sign
Some schools, like Kellogg, automatically interview most applicants. A handful of others guarantee you an interview if you apply within a certain deadline. If you are invited to interview on one of these programs, you cannot read anything into it.
However, at most business schools, being invited to interview IS an indication that the committee has done an initial review and that they see potential in your application. Business schools don’t waste time interviewing candidates they can’t imagine admitting.
However, being invited to an interview does NOT mean you will automatically get in, even if the interview goes well. You can have the best interview in the world and still be rejected if other aspects of your candidacy don’t quite fit the class profile. The admissions committee is constantly monitoring their cohort, including their deposited students, and they must balance the class against a variety of institutional objectives. It is also impossible to estimate what your chances are at this point, as it is a dynamic process. Bottom line: the interview is a good sign, but don’t be overconfident.
- Make sure you are prepared
You may be surprised to hear that many people do not do any special preparation for their business school interviews, especially if they are comfortable with professional interviews. Business school interviews, however, are different. Yes, your work experience is important and will be discussed, but you also need to sell your interest in the school, your potential to contribute and your great personality. This is harder than it sounds – don’t underestimate the need to prepare.
- Not invited? Don’t be scared
Look, it’s not a GOOD sign if you’re not invited for an interview, because you won’t get into business school without one after all. However, many programs issue invitations until the decision date. (Applicants who are interviewed later in the round are usually not disadvantaged, nor is it usually an indication of where they stand in the pool.) It is also possible to get on the waiting list without an interviewand then interviewed later, if the school decides to take you more seriously.
Business school interviews are often misunderstood, both in terms of what they mean and how to prepare better. If you are given the opportunity, make sure you are ready to shine.
Karen has more than 15 years of experience evaluating candidates for admission to Dartmouth College and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Since the establishment North Star Admissions Consulting in 2012, she has helped applicants gain admission to the nation’s top schools, including Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Wharton, MIT, Tuck, Columbia, Kellogg, Booth, Haas, Duke, Johnson, Ross, NYU, UNC, UCLA, Georgetown and more. Clients have been awarded more than $80 million in scholarships, and more than 98% have gotten into one of their top schools.
