Calling all Wharton 2008 applicants

Sorry to hear that KK, sucks man!

I'll be matriculating for sure.

helg, I think you should get into a b-school this year. So, now you've got a push to move forward with R2 apps. You have holidays ahead for your full use

Oh, yeah. Not that I didn't have any plans for the New Year holidays, but I guess essay writing is as good an entartainment as any

Guys,
For the R2 applicants, any piece of last minute advice? People who got admits, would you mind sharing what you feel made the case for you?
Thanks

Sell your fit to the school, I think that's the biggest thing. That and if you have any alumni contacts/recos mention them...they are important.

shmegs- do you mention in in your essays or in the application?

I think fit is the key in every single essay. Either you have the stats and profile a school wants or you dont. Essays probably aren't going to sway a school if they dont like your profile, no matter how good your stories are. Schools talk about it being a holistic approach, in reality its all about fit. You can have the stats but if you dont show your fit is perfect then you destroy your chances. If you dont sell your fit then you are really hampering your chances, schools want you to fit because not only do they want you to be a solid addition but they also want you to show up.

A lot of people get into one ultra elite or elite and not a peer school. Chances are their GMAT, GPA, WE, and extra's fit for all the schools on par with the one they got into. The difference is how do they fit into the school. I know that my Kellogg essays were a better sell on my fit because in reality I probably do fit in at Kellogg better than than I would at GSB. I used all the parts and pieces in my GSB essays to show I fit but I think they can sense where you best fit and if you arent the right fit then its tough...even if you meet all the right criteria they still are worried about yield so if they think you fit some where else you still might not show up. Schools know you are applying at other schools, even if you tell them, they are your one and only b-school love.

You can't tell me that someone like shmegs could get into wharton but not LBS or Tuck because of his profile. To get in they need to believe that not only you will fit in to their community but also that you are going to show up next september.

I am really starting to believe that one of the most important things to the b-school application is picking the right schools to begin with. This is especially true to anyone who is not a very traditional mba career path person (banker/consultant), picking the right school for the strengths in your background and you future goals makes all the difference and maximizes your chances.

Thank you guys and sorry that I wasn't able to answer some of your questions earlier. It has been quite a day. Got the call from a W Adcom @ 6.25, attended a K event (which I had great trouble paying attention to), two more calls from another Adcom that I missed (couldn't take it, I was talking with the K dean!), three emails and then of course went out for drinks to end the night! Just got back home now and bit tipsy so please don't mind me if I ramble a bit.

I am obviously estatic. river and nervous - I honestly don't know which school I will attend at this point. Both K and W are great schools and I know some people would die to have both admits in their hands (figure of speech of course). As for me, there are strong points in both schools - W has stronger brand, great network, and I have three friends that are attending W this coming fall. K also has great alumni network in my country, probably even better than W, friendlier and collaborative environment, and I also already know some current students and alumni. To choose one will be a very hard decision, but one that I surely don't mind making.

Ideally, I want to visit both schools first before I make my decision but living half-way across the globe really make it kinda difficult to do that However, I am considering to do exactly that - visiting both schools. I am sure I will be happy at both schools so it really comes down to where I feel I will 'fit' most and visiting the schools will help me determine that.

So here is the rambling...

When I was in college I never thought that I would be able to attend any of these schools. Whenever I heard that 'oh, that guy goes to W or K', I would be like 'Wow, that guy is smart, and good school!'. I am sure people will look at me that way now, but on the inside, I don't feel a thing has changed. I will always be who I am.

What really set me apart in my application is my work experience. A lot of international students (or the students that I am competing with I shall say), after finishing their undergraduate, go back to work for their parents' business. Some of these students are also very well connected and so they get great jobs after graduation. I, on the other hand, did not have such connections so I thought the best thing for me to do was to find a job in the U.S. and found one despite being an international student.

After a couple of years, I moved back to my country and continued working. I am with a great team now and have a pretty interesting job. So when I was doing my MBA application, I thought to myself 'So, how do I compete with these applicants that work for their parents' business (nothing against them please) or have such great connections?' We all know that we can brush up truths in our essays but if you work for your parents' business, you can work the brush up to a whole new level.

