Action words can be used effectively to describe your experience and accomplishments in your resume and interview answers. Here are some actions words that you can use.

• Read your form before the PI. The questions of the PI may often be related to what you have written in the form.
• Be consistent with what you have written.
• Present your answers well.
• Prepare examples for your strengths and weaknesses and for other questions.

WHY THE COLLEGE

• In this answer the panelist wants to check whether you are the right candidate for the college.
• Prepare well for this question as this is an important question and your answer for this question is very crucial.
• Read the website and gather as much information as you can about the college. Talk to your friends / seniors who are or were from the college and ask them what they like about the college.
• Remember to also relate your need to do an MBA from the college and how you will benefit from it in this answer.

WHY THE COURSE

• This answer is different from “Why you want to do an MBA. Ensure you don’t just talk about why you want to do an MBA (regular).
• Talk about your course eg E-Biz of Welingkar or Social Entrepreneurship at TISS and why it interests you over a regular MBA programme. 
• You could relate this to your long term goal, your strengths, interest etc.
• Remember to read about the course details and curriculum transaction.

WHY “YOU”

• In this answer, talk about why the college should select you.
• Link their need to your strengths and give instances.
• This question is also to identify among all the candidates which one is better or most suitable. Don’t put down other candidates but bring out how you could be the best choice.

1. Prepare a good introduction
2. Outline your life’s events
   1. School
   2. College
   3. University
   4. Job
3. Analyse why you chose a particular course
4. Recall events for the following : When you have
   1. Succeed/ failed
   2. Worked in a team
   3. Worked on a project
   4. Displayed leadership skills
   5. Motivated a group
   6. Innovated
   7. Initiated an action
   8. Handled a crisis situation
5. Write down atleast three strengths and weakness with an example each
6. Write down your long term and short term goal and check if they match each other
7. Extracurricular activities
8. Hobbies

Academics                                                  

1. Analyse your academic achievements
2. Note down your learning from a particular course
3. Determine your favourite subject and know it thoroughly
4. Know the curriculum of your specialization
5. Application of theories and models

Work experience

1. Recall previous job descriptions
2. Recall significant events of your work experience
   • When you handled a problem well
   • When you failed to deliver
   • Problems with your boss / subordinates
   • When you worked successfully in a team
   • When you were faced with an ethical issue
   • When you innovated
   • When you initiated an action
3. Analyse what you learnt during these events and from the company and the people you worked with

1. Read your project well and recall experiences and events.
2. Know your hypotheses, sample collection procedure, data collection procedure, analyses of results, etc.
3. Know your key findings and recommendations for the same
4. For experiences, recall how you handled difficult situations and surmounted them.
5. Note down your learning from the project.

