Dinged at Wharton...

I have been dinged at The Wharton School.

Gotta relax now :) I have been least productive at work this week. I more day to go. Then it's holiday time...so plenty of time to rejunvenate :-)

Wish you a very happy holiday :-)

My Wharton Interview Experience

I had my Wharton interview early in the day at the Alum's office. I reached his office around 30 minutes before and so we started 20 minutes before the stipulated time. The alum had some 10 years of experience after MBA and 8 years before MBA. So he was quite mature and adept at interviewing. It was a tough interview, I must say. He guided the interiew process well and asked several follow-up questions on my experiences. Whenever, I told him about some experience whether community or professional, he asked about how xyz behaved or tell me about one person you really liked in that community engagement. I think he was trying to gauge the depth and honesty of the experiences. We started pretty slowly and by the time we had finished we were zooming at 100mph :-)

Some of the questions I remember were:-

1. Walk me though your resume. He asked several follow up questions and situational questions.
2. Why Wharton? Why MBA? Career goals?
3. Why do you think Wharton is the ideal place to help you realize your long-term goals. I mentioned about several programs at Wharton which would help me and the diverse student body, alumni etc. So he said I know these programs are good but why do you think Wharton is the right place. I mentioned several other points. We then moved to another questions.
4. He then asked me to mention three strengths and weeknesses. He asked me to elaborate on each of the points. I tried to provide examples from my experiences for each of the strengths and how an MBA from Wharton would help me overcome my weaknesses.
5. Next question was... 70% of the Wharton applicants are good enough to be admitted. So why should we select YOU? I gave several reasons and tried to give examples for all of them.
6. What other things would you like to add which you believe have not been covered in your essays, aplication, and interview. I could not think of any point left, I had used all my cards...so I said I feel we have covered all the points. He then said anything like low GPA or low GMAT or gap in study or employment. I said, Nope.
7. Next...he handed over the stage to me...It was my turn to ask questions. I asked 3-4 questions on his experiences and I added my experiences in between as well. He then provided me his business card and asked me to send an email in case I have any other question. He also asked which other schools I have applied to and interviewed with. He was then kind enough to walk with me till the gate of his office.

During the interview, he was taking notes in a booklet with the label " The Wharton School". He stopped me in between my answers few times so that he could take down notes.

It was a rigorous, sweet, and tough interview! Looking forward to the decision of the Wharton's AdCom. My fingers are crossed !

No news from HBS yet...let's see which school is interested in knowing more about me next...

Wharton Interview Invite

I just received an interview invite from Wharton. They asked me to schedule an on-campus, Hub or alumni interview. The interview has to be completed by 7th December. So, I have some time. Let me see if i can find an alumni in my city. My first preference would be to interview with an alumni. I have some specific questions which I believe an alum would be in a better position to answer. Moreover, the work pressure in the office has increased and I have scheduled several F2F meetings with the clients and vendors in the coming weeks. Let's see what works best.

Catch you all later :-)

Wharton Application Submitted!

I just submitted my Wharton apps. It was a relief! I was working on it since sunday. I had to stop the count-down for Chicago apps and launch my Wharton apps :-)

Now, I hope I would be done with my Chicago apps by Friday.

Catch ya later!