Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2)

An Open Letter to Wharton Adcom--PUBLISH THE QUESTIONS. or start over
The new Wharton interview process--where each applicant gets asked one of two mandatory questions in 3 diff. catagories--which I outlined in post above has been confirmed by reports fr. kids who been thru the process and by convos w. Wharton alums. I for one dont think much of this process, but hey, it's your school, you can run your dog and pony show anyway you want.

I also got emails from students who HAVE found out about the exact questions fr. various sources, including, one imagines alum interviewer friends. As the interview process proceeds, these exact questions will leak out more and more. I know the questions, and lemme say, they are a CONSULTANTS DREAM. I could help anyone formulate a grade 4 answer which will conform to your grading protocols, which have also been released in various ways.

For instance: A time you had to address a conflict of two or more teammates--

any consultant, well, this consultant, could help craft a script along the lines of "Yes, I was on a team on the x project at ACME a port. company which makes insulun monitoring devices and the team was Joe, a veteran engineer fr. the client, and Lucy, an Asian compliance officer fr. a co-investor, and Jim, a salesman fr the client, and there were several conflicts based on both function, communication style, different agendas, and team dymanics, as well as my own sense of what was ethical. My role as the rep. fr. the PE firm, was blahblah and Jim wanted to get to a price pt. where he could beat out our low cost competitors, but Lucy said we could not meet govt standards, while Joe said his engineering team was demoralized because of cut backs. I tried several ways to manage these disputes, including asking Joe 1 2 3 and getting Lucy involved w. our own lawyers about possible flexibility on the compliance issue. Over the next two weeks, I did and said 1 2 3 and each player said back a b c --the outcome was what I call a 80 pct success, and it included 1 2 3 but we missed a better compromise b.c. I failed to notice Lucy was reluctant to give push back and that Jim was bucking for a promotion. blah, blah, blah

IT WOULD BE THE EASIEST THING IN THE WORLD FOR A CANDIDATE TO GO INTO THE INTERVIEW W. THAT SCRIPT INTERNALIZED (AND SIMILAR SCRIPTS FOR ALL FIVE QUESTIONS) AND WHILE SURE, SOME KIDS ARE BETTER AT THIS THAN OTHERS, THE CONSULTANT PREPPED CANDIDATE WLD HAVE A HUGE ADVANTAGE OVER SOME POOR SCHMUCK WHO GETS THIS QUESTION COLD. and cert. a huge advantage over himself, if he had gotten that Q cold, so what exactly are you learning.

The fact you did not anticipate this happening is .............well, you tell me.

But whatever, IT HAS HAPPENED, THE QUESTIONS ARE OUT THERE AND BEING PASSED AROUND, AND THEY ARE MAKING YOUR WHOLE ORIGINAL DUMB IDEA NOT ONLY DUMB BUT UNFAIR.

Get past me, I love your school, I'm prepared to like you, THIS IS JUST AN AMAZING BONER, and you really need to fix it.

PUBLISH THE QUESTIONS AND LET EVERYONE PREPARE..................OR STOP THE INSANITY OF THE PROCESS/KLUGE YOU HAVE SET UP.

This is not like HBS where 1000 questions are out there, and you can kinda prepare, and the questions are not behavioral, so it dont make that much of a diff. You have given birth to a flawed, unfair, and easily gamed process.

full disclosure: I dont do Wharton interview prep but anyone w. those questions could open a quick land-office business.