Mammoth Post (advice for bschool applicants)

Over the past 2 years of me applying to bschools, I have asked multiple questions to multiple people. I was cleaning my inbox at work today, and found a couple of those emails. I felt bad to think that all that great advice would be lost once I move out, so I just compiled the answers in this mammoth post. None of the below is my thought, but I think I agree to most of them. Take your time in reading through this post. You will see that there is lot of repeating themes - that to me means these are things you should take care of. I have tried not to edit the answers, except where they had some personal info about me. I hope this helps someone out there.

I would like to thank all those who advised me during my application period. Some of them are bloggers, some are not. Irrespective of that, I know that their advice helped me one way or another, and I just wanted to pass on the baton through this post. Good Luck to you all who begin your bschool application journey.

I will probably do another post about WLs, and then stop preaching once for all.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Essays
+ My only suggestion would be to really show yourself in your essays. Everyone’s probably going to tell you there is one way to write the essay’s or to take professional help while crafting the essays. The way I did it was as follows: before even applying to any schools I really did some deep introspection. Why did I make the choices I did, what did I learn from those choices, what did I like about my career (strengths etc), what didn’t I like including weaknesses and where did I see myself truly getting to in 3, 5 and 10 years. Remember this introspection cannot be done based on someone (parents etc) telling you what you should do. You should really take the time to think for yourself since you really don’t want to spend all this money before fully knowing what and why your doing b-school. I would also suggest that you not get hung up about the ‘perfect’ app – there is no such thing. Just look to different life experiences both from work and outside to give a full picture of yourself and your motivations.

+ I don't think this is any secret - Wharton likes bright well rounded leaders etc. I would focus on showing that you have vision (i.e., very concrete and ambitious medium to long term goals and a defined plan to get there) and that you're a good/fun person that people enjoy working with. It's hard to overstate how specific you need to be - keep in mind that you can say whatever you want in your essays; nobody will come back to check if you actually did what you said you wanted to do after you get in. For example, anybody can say they want to work in finance with really bright people. That's a crappy goal because 10,000 people could say it. You need to say "I want to build a company that takes controlling shares in Tahitian resorts and markets them to the exploding emerging markets. To do this I'll need to network with my W classmates to get financing, learn W's finance curriculum to put the deals together, do marketing cases to understand promotion, etc". I think people overstate the importance of extracurriculars; what's important is that you demonstrate that you care about 'giving back' something - it could be that you tutor people at work in some skill you're an expert at; the point is that you're being generous and helping other people succeed beyond what falls into the requirements of your job.

Again, be extremely specific and unique. Don't say generic stuff; everybody wants to "work with smart people" or "be on a steep learning curve". Throw away empty statements like those and get into precise scenarios. "I want to work in structured credit derivatives at a bulge bracket bank to build credentials and contacts in quantitative trading, then start my own hedge fund to trade Asian credit products when they emerge 10 years from now. I need Dr. X's course and the Wharton brand to get it". When your essays are done they should have a very smooth, logical flow from what you've done to what you want to do and how W bridges the gap.

+ I think that first and foremost, you should be clear and concise in how you answer your essays. This will show your ability to communicate (another important quality). I know it will be difficult for you to actually visit the campus, and Kellogg understands that this is the case for many of its international applicants, so they won't hold it against you in any way. So to get around this hurdle of not being able to observe firsthand, I would recommend that you research the website and look at the types of classes/majors/programs offered, clubs you would be interested in joining, etc. Try to incorporate these into your essay. These days, I think there's also a plethora of information from other applicants (e.g., businessweek.com, random blogs, etc.) that I would try to leverage if I were you. You'll have to take some of these things with a grain of salt, but you should be able to figure out the overall themes of what Kellogg is about. Another thing I would try is, get in touch with the Kellogg alumni association in your hometown - see if you can find this info on Kellogg's website; otherwise, try contacting Kellogg directly to see if you can get this info. Maybe you can do an informational interview with an alum in your neighborhood

