Posted by Clear Admit on November 30, 2004, at 10:09 am
Posted in:  General , Interview Tips As many of our clients go through the interview process at top schools, we are constantly receiving updates on the typical questions, etc. We combine these ‘field reports’ with our in-house data and first-hand experiences in MBA admissions to stay on top of trends in the process.
Here’s an email we just received with some helpful tips on the Wharton interview:
—– Original Message —– From: xxxxxxxxx To: info @ clearadmit . com Subject: Wharton Interview
Hi Graham,
I completed the Wharton interview yesterday. I think it went quite well. Just to share with you, please see below the questions I was asked during the interview.
I have drafted a brief thank-you note for the interviewer, and would appreciate if you can give it a quick review at your earliest convenience (see attached).
Thanks,
xxxxxx
Questions: 1. Walk me through your resume. 2. Talk about your current activities outside of work. 3. Do you have any leadership roles in these activities? 4. Tell me about someone you’ve worked with who you disliked. 5. How did the relationship with this person function? 6. What are your professional goals? 7. Why an MBA (in comparison to other master’s programs)? 8. Why now? 9. Why Wharton? 10. What is your leadership style? 11. How do you see Wharton changing because of your presence in the program? 12. What do you think is your weakest part of your application? 13. What else would you like us to know about you that wasn’t in the application? 14. Any questions for me?
Posted by Clear Admit on November 29, 2004, at 8:56 am
Posted in: MBA News MBA admissions consulting has recently been a hot topic in the press. Both the Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek have published articles on MBA applicants’ increased use of consultants, estimating that 20% of applicants are using services like Clear Admit.
As this subject has sparked a great deal of discussion (reminiscent of the debate that surrounded the standardized test-prep industry 15 years ago), we thought it might be interesting to share a client testimonial that touches on the crux of the issue:
I chose Clear Admit for their extensive experience in the admissions process and recommend them for this reason, as well as for the extremely professional and ethical approach they took to my candidacy. I wasn’t merely looking for an essay editor, but rather an experienced and objective advisor, and found precisely this in Clear Admit. My consultant was extremely honest about my chances from the beginning, clearly detailing my strengths and weaknesses, and focusing initially on the overall strategy of my candidacy. Every change that took place in my application was the result of extensive discussion between us and, in the end, every word was my own. This allowed me to incorporate Clear Admit’s suggestions on how to concisely and powerfully convey the ideas the admissions committees were looking for and yet also keep my passion and my own voice. I believe it was this combination that played a key role in my acceptance to Harvard Business School and very much doubt I would have been able to achieve it without Clear Admit’s help! -Client attending Harvard
Posted by Clear Admit on November 26, 2004, at 9:09 am
Posted in: Admissions Tips , Interview Tips , School: Harvard Most applicants know that getting an interview from Harvard Business School is a very good sign. At the same time, very few applicants manage to effectively prepare for the ‘non-blind’ nature of an HBS interview.
If you have been so fortunate as to have received an invitation, keep in mind that your interviewer will be highly familiar with your application essays and overall profile. The result will be a set of customized questions that probe any areas of concern and tease out additional stories from your background.
One candidate recently posted the following comment about his HBS interview:
“….He [the interviewer] drilled down to my experiences and especially why I made the decisions I made at every turn in my career path. He started right after college, asking what options were open to me and why I chose company X. After working at company X why did I make the transition to Y. Again, what options did I consider then and why Y over the rest….”
For the full posting and other pertinent discussion, visit the following thread in the BusinessWeek forums: http://forums.businessweek.com/bw-bschools/messages?msg=59484.22
Keep in mind that HBS interviews all the applicants they admit. It is also important to remember that they admit roughly half of those applicants who interview.
Contact Clear Admit directly for more information about the HBS interview process. We offer mock-interviews, sample questions and strategy sessions to help you prepare.
Posted by Clear Admit on November 24, 2004, at 8:29 am
Posted in: General We would like to wish all the readers of this blog a very happy Thanksgiving holiday!
