刚结束2009的第三个面试,写点面经赞人品。办公室没有中文输入,用文写的,大家忍忍。
请大家给点鼓励!
Wharton
Introduction
My first invitation was from Wharton. I applied for R1 and received email
invitation around 10/23. Because I am in the southern U.S., I
scheduled an interview with an alumnus in my city. The interviewer has aneastern European last name.
The interview took place around mid-November at the alumnus’
office building. He has an EE PhD, and after Wharton, he is working for a MC company. We walked down to a coffee shop to do the interview there. It was very noisy. Bad for the interview.
Questions
Why MBA, LT/ST goals, Why Wharton, why now?
Tell a situation where you core value is compromised?
What is your understanding of leadership?
Have you visited Wharton before? Have you talked to any students?
Tell me your working experience.
Lessons
First of all, I should do the on-campus interview instead
since I had not visited the campus. This may let people think I did not have enough interests in the school.
The interviewer was tough and challenged several times when
I spoke. And some basic questions like” why do you need to learn leadership at Wharton?” I think MBA is all about leadership.
I did not believe he was friendly when he asked this question. He also
challenged other parts of my answers. Perhaps I should avoid him at the first place when I picked interviewer online. I should also be prepared for the worst case possible. Not every interviewer is friendly as the schools have claimed.The interviewer did not reply to the thank-you note.
Again, this was my first interview. I received rejection letter before Christmas.
wharton北京alumni面试小叙
interviewer是一个美国帅哥,以前street做IB,现在是一个类似首代的ceo,中国通,很nice。我早到了星巴克半小时,正在专心修理我那块儿cake,他也早到了,试探着叫了我名字,我们就对上了。哎,这早饭吃得我慌慌张张的,他还对着我那块儿蛋糕讲了半天他早晨吃的那个啥粥。
面了一小时,问题:
- he walked through my resume with me in a very casual way
- why mba why wharton
- questions for him
现在回头看来,好像我们聊得相当发散,主要的问题似乎就这三个。很巧,他沃顿本科毕业后在我上海的母校学了半年中文,还去过我的家乡,所以就闲扯了一些母校的往事,对上海的回忆,他还拽了两句上海话,呵呵,谈了些北京的酒吧,沃顿的生活,毕业后去向,谈到要通常美国人做我那个职业目标的,都会先做两年xxx,不过可能中国不一样blah blah... 另外谈到的小问题有:
- 为什么不在中国读MBA,认不认识一些北京的US MBA,认不认识其他wharton alumni
- 还申了其他哪几个学校?如果他们要你,还来沃顿否?(汗,我全招了,还说当然选沃顿,他笑“你是不是跟谁都这么说呢?”郁闷阿,早知道就把几个学校的好好比较一下,也好拍沃顿马屁拍准了)
- If five years after graduation, at wharton alumni reunion, when ppl talk about you, what do you think they would say about you?
- 最怀念大学时候的什么事情
虽然我知道自己的career goal老大难,但是真的truely be myself & with real passion了,期待沃顿能够垂青。
祝大家顺利
wharton on-campus interview experience
今天面完了Wharton, 刚从philadelphia坐了六个小时的bus回到家~不是一般的累~
昨天提前了一天到philly,
天气很差,让我也觉得很low,晚上觉也睡得不大好~满脑子都是面试的事情~
我是早上第一个面的,我们这个时间一共只有三个人面试,我觉得可能是个优势~因为到后面interviewer可能面太多人就烦了,都不知道还有没有心思挺你的故事~
总的来说,我的面试好坏参半,面试我的是年轻的二年级女生,之前是做banking的,
看着挺nice,
我估计她最近一直在interview人,整个过程就像流水线作业。问我的问题如下
1. tell me about yourself~I did a good job in this one~告诉了她我的一些personal story 和一些我的achievement, career path.