+ I THINK THE MAIN POINT IS TO TELL THEM THE STORY WHAT MAKES YOURSELF DIFFERENT FROM OTHER APPLICANTS: THIS CAN BE EITHER THROUGH SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES/ FAMILY BACKGROUND; SOME PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES OR TRAVEL/INTERNATINOAL EXPERRIENCES OR WHATSOEVER: ITS ALSO IMPORTANT TO SEE THE OVERALL "LOGIC" OF THE STORY: WHY ARE YOU THERE WHERE YOU ARE? WHAT DID YOU LEARN ON THE WAY THERE (AND HOW DID YOU INCOROPATE THAT LEARNINGS)? WHY THE MBA NOW? WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS AFTER THE MBA AND HOW DOES WHARTON ESPECIALLY HELP YOU ACHIEVE THESE GOAL: WHAT THEY REALLY LOOKING FOR IS DIVERSITY AND SOMETHING THAT IS SETTING PEOPLE APART- ALL THE PEOPLE WHO APPLY WILL AHVE STRONG GMAT; STRONG GRADES AND A GOOD WORK EXPERIENCE: YOU HAVE TO FIND OUT WHAT MAKES YOU "SPECIAL" AND HOW YOU CAN FIT THAT INTO THE STORY

+ the essays are the heart of the application, but adding the "extra punch" really depends on the individual experiences and how unique they portray them to be. I for example have authored over 13 publications at world-renown journals and co-authored papers with nobel laureates...that is how I distinguished myself. You have to figure out in your experiences how you can distinguish yourself....you need to do some serious introspection. So only "YOU" can give the answer to this question. They really want to know who you are...I would advise you not to guess on what they are looking for in a candidate because every candidate is different. It is all in how you portray yourself to be...be creative about it...There is no right or wrong way to do this.

+ Be yourself. Being in the Deans Student Admissions committee for 2 years, I've read my share of application essays. You won't believe how many applicants try to be someone they are clearly not. And make sure you spell-check, make sure your essay does not say things like "I would love to be in Kellogg because..."

add a small dose of humor. Remember, GSB gets thousands of applications a year and sometimes the winning application has a good balance of humor, sincerity and honesty.

+ I asked myself this question: if the choice is between me and just one or two other equally qualified candidates with the right profile mix, why should they pick me? You need to have an answer to this question. The masses of people with similar stats are not your concern. Those people just establish the baseline of the competition. It is the 1-3 individuals who you yourself might choose over your own profile if you were AdCom. For me, it was the people who had served longer and had more impressive causes, who had founded community organizations rather than just worked for them. In my mind, my competitors also had better GPA and GMAT scores. You must beat them out with the fury of Thor's hammer while giving it the soft touch--with you fit for the program, your likeability/respectability, your dependable execution, your enthusiasm and potential, your global perspective, and what you are bringing to the table. If you cannot sell yourself on the idea, then you certainly will have trouble selling AdCom. I did my best to paint a picture of myself as a humble, contributing, gracious, productive member of the Kellogg community. I chose the question about what I would bring to the Kellogg community for this reason. Your values, the clarity of your vision for the future, your groundedness and maturity, even your sense of humor at 3 am--all of these things can set you apart, and they have little to do with your stats. One exercise I did was ask my friends what they liked about me, and why they were my friends.

I have read many times that Kellogg is a marketing school. No place is this more true than in the application. You are crafting an overall message as you paint a picture of yourself. They will probably write a few sentences about you on the form that they attach to the application. What do you want those sentences to be?

+ Now is the time to harness your resources and find out as much as you can about what you are getting yourself into. So do that. Find out what you need to be successful in your job immediately after MBA, and, more generally, the rest of your career. And put together the pieces for an effective argument. Who you are now, where you want to be and the impact you plan to make in the long and short term, how Kellogg fits in. Get crystal clear on your short and long term goals, and get people who know you well to evaluate your story. Tell it to them out loud, and let them help you identify any gaps.

