@xerox: Sure. That is some empowering.
Disclaimer: Analysis is primarily suggestive
REQUIRED QUESTION:
What are your professional objectives?
A.
State Short Term Goal/s. How will Wharton enable you to achieve this/these? How are you going to be able to utilize the tools/resources provided by Wharton for achieving this/these goals?
State Mid-term Goal/s(Most B-Schools won't explicitly talk about this): Link your short term and long term goals. In most cases, it will follow a logical transition from Short Term->Mid-Term->Long Term. How can Wharton make this transition smooth?
State Long Term Goal/s: How will Wharton enable you to achieve this?
Forming a logical connection from what do you wish to carry to what is offered by Wharton becomes inevitable here. Once that has been done, how will Wharton assist you in this bridging is the question you need to answer.
RESPOND TO 2 OF THE FOLLOWING 3 QUESTIONS:
1. Reflect on a time when you turned down an opportunity. What was the thought process behind your decision? Would you make the same decision today?
A.
This question arises a few possibilities
a) Resiliency check. Would you take the same decision today means, would you stand by your decision that you made? If, presented to you the same situation under the present circumstances (IMO: Decisions are made based on circumstantial evidence typically)?
b) Do you think you made a wrong decision? Which means, at this point in time wherever you are is the result of that decision you made. Do you believe that if you had decided otherwise things would have been different and in-line with your goals?
Go back and look for an important decision you made. Even if you think you made a wrong decision back then, realizing that you made a wrong decision is great. How you have had/ you are having a work-around to handle the possible cons arising out of that wrong decision? How effective are these work-around strategies helping you resonate with your goals?
PS: I haven't had this experience yet or am unable to find a significant time where I had to accomplish this. If I were to answer this question, I would pick up "b" because it also answers the question "How I handled failure?" in someway, this question being an essay topic last year.
2. Discuss a time when you faced a challenging interpersonal experience. How did you navigate the situation and what did you learn from it?
A.
"Challenging". This word is subjective. You know this, I know this and we all know this. So, don't try to speak whatever they want to hear. Your degree of challenge might be different as compared to others. Just state YOUR challenge and how YOU handled the challenge. If you have had any ethical differences that had to be navigated through, include them here.
Answer these questions, what is the most significant challenge you have ever faced without being bothered about the degree of the challenge? Once you identified, express how this challenge was handled? For example, faced with the situation X, one is compelled to go by the decision Y, which may not be ethically sound. Instead of choosing "Y", you choose Z, which is less/not ethically wrong. I have been stressing upon the ethical issue part because I plan to state the challenge I faced.
Provide sound logical reasoning behind how you went about facing this challenge.
3. "Innovation is central to our culture at Wharton. It is a mentality that must encompass every aspect of the School - whether faculty research, teaching or alumni outreach." - Thomas S. Robertson, Dean, The Wharton School
Keeping this component of our culture in mind, discuss a time when you have been innovative in your personal or professional life.
A.
What is "Innovation"? It's not exactly invent/discover. It's bringing about a change. How have you been significant in bringing about a change? Have you invented something that could potentially change something for the better? Any significant discovery that could perhaps change for the good? If you have not done the above, then have you provided platform where significant innovations could take place? What is the platform and how did you provide this platform? Why do you think, this platform will be effective for enabling innovation?
PS: Please provide feedback/suggestions, I shall be honored to receive them.
Best of luck!
Cheers,
prabshan
15 Jul 2011, 10:25