2. Why MBA Why now? Expected 的问题,我很清楚地回答了顺便说了一下我的long term short term goal
3. Why wharton~ 我主要讲了wharton Healthcare program fits my goal,讲了我喜欢wharton 的culture
4. What club in Wharton you will join? 也是意料之中的问题,我的回答也刚好,说了两个跟career , academic无关的club, 结果面试我的姐姐正好也在这两个club,心里狂喜
5. Team work, how do you solve conflict。
讲了一个故事,回答了问题,这个我也准备过。所以听到这个问题,我也小高兴了一下。
6. What kind of leader you are, how others comments on your leadership style. 讲了一堆形容词。
7. 接着就问我了leadership的 example。讲了一个故事。其中讲到说我为了在短时间内recruit 很多volunteer, 打遍了我的电话本上所有朋友的电话的时候,姐姐开心的笑了
8. What you can contribute to Wharton? 我觉得她主要想问in classroom,所以我回答了一下,我在healthcare行业的背景能够add extra value in study team and in classroom
9. What’s the most difficult thing you will face in Bschool as you can imagine. 我讲了要做的事情太多,而且每件都想做好,怕会handle 不了。列了一二三大类我要做的事情。~ 这个问题也是我今天面试的亮点,后来姐姐告诉我她和我的想法exactly 一致
10. Describe a situation when you need to make a decision where there is not much factor can help. 晕死了,这是我今天唯一一个out of expectation的问题,我也没有回答得特别好。回答之前我跟她说我需要想一下,回答之后我说我不知道有没有get to the point,她附和了一下说,你答到了,但是我觉得她的回答有点假
11. 问了我有什么问题,我说了how do you like Wharton so far,她blah blah讲了一堆~感觉像是事先背好的或者讲了太多次,已经跟背书一样的啦~,我又问了if you would change one thing about Wharton, what would you change. 她说huntsman hall 的 food café too bad.这里我说了一句很stupid的话,我说是挺差,wharton这么多人,就一个这么小的地方,blahblah, 姐姐立马有点不高兴,纠正我说其实有两个。晕倒了. 我是有点high 过头了。当时恨不得找个洞钻下去~
12. 最后问了我还有什么要补充的,我说了一个我的extracurricular activity. 她听得很有兴趣,评价说interesting,very great experience. 我觉得是个perfect ending~
她中间问了我hobby, 感兴趣的course之类的。最后wrap up的时候我说了一句,我有点紧张。然后姐姐马上说,你表现得不错,blahblah,~后来想想,也不应该这么说,反正就是有点太high乐,能说得不能说得都说了。
总结:我觉得我的准备很充分,这是必要的,准备得重点是自己的故事,和对wharton的了解~我觉得我花在准备interview上的时间不比写essay少~ 我觉得做的不好就是有点紧张~没有我平时mock的时候感觉顺~ 还有一点就是,我觉得还是应该多说,我今天就比较high,该说的不该说的,噼哩叭啦讲了一堆,但是后来回想一下这个Strategy是对的,第一能够搞活气氛,第二能够多表现我的personality.俺们本来语言就没有优势,所以一定要抓住一切机会表现自己的性格,半个小时是很短的,一定要把握机会,不要局限在interviewer问的问题里面,因为那些问题都太standard,大家的回答都大同小异,要想stand out,一定要多扯一些东西~。我觉得我基本上想要表达的都说出来了。所以总的来说not bad。之后我还面试了health care management program要求的extra interview,我的面试经历也很经典。我会接着写面经~
就写到这里了,希望对后面的人有帮助。大家都不容易,wharton面那么多人,最后能不能拿到也是听天由命了,good luck to everyone.
衷心的感谢wharton的Jason 帅哥无私的帮助。希望大家以后问他问题的时候多show一些appreciation.他是一位好同志~!