+ Do not mess up the goals essay- it's important to your
goals with what you have done before.  If you sound too airy fairy in that
section that merits an instant rejection.  You story sounds very believable, so that's a positive, just make sure you pack a punch there, because that's something
which over 50% of the students write about and end up doing.

Recommendations

+ Recs should be very detailed and specific. Don't have your recommender say that you were a great team player but not explain it further. Provide them with evidence of how you were a great team player and have them incorporate it into your recs.

You should put together a list of the skills/qualities you want them to emphasize in a recommendation and sit down with them to discuss. Provide them with lots of examples that demonstrate your skills/abilties. Talk about what each school you're applying to likes to see in their candidates and have them tailor the recs accordingly.

+ One last note here: your recommendation and the results of your interview carry serious weight, so do what you need to do to make sure that both are top notch. Make sure you are on the same page with your recommender about your goals and reasons for going to business school, what impact you want to make as a result, and your weaknesses. Your sit-down meeting with your recommender is your best chance to align what the reference is saying with what you are saying about yourself and your values. I had a very close working relationship with my recommender, and discussed some of the essays with her before I wrote them. In the process, I was able to communicate my motivations and the nuances of each school. As a result, two things she said about me (that I live a deliberate life; that I treat people at all levels with respect, and am well-respected by my peers) are things I addressed and explained in my essays when I talked about my values. I did not plan it that way, but it happened. This was for another school's application, but the point of this is that the alignment is key.


Fit, School Research

+ I would try to research the website and other resources on the web as much as possible. You should also try to find recent grads of Kellogg and try to hit them up for some information.

To determine what is and isn't a good fit, try to think about your long term goals. Are you interested in a career in finance? Then maybe you should consider a more finance-heavy school such as Chicago/Wharton. Are you interested in entertainment? Then check out UCLA. By thinking about your long term aspirations, that should help you figure out which school can best get you there (by the strength of their programs, professors, etc.).

+ I think if you are outside of US, it can be difficult to visit, meet students etc. But you can contact them via email. Try to network on email if you can. Also, if I were you I would really know their website info. inside out given that you don't have the added advantage...this will at least give you a sense of their culture. I am also wondering that Chicago requires an interview...don't you visit the school for the interview?. After having met with members of the admissions (directors, deans, etc), I was just really impressed with the way they treated me...the responsibility they take for each student, etc. I sat in on one of their classes and I was impressed with the analytical rigor with which the discussions were carried out. I can't comment too much in detail in terms of the culture from my perspective because you have to discover that for yourself. I visited chicago maybe 2-3 times but other than that, all th e info. that I gathered was from networking via email as well as researching their website.

+ Talk to the students. You're off to a good start. Email the admissions committee that you'd want to get in touch with current students as well as alumni based in your home town. They will arrange that for you.

I think any b-school experience is one that is personal. I think it's true universally; you don't have to be in GSB for that to be valid.
You can choose to spend your time networking with recruiters or want a sheer academic experience etc.

Differentiating yourself

+ Hmm... I graduated in 2004, and when I applied, the majority of students were from management consulting or investment banking. I, too, came from a management consulting background, so like you, I had to figure out a way to distinguish myself. I had quite a but of community service experience, both in college and post-college, which I tried to highlight as much as I could in my application. I also graduated from a top 15 U.S. college with a major in pre-med/biology. So I don't know if that was interesting to them (the idea of a former pre-med student now in business school) at all, maybe so because they want to attract a diverse crowd. But I think what really helped me were my recommendations. I was able to read my recs before they were submitted, and they were very very good. If you are currently in the process of writing your applications, you might want to take an hour out of your schedule and sit down with each of your recommenders, and tell them the types of things you would like for them to highlight in your recs.

