Event Name - Virtual MBA Alumni Panel
Date - June 27th 2020Panelists (names removed for confidentiality)
Host: Ad-com member, hence forth mentioned as Host.
Alums:
A1: Class of 2017; Indian; Now established a start-up
A2: Class of 2019; American; Currently working as a Management Consultant at Kearney
A3: Class of 2016; Currently working at a real-estate start-up
A4: Class of 2019; Currently working at a Tech Project Manager
Note: I am taking the liberty to paraphrase here. Please be mindful about the information here and get in touch with the ad-com in case of any further questions.Q1. What made you choose Wharton?Quote:
A1 - Primarily for Healthcare Management program | Close knit community | Great alums | Location
A2 - Healthcare management program | Location: Access to NY and DC both | The people and environment: very welcoming
A3 - Great Real-estate program | Near an Airport (personal reason) | Great international brand
A4 - Diversity : people from every walk of life | Can choose your adventure: Classes, extra-curricular activities etc. for everyone. Everyone will find a home
Q2. What were your perceptions of Wharton before applying? What were not correct based on your time here?Quote:
A1 - Very team first approach | Classmates and alums are there to help you | Competitive but really fun
A2 - Competitive is very relative | Great environment - better than I expected | Classmates : Extremely passionate about something
A3 - Met different groups that are at different life stages
A4 - Heard Wharton is a finance and Consulting school | We have 19 different majors : all majors are awesome | Wharton helps all its students
Q3. Talk about leadership programs you were involved with.Quote:
Q4. The class size is large. Did it help or hurt?Quote:
A1 - Good thing | Can find people from any background in your class | Only bad thing : Of the 830 people in my batch, I don't know everyone.
A2 - Goal wasn't to know everyone but to increase my network | You have opportunities to meet people | You are (at max) 1 step away from people from any background
Q5. Entrepreneurship opportunities and resources you used?Quote:
A1 - Wasn't thinking about startups then | When the opportunity came, the Wharton Network was a big help
A2 - Philadelphia ecosystem is a great help
A4 - There are a few classes where you can work on your ideas for credit | Entrepreneurship center : Helpful for all stages of lifecycle
Q6. Recruiting on campus and that processQuote:
A1 - Career Management helps you with your resume, interviews, getting the right mindset and facilitates meetups with alums.
A3 - Reached out to CM post graduation to get advice on salary negotiations.
A1 - When we were recruiting at my company, I asked them about the competitive packages in the market
Q7. Being a Wharton alum, how have utilized Wharton alum network?Quote:
A1 - Having a Wharton alum at a company is like having a friend at that company| No other network is as strong as the Wharton network
A3 - Connections come to you even if you are not actively reaching out for employment opportunities
A4 - Knowing you can reach out to them and get a response 99.99% of the time is great | you maintain deeper connections with your classmates and continue to develop these relations post graduation.
Q8. One thing that you should have taken advantage of during school, but didn't and now you regret it?Quote:
A1 - Didn't go on a leadership venture
A2 - Went to a leadership venture | Great experience but never doing it again
A4 - Not going on a leadership venture | Tip: So many things to do. Best to maintain a priority list.
Q9. In the class learning - describe your favorite class and the nature of the class? Your favorite professor and classroom experience?Quote:
A2 - Strategic Brand Management - holistic class
A3 - Really enjoyed - Executive leadership (by a professor who is retired now) : How you change the notion of leadership | Work life balance vs Work life integration.
Q10. Advice you would give to your pre-MBA self?Quote:
A1 - Use the application process to introspect | You have to look at b-school not as a prescriptive thing. MBA should be the logical next step for you.
A2 - Don't force the B-school | Don't try to guess what Ad-com wants to hear - go with what you actually want to do | Create your own rankings / criteria
A3 - Be vary of the impostor syndrome | Think about how you can add value to the Wharton community
A4 - Try and get a sense of the culture of each school | Big decision | Big commitment - think about it deeply | B-school life is difficult and takes time to adjust to.
I missed a few questions that were either very generic in nature (What sort of a vibe did you get from Philadelphia?) or were too specific (Shed some light on the real-estate clubs?).
But I think I covered a majority of what was discussed during the webinar.
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