Wharton北京校友面经
晚上6点开始,原计划持续30分钟,最后时长45分钟。
面试官Olivier Letant
问题不多,主要集中在resume,why MBA,why Wharton,career goal,这几个问题问的都比较深入,绝非简单的了解一些情况就下一个问题了。而是穷追猛打,刨根问底,而且还问了我对于我的行业的一些看法,问题问的比较隐蔽,他问我如果他是国外的一家公司,想在中国的石油石化行业的下游做投资,我有什么建议。整个主要面试部分基本上25分钟,剩下的20分钟都在聊Wharton的生活,MBA的生活,他还给我一些MBA的建议,比如上学的时候一定要注意和自己的朋友保持联系,否则很容易失去他们,说因为你这两年的变化会非常大,回来后你跟朋友的差距会很大,当然这个建议是我在问他要是我带妻子去上学,Wharton会合适吗?上面是他给我的建议,还有就是聊了很多community的活动。
总体感觉他很聪明,每个问题给我的时间很短,有些时候我有三点要说,说了两点之后他就开始说了。他说了一堆之后,就直接进入下一个题目了。在最后他还告诉我现在你做完了你所有能做的,也不用太担心太惦记,因为剩下的我什么都做不了,让我安心等结果。不知道只是个友善的建议,还是说肯定没戏,回家洗洗睡吧?
总体上自己打85分。面完之后头疼。由于这次面试跟标准格式的面试不太一样,所以自己没有什么感觉。也不知道是表现的好还是不好。anyway,结束了今年的所有的申请和面试。等结果了。两个圣诞节前,一个1月15号。
wharton hk hub 面经
刚在香港国际金融中心回来,bain公司的一个经理chan面试的我,比较pp的姐姐
问的问题比较常规why mba,为什么wharton,你能从wharton获得什么,能给wharton什么,我的career goal,etc.
说话语速比较快,偶被迫pardon, sorry各一次, sigh。
气氛不错,还是有说有笑的。
看她应该是属于比较强势的那种。
不太好的是由于一开始就正式问题了,都没有来点寒暄和warm up,结束的时候她也走得急,缺乏了点个人交流。她一面问一边听一边在一张paper上做记录。
出来后偶没有太多的感觉,不知道结果会怎么样,跟上次面insead感觉良好是不一样的,安天命吧。
各位好运!
Wharton Alumni Interview in Beijing
刚刚结束面试,这个校友应该是比较有名气的,他很忙,所以首先非常感谢他抽出时间给我做interview。
面试官超级nice, 刚开始还有点紧张,不过不知不觉被他带得一点都不紧张了,完全的relax, and be myself.
面试进行了1个小时10分钟,(刚开始他说45分钟,结果严重超时)。
没有walk through resume, because he said he reviewed my resume several times and get much from it. All the questions are tipical:
1. the frustation situation from the clients (he said, my client is so huge, and powerful, sometimes maybe arrogant)
2. the leadership experience
3. teamwork experience
4. long-term and short term career goals
5. why now
6. why MBA and why Wharton
7. your contributions
8. strenths and weakness (这个问题我回答的不好,被他反复的challenge)
9. my turn to ask him some questions
For every question, he went to details.
面试前一次mock都没做过,一开始的确有些紧张,但是interviewer很有经验,我很快就不紧张了,还特别enjoy这个过程。而且,他作为一个过来人给了很多specific的建议,share了很多他自己的经历和思想变化过程。
最有意思的是,他有个经典动作,左右双手一起伸出食指,放在头的双侧上方,然后弯两下(好像friends 里面的Ross曾经作过的那个动作),好可爱!呵呵!
总算做完了面试,虽说没有想象中的困难,但是也有很多可以改进的地方,比如准备的问题也有些点给忘记了。不过,他说在面试中你就应该表现你自己,我也这样想。
他还说和judith( interviewer in hub interview) 聊过,说今年的invitation 太多,学校面试的压力也很大。
Wharton interview@ Bangkok
Wharton interview@ Bangkok
这次面试比较特别所以和大家分享下。
Time: 2/23/08
Location: Bangkok
Interview:很轻松的谈话,感觉就是和一个老朋友说我最近的情况.是我最enjoy的面试。
见面的寒暄:我们一见面都先把泰国吃的大大赞扬了一番,说得我们两个都有点流口水了。他的腿还没完全,我帮一个在校朋友问候了他一下,知道他打马球,就问到是否是打马球把腿伤了,他说是的,我说他 is crazy.