Specific School Details

Kellogg
_________________
+ Kellogg values candidates who are going to make a strong contribution to the school. As you may know, Kellogg is a very student-driven school (all the clubs/speaker series, etc. are set up by students) so they are looking for candidates who are going to really get in there, roll up their sleeves and get started. Perhaps you can demonstrate this by writing about something you've done in college or at work where you took the initiative to do something new, or by talking about the types of clubs you want to join and what you want to do in these clubs. They also look for students who are passionate about Kellogg (you should have a compelling argument for Why Kellogg?) and understand how Kellogg will fit into their long term goals. Finally, team work plays a huge role at the school. All of our classes requires working in teams, so they will want to see this in your application (this may best be highlighted in your recommendations). Other things they look for: leadership, intelligence (your GPA and GMAT should prove this easily), career progression, etc.

+ As for the Kellogg culture/Kellogg experience, I found it to be very good. I went to a very competitive/cutthroat college, so one of the "big" things for me was to find a school with a very collaborative, team-oriented environment. Kellogg is certainly one of those schools. The people are great - very nice and down to earth. There's also a lot of opportunity to build up your leadership skills, by organizing a speaker series, getting involved as a co-chair in a club, etc. I also particularly liked the core classes. I probably would have never voluntarily exposed myself to things like operations or accounting were it not for the core. So I feel like I got a very well-rounded academic experience. Finally, I felt that the student body was very diverse, in experience and ethnicity.

+ So the baseline here is that it's an excellent school that attracts desirable recruiters, had great teachers, and is a good place to learn. It's steps away from a global city. Its ranking also puts students and alumni in the right circles, generally speaking. I was attracted to the collaborative learning environment at Kellogg; it is also a very collegial environment (read: professors are very accessible). Like a big family. The network is huge, and Kellogg MBA's are everywhere. Kellogg MBA is very functional. This means that Kellogg grads have widely applicable skills, and therefore aren't typecast. Versatility was very important to me. I was attracted by the ability of students to make change at the administrative level. Students can get together with a professor and develop an idea for a new class in Autumn, and it is up and running a term or two later. I liked that new professors do not teach in their first term out; they sit in on classes and learn the ropes under existing profs. Kellogg also offers opportunities for young professors. They do not have to go through much of the B.S. associated with academia. It is a good place for families, and I wanted my husband to be well-supported. I was looking for a school with a very strong nonprofit/public management program, and Kellogg had one. I wanted to travel overseas, and Kellogg had opportunities for study trips abroad. It has an overwhelming array of offerings for a diverse set of interests, so I knew I would meet people interested in all sorts of things I'd never even thought of. One program I saw myself being a part of was the LEAD class. It's talked about in the viewbook.

I am also a big fan of Dean Jain. He is amazing, funny, inspirational, effective, and very loyal to Kellogg. I think he told us he sleeps only 3-4 hours per night! There is a story he tells about when the bottom fell out of the U.S. economy, and new graduates were having their offers rescinded from their companies. Jain made contact with other M7 schools to find out what they were doing about it. They basically told him nothing special except developing coping mechanisms. Then he had a brainstorm, and he wrote a letter and reached out to the Kellogg alumni network to ask if anyone could employ the new MBAs. People thought he was crazy. They thought he would lose his reputation by "begging for jobs." The response was overwhelming, I mean OVERWHELMING, and those new MBAs got jobs that year. While other schools were crying to the moon or sitting on their hands, Jain saw a problem, and he solved it. So I would encourage you to read up on Dean Jain (speeches, books, etc.). He does an excellent job of articulating Kellogg's future and its values. At admit weekend, he was "the closer."

