I am back from my interview at Kenan-Flagler. It took place on Monday, December 8th, at 10 AM. The woman I met with - assistant director of admissions - was very pleasant, and extremely easy-going. The interview lasted about 45 minutes. The questions she asked me were relatively standard. She surprised me with two questions, but I handled them by being honest in my answers. Overall, it felt that she was impressed with my knowledge of the program, the research that professors have conducted, and the research centers that I would like to participate in. She also told me that they always appreciate candidates with some work experience, and general overall maturity - since most of the students in the program go straight from the undergrad studies. She responded to my thank-you note and said that I should hear from her shortly. I would say that that's about two weeks.
I also had the pleasure of meeting with two current students. The two girls were from China and were very interested in everything that I have done professionally, academically, and really wanted to understand my reasons for wanting to attend UNC and accounting in particular. The three of us had lunch and we spent the rest of the time walking around the facilities and chatting. I also met a couple of other MAC students along the way, all of whom were very nice.
The facilities are quite impressive. There are many breakout rooms, study rooms, team rooms, interview rooms, and computer labs on the business school campus. Classrooms are quite large, and there is also a huge lecture hall. Graduate students also get their own lockers at the business school where they can store their books, among other things. Given that it is quite time-consuming to get to and from the campus - there is no housing ON campus, most of it is withing 1 to 4 miles from it - this is a very convenient feature. There is also a kitchen with a microwave oven and two refrigerators, among other things.
I also had a chance to visit a class - business law elective that covered derivatives and securities law. The class was pretty large, and some of the students did not exactly pay attention to what was going on. I actually found that many students are quite young and appeared to carry an air of immaturity. A smaller number of students, on the other hand, were a bit older - around my age. I later found out that this is because there are two tracks: 1) students who took part in a 5 year program that allows them to complete a BSBA and then get a masters and 2) students who have worked a bit and then returned to school, and who are also more mature and situated.
Overall, I had a good experience. I really liked the campus, enjoyed meeting with the assistant director of admissions and the students, and gathered a more intimate understanding of what I can expect from the program, should I be admitted.