While it will be important to spend time with family and friends on Thursday, the long weekend is a great time to make progress on MBA applications for the December deadlines (or the looming January rush). Here’s a short list of some of the key deadlines in the next week or so…..
December 1st: Dartmouth/Tuck, NYU/Stern, UVA/Darden, INSEAD, USC/Marshall December 2nd: UNC/Kenan-Flagler December 3rd: Georgetown December 10th: Berkeley/Haas
Posted by Clear Admit on November 23, 2004, at 1:12 pm
Posted in: General In many cases, the interview is a critical component of the MBA admissions process. We are currently in one of the more active time periods for interviews, with Harvard, Wharton, Cornell, Yale and Columbia all sending out invites in recent weeks. As with the rest of the MBA admissions process, the key to success in your interview is preparation and hard work. Here are a few general tips/things to consider as you approach an MBA interview:
1) Who will interview you? This sounds obvious, but many applicants do not give it much thought. Will you be sitting down with an admissions officer, a current student, a professor or an alum? Will the person interviewing you have an MBA? Will the person interviewing you have an intimate understanding of the industry in which you work? Each of these scenarios requires a different approach. Remember, the interview is truly an exercise in marketing. Any company selling a product needs to understand their ‘customer’.
2) What kind of interview will you be having? Blind? Semi-blind? Non-blind? It goes without saying that a resume-based, blind interview at Wharton is quite different from a non-blind interview at HBS. Prepare accordingly!
3) Practice. Many of you will be rusty at interviewing. Even those who have recently had professional interviews may not be used to the academic style that is employed for admission to an educational institution. Because this process will be rather unfamiliar, it pays to practice. You need to hear yourself responding to questions in order to truly assess any weaknesses that might be addressed prior to the real interview. Looking over sample questions and thinking about your potential responses is not enough.
4) ‘Read up’ on the school. Comb the web for recent news on the school in question. Visit the school’s site and read about the programs/courses/clubs/activities that interest you. Be prepared to discuss them in your interview. Interact with current students via email to learn more about an area of interest. The more you know about your ‘fit’ with the program, the better off you will be.
There are dozens of additional tips we could provide, but this should be a good start…
Best of luck to everyone prepping for their MBA interviews!
Posted by Clear Admit on November 22, 2004, at 10:07 pm
Posted in: General The Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) has posted the global GMAT test taker volume through October 31st, 2004. Numbers continue to be down overall (-7.82% vs. last year), but they do appear to be stabilizing. Of course, the real issue continues to be sinking international volume (-12.21% vs. the 2003 figures).
GMAC claims that much of the declines in international volume are due to fewer test takers in Canada, China and India. Perhaps residents of these countries are pursuing MBA options closer to home? In Europe?
For the GMAT volume report: http://www.gmac.org/gmac/ResearchandTrends/GMATStatistics/CurrentGMATVolume.htm#Link1
For the 4 year trend chart: http://www.gmac.org/gmac/TheGMAT/Tools/YeartoDateGMATVolume.htm
Posted by Clear Admit on November 19, 2004, at 2:39 pm
Posted in: Admissions Tips , School: Penn / Wharton The admissions office at Wharton have posted a really wonderful entry in their blog today. It reaches out to those students who did not make the cut and offers advice for the future, etc.
Read it here: http://adcomblog.wharton.upenn.edu/admissions/2004/11/round_1_midrele.html
At this point we would like to highlight something unique about the Wharton MBA admissions process. In addition to the school’s reputation for transparency (via a blog, diaries and discussion boards), the admissions office does two very interesting things:
1) If you do not get an interview, they let you know that you are out of the process ASAP. Candidates who were rejected yesterday now have ample time to regroup for R2.
2) If you are rejected, you are entitled to a ‘feedback session’ with a member of the admissions committee (in the spring/summer).
These aspects make for a big difference in the process. In essence, Wharton takes care of those candidates who are denied. A truly novel approach!