+ Since I had very little interaction with the school (I went for a class visit and tour, met AdCom at various functions, but had no inside connections there), I relied heavily on the website and the viewbook to listen to the values of the school and get a sense of its culture, how it views itself, what it's proud of, and where it's going. Then I was able to craft an application that spoke to these factors. I think there is one of the questions on the application that asks the candidate to write an evaluative report on him/herself from an Admissions Committee perspective. There are two places I found on the website where the school articulates the type of student it is looking for and what indices it uses to evaluate applicants. So I used the criteria as a framework for answering that essay question. In the process, I was able to evaluate my profile critically and address weaknesses. I would encourage you to do the same, even if you choose not to answer that question. See below. I have bolded the keywords that I think are most helpful. If I can make one sweeping generalization about Kellogg MBAs, it is that they have a level of polish and personal presentation that is a distinguishing characteristic. So professionalism, confidence and compentence are associated with the brand. Since so much of the learning is collaborative and there is an emphasis on teamwork, Kellogg grads tend to lead teams well and are good "people people"--they are very personable.

+ Kellogg values students who are well rounded, strong desire to impact their communities and become successful professionals. More importantly, the recruiting process is such that we look for different backgrounds and personalities – there is no one size fits all. Ultimately, the decision boils down to the ‘feel’ from your application that is a combination of your accomplishments, life story and future aspirations. For example, I have any number of bankers and former consultants in my class along with former CPG, non-profit, entrepreneurs etc. So from a background perspective we look for diversity. Having said that my earlier comment of well rounded professionals still stands. Key qualities: a strong professional with a passion to impact the community (this can be student community and non-profit stuff)

+ Kellogg values teamwork with an increasing focus on social enterprise (i.e., focusing on the non-market aspects of business -- more than just the bottom-line). Generally speaking, Kellogg students are extroverts who get involved with every aspect of student life -- the students run the school from setting up conferences to training people for consulting interviews to running the Charity Auction Ball. We put a lot of emphasis on having fun. Everyone is always willing to help one another -- both with school work and with getting jobs.

+ As for Kellogg - It's the best decision I have ever made!  Not to talk
other schools down, but Kellogg's students and community spirit is what
differentiates us in my eyes.  It's something I have heard a lot from
students from other schools during my internship.  Kellogg does some things
intentionally to foster that spirit.  During the course of the year, there
are numerous social opportunities which bring the students together and help
them form tighter bonds.  Developing those friendships is what's most
enriching about the whole experience.  I know it sounds fluffy, but you will
realize if you visit some of the schools.  Aside from that, you get all the
great things that a top notch business school has to offer - great faculty,
diverse student body, cutting edge curriculum and top class recruiting
options.  But to reiterate, what's unique about Kellogg is the team spirit -
make sure you address that point in your essay w/o being as cheesy and
dramatic as I have been in this paragraph :)

Evanston - Just to give you a bit of a flavor - Evanston is about 15-20
min outside of downtown Chicago.  It's an upscale suburb and a college town.
You will bump into your Kellogg buddies no matter where you go in Evanston.
That's a very different experience from going to a commuter school like U
Chicago or Columbia where most students live far away from school making it
harder to hang out together as often as Kellogians do.  At the same time,
driving into Chicago is always an option.  So it's the best of both worlds
in that sense.

GSB
____________

+ I think GSB really values diversity. I can't comment on key qualities of GSB students as I have not started the program yet so I haven't met the other students. But I think they are really looking for academic excellence...it doesn't matter what field but the real question is how you can contribute to their program...how you can contribute to GSB diversity. I know for sure that they look at the entire package-essay, interview, GMAT, academic background-transcripts, etc

+ GSB values students who are inquisitive, creative and analytical. I say that because most things at GSB are taught through the fundamentals of the market - economics and data-driven analytics.

