Wharton Lauder MBA/MA program

Question

Hi,

I am considering applying to the Wharton Lauder MBA/MA program. Here are my credentials:
GMAT 660
Work experience: 6 years

Based on my GMAT, do I stand a chance? Also, it looks like i have to learn a language like Spanish or English really well. Is that correct? Please let me know if I need to take the GMAT again. Any info you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
bharath

ThrillRide · Answer

Hi, I'm in the same boat as you in terms of school and GMAT - applying to W/L with 660. Feedbacks from consultants all point me to retaking the GMAT with 700+ as a target.

I've confirmed with W/L adcom that in addition to exceptional English proficiency, which is a given, you need a 2nd language that you excel at but not necessary have mastered. What that means is you are required to take a verbal language proficiency exam (30 minute phone conversation) with a 3rd party vendor to assess your language proficiency. Hope that helps and good luck with the admission process.

AlexMBAApply · Answer

Retake the GMAT if you can. The middle 80% in the past used to be 660-760, but it's creeping up to around 680-760. As such, I usually tell folks that you should have at least a 680 for your GMAT to be of no concern, and ideally above 700 to be safe.

GMATaddict · Answer

Has anyone on this forum taken the "Oral Proficiency Interview" required by the Wharton/Lauder adcom? I would like to get a general idea of what type of questions are asked on the interview.

I'm applying to the W/L program as well, just finished my GMAT & doing my OPI sometime in Mid-August (date yet to be confirmed by LTI).

Skitalets · Answer

I took it for Russian last year. However, I don't think anyone will share questions with you -- that would defeat the purpose of the exam for gauging how well you can converse in the language impromptu.

I'd recommend doing the obvious things to refresh your language ability: watch TV in the target language, chat with people, read the paper aloud, etc. I didn't find it that tough to get a qualifying score.

eresh · Answer

Never heard of "Oral Proficiency Interview" before. I thought TOEFL or IELTS (mostly for non US countries) would serve the purpose.

GMATaddict · Answer

My language happens to be Russian as well! I understand you don't want to talk about specific questions, but can you talk a little about your Russian language background?

At the time of the interview, how long have you studied the language, how long have you lived in Russia/CIS (that is, if you did any overseas studies programs or worked in the region), and what was your final rating?

Skitalets · Answer

I studied Russian in an immersion environment in high school for two years, then in college for four. I went to Russia my sophomore year for 3.5 months outside the capitals (much better for language skills than Moscow/Piter). I read quite a bit of Russian literature in the original from sophomore year on, though I haven't kept that up since graduating.

I graduated from college five years ago and was last in Russia almost seven years ago, so my abilities were a bit rusty. I was able to get an Advanced Mid, though.

ThrillRide · Answer

I took it for Chinese - 30min conversation. Although I don't remember most of the questions the person asked me, the questions for me were fairly conversational: what I do, company I work for, My interests, why I am interested in the country and language, etc.. After you sign up for the language exam (30 min phone convo), you can even go to the website and listen to recordings of people at various language proficiency levels.

Be prepared to converse with a native speaker in a meaningful conversation (could be about you, the country of interest, and anything in between), and practice with a native speaker if possible. This is not an admission interview! So don’t worry about answering questions like why W/L, why now, etc.. They won’t test your knowledge about the school in a foreign language. They are only assessing your language proficiency.

GMATaddict · Answer

What you wrote makes me a little nervous & optimistic at the same time. I did not learn Russian nearly as long as you did (2 academic years in college, one semester in Vladivostok, 8+ months working in Moscow). However, my Russian is somewhat fresh. I dislike Russian literature, but I do read news about business & politics. I also converse with my Russian friends as much as possible. Hopefully phone conversations with my Russian profs in the next 2+ weeks will get me at least an advanced low.

GMATaddict · Answer

When you talk about the OPI audio samples, are you referring to the excerpts posted on the Lauder website? Are there any other samples on other websites (I didn't find any on LTI's or ACTFL's websites)?

rmdreyling · Answer

The Wharton MBA/ Lauder MA program is my dream program and I understand where you are coming from on wanting to know the format of the OPI.
I have not taken the Lauder OPI, but I can tell you a logical format from my experiences being trained in Russian at Defense Language Institute. The OPI will begin with some short banter or conversational greetings. The examiner will get a topic from this conversation and ask you about it. If you haven't performed well, the teacher will keep the conversation light, and give you a basic or intermediate level. If you haven't made and significant grammatical errors and you sound like you know what you are talking about, the examiner will probe you with more difficult questions.

Think of it as similar to the CAT test GMAT. The OPI adjusts with your abilities. In the military version, if you messed up at the beginning, you couldn't get past a certain score. You can't prepare for the specific questions because the type will change, but the relative difficulty will not.

I am not sure that the Lauder OPI is the exact same format, but I listened to the Russian Advanced recording and it seemed to me to be very similar to what we did.

Good Luck.

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