Calling all Wharton Fall 09 Applicants

Had my interview in Chicago with an alum yesterday morning. Interview itself was nice & conversational. The only real "questions" he posed to me were:

1) Why Wharton?
2) Why an MBA & why now?

Lasted about 40 minutes or so. Said my background was interesting & he enjoyed hearing my "story." He & I shared the same major (engineering) at the same undergrad, so we bonded over how miserable our football team has been lately.

Made the comment that when he was applying, he received an email to check the status on the website for the decision. Possibly different nowadays.

Best of luck to those who have interviews on the horizon.

did you happen to go to Michigan? If so, I can commiserate...
glad to hear your interview went well.

So apparently the deadline to have done your interview at Wharton(for the R1s) is Dec 4th. Just FYI for anyone, I for one didn't know that until I got the 'just wondering why you haven't scheduled your interview yet' email from them today. I was just barely able to hold back my temptation to write 'well maybe if you took less than 2 weeks to get people's names into the system id have done so'. And now applyyourself is giving me an error every time I try to check if the interviewer list has been updated. I need a beer....

Hi guys. I just finished my HCM interview w/ June Kinney a few minutes ago. She asked me questions for maybe 15 min:
1. Tell me about what you're doing (current job).
2. Why MBA?
3. What are you looking to get out of the HCM program?

That was it. We then talked about Wharton and the HCM program. I then asked her if she had any concerns about my application and we talked about those (grades and demonstrated leadership through extracurriculars) for a bit.

A few tips:
We talked a long time about HBS and other schools going younger, and she doesn't agree with that strategy. So if you're a young HCM applicant, be prepared to talk about why you're ready to get an MBA (even if she doesn't ask).
When I asked her about her concerns about my application, she told me exactly what the comments were from my two readers. So if you're a HCM applicant, it may be helpful to speak to June before your non-HCM interview.

what is HCM?

I think thats healthcare management.

I finished mine last Friday, on campus. I think I did well, but I just could not get a solid read of my interviewer. She seemed like a seasoned veteran.

I always thought we were on the verge of establishing solid rapport, but then again are backgrounds were SO INCREDIBLY DIFFERENT, I wonder how this will contribute to her assessment of our mtg (I am incredibly excited about my field of work and it showed, and she seemed interested but not all together enamored with the work).

Also, did everyone get a response to their email thank you note? I sent one on Friday and received nothing as of yet.

On to R2!

Yep, it's healthcare management. Applicants need to do an additional interview w/ the program director, June Kinney.

I wouldn't worry about whether your interviewer is enamored with your work. That's not really how they decide whether an applicant should be admitted.

Notre Dame...although Michigan has struggled mightily as well. Beating them this year is the sole highlight of our season.

Hey folks,
I had my Wharton interviews yesterday on campus. Overall, I think both went well. In retrospect, my answer to a couple of the general questions could have been articulated better but I still got the message across successfully. I'm very relieved that they're done!

General interview:
- Walk me through your resume.
- Short/Long term goals
- Why MBA, why now
- What would you contribute in class?
- How do you fit with Wharton and how does Wharton fit with you?
- What are your hobbies? What do you do outside work?
- Talk to me about your travels? How did you end up in country x, where did you go?
- Tell me about a time when you had conflict on your team, how did you handle it?
Then we generally chatted about her experiences at Wharton, why she chose it and England. (yes the country)

HCM interview:
- Tell me about what you currently do?
- Talk to me about change management strategies, how has worked? what hasn't? (this is related to what I do)
- What have you seen as barriers to new technology adoption? (this is related to what I do)
- How do you work with clinicians? How did you learn their common workflows, standards? How do you adapt them as part of your client engagements? (this is related to what I do)
- What would you contribute in class? to the medical device industry? (related to my future goals)
And then we generally chatted about healthcare, the HCM program.

General Misc Observations:
- sat in on Prof Useem's Managing People at Work class- he's super nice, the class was entertaining, and the students in the class fairly welcoming
- heard from many students that space is an issue at Huntsman - since undergrads also use the same space, meeting rooms can be hard to get
- heard from lots of students that they are stressed about recruiting; not about the economy or anything, just that all of a sudden, they have a lot to do

All in all a good experience, I'm really glad I went for an on-campus interview. Helped get a better feel of the place

Hope this helps!
ac.

so I have seen this question, I am hoping someone can give me a good insight to what their answers might be..

how does wharton suit you?

this is a why wharton question, but specific to you, so you could just take the high level why wharton answers and tailor it to your needs. my basic thought on why wharton is that it is built to be highly flexible and will allow the student to get whatever experience he/she most desires

academics:
reputation for being one of the more academically rigorous schools
flexible curriculum
- 1st year, general management basics
- 2nd year, 20ish majors and most electives of any b school allows you to tailor your experience
deep business faculty due to Wharton's reach from undergraduate to PhD
- allows Wharton to attract the best professors across practice areas

extracurriculars
one of the broadest set of student groups/clubs of any business school again allows you to get a unique, individual experience

culture
collaboration, both among students and faculty
large class size means that you are ensured a group of students whose interests are similar to yours as well as a diverse set of people with complementary interests that can give you a more all-encompassing view of business

Very well said zoinnk. In my essays (and presumably my interview) I definitely talk about how a lot of the other top schools are big on promoting a set brand, the (School X) approach. Every Wharton student I've talked to has remarked to how much impact students have on determining what exactly the 'Wharton approach' is, that it's as customizable as an MBA can get.

just wanted to post an inspirational post from a fellow gmatclubber...i still get excited reading it..

so for the new generation of gmatclubbers.. here it is for you..

post186098.html

Hello everyone,

I don't know if I'm too late for this, but can I be included in the list of Wharton applicants as well?
I submitted my application for R1 and was invited to interview. I'll be on-campus interviewing this coming week.

Thanks!

Got an email from Wharton expressing their sympathies about Mumbai. It was really considerate of them to send that.

Is this email only for Indians?

I did not get it...maybe only for Indian citizens?