+ The school is very diverse in terms of student population, so there is really no one answer to that question. I can tell you that from my experience (and you'll get different answers from different people) the GSB values people with real intellectual curiosity. Not to say that teamwork, leadership etc are not important, but I think that this is the one unique characteristic of the University of Chicago and its business school. (I should add, being open to hearing other opinions, and know how to communicate and argue your ideas while respecting others)

ROSS
_____________
I believe that Ross values diversity in its student body, basically pulling together a group of students who have all been successful, but have followed different routes. The basic business school criteria is all here, in terms of students being hardworking, smart, capable of leading, etc. But the difference here I believe is that people tend to leave their egos at home, help out their fellow students and basically want to improve the world around them. For me, that’s what distinguishes the school and the students here.

Wharton
________________

Unique things and culture about wharton....I'd say that Wharton is an extremely analytical place relative to other business schools (although very soft compared to most US engineering and physical sciences). There's an expectation that virtually every class will have some math in it wheras some schools spend a lot less time doing math and more time sitting around talking about what everyone's opinion is. Wharton sits in the middle of Philadelphia, 90 minutes from NYC (although don't mention this as a selling point in your essays because it may signal that you have a preference for stern/columbia) but retains a very communal feel - almost all of the students live within a few blocks of each other in center city and students almost exclusively hang out with other students since nobody knows anyone in town prior to moving here. Contrast this with NYC where students usually have a bunch of friends from high school or college living in the city and students live all over manhattan; when class gets out in NYC all the students scatter whereas in Philadelphia there's more of a 24-7 student community. On top of this Huntsman hall is a new and fairly spacious building with a lot of social areas, so students can hang out with each other or do work on campus. Places like Columbia have cramped business school buildings so you have to take your class and get out - if you get together for groupwork it's off in a library somewhere or at somebody's apartment. Wharton students have a sense of community more like Kellog/Tuck or other schools in remote places vs urban schools like Chicago/Columbia. I would address this in the essay - basically talk about the tight community as a selling point of Philly. If you want to work in something that shows you've been talking to students you could mention our incredible statistics faculty (Dr. George, Dr. Stine); they are very technically competent but more importantly they have hilarious lectures and are very lighthearted - great for keeping students interested when the material can get dull. I can give you some specifics on other departments if you tell me what your focus will be.

Continuing on culture, Wharton would probably like to build a stronger alumni network and pull in more people who show potential for grand leadership (starting/buying large ventures instead of just going to work for a Goldman/McKinsey). These are things that HBS has traditionally done better than Wharton and if you can signal somehow that you're committed to these things it's probably a plus.

A cultural oddity: I think Wharton people are often too humble. There are some people here with really incredible accomplishments or family connections and you would never know about it. This is usually a good thing but sometimes I wish people would brag a little more so that I could appreciate what their experiences were. If somebody started and ran a $20mm business I'd like to hear about their experience - as it is everyone is very humble.

Finally, Wharton has a huge amount of student involvement in shaping clubs but also curriculum and policy (I think every b school says this but it's more true here). See if you can google up anything on the Wharton MBA "Co-production" model (may not have a hyphen).


Random Advice

Q : In your professional experience, what do you consider to be the area of your greatest personal growth? (this was one Kellogg essay and I asked fellow bloggers for advice)

Ans : Before you start off with this essay, I'd suggest doing research on The Learning through Experience Action Program (LEAP) at Kellogg (http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/student/leap/Index.htm ) I think you'll get some good pointers on what Kelloogg considers significant areas where individuals grow in a professional environment.

Now to the specifics. The question very clearly asks for your opinion on your own most significant personal growth. I think there are three main ingredients to a typical response. (1) What experiences helped growth of this attribute (2) How did you use this attribute and (3) How do you think this may help you in your future endeavors. For example, it you mention that your greatest personal growth has been in your ability to deal with diversity, you should explain (1) what led you to experience diversity in the first place. What was your initial reaction to this diverse environment and how you consciously, over a period of time, manage to develop the ability to manage diversity in an effective manner. (2) Then you should provide examples, for instance - your ability to appreciate diversity helped you become an effective team contributor in a diverse environment. You managed conflict resolutions because you could empathise with your team members' perspectives and give them their due. So, in effect, you show yourself as an effective team player (and you know how important this is for Kellogg!) (3) Now, you could deal with how this is going to help you in your future professional life - how it is going to be an advantage when you are thrown into a study group at Kellogg with a high amount of diversity and how it ties with your future professiona goals. Somewhere you can also mention how it's going to help you contribute to the community at Kellogg - etc. You get the idea :)

