WHARTON Fall 2009 Applicants: Round 1: Total Applicants 62 Admits: 13 (2 WL converted in R2) Waitlist: 18 Dings: 24 (4 dinged off WL in R2) Unknown: 10 zoinnk - accepted and Matriculating businessm - accepted CompanyMan - accepted Virflo - accepted Mikus - accepted goldfishee27 - accepted sterny - accepted sebycb976 - accepted jjright - accepted chifootball - accepted (Withdrawn for Kellogg) msday86 - accepted (Withdrawn for HBS) Pathfinder_77 - Waitlisted – accepted R2 falibay - Waitlisted – accepted R2 isa (fka ac) - Waitlisted – dinged R2 vijapp - Waitlisted – dinged R2 wolffali - Waitlisted – dinged R2 Madz - Waitlisted – dinged R2 bdog9 - Waitlisted bostonsparky - Waitlisted chickmagloor - Waitlisted coadman - Waitlisted companyman - Waitlisted cougarblue - Waitlisted emirtumen - Waitlisted garbus222 - Waitlisted Milspec - Waitlisted ndiaconu - Waitlisted nj24 - Waitlisted u0388768 - Waitlisted chitchat - Dinged cpgmba - Dinged DimeCFH - Dinged garun77 - Dinged Gil - Dinged gt7er - Dinged jigar34 - Dinged maverick2011 - Dinged MeddlingKid - Dinged Meowzilla (k88) - Dinged Legend - Dinged Leverandon - Dinged levfin2003 - Dinged liquidice - Dinged lsuguy7 - Dinged ral - Dinged sept09 - Dinged Snayt - Dinged sonibubu - Dinged tarmac - Dinged terp26 - Dinged Walker - Dinged wooster123 - Dinged amatory angryMOFO Invited to Interview bschoolguy Invited to Interview - 11/4 BSchoolorBust Invited to Interview Captain Invited to Interview - 11/5 CaptainMolecule charlieb gregory Invited to Interview 11/12 MattG2185 Invited to Interview mbabiden08 Invited to Interview Round 2: Total Applicants 35 Admits: 7 Waitlist: 10 Dings: 10 Unknown: 8 Paradosso - Admitted Hardestadt- Admitted pallavi79us - Admitted TheGuy – Admitted Rosav – Admitted Zoemoe – Admitted Matterhorn762 – Admitted mikenyc - Waitlisted pu2003 - Waitlisted MBAAspirant2008 – Waitlisted hobart – Waitlisted sajal09 – Waitlisted mbafwi – Waitlisted sset009 – Waitlisted gixxer1000 – Waitlisted foodstamp – Waitlisted ashaker – Waitlisted syd999 – Dinged w/interview pguard – Dinged w/interview Magellan – Dinged Refurb – Dinged w/out interview Balboa – Dinged bucktooth911– Dinged dglasser – Dinged w/out interview fall09 – Dinged w/out interview gboi – Dinged w/out interview AlbertNTN – Dinged w/o interview arshia22 - interview invite davidbrent - interview invite dp122008 - interview invite ma.agrawal - interview invite oziozzie - interview invite stopper5 sudhir18n woncosmo ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ STATISTICS & GENERAL INFO 2008 R1 GMATClub Stats: Applicants: 18 Admitted: 3 (16.7%) Waitlisted: 2 (11%) Dinged With Interview: 5 (28%) Dinged Without Interview: 8 (45%) Last Years TOTAL GMATClub Wharton Stats: Applied: 49 Accepted: 5 (10%) Rejected: 29 (60%) Waitlisted: 5 (10%) Unknown: 10 (20%) Wharton Fall 2009 Admission: Application Deadlines Round 1: Thursday, 9 October, 2008 Round 2: Thursday, 8 January, 2009 Round 3: Thursday, 5 March, 2009 Wharton Fall 2009 Admission: Application Essay Questions First-Time Applicant Questions 1. Describe your career progress to date and your future short-term and long-term career goals. How do you expect an MBA from Wharton to help you achieve these goals, and why is now the best time for you to join our program? (1,000 words) 2. Describe a setback or a failure that you have experienced. What role did you play, and what did you learn about yourself? (500 words) 3. Where in your background would we find evidence of your leadership capacity and/or potential? (500 words) 4. Please respond to one (1) of the following questions: a. Describe an experience you have had innovating or initiating, your lessons learned, the results and impact of your efforts. (500 words) b. Is there anything about your background or experience that you feel you have not had the opportunity to share with the Admissions Committee in your application? If yes, please explain. (500 words) OPTIONAL: If you feel there are extenuating circumstances of which the Committee should be aware, please explain them here (e.g., unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, TOEFL waiver request, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, significant weaknesses in your application). (250 words, maximum) Reapplicant Questions (for candidates who have applied for admission for Fall 2008 or 2007 only) 1. Describe your career progress to date and your future short-term and long-term career goals. How do you expect an MBA from Wharton to help you achieve these goals, and why is now the best time for you to join our program? How has your candidacy improved since the last time you applied? (1,000 words) 2. Describe an experience you have had innovating or initiating, your lessons learned, the results and impact of your efforts. (500 words) 3. Please respond to one (1) of the following questions: a. Where in your background would we find evidence of your leadership capacity and/or potential? (500 words) b. Is there anything about your background or experience that you feel you have not had the opportunity to share with the Admissions Committee in your application? If yes, please explain. (500 words) OPTIONAL: If you feel there are extenuating circumstances of which the Committee should be aware, please explain them here (e.g., unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, TOEFL waiver request, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, significant weaknesses in your application). (250 words, maximum) Link to the 08 thread: https://gmatclub.com/forum/103-t50294 Here we go! good luck everyone ac.

