Wharton 2013 - Calling All Applicants

how do u get to that number?

I believe at the information sessions, the admissions team provides these figures pretty clearly. I will check my notes from last fall to see whether I still have them. If so, then I will post them up here -- the percentage of applicants that it interviews and the percentage of admits given to those who have interviewed.

Does anyone know how the rest of the application is reviewed after the interview. Is the entire application re-reviewed or is it if you do well on the interview you are admitted/do poorly are dinged?

Most, if not all, schools say they do a holistic re-review of all the applications after the interviews. I'm inclined to trust them.

I don't think anyone aside from the Admissions Committee really can KNOW for sure, but from everything that is said, it is part of the entire package. Not everyone enters the interview as an equal. For some they may be a 99% clear admit, as long as they don't totally screw up the interview. Others may enter the interview with little chance of admit from the start. Just do your best and know that it is just a part of the overall package. I have my final interview of the year with Wharton on Monday-- I'm already feeling the postpartum depression....

I believe that it is reviewed holistically along with the rest of your application. The way that I view the admission process, is that there is a qualification portion and a fit portion.

Anyone who is invited to an interview is qualified and should definitely feel good about the invite in itself. However, there are a LOT of people who are qualified to get into these great schools.

From there, it is a matter of fit. So then they re-evaluate your background and demographics to see how you would fit in constructing a diverse class and they also see what kind of team player and leader you are through the group discussion.

You may get dinged from Wharton after the interview, not because you did horrible in the interview, but perhaps you have an engineering background and they have chosen enough engineers at this point or the same case with military, finance people, etc...

With all of that said, definitely go in there and give that interview your best shot!!! Rather than telling them what kind of a team leader you have been, SHOW them the kind you are and you will be fine!

I don't think I have seen anyone with this much success on GC. Congrats on getting into all those schools. Have you decided where you are heading to?

Well thank you!! Yes the b-school gods were with me! haha. It was pretty tough to start out, the first two apps that I heard from were the dings at HBS and GSB, but then things picked up when I heard from Wharton and the rest came to follow.

For now, I am waiting to hear back from a few things:
Consortium Fellowships will be announced on March 15th, through which I ranked Tuck and Haas high on my list and have a shot at full-rides if I were to get the fellowship
Harvard Kennedy School admissions decision - applied for joint MPA program with Wharton or Tuck MBA
Booth and Kellogg decisions

So far, I am leaning towards going to Wharton and the 60K that they offered through a fellowship, but a full-ride from Tuck/Haas or Booth (if admitted) would be very tempting!

What is your target choice?

Excellent. I think you will get into Kennedy. If not this year, then you can always apply after first year of b-school. My top choice is Tuck, but I will be very happy to go to Fuqua also. Right now I am just praying for the Tuck admit on Friday. Depending upon the results, I might apply to few schools in Round 3. I have take GMAT few times, so that's probably a red flag in my app. Good luck with the consortium fellowship.

If you get to go last (by pure alphabetical luck, I was assigned the last spot in my group), it's a bonus because the time pressure is off. My 1:1 interview lasted upwards of 30 minutes, although it was mostly my questions for the interviewer as opposed to their questions of me. Regardless, I think having less of a time crunch is ideal. Not sure if people really have much of a say in it though...

Good luck everyone! Regardless of outcome, congrats on making it this far!

That is true. Thanks for the bode of confidence. Tuck is definitely a great school, gotta love its culture and community. I enjoyed myself the times that I had visited.

It can't hurt to try for a few more during round 3. How many times did you take the GMAT? At the end of the day, the admissions teams will more so look at your top score opposed to the fact that you have taken it X # of times.

Thanks for the luck! I shall keep the GC community updated!

I think it is meant to be brief, so don't feel as though you were rushed. I would not say that it was even an interview, rather it is just a recap of your thoughts on the TBD.

Admissions probably wants to see that you had a good experience, that you have a positive outlook on the discussion and its outcome and that you can articulate the approach you took and role you played within the team. This probably does not have much weight in the overall interview compared to how you interacted with the others and contributed to the project.

i felt it was fairly rushed too. to be honest, it seemed like they'd already made up their minds and were just doing this as a formality. still can't figure out how they judged us based on the team discussion (because cmon everyone will be on their best behaviour!)

It was rushed and kept short, true. They probably did have their minds made up by the time the 1 on 1 interview is done, I agree.

If anything, I would say the TBD allows for more accurate judgement than a regular interview. In a regular interview, you can rehearse your answers and tell them what kind of leader you have been and about a time you were on a team, etc... but within the TBD it is all on the fly. They will see you in action and see how you work on a problem within a team of strangers in a high pressured situation that has limited time to act.

They can observe many things... did you try to hog the spotlight and talking time, did you shy away when there was conflict or not speak up to voice/defend your opinions, did you empower and motivate the others on the team, did you help provide a framework for the discussion and help drive consensus, did you persuade anyone on the team with effective communication and presentation, were you flexible and able to an idea being chosen that was not yours, did you focus on driving results or did you just bicker and waste time debating, etc...

I would say that this is a great way to interview, although it is non-traditional, it is probably going to be adopted by other schools in the future.

Completely agree with both posts above. Reading the experiences posted here as well as going through my own experience a dozen times in my head, it feels like the 1:1 portion is just a nice-to-have for the students to explain anything more than what they have in their app and share their thoughts on the TBD, especially their behavior that day did not quite reflect their true self.

The TBD is a GREAT way to observe candidates in action. Agree that everyone is on their best behavior and are not 100% what they typically are. But, human nature is hard to hide. For example, is my group one person was trying hard to dominate the conversation and rolled his eyes when someone else tried to speak. Till I caught this expression, it was all fine, but then the best behavior veneer came off and the true self showed.
What Wharton is doing with the TBD gives the candidates a chance to showcase their leadership capabilities and team building skills. If only the discussion was little longer, say an hour, it will be even more effective.
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Any R3 applicant out there who has heard something about interview timing?

So proud of you my brother; but you're going to Wharton (heh heh heh heh)....really though, you can't go wrong with such fantastic choices.