Calling all Wharton 2011 Applicants

guys dont know whether this question has already been answered. How long should I wait before I remind alum about responding to setting up time for an interview?

A while back (after the first wave of invites) people were saying that you can go out to multiple alums at the same time and others were saying you should wait a week...I think people would understand if you went out to a few alums and then if anyone emailed after you'd already scheduled an interview you would just tell them that and they'd understand...

no what i meant was, i have written to one of the interviewers today (the other is out of town/travelling and there are only 2 listed in my town), and havent heard back from him..should I wait for a day more and then:
1) either write to him asking him for it
2) write to adcom explaining the case.

I'd give it another day and then write to him again. Still four weeks to get it done so I wouldn't get too anxious at this point (that being said, maybe check to see how far away other alums are in other towns if you could travel a bit...just in case)

If it helps having a point for comparison, Booth recommends that if you don't hear from your interviewer within 2 business days, you should email the admissions office.

Personally I wouldn't give it any thought it until maybe 72hrs after you dispatch the email.

I wonder if it's OK to bring a resume that's slightly different from the resume submitted with your app? For example, changing a couple bullet points under your job description so it's easier to talk about during the interview. What do people think?

According to the Wharton Admissions blog: "Interviews will include behavioral questions. Questions may center on specific examples or detailed descriptions of events, projects or experience that demonstrate how situations you’ve faced in the past have been handled and what you learned from them. Behavioral interviewing assumes that past performance predicts future behavior."

They changed the wording from "may" last year to "will" this year.

Also, below is an excerpt from the interview with Sandy (on Poet and Quant): "The real news this year is that Stanford and Wharton are trending toward behavioral questions versus the more typical ones like ‘why Wharton, why now, why do you want an MBA.’ Of course, it would still help to prepare for those questions as well. But if you are being interviewed by Stanford or Wharton, you should Google behavioral interviews and you’ll get some bad advice about how to answer those questions but at least it will help you get some standard questions. They’re asking people things like, ‘Tell me about a time you worked on a great team, or a bad team, or worked with a great leader. Tell me when you disappointed yourself and what would you do differently if you had to do it again. Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a person and how you resolved it. Tell me about a time you dealt with an ethical issue.’ For some reason, Stanford and Wharton seem to be tilting toward those questions this year."

Going off jkl84's post above, some more info from Meghan Bass:

"The interview will be based more on behavioral skills and your answers to those types of questions, more so than your specific background. So really think objectively and largely about how you approach certain situations; how you communicate as an individual, your experience working with teams, leading, and what you really want to get out of the MBA. And come prepared with really intelligent questions; meaning not, "What are my chances of getting in?" But more so, "What can Wharton offer? What can I offer to Wharton?""

hey guys - for those that have interviews with adcom, do you know if we are required to send our resume in advance? I know adcom already have our resumes technically, but some schools request students to send their resumes by e-mail as well.

also, another small question - within the application, when i click on the details for my interview there is a RSVP date (which i am guessing is the same for everyone)... do i need to confirm anywhere that i will be going for the interview i signed up for?

wanted to make sure i'm not missing anything... thanks in advance for your help..

Regarding the alumni interviews, mine took a few days to respond. I emailed the Wharton people and they had this to say:



Basically, give them until tomorrow to respond.

Just bring your resume. Although when I talked to my friend who interviewed off campus with a "Wharton Consultant" (UPenn undergrad, not MBA, and not adcom), the interviewer didn't really know what to do with the resume and just went off the behavioral interview script. Not sure if that's consistent with others.

i called the admissions office yesterday about the RSVP... you do NOT need to RSVP.

Has anyone already interviewed? Please share your experiences

So I am assuming all interviewers will be asking the same questions then if they are all using the behavioral interview script?

They probably have a bunch of questions from which they pick and choose. They could also ask follow up questions based on your response.

They also could use questions that they are familiar with from previous years (the above mentioned interviewer was probably the least experienced possible interviewer and so stuck to the list).

For those who have scheduled interviews on campus, did people notice the "office interviewer" versus names of 2 people in the options? I've been wondering if this means the former is student and latter is adcom?

Just intellectual curiosity here..