Posted by Clear Admit on November 18, 2004, at 10:47 am
Posted in: School: Penn / Wharton Today is the last day that interview invites will be released at Wharton. Congratulations to all of you who have been offered an interview! Your hard work is beginning to pay off! Despite a great deal of debate on the discussion boards, we would like to encourage everyone to avoid speculating with regards to the timing of their invitation. There are simply too many operational factors at play with readers in the admissions office to draw any definitive conclusions.
For those of you looking to get a sense of what to expect in your Wharton interview, be sure to check out our previous posting on the subject as well as the Wharton student2student discussion forums. Also, we highly recommend tracking the blog entries of your fellow applicants who have already interviewed. One blogger, known as ‘Megami’, posted a thorough description of her alumni interview, citing the questions she received and more.
We also thought that a special mention was in order for those fellow bloggers who are busily posting information about their Wharton application experiences: poweryogi, britchick, megami, onmyway, durba, aregon23, riter, the raver, and swoop. Great work everyone!
Posted by Clear Admit on November 17, 2004, at 10:47 am
Posted in: MBA News An interview with Dean Patrick Harker at Wharton has reignited the debate over the validity of MBA rankings. The interview is part of an article featured in today’s Globe and Mail. In the article, Dean Harker questions whether or not some of Wharton’s peer schools are fudging their numbers when reporting statistics on employment. He also reiterates the school’s stance on rankings in general – further explaining the school’s decision (along with HBS) to withdraw from active participation in the major ranking surveys conducted by BusinessWeek, FT, the Economist, etc.
For the full text of the article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20041117/RBIZSCHOOLS17
As many of our readers know, Wharton and Harvard officially withdrew their participation in the rankings back in April of this year, resulting in a barrage of press and speculation in the MBA community. For background and official statements from both HBS and Wharton, see our earlier postings on this subject (April 7th-10th, 2004).
Archived postings on Wharton/HBS rankings dispute: http://www.clearadmit.com/2004_04_01_archive.html
Posted by Clear Admit on November 16, 2004, at 1:12 pm
Posted in: Admissions Tips , Interview Tips , School: Penn / Wharton As many of you approach the interview process at Wharton, we wanted to share a handful of questions that are likely to come up in the actual interview. Keep in mind that Wharton conducts ‘blind’, somewhat improvisational interviews. This means that there is no set script that the interviewer is following. It also means that the interviewer has only viewed your resume, not your application.
The sample questions below come from three sources: a) our experiences working in the Wharton admissions office, b) recent discussions with Wharton admissions staff and c) historic data from the hundreds of Clear Admit clients who have interviewed with Wharton over the last few seasons.
-”Walk me through your post-undergraduate work experience and describe transitions you’ve made.” -”What do you think makes an effective manager?” -”What are some of the frustrations/rewards you’ve experienced as a manager?” -”How do you operate in a team?” -”Describe your ideal work environment.” -”Tell me about the person with whom you have least enjoyed working. How did this relationship function?” -”What are your plans upon graduation from the MBA?” -”What are your plans if you’re not accepted into an MBA program of your choice?” -”If you suddenly had an afternoon off, what would you do with it?”
For additional questions and strategy regarding the Wharton interview, contact Clear Admit to learn more our Wharton mock interview services.
Posted by Clear Admit on November 15, 2004, at 1:04 pm
Posted in: Admissions Tips The R2 admissions deadlines are densely packed into the first half of January. This will create several challenges. As many of you begin preparing applications, we thought it might be helpful to offer a deadline summary along with some useful tips.
Here are the critical deadlines to mark on your calendar:
1/3/05: Duke 1/5/05: Harvard, UCLA 1/6/05: Stanford, Wharton 1/7/05: Chicago, Michigan, Kellogg, LBS, Oxford 1/10/05: CMU 1/12/05: Yale, UVA 1/13/05: UNC 1/15/05: NYU, Cornell, USC, 1/17/05: Dartmouth 1/19/05: MIT, Insead (R3) 1/21/05: Berkeley (R3)
Tips 1) Take advantage of the next four weeks (November 15 – December 15). The more you do between now and mid-December, the better off you will be. Strong applications to the top schools take a lot of time to produce. Do not underestimate this!
