One very unique aspect of the Wharton MBA application process is the Group Interview. Should a candidate be selected for an interview, the first part will seem very similar to other schools (1:1 or 2:1 interview with the candidate and 1 or 2 members of either the second-year class or the AdCom). The second part will likely seem VERY different from any other business school interview or job interview. That's because it's a GROUP interview. The candidate will be in a group of 6 or so other MBA hopefuls and they will all be interviewing AT THE SAME TIME during a pretty forced discussion driven by one of several prompts that will be emailed to interviewed candidates prior to the interview.
This interview can go a lot of different ways, depending on who else is in the room and the dynamic among the interviewees. Candidates need to make sure they don't "peacock" and hog the floor but they also must insure that they aren't a shy wallflower who doesn't speak ENOUGH. They need to articulate that they can be critical of an idea without being negative towards a person. They also need to show maturity when somebody (who may be a shark / peacock) shows negative feedback towards them. Many second years who run the group interview have said that they use the group interview to weed out jerks - so make sure that you don't behave like one!
One thing you CAN'T MESS UP is how you prepare for the prompt. How you prepare for the given list of prompts is the ONE THING that you do have 100% control over. Make sure that you have insightful things to say about ALL the prompts (since you won't know which one they will choose until the interview day). You need to make sure that you REALLY DO YOUR HOMEWORK about Wharton so that you can say something insightful and unique that won't be repeated over and over again when going around the circle. Since each candidate will be asked to present their "big idea" at the start of the interview, you don't want to be saying the same thing as everybody else, especially if you are the unfortunate person who has to go last. Many applicants have found talking to Wharton alums to be especially helpful when preparing for this interview.
If an application strategy consultant may be helpful to you during your MBA application journey and in talking about the Wharton group interview process in particular, free free to reach out via the link below.
https://admissionado.com/free-consultat ... sultation/ and we’ll get into it. Oh and take your time and really sink into the request form, the more stuff you say about your profile, the meatier the chat.