The following UPenn / Wharton interview questions and report were submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. Good luck to them!
I did my TBD and interview at one of the off-campus hubs in Asia. It was held at the premises of a large recruiter from Wharton.
TBD:
My group had 6 people. A member of the Admissions office made us sit in the alphabetical order of our names, welcomed us, and briefed on the format.
35 minutes in total, with demarcated 1 minute per person for pitching his / her idea (~6 minutes) and 5 minutes at the end for pitching the idea agreed upon by the group. She has placed an iPad with a timer at the center of the table and asked us to start.
Overall, the discussion went as well as it could have – given the stress levels, time constraints, and inherent competition. Barring a few moments, the group discussion was very cordial and the team members seemed to be tuned to the idea that it is a competition between groups of applicants and not between individuals. But we bungled at the group pitching session: We didn’t prepare enough and although we agreed that we will all present some section of the idea, the person at the whiteboard ended up presenting most of the idea. A few of us wanted to jump in and steer, but we didn’t as it might have blown such a well-done discussion till then.
Interview:
She has called the applicants one after the other into a separate room and asked pretty much similar questions. Few questions:
1.) How do you think the discussion went? What happened at the end? Why did/didn’t you jump in?
2.) How did the team perform overall? How did you perform? How does your performance differ from how you interact with teams at work?
3.) Why Wharton and a few resume questions
4.) Any questions for me.
She did this with a timer at hand and timed it to exactly 10 minutes. Pretty straight forward but it was nerve-wracking as I had to make a case for me in such a short span of time.
Overall, I think it went well. I truly liked my peer group and the admissions officer and felt that Wharton is not only a great place but also has a nice community.
Best wishes to everyone interviewing!
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