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Calling all Wharton Fall 09 Applicants

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Audio

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25 Feb 2009, 06:34

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MBAAspirant2008

Any Input on the below post guys ?

MBAAspirant2008

Hey Guys !

Xerox, Audio thanks for your earlier informative posts on cohorts and learning teams. I really enjoyed them

I had a couple of queries if you can address them as well it would be great !

1) Can you tell me about some professors whose classes really fill up quickly in the auction. Particularly in the entrepreneurship and strategy domain. Can you tell me there names so that i can do some research on them. I did read about some of them. But I request for an insiders view

2) What is the internship scenario like currently. (I know it ain't great anywhere but still) Particularly for the strategy function. How many interns have been hired ? Also i did go through wharton's 2008 employment report but want some input from you on the firms that hire for internal strategy positions (besides the usual ones)

3) I really liked the GCP and other opportunities at W. Since its not a auction based course so on an average how many students get shortlisted for the same ?

thanks in advance !

Sorry for the late answers! The stuff you're asking is not really my domain, but I'll do my best:

1. I unfortunately know close to nothing about entrepreneurship or strategy. The superstar professor in the 1st year is Siegel (I actually regret taking his class but anyway). So on that one I can't really help you. If you give me names I can make some inquiries though.

2. If you're talking about strategy consulting, they are recruiting more or less the same number of people (dunno he exact number), but they are receiving about 3 times as many CVs, so the competition is incredibly heavy. You'll be facing people who came from McK, BCG, Bain or Booz, who wanted to do banking but who choose to return to consulting. For internal strategy functions, I know nothing about that sector; from what I've heard I THINK (but I'm really not sure) that the recruiting hasn't been that bad number-wise but the competition has been higher (but don't mention that because I'm not certain).

3. GCP is great. One of my very good friends here is doing it and he loves it. I regret not doing it, even though it's quite time consuming. It works by teams: I don't know how many people get shortlisted (I can ask) but what I can tell you is that if your team prepares well you have a good chance of being selected.

Audio

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Updated on: 10 Feb 2013, 06:46

Originally posted by Audio on 25 Feb 2009, 06:44.
Last edited by aerien on 10 Feb 2013, 06:46, edited 1 time in total.

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Audio

I would expect a tougher interview than with an alum though. Maybe as an ice-breaker you could ask her how the winter welcome weekend went since she was organising it. Sorry i can't be more helpful!

Thanks for the quick response Audio

Why do you think it will be tougher than an alum interview ? Can you tell me something more about winter welcome weekend ?

