In light of the fact that many Round 2 deadlines are past and we’re again moving into interview stress territory (even though it’s way too early for anyone to be stressing about interviews yet), we’re offering you a list of freaky interview questions — befitting a Friday the 13th, yes?
These are supposedly real, from real companies. It’s highly unlikely you’ll get (m)any like this in your bschool interview. Some schools do toss out curveballs — and some standard questions may SEEM like curveballs (e.g., “What was the last book you read?” that HBS often asks, which has a remarkable power to stop Sarah Palin many people in their tracks).
Here’s just a sampling — you really should check out the full list, there’s some crazy questions on there.
Capital One: How do you evaluate Subway’s five-foot long sub policy?
Citigroup: What is your strategy at table tennis?
UBS: If we were playing Russian roulette and had one bullet, I randomly spun the chamber and fired but nothing was fired. Would you rather fire the gun again or respin the chamber and then fire on your turn?
Say wha’???
EssaySnark is sure as heck glad that it’s not us getting interviewed!!
Oh that reminds us… EssaySnark has another SnarkStrategies Guide in the works…. this one for INTERVIEWING! … but it’s not quite done yet. Should be released sometime early next week. If you want to pre-order, you can get special pricing of just $9.95 (final retail price TBD but likely to be about double this). Click the button below to purchase. This will entitle you to ONLY an EBOOK version – usable on a Sony ereader or other ebooks but NOT COMPATIBLE WITH THE KINDLE. If you want a Kindle version or a hardcopy book, you’ll need to wait till the thing is officially released.
Ray says
>For the Russian Roulette question, I think the first counter-question would to ask if there's actually only ONE bullet in the six chambers, LOL. Because who knows, maybe 5 are loaded in which case it would behoove you to spin the chambers again in which case you'd at least have a 1 in 6 chance of survival.
But if there is indeed only one bullet in the gun, I would think the correct answer is to spin the chambers, as you have a 1/5 chance of dying without spinning, and at least a 1/6 chance if everything were randomized again.
I think it's the same, that a re-spin benefits you in all cases except if there are less than 5 bullets, in which case there is a 5/5 chance of death without a spin. (Like if there are 3 bullets it's a 3/5 chance of death without a re-spin and a 1/2 with a spin, etc. etc.)
Ok, I only got a 47 in quant, so the quant geniuses out there can probably prove this wrong, but I was bored and the application season is now over for me, so I waxed nostalgic and had to apply what I learned in the GMAT to the question. LOL>
Anonymous says
you can read this on your PC if you d/l the right software, correct? also, how much longer will the kindle edition take?
btw, thanks for your gsb and hbs guides…
essaysnark says
@Ray – sounds like you'll do great in your MBA stats class!
@Anonymous, yes, there's software (Sony?) that will let you read the epub version on a PC. The Kindle edition will be released within the next few days so you could wait for that too if you prefer (no discount available on the Kindle version though).
Anonymous says
cool! i put in my order for the epub version – looking fwd to it very soon!
essaysnark says
Thanks, Anonymous! All pre-orders will get an email in the next few days with instructions for downloading.
Braden says
>Adobe Digital Editions is free, and allows you to read epub's on your computer.
http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/
Manoj says
@ES- So I have a couple of questions regarding this guide (that I just pre-ordered/purchased at the discounted price).
(1) When will it be available for download? (2) Since I’m changing banks I used a friend’s paypal account to pay but I want the download instructions to be sent to me. Is that possible or should I just ask him to forward me the details when he receives them so I can download it onto my notebook?
Thanks much
NK says
is there an ETA for the interview guide? eager to get my virtual hands on it =)
Anonymous says
Hi,
Is the guide ready? I have an interview end of this month and was wondering if this is going to be available anytime soon?
essaysnark says
Hey everyone – yes the guide is ready – details will be posted on Friday. Anyone who prepaid should have already received instructions for downloading. If you did not get yours, please email us from the address you used to originally submit the payment.