1. QUESTIONS RELATED TO PERSONALITY, COMPETENCE, SKILLS, EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES, ETC.

   • Introduce yourself
   • How do you spend your entire day?
   • Describe yourself in just three words
   • How would you describe yourself?
   • How would your friends describe you?
   • List adjectives they would use to describe you.
   • How do you think a friend and professor who knows you well would describe you?
   • How do you think a former supervisor would describe your work?
   • Why did you join the arts / commerce / science stream?
   • Why do you want to want to an MBA?
   • What are your career and educational goals?
   • What are your long-range and short-range goals and objectives? When and why did you establish these goals?
   • What are you doing to achieve your goal?
   • What new goals have you established for yourself recently?
   • Where do you see yourself 5 years from today?
   • What do you really want to do in life?
   • What are the other career options you are considering?
   • What is your USP?
   • What makes you stand out among your fellow students?
   • What makes you different from the other candidates for this position?
   • What would you like me to know about you that is not there in your form?
   • What do you see as being your most significant accomplishment?
   • What has been your most significant achievement to date? Explain how the achievement came about.
   • What would you consider as your major achievements, strengths and weaknesses, and furnish details to substantiate any one of them.
   • Give an instance where you experienced satisfaction on achieving a goal through patience, perseverance and hard work.
   • According to you what are the qualities that a successful manager must possess? Do you have these attributes?
   • Describe your personality
   • What are your strong and weak areas?
   • What are the three most important events of your life?
   • Describe any one experience in your life that you would want to go back and change?
   • Describe any event in your life where you turned a negative situation into something positive.
   • What do you think you do best?
   • What skills do you think you have gained from your schooling and past work experience?
   • What does “success” mean to you?
   • How do you determine or evaluate success?
   • What qualifications do you have that makes you believe you will be successful in business?
   • What motivates you to put forth your best effort?
   • How competitive are you?
   • Describe a situation in which you encountered interpersonal problems with people you worked with. How did you handle it?
   • Describe a situation where you have needed to involve others to achieve a task or to deal with conflict among team members. What did you do? Explain your reasons for the same & what the outcome was.
   • Describe a recent experience of working with and/or leading other people and the role you played in it
   • Share a situation when a group activity was benefited by your leadership role.
   • Describe your contribution to a group effort that you may have participated in?
   • Give me an example of a leadership role you have held when not everything went as planned.
   • Describe your leadership skills
   • Give me an example of a time when you successfully worked with a team.
   • Describe a situation in which you overcame a difficult problem. How did you do it?
   • Describe a challenging and difficult project that you have undertaken. What did you do? Explain your reasons for the same & what was the outcome.
   • Share one experience in your recent past, wherein you were placed under a lot of stress and how you handled the situation.
   • Tell me about a time when you successfully resolved a conflict.
   • How do you work under pressure? Give me an example.
   • Give an example of a time in which you worked under deadline pressure.
   • How do you adapt to new situations?
   • Give me an example of something that you have done that shows initiative.
   • Tell me an incident where you have convinced someone of your point of view.
   • Tell me an incident where you have influenced someone into action.
   • Tell us about a situation wherein you influenced a team of people to implement an innovative idea.
   • Are you creative? Give me an example. What have you done that you consider yourself to be creative?
   • Give an example of an original, creative idea from you, which was appreciated by others.
   • If you could make a major policy change at your college, what would it be?
   • Describe a situation in which you demonstrated creativity.
   • What does “failure” mean to you?
   • Have you ever had any failures? What did you learn from them?
   • Describe a situation in which you failed at something. How did you handle the failure and what did you learn from it?
   • Do you prefer working with people or alone?
   • Describe a situation where your work was criticized.
   • Have you ever managed a conflict? How?
   • What types of people seem to put you off?
   • What decision have you most regretted?
   • What causes you to lose your temper?
   • Have you ever had difficulty finishing a task or a project? Why and what did you do to eventually get it done?
   • How would you describe your contribution to those activities? Did you run into any difficulties?
   • Whom do you admire? Why?
   • Give me the names of three famous people you admire and tell me what you admire about them.
   • Who is your hero, and why?
   • What qualities do you respect and value in people you work with? Why are these qualities important to you?
   • What qualities don’t you like to see in people you work with?
   • If you could invite anyone you would like to a dinner party (famous or historical figures, dead or alive), which ten people would you invite?
   • What are you passionate about?
   • What do you do in your spare time?
   • What are your hobbies?
   • Give me the name of a book you have read that had a powerful influence on you.
   • What is your favorite book/movie/song/painting-or author/actor/singer/artist?
   • What was the last book you read?
   • Have you been involved in any extracurricular or volunteer activities while at university or college?
   • What extra-curricular activities were you involved in? What have you learned from your activities?
   • Were your extracurricular activities worth the time you put into them?
   • What are the values that you practice?
   • What values do you consider important for professional success?
   • Tell us one thing that you not only preach but also strictly practice.
   • Describe an event to show us how you were able to handle a recent situation wherein you faced a dilemma between your ethics and integrity and achievement of a crucial desired result.
   • Have you ever had to work with someone that did not share your same work style or work ethic? How did you get around that?
   • Have you had any experiences in university that have changed you as a person?

2. ACADEMIC

   • Why did you select your graduate degree?
   • What factors have contributed to your academic achievements?
   • Describe the course that has had the greatest impact on your thinking.
   • What are the main things you learned from your studies?
   • How do your studies relate to your career goals?
   • Did your grades accurately reflect your ability? Why/Why not?
   • Are your grades a good indication of your academic achievement?
   • What have you learned in your degree program that has been most useful to you?
   • Describe your most rewarding university experience.
   • Tell us about your study and work skills.

    

   WORK EXPERIENCE

   • What was your previous job description?
   • What type of jobs have you had? How did you get your previous jobs?
   • What did you enjoy most / least about your last job?
   • What were your main responsibilities? Achievements?
   • What skills did you acquire through your previous jobs?
   • Describe the job or the activity that has had the greatest impact on your career goals
   • What is the toughest customer complaint you handled?
   • Give an example of a situation where you provided a solution to an employer.
   • Describe a situation/project where you have been able to bring tangible benefit to the end consumer/customer by adopting an innovative approach. What did you do? Explain your reasons for the same & what the outcome was.
   • What was the most difficult project you worked on? How did you go about accomplishing it?
   • Tell us about a time where you had to handle a moral issue with your staff.
   • How was your performance evaluated?
   • What can you tell me about your past bosses?
   • If you worked for a boss you had difficulty getting along with, how would you handle the situation?
   • How would your supervisors describe you?
   • How good were your relationships with your supervisors?
   • Did you run into any problems with your co-workers? If so what did you do to remedy the situation?
   • Would you consider returning to your former employer? If not, why?
   • Why did you leave your last job / position?
   • You have been in Company X for a long time. Have you kept a track of the financials of the company since you have left?
   • What are the two major things that have happened in the last company you worked in the past 2-3 years?

   PROJECT

   • Tell us what you did in the project
   • Give a brief description of your project
   • What were your findings? And recommendations?
   • How did you collect your data and analyse it?
   • How was your experience in Company X during the project
   • What was the toughest challenge and how did you manage it?

   COLLEGE SPECIFIC

   • Why should we select you?
   • Outline briefly in not more than 50 words your reasons for applying to our college and choice of course
   • Why do you want this course / college?
   • Why are you interested in our college?
   • What do you know about our college?
   • Where else have you applied?
   • What other colleges are you considering?
   • What makes you different from other candidates we are interviewing?
   • What do you expect from your course?
   • What are your expectations from the faculty?
   • What do you have to contribute to our college?
   • What in particular, interests you about our products, or service?
   • What kind of training do you expect at our college?
3.