Interview Preparation and Practice
Whether you want a quick coaching session or a full practice interview, Career Advancement is here to help you put your best foot forward!
All practice interviews take place via Zoom with trained career advisers, graduate students, alumni, and peer advisers.
If you are new to interviewing or want coaching on how to approach an interview for a specific opportunity, sign up for an interview prep advising appointment!
To request one of these appointments:
Click "Career Center" and then "Appointments"
Choose the industry type most appropriate for your opportunity
Select the "Interview Prep" appointment type
Sign up here for a practice interview:
Click "Career Center" and then "Appointments"
Select "Practice Interview Program" appointment type
Designed to feel like a real interview, practice interviews are scheduled for 60 minutes.
Trained interviewers will assess the effectiveness of responses and provide valuable and objective feedback on interview skills.
Coding Interview Signup
Sign up here for an hour-long practice coding interview.
How to Prepare
Practice with Blind 75
Watch Google's prep video and interview demo
Learn the UMPIRE framework to frame your answers
What to Expect from a Mock Interview
First 5 minutes | Introductions
Practice introducing yourself to a software engineer.
If applicable, give your interviewer background about your upcoming interview.
45 minutes | Coding Problems
The interviewer will start by framing the problem(s).
Ask clarifying questions and begin working through a solution.
Last 10 minutes | Feedback
Your interviewer will provide you with some feedback about your interview and offer some suggestions about how to further prepare.
Interviewer Bios
Andres Jaramillo has extensively prepared for and interviewed at top companies like Tesla, Meta, Amazon, and IBM, and is familiar with multiple interview formats and approaches. He also conducted interviews for internships and full time roles as a Software Engineer at Citi.
Deepanshu Raj has guided over 350 students to improve their internship readiness and placement outcomes leading technical events and mock interview drives. He has worked as a Software Engineer on the edge AI solutions and optimization team at Qualcomm, and conducted interviews in this role.
Jenny Lee has interned at Jane Street and D.E. Shaw, and is well-versed in quant interview structures involving logical thinking, probability, and LeetCode database problems. She has served as an undergraduate mentor for the Data Science Institute at UChicago, and has led technical training and mock interviews as a leader of the Smart Women Securities and Sustainable Investing Group RSOs on campus.
Raj Hansini Khoiwal has worked as a Software Engineer at Google and Microsoft, and brings a strong record in competitive programming from events like Google Code Jam and Hash Code. She has also served as a Computer Science Teaching Assistant and student mentor, and led the Google Developers Student Club where she taught a machine learning course.
Rutvij Joshi was one of the earliest employees at his last startup and was deeply involved in hiring, conducting interviews, and evaluating take-home assignments. He has also judged hackathons and mentored the team that won the Smart India Hackathon in 2024.
Practice one-way recorded interviews on Big Interview - sign up with your @uchicago.edu email address to get started
Big Interview is an online interview practice platform that provides the opportunity to practice responding to interview questions through video recordings to help you improve your recorded interview skills.
Many companies use digital tools such as HireVue to screen and assess candidates – and they are often the first interview in the hiring process.
With Big Interview, you can practice, review your responses, and even observe your speech patterns, eye contact, response time, and confidence level in a safe environment before you interview with companies.
Meet with a Peer Adviser within your industry of interest to learn more about the industry, conduct mock interviews, and prepare for recruiting!
Finance Peer Advisers
Make an appointment here to speak with a Finance Peer Adviser who's recently gone through finance recruiting!
Please see here for a full list of Finance Peer Advisers, their firm recruiting experience, and the sub-sectors they can speak to.
Consulting Peer Advisers
Make an appointment here to speak with a Consulting Peer Adviser who's recently gone through consulting recruiting!
Please see here for a full list of Consulting Peer Advisers, their firm recruiting experience, and the sub-sectors they can speak to.
Please note there is limited appointment availability for Peer Advisers from June - September. You can book an appointment with a Career Adviser on Handshake by clicking "Career Center", then "Appointments" , and selecting the appropriate appointment type for your needs.
Consulting Case Clusters
Case Interview Practice Clusters, known as “Case Clusters”, are groups of 4-5 students who will meet regularly as peers to practice case interviews together and improve their case interview skills.
pring is the perfect time to begin working with a group to practice and perfect your case interviewing skills for summer and fall interviews.
Career Advancement will kick off the cohorts on April 23, 2026 and June 17, 2026.
Open to second and third-year students.
Finance Technical Interview Clusters
Sign up here by November 13, 2026 to prepare for Summer 2028 recruiting!
Finance Technical Interview Clusters are groups of 4-5 students who will meet regularly as peers who will meet regularly to practice their finance technical interviews to improve their interviewing skills.
If you would like support preparing for Summer 2027 recruiting, we encourage you to make an appointment with a Finance Peer Adviser here.