But you have to remember,

that Adcoms read thousands of essays each year and they know exactly what to look for. For example, if you work for your parents' business, Adcoms will look for evidence whether or not you are BSing on what you actually do. This is so true since the Adcoms know that you can basically make up all the stuffs if you want when your parents own the business.

So I really made the effort in my essays to set myself apart from the applicants that I was competing with – I really showed that I am different, smart, that I am a hard worker with strong integrity (I even discussed integrity during my W interview), and most of all that I have great things to offer. This resulted in a very unique set of essays and that is something I believe has helped me gain admits to both schools.

It might sound like I am bashing the applicants who work for family business or have great connections but I am really not. Nobody can choose where he or she will be born and so we just have to make the best out of what we have. Just remember to always keep your chin up and don’t ever lose sight of your hopes and dreams.

Okay… this has been a really long post and it’s 3.30am now so I should really go to bed. I have work tomorrow!

Thanks shmegs, aceman, timesquare, hsampath, jpjazz, dabots, collegesenior, river, uphill, mba2010, djm, sperinko, kwam, and helg for the congrats.

Congrats to shmegs, djm, and terry. Maybe we will be classmates

I apologize if I have missed anyone here… just so many names and I am pretty confused (or drunk I should say)

And sorry guys for the dings. You guys are such great people here so I am sure you guys will get into some other great schools.

Well done BCC and all the other admits.

Do you mind elaborating on how you think you sold your fit (though I know this isn't the right school's thread)? I feel like I have done what I can, but I would like to hear what you think worked for you.

Just to elaborate on river's comments...Wharton looks favorably on younger applicants (such as me) so I did not have to explain that. What I really focused on were particular programs and centres at the school that coupled with Wharton's flex curricula would allow me to customise a major that fits my unique field. (Ok not unique but unusual). From there it was all about certain aspects of international business and stressing quant/analytics to a much lesser extent. I tried to do the same thing for Kellogg/LBS/Tuck but obviously wasn't successful. I think that this has a lot to do with my goals and personality which are more in line with an analytical focus + international business + social wealth venturing. To me fit just means are you the type of person who will succeed at school x, and if so why. The why part is when you can really sell yourself to the school...I know most people write really formal essays, and I did for the most part, but my Wharton essays were by far the most personal essays. They were intentionally left less "polished" so they sounded like me and not a generic applicant. This may have been the difference, but as I said before I really have no idea on this process.

I certainly agree with most everything that's been written above. I found shmegs's comments about younger applicants interesting. I've always thought of Wharton as an older-applicant-friendly school, so I didn't feel the need to explain my age. Perhaps Wharton looks for people at the extremes of the age spectrum?

I think I mainly demonstrated my fit in the first Wharton essay (Why MBA, Why Wharton, Why Now?). I was able to talk at length about the Health Care Management program, and concentrate in particular on some of the really cool medical device related stuff they've recently developed. I also talked about the Learning Team approach (they seem to be big on this), and some of the activities I wanted to get involved with.

River writes about demonstrating fit in every essay. I think this can and should be done with some schools (definitely Kellogg, they basically ask for it). It's hard to do with other schools, though, where the questions don't clearly lead to an opportunity to demonstrate fit. For the remainder of the Wharton essays, I just answered the questions and emphasized what I had learned from the experience. And as BCC pointed out, emphasize how these experiences have made you unique.

Hope this helps. And obviously, it's just one applicant's opinion!

i am facing the biggest problem with the failure essay and the outsider essay. I really havent failed at anything in life except personal matters such as failure at quiting smoking. its giving me headaches.

I'd say that my biggest failure was my first GMAT attempt, but I don't think I can write a good essay with this...

Yes they are tough to crack, and that's why I'm considering to drop the W application and only focus on S, especially because I think life in Chicago will be better than it would in Philly.

But hey if you have a personal history that can fit, just put that, I even think that schools like that you talk something else outside work, I did that with the MIT plan essay.

Good Luck

I do not see any place to upload a resume for Wharton. Just 1650 characters to list all positions and responsibilities is ridiculously low. For someone like me who has worked with just one employer for the past 6 years, 1650 characters (about 350 words) is peanuts. Anyone else faced this problem?

If it's just one job write out your spec. duties and responsibilities. I had two jobs to fill into the employment history section, you don't have to fill in everything...