I interviewed on campus in mid-November for Round 1. This was my second time visiting the school. During the summer, I sat in on an information session, which did not include a tour. The info session did not reveal anything new to me and would be most valuable to those who haven’t thoroughly reviewed Wharton’s website. The University City neighborhood felt safe, but areas to the north and west are dangerous.
Huntsman Hall was a nice building–less open than Chicago’s Harper Center but still modern. The interview lounge was busy with anxious applicants and prospectives awaiting a student-led tour. My interviewer came out on time and guided me to one of Wharton’s small interview rooms. He began by reciting a two minute explanation of what the interview meant to Wharton (not make or break, blind, etc.). Again, this information wasn’t helpful to me, and I was eager to commence the interview.
The interviewer began by asking me standard questions, such as:
- Why MBA?
- Why Wharton?
- Why now?
- Goals?
- He also asked about my leadership style.
- I stumbled for a moment on one question about a team situation when I encountered difficulty. While I recovered, my answer to this question was not fluid and marked the low point of my interview.
In hindsight, I regretted not preparing more answers regarding teamwork, which is not a large component of my current job. It’s obvious from reading about Wharton and past interviews that they value teamwork and often ask questions on the subject.
During the first half of the interview, if the interviewer wasn’t asking questions, he was looking down at his notepad and quickly writing my responses. This contrasted with my Chicago interview, when the student interviewer made eye contact much of the time. The Wharton interview felt more like a job interview, while the Chicago interview felt more like a natural conversation (but I’m sure this depends on which student you are assigned).
After 25 minutes or so, the interviewer said it was time for me to ask questions. I asked about 3 solid questions, and the interviewer answered each of them in-depth. His answers averaged almost 10 minutes apiece. At this point, he did most of the talking, but when I could, I chimed in to bolster my case. He remarked that my questions (regarding the bidding process) demonstrated that I’d done my homework on the program. I thanked him at the end of the interview (55-60 minutes total) for the extra time he spent with me. He told me that I was his last interview for awhile, so he was happy to spend additional time talking about the program. I took his willingness to invest more time with me as a positive signal.
Despite my perception that the interview went well, I was denied admission to Wharton. My “stats” are strong and I thought my essays were interesting, but I belong to an overrepresented applicant group. My poor answer to the teamwork question also probably hurt my case.