A very important point in answering this question is that at least one of your recommendation letters should highlight the content of this essay. What I mean is that if you state that your greatest learning has been X, your recco letter should provide at least one example where you've demonstrated this learning in a situation.

Ans : **I think you are correct in your initial assumptions about incidents/learnings from professional life
**don't worry too much about what you believe to be your actual area or areas of greatest personal growth. Instead, choose an area of personal growth that both ties strongly to the main themes/strengths of your candidacy and is tailored towards what Kellogg looks for in students. A couple of 'personal growth' ideas/themes: leadership or teamwork. Then craft the rest of the essay from there, sprinkling in descriptive anecdotes & examples of your growth in this area.

Q : Tell me about yourself ? (answers from fellow bloggers below)

Ans :
I typically break it up into 1 or 2 points for each of the following sections:
(1) Ancient past - typically any interesting things like if you were born/raised in a foreign country or that you were on your country's olympic team etc.
(2) School - interesting stuff only with reasons.
(3) Work - again interesting progression only and your reasons for making choices.
(4) Future - quick mention of what you have done to get from here to there after your MBA.
(5) Community - leadership roles
(6) Fun - don't forget this.

Ans : I basically sum up my CV in 5 minutes, it works pretty well. Don't be too short, really tell them who you are, what you have been doing with your life and why. Similar to the previous poster, I would suggest you talk about your studies, your work experience, the personal (married? etc.) and then hobbies/extracurricular, and then also motivation (just finish with why or that you really want to go to school X).

Ans : I start with a few interesting pesonality traits, childhood if interesting, school if anything special otherwise just mention where you went for undergrad (and grad if applicable) and why that major, work progression and sum up why you are at that interview (why MBA, why particular school). Throw in your hobbies and extra-curricular involvement somewhere!

Ans : This probably goes against conventional wisdom and what everyone is saying, but for me I think the most important thing is to just relax and say whatever comes naturally. Don't expect to cover all points and just try to come across as a reasonably intelligent person. After all, the interview for most schools is just another component and will not make/break your application. And the interviewer will probably not take detailed notes on what you are saying anyway. As long as the story is more or less consistent with your application it's fine. Good luck!

Ans : While I find it difficult to add to what our fellow bloggers have stated, one very important aspect of such questions which seek a macro picture of your resume is to succinctly explain the various decisions you made. This would include the choice of your under-grad institution, your specialization (or major) and the various transitions you've made in your profession (between different employers, positions and/or functions). The reasons explain the real motivation behind the decisions you made and help bring out your personality in a genuine way.

Ans :
1) Too long of an answer may bore the interviewer, and if he's interested he'll ask more q's. So don't feel like you have to say everything about yourself. :-) Just need to get the key points across.
2) Tie it all together, if you can. For example, find how your interests led into your college major led into your job experiences lead right into your post-MBA goals. This is sort of what I say: "I went into college with a strong interest in technology, so I studied Comp Sci. Coming out of college, I wanted to learn how tech products are developed in the real-world, so I took on a position as a software engineer. During my time at [company], I had a great opportunity to go to [country] on a marketing trip and learned A, B, C. [Plug in awards won, how I added "a greater impact" to my company by A, B, C. yadidadi.] Now I'm at a point in my career where I want an MBA to transition into marketing because blah, blah.
3) Conclude by tying it into how you "fit" the program. "I researched several schools and found [your school] to be the best fit for me." (He'll ask you later why K, so don't feel like you have to say everything up front.)