Whats the main reason applicants don make it to the next round after an interview?
There’s a sub-segment of that [failed interview] group where English skills are the primary issue. Sometimes, we see significant team-skill issues. For instance, a candidate that has a much more individual orientation — if we see some metrics in addition to that, things like letters of recommendation or the essays that also indicate [individual orientation], that could give us a cause for concern. The biggest thing that would take somebody out at the interview phase would be if they state a set of career goals that we don’t think we’re well suited to provide. Q: Teamwork is something Michigan State brochures mention often. How much time should an applicant devote to that topic in the application or interview? A: We devote one of two [required] essays to teamwork. We assess not only whether they understand what causes a team to not work properly but also if they understand how to take a team that isn’t working and move it into a positive direction. We want to see if they understand the