面试正题:1。
How’s your company now?
2. questions about my first job?
3. why is MBA now?
4. What’s your contribution to Wharton?
5. what’s your expectation from MBA?
6. when did you start up SZG( a volunteer program)?
7. Are you parents stay with you in SZ?
8. any question or you want tell me more about u?(最后两分钟他提醒并问)
(Thomas 是非常有经验的interviewer, 他的问题都是从我的回答中而提出的,感觉很流畅,他能让interviewee轻松真实的表现出自己。他对我的兴趣爱好表示很有兴趣,所以工作方面的谈得少了点, 回想有点遗憾!)
再和大家说说interview的准备和去泰国的情况
准备:
1. Interview: 请教在校学生和R1面试的和admitted 的学生。非常感谢他们无私的分享,让我今天能自信放松的走进 meeting room. (还是应该提早做准备)
2. 去泰国的准备:2/20晚决定book Bangkok hub interview,2/21早上定好机票和酒店,
2/22飞泰国( 飞机晚点3个小时,晚上6点才到)。有第三国的签证就可以在泰国做落地签证(1000B,2张照片,在Bangkok机场半小时就办好)。
3. Grand Hyatt就在四面佛的隔壁,5月份求保佑能申请成功,今天一大早去告诉四面佛今天要面试,谢谢他的保佑而且祈求今天面试成功,下个月能拿到offer. 据说四面佛非常的灵。(赫赫,我告诉Thomas了,他大笑。)其实菩萨都是灵的,他们都希望每个人心想事成。不过有句话不是:
谋事在人,成事在天吗?不管怎样,四面佛今天已经让面试进行的比我想象要顺利了。成与否,我已经尽力了,虽然不完美!
Wharton on-campus 面精
Just returned from a trip to Philly and had an on-campus interview this afternoon. Overall, the interview went very smoothly, because the question set the interviewer prepared for me were very standard. No surprise or behavior questions asked.
-Walk through your resume
-Why MBA?
-Why Now?
-Why Wharton?
-Your long and short term goals
-How Wharton will prepare you for your goals
-What can you contribute to Wharton.
-What do you do outside your work?
-What other schools did you apply? (I told him I applied for 4 schools in total, but he didn't ask which other ones. It was a little strange.)
.....
There are a few other questions which I can't quite remember now but they were very standard questions. The conversation was very casual and informal. Because it was Friday afternoon, I felt the interviewer (a second year student) was a little tired and he yawned a couple of times - I think he probably partied too much on Thursday evening and it was definitely not because of me. :-)
There are a few tips I would like to share with my fellow comrades:
- Visiting classes will not only help you get a feel of the Wharton class settings, its students and faculties, it also provide you with some common topics with the interviewer. I signed up an elective class, Venture capital and Finance innovation. Most of the students are 2rd year students. The interviewer happened to be in that class. During the interview, I told him that I was totally lost and didn't follow the lecturer's highly quantitative analysis. He commented: I don't blame you. I didn't understand it neither. So we cracked a few jokes about the class. My point is that we should always find every opportunity to build a conversation with the interviewer - visiting class is one way to help with it.
-Before the interview (Friday afternoon 2:15pm), I got there at around 1. I checked in at the front desk, signed in, and submitted my resume to the assistant. And I asked the assistant if my interviewer has been assigned yet. She told me yes. So I asked if it is possible that she can let me know who that would be. She was nice enough to give me a business card of my interviewer. So basically I went to the second floor and used a public computer to google the interviewer's background, which helped my interview a little bit, making it less "blind", at least for my side. I highly recommend to try this "trick" if you are going to do an on-campus interview. Every little bit help, isn't it?
