The interview was pretty informal and took place at Starbucks. We talked for about an hour and seemed to click pretty well. He was very enthusiastic about Wharton and his passion for the school definitely showed. He asked me to email him my resume ahead of time and brought a list of questions with him. Some of the questions he asked were:
- Tell me about yourself (he started by talking about himself and once finished asked me to do the same)
- Why MBA?
- Why Wharton?
- Why Now?
- Short term and long term career goals (he probed into this a bit).
- What other schools did you apply to (he followed up by asking if I got into those schools, would I choose Wharton)?
- What is an accomplishment you are proud of?
- Name a time you worked with a team and had to work with a difficult teammate (some derivation of this question).
- Name a time you received constructive criticism and how did you take it.
- What are some of the qualities of leadership to you? He followed with ‘what leadership qualities would you like to enhance?’
- Questions for the interviewer.
He then described his experiences at Wharton and was very enthusiastic about them. He mentioned that one big thing about Wharton is that students do not compete with each other in a cut-throat manner and that they are big on collaboration, so make sure you hit home on this (as long as this is the truth!) I would also definitely suggest to do your homework on the school (this should be why you are even applying there) because it is good to mention specific things about the program that they can relate to. Other suggestion: be yourself! I think it is all about fit and making sure that you don’t come off as a snob, or are arrogant, or are a weirdo! Relax and smile 🙂 If you are yourself, and are passionate, sociable, excited, and know exactly why you want to go to that school to get an MBA right now and what you expect to do with it, it’s all gravy baby! Good luck to all!