Well I always have the impression that the alum interviews are potentially easier since you might be facing a person you can really make a contact with, especially if he's from your country or your continent; moreover the guys from Wharton (Ainsley included) interview a lot of students, know exactly what to ask and can compare different answers, which is not often the case for an alum. But all this is based on a personal feeling and should not scare you: if you're good enough for the school, you'll get in. If you mess up the interview, whether it's with Ainsley or an alum, you won't get in (unless you truly have a stellar profile of course).

Concerning welcome weekend, you should ask people who attended, because I only was there for a couple of events. I personally had a great time though in the pub with the admits! (was there 2 nights out of 3) For me I can resume that with: a LOT of fun, met some cool people (had a good vibe with the people I met) and drank too much (but that's pretty much standard).

Audio

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25 Feb 2009, 06:49

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sset009

Had my Hub interview in London with an Adcom member (associate director at wharton)
she remembered me from an event in london (which was good)

questions:
- quick summary of cv (she emphasized work) - she did write 5 or six key words of each expereince that i mentioned ( higlighted words i talked about)
- why mbw now (i had to talk about my short term and long term goals to make the why mba story)
- given my international back ground, what i bring to discussion table
- given u are doing hcm, what other things brings u to wharton
- what extra curricular
- any questions for her
- and any updates

she did understand that i have interacted with a lot of alumni, and seemed happy at that.
but very short interview (20 minutes of which 5 minutes was her answering my questions)
did not ask any of the "give me an example of .."

so slightly concerned at the taken for the interview

anybody else have such a short interview?
definitely worried, especially after reading people have had 45 minutes interviews :cry:

I wouldn't worry too much, unless you feel that you didn't perform well in the interview or your answers were crap and very general ("I want to go to Wharton because I love finance"). If you did all right, I would take this as a positive: she didn't start digging deep in your answers, which is good. Also, you have to understand that these guys are on a tight schedule, so if they reckon that they have enough information, they won't interview you for 30 minutes for the sake of doing it. They also like to have a break from time to time! :-D

oziozzie

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25 Feb 2009, 13:18

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I had my alumni interview today. It was generally a conversational one. Not many questions. Classic questions such as why mba, why wharton..

Alumn was very friendly and helpful.

sset009

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25 Feb 2009, 14:18

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Audio

sset009

thanx audio. will sleep slight better tonight :-D

foodstamp

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25 Feb 2009, 16:01

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sset009

Thanks for the summary sset009! I wouldn't worry about the length of your interview. If you read through many interview summaries posted online, you'll see plenty of short interviews that resulted in an admit.

ma.agrawal

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25 Feb 2009, 20:16

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Hey Guys,

Just had my on campus interview today with a 2nd year and the questions were pretty standard:

1) Walk me through your resume
2) Why MBA
3) Why Wharton
4) 2 strenghts and 2 weakness
5) Most rewarding leadership experience
6) Challenging Team Situation
7) Ways I'd get involved at Wharton
8) Anything else i'd like to add

All in all, the interviewer was extremely responsive and very much engaged, and I left feeling confident that, if nothing else, the interview would at least not be a negative spot on my file.

Good Luck to the other interviewees!

MBAAspirant2008

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26 Feb 2009, 04:56

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Thank you so much Audio

MBAAspirant2008

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26 Feb 2009, 05:03

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I had my Hub interview today as well. Associate Director of Admissions took it.

Here is a run down of it. I reached 45 mins early and she was free so decided to take it then only. We sat in her room where she told me that she is running short of time so would keep it to 30 mins or so.

The interview started:
1) What is your story ? Walk me through your resume.

(In between came her lunch, I realized i had spoiled her lunch break

...But she told me to continue)
2) Next came, Career goals ---> Short and Long term
3) Why MBA now ? ( I am a early career Applicant so she was interested in this one)
4) Why Wharton ?
5) Any Questions for me ?

In between she looked at her watch a couple of times. I think my thoughts were coherent but somehow i had a feeling that i did not connect with her too well, probably it was a short interview unlike the ones i have given before. But she definitely smiled a couple of times during my answers (like "oh yeah ! This is certainly what wharton is all about and stuff")

Over all a satisfactory experience but as i said it was a short interview.

