By Elizabeth LaScala, PhD
My graduate and professional admission clients increasingly report being offered a Kira interview this cycle. Here are a few things you need to know about this relatively “new kid” on the higher education admissions block, what it actually does, and one function you might love… or hate.
Kira Talent Interview Prep
Standardized tests are rrequired or recommended by many graduate and professional schools. The most common entrance exams and tests include:
- Research: Do research into what kind of questions you might be asked. Questions will vary depending on your degree (MBA, Law, Medicine, etc.) and the institution to which you are applying.
- Self-reflection: Once you have a list of questions, prepare your responses. Remember, schools already have a sense of your “accomplishments” from other parts of your application. You should use those details and personal stories to show your values and how those values align with the school’s values.
- Practice: Record yourself responding within the time constraint. When you watch the recording, ask yourself: What does this answer say about me? Was I so specific that no one else could have delivered this response? Was I personable?
What is Kira?
Kira, short for Kira Talent, has actually been around since 2012. However, it’s only popped up on my radar in recent years, likely due to my reputation as a highly personalized advisor who works with small numbers of qualified applicants. Kira’s noteworthy goal has been to help schools streamline admissions with an eye towards better identifying suitable candidates and creating a more equitable process. Kira is used by hundreds of higher education programs worldwide, from medicine and dentistry to business and law. While many healthcare professions programs use Kira as a screening tool to reduce the volume of applicants before moving on to interview ‘live,’ its usage by business schools seems to be dictated by the individual business school’s established admission process.
Kira bills itself as “the world’s only holistic admissions solution for higher education”. I’m quick to argue when words like “only” are thrown around, but evaluating this claim to fame is a very good way of understanding what Kira is and what it isn’t. It is a “solution” – not a new type of test, like the Casper (which evaluates situational judgement), or a new format like the MMI (multiple short interview questions often focused on ethical issues). It is a solution designed for “holistic” admissions, allowing candidates and admission committee members to achieve complex, school-specific processes in as streamlined a way as possible. In short, Kira is essentially a platform, one that is fully customizable to fit the exact needs and institutional priorities of the school.
Why would a school use Kira?
The Kira website provides dozens of case studies that explain how they helped a specific school streamline their admissions process and/or make it more equitable and/or efficient.
One way medical schools have used Kira is for transitioning their MMI formats from in-person to online. Can you imagine Zoom trying to handle multiple interviewers with applicants being passed virtually from interviewer to interviewer in the right order? But Kira makes it sound easy. Schools named in the case studies who use Kira for MMIs include Oregon Health and Science University’s School of Medicine, the Burnett School of Medicine at Texas Christian University, and University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine. If it’s as easy as they say it is, I wouldn’t be surprised if more schools follow in their footsteps.
Another way that medical schools (and other schools) have used Kira is for its “asynchronous interview” capabilities. This adds another layer to the virtual interview experience. Instead of being interviewed live, you are asked a question via a pre-recorded video, given some time to prepare your response, and then prompted to deliver your answer by video. When my clients have described to me, it sounds like a shortened MMI with no real person on the other side but still a very real recording of your live response.
You might love this new approach to interviewing or hate it. My more introverted clients seem to prefer this format, as the social pressure is removed from the interview equation. For my more extroverted clients, they complain about feeling less engaged and missed the energy of the other person in the virtual room to keep them thinking and responding at their best.
Regardless of preference, there is a sound enough logic behind this kind of interview. After all, interviews are hard to compare. With Kira, the interviewer is delivering the material the same way every time. And with recorded responses, it’s possible that an unbiased rubric could be used to score interviews more equitably. I can’t say with certainty that Kira reduces bias, but they do make the reduction of bias possible.
What does this mean for you, the applicant?
If you have a virtual MMI with a school that uses the Kira platform, then hopefully it will all go as smoothly. If you have an asynchronous interview using Kira, reviewers should be able to compare your response with others more accurately. But overall, there is nothing that I’ve read or heard that indicates a dramatic shift might be necessary for interview preparation. As always, you will need to understand the interview type (traditional, MMI, and now asynchronous video) and length (traditional interview might be 30-45 minutes, MMI might be 5-8 minutes each, and asynchronous video might be 2-5 minutes each). Whatever the format, you should practice receiving questions, preparing your responses, and delivering your answers within the allotted time.
Key AI Takeaway that Colleagues Confirm: The Kira system is not more likely to be used in one specific round over another; rather, its usage is dictated by the individual business school’s established admissions process. Applicants should check the specific requirements for each program and round they are applying to on the school’s official website.
Kira Talent Interview Prep
Standardized tests are rrequired or recommended by many graduate and professional schools. The most common entrance exams and tests include:
- Research: Do research into what kind of questions you might be asked. Questions will vary depending on your degree (MBA, Law, Medicine, etc.) and the institution to which you are applying.
- Self-reflection: Once you have a list of questions, prepare your responses. Remember, schools already have a sense of your “accomplishments” from other parts of your application. You should use those details and personal stories to show your values and how those values align with the school’s values.
- Practice: Record yourself responding within the time constraint. When you watch the recording, ask yourself: What does this answer say about me? Was I so specific that no one else could have delivered this response? Was I personable?
