Prior to joining the team at Menlo Coaching, Obinna got his MBA at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth on a full-tuition merit scholarship. At Tuck, he got involved in admissions interviewing, carrying out 80 interviews throughout the year. Obinna knows what distinguishes a great candidate from a forgettable one, and he’s helped clients ace their interviews and gain admission to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, and every other top MBA program.
Learn more about Obinna’s personalized approach to MBA admissions interview prep and how he can help you wow the interviewer.
During his MBA, Obinna served as a Tuck Admissions Associate (TAA)—interviewing MBA candidates and providing decisive, evaluative feedback. Obinna looked at the role as a great way to meet interesting people from a wide variety of backgrounds—finance, tech, nontraditional—learning how different industries operate in the process.
What’s more, Obinna loved interviewing and took on as many interviews as he could. He won the award for completing the highest number of virtual and in-person admissions interviews in 2019. He recalls a wide range of candidates:
Obinna gained a new perspective on the many pitfalls candidates must avoid—and how the interview fits into a holistic admissions process. Having caught the interviewing bug, he came on board at Menlo Coaching to develop an exceptional interview prep service.
But rewind to Obinna’s own application to Tuck; he’s been on the other side of the table too. He vividly remembers being drilled in his Tuck interview—tough questions, no affirmation to give him confidence he was doing OK—and coming out fully convinced he’d just bombed the interview and destroyed his chances.
Of course, he was wrong. Speaking to his interviewer later, she remembered him as the strongest interview she’d had all year—the tough, poker-faced demeanor was just her style. It led to an insight that’s informed Obinna’s approach ever since: As an applicant at the interview stage, you’re never quite sure how you’re doing.
With over 1,000 mock interviews under his belt—plus his experience conducting real interviews at Tuck and his own track record of success as an interviewee—he knows he excels in this context. But he’s not in the business of pushing his own approach on clients, producing mini-Obinnas. Built on an awareness that different people have different communication styles, Obinna’s coaching philosophy is all about adapting to the outlook, needs, and personal style of the client.
Authenticity comes first. Successful applicants cover the right points in their answers, but always in a way that feels natural to them, not as though they’re following a script. Obinna’s coaching clients vary widely; they
In other words, some clients need encouragement, while others (to put it bluntly) need taking down a notch. Overconfidence can kill your chances just as surely as nerves.
Obinna’s style is detailed and demonstrative—he’ll never leave it at “Make your answer a bit longer” or “Be more descriptive.” Instead, he shows clients exactly how he would have responded to a given question in their shoes. And he prides himself on maintaining a balance between frank and friendly; when you practice with Obinna, he’ll ask the tough questions and tell you exactly where you’re going wrong, without ever losing sight of the fact he’s there to build you up, not put you down.
Obinna is far from a one-trick pony. In addition to his MBA, he holds a BA with honors from Binghamton University (SUNY) and an MMS from Duke Fuqua. Before pursuing his MBA, he worked for five years on both the for-profit and not-for-profit sides of the education sector in New York City, at Faith Christian Academy and iMentor. Although he enjoyed his work, Obinna ultimately decided it wasn’t the right long-term career for him. In 2017, with the goal of breaking into management consulting, he started his MBA at Tuck.
In his MBA summer internship at McKinsey & Company, he found himself disappointed with his taste of the MBB consulting experience. So, despite getting a return offer, he reoriented: His next summer placement was at Goldman Sachs, and postgraduation he went to JPMorgan Chase. He worked his way up to Vice President, but then made another transition: He’s now a Strategy and Operations Manager at Google. All that alongside his fantastic work with Menlo Coaching.
This professional journey has given Obinna insight into the ambitions and career pivots that motivate people to pursue an MBA. He knows how career goals evolve over time. He knows how to handle these transitions gracefully and how to build a compelling story out of even a circuitous, nontraditional career history.
Yaron Dahan 