Now the wait begins ! 26 March is the decision date. Good luck to rest of the people.

AlbertNTN

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26 Feb 2009, 07:53

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wow, quite a number of you have finished the interview. Congrat for finishing the long path

, all the best for the D-day Mar 26 [feel so long]
I 've just got the reply from an alumni (Snr Consultant in a big 3 MC). Most probably will finish the interview by mid of next week. Start feeling a bit worry while waiting for my turn...Anyway I hope it will be a good talk 'coz I target MC after grad also.

dp122008

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04 Mar 2009, 16:22

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Had my R2 interview this afternoon and left with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I felt somewhat defeated because of a few slight stumbles in my responses. As I looked back on the discussion that took place, I felt better because:

a) I built strong rapport with the interviewer (legnthy chit chat both before and after the interview) as we had several common interests
b) I was able to touch on things that I hadn't mentioned in my application
c) I showed that I'm a good communicator, active listener, and felt I did a good job of letting my personality come through

My interview had a few questions I had prepared for, but hadn't anticipated...here's what I remember:

- Walk me through your resume
- How did you become interested in your job?
- Why wouldn't you continue to learn at your job? Why do you need to come here?
- Tell me about a leadership experience you've had.
- Tell me about a good group experience you've had and a bad group experience you've had.
Follow up: Looking back, how would you have fixed the bad experience?
- How would you become involved in the Wharton community?
- How would your peers describe what it's like to work with you?
- How would you like to be remembered by your learning team after 2 years at Wharton?
- Is there anything else you would like to tell that hasn't been addressed either here or in your application?
- Do you have any questions for me?

I was a little bummed in that I couldn't work all of my "why Wharton" answers in, though I suppose my application more than answers that, especially if Wharton truly views the interview as another data point (any insights here?). I was able to mention a few really good things during my interview that I didn't touch upon in my essays, but I would rate my effectiveness at reinforcing what was in my essays around 60-70% (then again, the interviewer really sets the tone for the interview, so it's tough to direct the interview in some cases). I stumbled a little bit with the good group experience question, but feel that I answered all of the others well and showed poise and composure. I would echo the sentiments that I've read elsewhere that the Wharton on-campus interview feels more like a job interview, though a bit more conversational.

Anyways, for better or worse, this was my Wednesday. We'll find out in a few weeks

AlbertNTN

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06 Mar 2009, 07:34

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Finished mine.

I had an interview with an alumnus. He started by introducing himself and said that we would have around 30 min to follow the standard set by school. He straight away asked me about my jobs and started writing on the resume

- what are you doing in the current job? then sidetrack discussed a bit about the industry and the job
- Why did you decide to quit the previous job?
- As I am a career switcher with technology background he asked why I decided to change. So I linked to the why MBA
- What are the reasons that you choose the potential industry after MBA? Then discuss about my plan and understandings of the choice as he worked in the industry before
- What did you try to switch to more business-related career/relation to long-term goal? What would you do if the MBA doesn't work out?
- Why Wharton? Why not those schools with strong technology focus?
- What were my activities in undergraduate school? Current activities?
- What can I contribute to Wharton?

Then he reserved some time so that I could ask him questions.

Overall, the interview was ok. The interviewer was open and the whole thing at the end was quite conversational. I had a little problem with the contribution questions, forgot mentioning a few points that I thought off. Anyway it's a symptom of "I could have done better"

Good luck for the rest who haven't finished the interview. Guess I should focus doing other things when waiting for the result.

foodstamp

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06 Mar 2009, 11:01

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Finished my interview about a week ago as well. I have to admit it was the most unpleasant interview that I've had so far. The interviewer was rather unfriendly and I could tell the interviewer was trying to come up with ways to trap me. Also, I was interrupted seconds after trying to respond to just about every question. I had to go back and explain stuff that I didn't get a chance to finish explaining constantly. The interviewer also got visibly mad at me when I confirmed that I applied to other schools besides Wharton.

