I had my Wharton interview on Tuesday December 8, 2005. I was surprised that I was not that nervous. I feel like I was myself and gave honest, well-thought out answers. I feel like I connected well to the interviewer. At Wharton, I interviewed with a second year student. He had worked for a heavy construction equipment manufacturer in sales. I think he was previously in engineering. At the end of the interview, he shared with me some stories about working with the Columbia government in between semesters on a big prostitution problem Columbia has (since I expressed to him some of the community service stuff I did).
The room was very small (almost like a closet) with a round table and two chairs. He had a clip board, but did not write anything down during the interview. Wharton interviews are blind so he had only looked at my resume.
- He asked me to walk him through my resume.
- Since you already have a Masters in finance, what do you expect Wharton to teach you? Why an MBA? Why Wharton?
- A leader I admired.
- A group/teamwork situation where things did not go well.
- An example of a failure and what I learned. How I thought the leader I admired would have handled the group situation where things did not go well.
- What I would be remembered for at Wharton.
- What weaknesses would the Admissions Committee reviewing my file perceive?
- Any questions for him.
I emailed him a thank you note and he responded “The pleasure was all mine.” That was encouraging because normally, they just do not respond to a Thank You note. He also provided information on the Texas Club to me.
Overall I liked Wharton because they have ugrads there so it creates a laid back atmosphere. Eating a Cheesesteak from a food truck during lunch was cool. The students were very laid back. Very casual dress. A little too much though. First years get paid to hang out in the admissions office and answer questions. Take people to classes and lunch. They also talk with people who are waiting to interview in order to keep them relaxed. The student who lead the tour was very nice. The guy I had lunch with was a fellow Texan. He said there were a lot of jobs for Texans because companies really wanted people who really wanted to live in Texas long term. I met a first year in the admissions office who was a Texan. The receptionist in the admissions office was very nice. (Renee) She was from Alabama, but had family in Georgia. She joked with me some after the interview. Told me she wished she could call me and give me my decision. Stuff like that. Wharton students generally seem to have a lot of ownership in the program. They are viewed as customers who have to live with the long term brand image.
However, I was denyed after interview at Wharton, but admitted at HBS. I did a lot more research on HBS (as it was my first choice) and I think it showed in my app and interview. I think with Wharton I failed to fully explain specifically why Wharton and did not do my homework well enough. It became apparent to me on my visit that my essays did not jive too well with Wharton’s culture. ADVICE: Everyone says you need to visit the schools (if at all possible) before applying and I now understand why. It’s expensive to make those trips, but goes a long ways in correctly relating to that specific school.
