Ask a Wharton MBA

As the title says... ask away!

Here are several profiles of my Wharton colleagues who are here to help.

Name: Laura
Industry Experience: Advertising, Consulting, Consumer Products, Government, Retail
Profile: I worked for a small consulting company in Washington, DC before coming to Wharton. At Wharton, I succesfully shifted my career from consulting into CPG brand management. I've helped several friends with writing their MBA application essays and crafting their "story".

Name: Sam
Industry Experience: Computer Related, Entrepreneurship, Government, Military, Non Profit
Profile: I spent 7 years as a military officer flying fighter jets. I have also worked for a small software company, for both US and foreign government non-profit sectors, and for two different technology/research organizations. I have a bachelors in Computer Engineering and a masters in International Affairs, and I lived overseas for over three years. I look forward to guiding you and critiquing your essays in your quest to attend ANY top b-school. I am here to help you get accepted!

Name: srm
Industry Experience: Consulting, Health Services and Health Care, Non Profit, Technology
Profile: Prior to business school, had six years of work experience in management consulting and healthcare business intelligence in NY and DC.
-Also have non-profit and health advocacy consulting experience
-Summer internship in business development
-Neuroscience/Biology major
-Part of the Healthcare Management program
-Volunteer Admissions Committee experience
-Returning to Big Three management consulting

Your Friends @ Appmentor.com

So we might be able to ask you some more pointed questions, would you mind giving us a brief profile? What did you do pre-MBA? I might guess what you're doing now based on your handle, but could you explain what you're doing with your Wharton MBA?

Great question! I've updated the post with some profiles of the Wharton MBAs.

Impressive stuff - I wouldn't expect anything less!

srm: I'm curious if there was a particular class or extracurricular activity at Wharton that you felt prepped you for consulting interviews and enabled you to present yourself a superior candidate?

Sam: How were you best able to parlay your military experience into an admit? I'm not a veteran (but think the world of you guys and are most grateful for your service!), but I was basketball player for a nationally ranked team in college. I think there are some parallels in terms of the leadership and discipline you take away from those endeavors.

I'm also curious why you guys chose to attend Wharton? I'm sure you each have a different reason, but what makes Wharton rise above other options you may have had?

Thanks for your willingness to help!

welcome!

Phillypointgod21,

I believe I was successful in being admitted to Wharton not only because I had the requisite scores (GMAT & GPA) and an interesting background, but most importantly, because I wrote clear, effective essays. I like to think there are six important strategies when you write your essays; to keep this brief, here are three of them: First, tell a story. Make it interesting for the reader. Second, be concise. The application readers go through hundreds of essays. Third, showcase your strengths. Tell them what you did or said that was effective in the end.

To answer your questions, the military certainly gave me plenty of leadership opportunities, from which I learned a lot. Therefore, leadership skills were a key component of my essays. I talked about my most important leadership experiences and the key lessons from them. I talked about how I would leverage those at Wharton, and what else I wanted to work on.

I chose Wharton because it is an amazing school, filled with fascinating and incredibly intelligent people who have more life experiences than at many other schools! It was my top choice!

Good luck,
Sam
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Sam | Appmentor | Wharton

Don't stop there, what are the other 3 components you consider important? Thanks!

Sam - that's great advice. I appreciate the insight into your application process.

I was originally not thinking of applying to Wharton, because of its strong finance reputation. I'm not interested in finance at all, and I'm not sure if I want to go to school with a group of people who mostly are.

However, I just tentatively put Wharton on my list, after taking a look at their health care major. My background is in biotech/tech, and I absolutely want to come back to a Silicon Valley startup, post graduation.

I was wondering if any of you who are on the thread have any perspective on the health care program, the students in it, or its place within the rest of the program. Do you think that Wharton actually makes sense for someone whose interests lie in technology and entrepreneurship in the health care sector?