A lot of the questions that were asked were specific to my profile and experiences. I could tell that the interviewer didn't really prepare and think about what to ask me beforehand. I got the impression that the interviewer was fishing for random questions... and many of them made no sense whatsoever. The interviewer would take a random line off my resume and ask a question. I know my resume very well and could talk about every experience, but the questions themselves weren't well thought out. About 90% of them were criticisms of my accomplishments and my experiences. Overall, I am pretty disappointed. I was expecting a difficult interview but a professional interview that helped gauge my candidacy... this was totally different. My interviewer certainly didn't give me a good impression of Wharton.

It is possible that the interviewer was having a bad day. It is also possible that my answers to the first few questions were complete crap and the interviewer knew off the bat that I wasn't a good fit for Wharton. Maybe I am suffering from the classic case of "blame the interviewer because I didn't do that well." Honestly, I don't really think so. After a full week I still feel the same way about the interview, so I figured I'd share my frustration.

Good luck to everyone! I am glad that many other GMATCLUBers are having much more pleasant interviews.

zonk

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06 Mar 2009, 11:22

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foodstamp

That sucks, dude. Wharton interviews are supposed to be more laid back. Where are you located?

bostonsparky

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06 Mar 2009, 12:02

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stamp-

I find it hard to believe that it was just you, there's a big difference between trying to know someone better and trying to knock them down a few pegs or two. I'm sure your interviewer was one of those over-competitive jerks as a student that people dreaded having to be placed on a team with. Such people are one of the few drawbacks of Wharton(as opposed to the many benefits). But perhaps its a case where he/she is a tough customer to everyone in the interview, and the school knows this and takes the interview feedback with a grain of salt.

All I can think of is the Andy Bernard character from the office - overrates his school just because its pretty much the only real accomplishment he's done, and as a result overrates himself and thinks he's much higher and mightier than he actually is. But this isn't Cornell so he couldn't have been your interviewer

gixxer1000

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06 Mar 2009, 12:19

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I had my interview last week on campus. There was 6 of us and we were all from NY, DC or Boston so I assumed they invited people based on region. My interview seemed to go as most others have posted:

1) Walk me through your resume
2) Why MBA, Why Now
3) ST and LT goals
4) Why Wharton
5) Leadership Experience

I was asked if I wanted to add anything at the end and I used that as an opportunity to talk about what clubs I wanted to be involved with and to reaffirm my interest in the Wharton community. Which brings me to a question. After reading these boards as well as BW and S2S, it's clear that everyone is going to know 90% of the questions asked as well as that the are looking to see how you would be a member of the Wharton community. Given that they say that all candidates are qualified for admission, what are they really looking for from these interviews?

I would have to expect even the most self centered jerk is going to walk in and talk about how much he's looking forward to working in the learning teams, etc. So outside of the few people who are just terrible at interviewing I don't see what additional information this is going to bring.

From all the research I've seen it shows that interviews are actually very unreliable for predicting job performance. So in this case the only new input they would be actually getting is if you are good or bad and interviewing. Which I guess helps considering you're going to have to interview for jobs but doesn't do much to say about what kind of student you'll be at Wharton or anywhere for that matter.

dp122008

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Updated on: 06 Mar 2009, 13:41

Originally posted by dp122008 on 06 Mar 2009, 12:45.
Last edited by dp122008 on 06 Mar 2009, 13:41, edited 1 time in total.

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gixxer1000

Based on people I've spoken to (alums and current students) as well all of the resources I've used (interviews with admissions directors past and present, admissions committee members, etc...), the interview REALLY is another data point. True, they expect you to be competent and able to answer their questions, but the fact that you can have a terrible interview and get in (or have a great interview and get denied) further supports the idea of it just being another point of reference.

The overwhelming majority of people I've spoken to have confirmed that the interview is more about fit, and thus it's important to showcase personality, ease of conversation, energy, and self awareness. Especially as it pertains to on-campus interviews, you want the interviewer to feel like you're someone who would be a contributing and energetic member of a learning team (and also the Wharton/Philly community). I guess I look at it this way. In a job interview, if you even get to the stage of an interview, they've probably determined you are capable of doing the job, but they want to meet you to see if you're someone they'd want to work with side by side on an ongoing basis. Similarly, your Wharton interviewer wants to see "is this someone with whom I can get along and work well." Anyone else with insights here?

pu2003

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06 Mar 2009, 13:00

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foodstamp

I am sorry to hear about your experience. Did you interview with an alumn or at Wharton?