2) Beware of the holidays! It is incredibly easy to coast along in November and promise yourself that you’ll get to your MBA applications after the Thanksgiving holiday. Of course, when Thanksgiving weekend comes along, you may realize that you prefer spending that time with family and taking some time to relax. Before you know it, late November turns into early December and the seasonal holiday parties and other family gatherings continue to absorb your time.
3) Don’t take on more than you can handle. Given the challenge that the deadlines pose, it often makes sense to think carefully about each school you are targeting and make sure that you’ve narrowed your list down. It’s not just the essays that will take up your time. Keep in mind that you will be managing your recommendation writers, filling out application forms, setting up interviews and pulling together official transcripts, etc.
Contact Clear Admit to learn more about our R2 admissions services. We’ll help you target the right schools, refine your message and put your best foot forward in the process.
Posted by Clear Admit on November 12, 2004, at 4:09 pm
Posted in: Deadlines , School: Chicago Chicago has pushed their ‘R1′ deadline back to Monday. Oddly enough, it seems that this is due to some ‘unscheduled maintenance’ on their application payment system. For those of you who were struggling to pull things together, this news offers a few extra days to polish essays, etc. Of course, for those of you who have already submitted, this feels a lot like the scenarios at Darden and Michigan earlier this season…
From the Chicago GSB web site:
Campus MBA Only–Round 1 Application Deadline Extended An unscheduled update of our application payment system will commence at 11:00 p.m. (CST) on Friday, November 12. This update will not allow us to accept applications through the 12:00 a.m. published deadline. Therefore, in good faith we are extending the deadline for submitting Round 1 applications to Monday, November 15, at 12:00 p.m. (CST). We are sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your interest in Chicago GSB.
http://admissions.chicagogsb.edu/admissions/app
Thanks to our clients and fellow blogger PowerYogi for picking up on this news…
Posted by Clear Admit on November 11, 2004, at 11:37 pm
Posted in: Admissions Tips , School: Harvard , School: Penn / Wharton At this time of year many ‘R1′ applicants get nervous while waiting for interview invites. In hopes of easing your fears, here are a few facts to help you understand the process of application review (and why it pays to wait patiently):
1) Reviewing files takes time. Think of your MBA application as a library book that has to be ‘checked out’ and returned by an admissions officer in order for one round of review to have taken place. Also, remember that everyone has scheduling conflicts, busy days, etc. It is not uncommon for an application to sit on someone’s desk for a few days (or weeks) if the reader assigned has to travel to an event or is otherwise occupied.
2) Files are typically reviewed more than once. At most of the top schools an MBA application needs to be read twice before an interview decision can be made. In other words, take the ‘library book’ metaphor above and multiply the process by two. Have you ever been late to return a library book? Now you know why your file may take some time to make it through the process.
3) ‘First in’ doesn’t always mean ‘first out’. Because applications are not all read by the same readers, there is no guarantee that a file received early in the process will be reviewed faster. For example, imagine that one admissions reader needs to be out of the office hosting receptions for a week; their files may get delayed, whereas files being reviewing by another officer may move through at a faster pace (even if they arrived in the office at a later date).
Overall, it pays to wait until the end of the process before jumping to any conclusions. It also pays to be ready for your interviews when the time comes – but we’ll post more on that later…
Posted by Clear Admit on November 10, 2004, at 4:29 pm
Posted in: School: Stanford The latest issue of Stanford’s MBA admissions newsletter has an interesting article in the Director’s Corner, written by Derrick Bolton (Assistant Dean and Director of MBA Admissions). The article talks about the way that files are reviewed with a focus on the elements of the admissions process that are under the applicant’s control vs. those aspects that are determined more by the quality and composition of the applicant pool at large.
As always, the Director’s Corner is a ‘must read’ for anyone considering Stanford.
For the full text of the article: http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/connect/newsletter/04_11_director.html
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