Wharton 2013 - Calling All Applicants

Just received the following email from Wharton regarding the Group Interview. The following is an excerpt:

FORMAT

Your discussion will have a prompt and a purpose and you will work towards a tangible outcome with your group. The team-based discussion is additive and does not replace the opportunity for an individual exchange. There will be time allotted for a short one-on-one conversation regarding your candidacy with a member of the Admissions staff or Admission Fellow during the interview. This will also provide an opportunity to ask any questions that you may have.

Below are examples of the type of prompts that may be used during a session (Please note that we will provide you further information on the prompt for your team based discussion after you are invited to interview and sign up): What one talent or strength should a leader rely on most in daily life?
If you could teach one thing about innovation to a group of new employees, what would it be?

GENERAL TIPS
Come prepared to share your individual thoughts.
You should plan to spend no more that one hour in preparation.
Do not expect the interviewer to give you feedback - literally or figuratively. Be careful to avoid any interpretation of verbal or non-verbal communication, as both may mislead you.
Interviews are not a popularity contest. The interviewer is there to assess your fit for the Wharton MBA program.
The key is to relax, be genuine, and enjoy the opportunity for us to get to know you and you to get to know each other!

**Note: this email was not an invite to interview, just a what to expect should you be invited.

Alright, this is loser talk. You my friend are a member of GMATClub. You scored highly on your GMAT. You are applying yousrelf to one of the top busines schools in the world. From this I can tell you are a bright driven individual. If you are getting an interview at Wharton, you will be one of those ultra smart people in that room. You are clearly on par with the best of the best. If you cant muster up the self confidence and courage to get in there and make a few points during the discussion, then you don't deserve Wharton. Its not about scrapping for time, I am very reserved in these situations, but I will go in with a game plan. I know I wont dominate the conversation, but I will try to get a few key points in and build off others in the room.

Come on, we got this.

Invites won't go out until Oct 23 to Nov 9. Hang tight until then.

Posted from my mobile device

I am afraid you have confused innovation with invention. Wharton has innovated. They will use an existing technique which was not in use at Wharton all along and adopt it for their own good. A clear differentiator from rest of the top tier schools.

Anyways I think Group discussion will not be the main metric this year as it is the first year of use.The weightage of the GD should be similar to that given to candidate's IR score. Wharton will evaluate the GD this year and then consider to use it more regularly depending on the outcome.

The Innovation group will probably end up looking at the data and proposing whether the GD styled interview works. Another point here is that the Wharton GD differs significantly from those in IIMs. This I gathered from the examples provided for the candidate's preparation. From the examples, its clear that Wharton's topics are general affairs rather than current affairs, which gets tested in IIMs.

My #2 essay was about going home, playing some video games until like 8 oclock, making dinner and watching some tv (If I was going to be real with them).. I decided to go with Essays #1 and #3.

I think they're doing it Ed McMahon style. Someone will show up at your front door with a HUGE envelope containing an invitation. I just hope they don't go overboard with TV cameras and balloons.

If you're feeling anxious, feel free to join and chat throughout the decision process!

https://gmatclub.com/chat/

Good Luck!

They are working now guys! Just scheduled an interview in Singapore :D

Not available publicly. Posted by someone who was invited to interview.

CITY DATE
Mumbai, India November 6 - 8, 2012
New Delhi, India November 9, 2012
Mexico City, Mexico November 12 - 13, 2012
Sao Paulo, Brazil November 15 - 16, 2012
Shanghai, China November 12 - 15, 2012
Seoul, South Korea November 9, 2012
Singapore November 14 -16, 2012
Tokyo, Japan November 12, 2012
London, United Kingdom November 12 -15, 2012
Dubai, United Arab Emirates November 19 - 20, 2012
San Francisco, California November 12 -16, 2012

Tuck schedules its information sessions around November, specifically so that they can meet EA Candidates shortlisted for interviews. If you look at last year's thread, they did a session in Mumbai and Hyderabad and held interviews in both cities for EA candidates.

This year it seems they have moved to the cities that actually yield maximum app volume (Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore). Last year, interview invites for different cities went a week before the event date, so for Delhi for example, invites should come on Nov 2-3 as the reception is on the 9th. For the other rounds they do Skype.

Don't jump into conclusions too fast.
We all don't have a clue on the evaluation process, the invitations and all the rest. It might be that they will open up more dates on relevant cities for you, or maybe they will call you on the last second to interview. Don't waste your time and energy on making hypotheses - it will only make you feel worse.

Sit and wait, check your inbox three times a day, read a good book or continue writing that other application for another school you want.
By Nov. 9th we will all have answers, and we'' be able to go on with our lives, for better or worse

I agree that there will be more rejections than invitations on Friday because there are simply more people that are going to be rejected anyway. I think we should all just relax. I am checking the website every 10 minutes as well.... So don't think I'm not panicking. I'm just not going to allow myself to spiral down the rabbit hole quite yet.

Lets cross our collective fingers and toes, wear lucky underwear, put socks on in that special way and do a lucky dance because at the end of the day, it may not help (or maybe it will...) with the final decision, but it will keep you sane for the next few days.

Yeah, its far from impossible to still get accepted. I don't buy the fact that Ankur is going to spend the next 3 days rejecting the 1,000 or so applicants who dont make it. She just doesnt have the time, its impossible. The fact is some of us are already dinged and just dont know it. They officially ding everyone at the same time and send out the last invites at the same time (probably around 4pm last day such as last yr).. If Ankur does have the last say, she has been deciding the fates of people since back in October.

Some are already dinged. But hopefully its none of us. At the same time, I bet there are people who got invitations on the first read still left dangling out there, and they just havent been invited yet due to logistics, timing, proximity to the school. Maybe they go by major, or undergrad school, or industry, or geography, or by letter of your middle name, or last name, or first name, or left handedness, or if you wear contacts or not. No one knows the system, lets just let it play out.

I feel you guys on freaking out and checking the inbox. In a few months it will all be over. A lucky portion of us will have impressed one admissions committee. Best of luck to all!

Yay huntzman!! Very happy to see you got the invite. Good luck with your interview.

Looks like we will be waiting another day (at least). 48 more hours of torture... To all of those who haven't heard anything- lets stay positive together. It's the only way we will make it to Friday without getting brain aneurysms.

An interview email late Friday afternoon will make these last weeks seem like nothing.

I will go Party tonight and drink Wodka till I pass by LOL )), the hell what happens :-0

i am already drunk teehee.. so in case of either a ding or a interview call i am just gonna drink a lil more