Welcome to this year’s first edition of Wiki Wednesdays, where we highlight fresh and informative reports on the MBA admissions process in the Clear Admit Wiki. As we near this week’s peak of Round 2 deadlines, we’re taking a breather from the mountainous climb with a closer look at the Wharton interview and the kinds of questions applicants often receive.
Wharton’s interviews are conducted ‘blindly’ (with only the applicant’s resume) by second-year students, adcom members or alumni. It is very important to underline the fact that Wharton interviewers have not had access to the candidate’s submitted application. Wharton interviews are by invitation only and tend to be conversational on the typical topics of career progress, interest in the MBA and planned goals. Given the school’s self-proclaimed “distinctively collaborative” community, many of the interview questions delve into teamwork and leadership skills to get a better sense as to how the applicant might fit into the Wharton community.
With the Learning Team model of working with a group of five to six peers dominating the first year of MBA studies, Wharton’s questions tend to encourage applicants to demonstrate teamwork capabilities. For instance, as one recently-admitted Round 1 interviewee notes in the Clear Admit Wiki, “I wasn’t asked ‘how did you handle a conflict?’ I was asked, ‘How would you handle a conflict in your Learning Team at Wharton?’”
Other reported questions that centered on Learning Teams include:
- What role will you take on in your Learning Team?
- What would you do if one of the members of your Learning Team didn’t pull his/her weight on a project? What would you do if you learned that (s)he didn’t help due to the lack of interest in the project/course?
- How would you help your teammate who needed help? What would you do if you were extremely busy with your own work?
Accordingly, applicants should be prepared to translate their strengths – whether in time management or motivational skills as the questions above hint at – into the Learning Team setting. Beyond what one could offer the student community, interviewees should also have a keen awareness of what they stand to gain from Wharton. “What do you expect out of your classmates at Wharton?” and “What do you think will be your best take-away from Wharton?” are some of the questions reported in the Clear Admit Wiki.
In some cases it’s important to know what you don’t want out of the Wharton experience as well. A Wharton/Lauder interviewee was asked, “why haven’t [you] applied to the Healthcare Management major since [your] goals are in [pharmaceuticals?]” In line with this probe, applicants should make sure they have an in-depth awareness of Wharton’s offerings in order to present a clear case when pressed. To prepare for such school-specific responses, one should make use of resources like the school website and Clear Admit School Guides for detailed insight into a target school’s unique merits.
Thanks to everyone who has posted to the Clear Admit Wiki in the past few weeks! We hope that Round 2 applicants will replicate the efforts made by the Round 1 crowd (as demonstrated by a recent Yale interviewee) and post their interview reports to the Clear Admit Wiki. Best of luck to everyone who has MBA interviews in the New Year!
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