Tomorrow’s the day. If you applied to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School as part of Round 2, you will very likely be checking your email repeatedly in hopes that an invitation to interview lands in your inbox. Good luck!
Wharton uses the Team-Based Discussion (TBD) format for interviews, as it has for the past few years. In terms of logistics, those invited to interview tomorrow can choose from a range of locations around the globe, including Wharton’s campus in Philadelphia, as well as San Francisco, London, Dubai, Mumbai, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo. Each TBD will include five or six applicants grouped by the order in which they sign up for various locations. And interviews will take place beginning in late February.
Candidates invited to interview will receive a prompt for the TBD before their interview date to help them prepare, but Wharton stresses that an hour of preparation time should be sufficient. Following the TBD, candidates will get to debrief with a member of the admissions team as part of a short one-on-one interview. Wharton second-year students known as Admissions Fellows will conduct on-campus TBDs, while Admissions Officers will conduct off-campus TBDs.
Maryellen Lamb, Wharton’s deputy vice dean of admissions, financial aid and career management, sought to demystify the TBD some as part of a recent blog post. “Everyone’s TBD experience will be different. That is the nature of the exercise. Each interview group will be unique in its dynamic and content,” she said. “We want to see how you integrate and engage with your peers – part of what we’re looking for is how you quickly adapt to the particular group dynamic at play.”
In terms of advice for how to approach the TBD, here’s what Lamb had to say: “The TBD is an opportunity for you to express yourself both as an individual and a member of a functioning team. Remember to balance these two roles during this exercise and make the most of it! This is your time to show us that you are a fit for Wharton as an individual, and also a Wharton community and team member.”
Best of luck to all Wharton Round 2 applicants! Remember that Clear Admit offers a range of resources to help you prepare for your Wharton interview, including the Clear Admit Wharton Interview Guide and the Wharton Interview Reports Archive.
