A difficult interview question

[razorback]

This is kind of a thought experiment. By no means am I the subject in question here, nor would anyone be I'd imagine. But anyways...

Assumptions:

Imagine you have a killer application (780+ gmat, 3.8+ gpa, great essays, reccs, ECs, etc) and you are applying to Wharton and 3 other sub-tier 1 schools, with Wharton being your far and away top choice (for whatever reasons). You peg yourself at +50% to get into Wharton.

You are in an interview with one of the other 3 schools, and immediately the interviewer says:

"Well, lets not waste time here. We've reviewed your application and we are beyond thrilled. The paperwork in front of me has already been signed off on. We are willing to offer you admittance right now. Whadda ya say?"

So, what do you say?

Fwiw, I would definitely bluff with this line as an Adcom just to test the interviewees on-the-fly decision making and his or her level of commitment to my school. If the applicant called the bluff and accepted I'd just say "Just kidding, that was a test" and move on.

[essaysnark]

Hey razorback - we get it that you're saying this is a "thought experiment" but not quite sure what the point is... It's exceedingly unlikely that this would ever happen in an interview. Like, next to impossible.

Bschool interviews are not like job interviews, you're not going to be offered a spot on the spot. Even when the interview is conducted by an adcom member (which is pretty unusual, only a small number of schools do it this way), that person does not have any authority to make a final decision. They will write up their report and it goes to committee.

What are you trying to work through with this hypothetical?

EssaySnark

[razorback]

how generally to respond to questions that put you on the spot to determine your desire to come to that school.

[Jon@Admissionado]

Well, you tell them the truth: that YES you are excited, yes you want to go, yes you love the program, yes it's amazing. You applied there, so you probably are excited (and should be). No need to lie about anything though. If someone asks you for example "If you get into Harvard and us where would you go"? (it happens) you can just respond something like "Actually your program is so much more exciting than Harvard because of A, B, C, but I would still have to consider my options" or something like that...