Comments from Student 1:
My interview at TCU was rather informal. I interviewed with Olivia Williams, Assistant Director of admissions, in her office, for less than an hour. It was a chance for her to meet me and for me to ask questions about the program. For TCU, the interview is a supplemental part of the admissions process: it is optional but recommended. Olivia had only a few questions for me that ran along the lines of:
1) Why am I pursuing this degree and this school?
2) What do I expect to get out of the program?
3) What do I bring to the program?
4) What are my weak areas?
5) What kind of work do I do now? I expected to be bombarded with questions but the interview was surprisingly simple.

What surprised me about the interview is that it was completely independent of my application materials. Olivia approached the interview as if she knew nothing about me - neither my scores nor my application essays. This is good in many ways - she didn't have any biases about me prior to the interview. The challenge I faced was that I wasn't able to start my answers by simply adding to what I said in my essays, I really had to work to introduce myself to her.

To prepare for the interview, I talked to several people in my office who have MBAs. They were extremely helpful in throwing some serious questions my way. The best help that I received was from a colleague. Normally, I don't work directly with [this colleague] and I would have never known that she graduated from TCU - but TCU staff keeps pretty good tabs on their former students. It was the Director of the Academic Program, Rebecca Beasley, who led me to [this colleague]. Ultimately, it was [my colleague] who gave me the best advice about the interview and the program. [This colleague] told me about her interview experience, what she knew about what they were looking for, and as much as she knew about Olivia. Most importantly, she was very encouraging.

Talking with others helped me to put together a list of possible questions that I was able to think through and come up with good, concise answers for. The question that I had not thought of was the most obvious: tell me about your job now. I had to explain what my organization does and what kind of work group does, then I explained some of the specific roles that I have. I think that I bumbled through that question quite thoroughly. My saving grace was that I brought in a portfolio of materials that I have worked on - so at least Olivia could see the quality of the work that I do.

I don't think the interview was a make or break situation, but for me, I feel that it was a very positive experience and overall, quite helpful.