Interview tips for Wharton

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Interview tips for Wharton

by interviewbay22 » Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:30 pm
Interview tips by a Wharton alumnus who worked in the admissions committee



A brief background about yourself.

I graduated from Wharton in 2008 and served on the Adcom during my second year. Prior to Wharton, I spent 4.5 years at Deloitte Consulting in New York and post business school moved to London to work with Goldman Sachs.


How has been your experience at Wharton? Has Wharton met all your career and personal aspirations? What do you like the most at Wharton?

My Wharton experience was amazing - I learnt a lot, met some amazing people, traveled a lot and at the same time, I also got the chance to get involved with a variety of organizations at Wharton and make an impact

While it is too early to say if Wharton has met all my career aspirations, having moved to London, I can already see how helpful it is to be a part of the Wharton family and it really does give you an instant network just about anywhere you go

What I like most of Wharton really was the diversity of the student background - and by this I don't only mean where people are from but rather the intellectual diversity we had. Everyone was internationally curious and very easy to get along with.

What is the importance of interviews in the overall selection process at Wharton? Is it a make or break after the interview? Or, does it form a parameter in the applicant's candidature?

A good interview won't get you in if everything else is just average but a bad interview can keep you out
The interview is another data point in the entire process - in addition, the interview at Wharton is blind so the interviewer has not read your application. This provides the adcom with a consistency check between your application and your interview

The interview also gives you another avenue to bring your personality and your application to life. Use it well to mention things that the essays or the application did not allow you to talk about too much (or at all).
While in theory there is no difference between on campus and off-campus interviews, see what you are most comfortable with

Alumni interviews can run longer than the 30 mins and are often more conversational and less structured
On campus interviews are very structured and 30 mins in length so sometimes tend to feel less conversational and can be a little more intimidating depending on your personal preferences

How should a potential candidate prepare for the Wharton interviews?


Apart from knowing your application cold i.e. read your essays before hand and your story i.e. Why MBA, Why now the most important part is going to be Why Wharton?

If you are passionate about the school, it really comes through - so do you research and be specific about the reasons why you want to be a part of Wharton (the list is endless - great classes, social life, certain clubs - be specific about the role you will play and how you will make it better, Leadership Ventures etc)

Remember that many of the adcom interviewing you on campus are 2nd year students so they are thinking is this someone we would like to know / look up to if they were a part of my class

Cant emphasize enough to be specific and not general - there are a lot of choices to be made in the 2 years you are at Wharton and the admissions committee likes people who have a rough plan mapped out - I want to take these specific classes, be a part of these programs and clubs and this is role I plan to take in them / how you plan to contribute - These are the kinds of things that show passion and also make the adcom realize that this person is already thinking about the impact that they can make at Wharton

Talk to current students if you can and find out about their experience on campus so far - what do they like, dislike and how was their interview process

What dresscode would you suggest for the Wharton interview? (men & women)

Regardless of whom you are interviewing with, you should always be in full business attire.
Sometimes Alum may request that you dress casually in which case its okay to go in business casual else its always business attire and just use your common sense to avoid excessive jewelry and things that are too flashy

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