The Most Important Interview Questions Asked By Harvard Business School

Or how about this one? “What global issue keeps you awake at night? What news struck you most in the past two weeks?” If you hadn’t listened to NPR or picked up a newspaper in the past month, you might have a helluva time winging an answer to those questions. But if you’re well-informed, those questions are invitations to show how engaged you are with the world and its key challenges.

Even though his own interview was more than a year ago, Mohamed can tick off the questions he was asked during his session:

What do you think you can add to the class?

What is your personal view of leadership?

What do you want to do after you get the MBA?

What do you like to do outside work?

How have the personal challenges you faced helped you grow and made you who you are today?

What’s one question you wish you were asked if we had more time?

And what about that one flubbed interview question on the maker of styrofoam? In the email he wrote to HBS within 24 hours of his interview, Mohamed says the question made him think differently about his idea of starting a recycling business in Egypt. If he goes forward with it, Mohamed said, he would speak to Dow Chemical about changing the chemical structure of styrofoam so that it would be less harmful when burned.

And then he noted that his insight was why he wanted to study at HBS. “It expands your horizons and makes you question your assumptions,” he says. “This is exactly what I want to do at HBS.”

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