I had a similar experience with my Stanford interviewer. I also thought he did not represent Stanford very well. But, I think it's better not to let one person ruin your perception of an entire program. I know the students and faculty I spoke with at Wharton this week were great, and I genuinely think Wharton is an amazing program. There will always be a-holes. In fact, I know at least one at Wharton (freshman year roommate), but I know that most students there are nice people. Same thing applies to Stanford.

I think alumni are generally not trained to interview applicants - so it's more of a crapshoot. Still, I know that kind of experience is really frustrating. I wasn't happy about mine for a few days.

gixxer1000

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06 Mar 2009, 13:36

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dp122008

The overwhelming majority of people I've spoken to have confirmed that the interview is more about fit, and thus it's important to showcase personality, ease of conversation, energy, and self awareness. Especially as it pertains to on-campus interviews, you want the interviewer to feel like you're someone who would be a contributing and energetic member of a learning team (and also the Wharton/Philly community). I guess I look at it this way. In a job interview, if you even get to the stage of an interview, they've probably determined you are capable of doing the job, but they want to meet you to see if you're someone they'd want to work with side by side on an ongoing basis. Similarly, your Wharton interviewer wants to see "is this someone with whom I can get along and work well." Anyone else with insights here from anyone else?

I guess what I was really getting at was that everyone knows that it's about fit. Being a contributing member of learning team and active in the Wharton/Philly community. I mean who is really going to walk in there and say "I'll pass on the clubs and sit back and let my learning team do all the work". So since everyone knows that this is what they are looking for even the people who don't fit are going to try and appears as they do. So what real value do they gain other than seeing who can connect with their interviewer.

I thought my interview went very well. So afterwards I felt great. Then I thought to myself there is no way I could have screwed this up. Then I read other peoples response and most got the same result. 99% of the people expected almost all the questions and felt it went great.

So since the process is blind they cant really dig deeper and answer any questions pertaining specifically to your application. So to me it seems the only two interview outcomes would be 1) you don't screw up and have a great interview like everyone else or 2) you show that you're a terrible interviewer.

dp122008

Joined: 15 Jan 2009

Last visit: 25 Mar 2009

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Concentration: Finance

Schools:Wharton, Kellogg, MIT

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06 Mar 2009, 14:01

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gixxer1000

dp122008

I hear you. If you see my post above, I felt like I had a middle of the road interview (which seems rare). After I got out, I felt MISERABLE about my performance, but when I started to think about my responses, I felt much, much better about how it all went, what I said, and what I added. I didn't specifically receive the "Why Wharton" or "Why now" questions, so I was bummed about that, but then I realized that I likely didn't receive them because I covered all of that in answering my other questions...I was truthful in my post above, but don't underestimate the power of anonymity, which allows people to hide behind a veil of secrecy (and subsequently falsify how their experience REALLY went).

You claim that either a) everyone knows what to expect going in and acts appropriately; b) if not , they are just bad interviewers. I think you're giving way too much credit to people. In general, there are people who are just stiffs. Not everyone has passion, and not everyone can fake it. Some people are just terrible at dealing with other people and struggle with personal interactions.

So let's say you have 2 people:

A) An insanely smart person who is anti-social and a poor communicator
B) Someone with a less stellar (but still quite strong) resume/story who really can communicate well

If you're the interviewer you walk away from person A wondering "how could this person ever help out a group, he can't even communicate or build common bonds with me, a friendly interviewer." Whereas with person B, you walk away saying "OK, this applicant could articulate himself and would really be able to help my group." I guess my point is that even if person A wanted to show those qualities we mentioned, he/she may not be able to, thus negating your point that anyone can do it.

Most people (wrongly) believe they are great interviewers or had a good interview. Admissions committee members interview possibly hundreds of people and can spot scripted crap/false enthusiasm from a mile away.