Some other observations:
-Parking condition there is horrible. Try meters first ($1/hour, maximum 3 h). If no meter, there is a garage right beside the Huntsman's Hall but very expensive, $8 for the first one hour, and $2 for every extra hour. In any case, public transportation is very good in philly so next time if i need go there, I probably will take a train and go to the campus by taxi.
-Wharton students are very down-to-the-earth. I had a great time talking with some chinese students there. Thanks SH, CX, and LD. I appreciate your help.
One more thing ---- I love Wharton...........Please take me.....................
Wharton R2 Hub Interview @ BJ
今天上午在北京参加了Wharton Hub Interview,估计是Wharton R2 最早一批被Interview的吧,呵呵。
面试官是Yakowitz女士,非常Nice。整个过程是Blind的,她上来就说基本上Interview 20分钟,然后10分钟的互动。然后她就开始看Resume,约一分钟后就开始挑了Resume中一处描写与我进行讨论。后来扯的比较远,最后还聊到了国企改革和国企海外上市的问题。于是也就不Walk Through Resume了,开始问答,都是非常传统的问题。
1. Why MBA and Why Now
2. Long Term and Short Term Goal
3. Strength and Weakness
4. My Contribution to Wharton
5. Some of My Overseas Experiences listed in Resume
6. My Interested Clubs
最后就是我问了几个自己感兴趣的问题。出来后看一下时间,用了大概38分钟。
气氛很好,面试官发音也很好听,Just be confident and be yourself!
Wharton Hub Interview 2@BJ
问题如下:
1. specific resume info
2. details about current job
3. Why MBA, Why now, why wharton, 中间穿插LT/ST goal
4. why career switching
5. what do you do outside curriculum
6. what else you would like to say about your application
没有问leadership/teamwork, contribution, strength/weakness,问题应该也是满随意的。实战感觉会比Mock短很多。
Wharton Interview Notes
Atypical for me.
1. At the very beginning telling me to use own words & speak slowly.
2. Recording notes on PC. The whole process seems not so continuous because of the PC.
3. Emphasize on the publications that I made (very detailed, so I explained a lot on the conclusions and methodology for my three papers, while less time on my career development)
Q List:
1. Highlights of career
2. Why current employer wants me
3. Why MBA (ST< career goal)
4. Teamwork/ Leadership experience
5. Any clubs interested in and contribution to Wharton
6. What to learn in Wharton
7. Any ideas about wharton, if got touch base with Wharton people
8. Anything want to share with her
9. Questions for her
BTW:
1. BS Jinmao not letting me in.
2. Regret to choose the first morning session.
2/28 wharton 上海第一个HUB面试
想到我今天是上海第一个,有种奇妙的感觉~~ 怕堵车我去的很早,老师到了9点半来
career parth,都是她问来着, 这里是怎么样,那里怎样, 我一边讲,一边被她跳着问,我说得很快,她思路也很快,要10分钟
career goal, 简单几句,跟了几个问题。
why MBA, 简单几句过
WHY Wharton,这个问题回答更少,我只说了1句,wharton is famous for marketing,(可能我是特例,大家还是多准备些),她就接着说学校换了新的dean, 以后会注重marketing, 要我修一个entrepreneur, 说对于帮助公司开创新局面有帮助。
why now, 简单几句过
after work what do you do,提了我跳latin来运动
in wharton what will you do after study, 说了voluteer program
what other things didn't mention, 我说似乎都提到了。
ask her question. 于是我开始发问。感觉送了口气,终于轮到我了。
没有问我strength weakness, challenge, failure, leadership, 不过大家还是准备着把,20分钟+10分钟问题,挺准时的。走的时候她说有问题写信。整个过程没有什么紧张. Marilyn 女士很会引导你,她给我的感觉是位很牛的老师。她的第一个关于行业的问题让我有点吃惊。我的问题被打得很散,基本上是说到哪里,问到哪里。其他她问了喜欢什么国家,基本没什么废话。这个46楼的基金公司叫国安联什么的,楼下领卡要问。
2月28日上午上海HUB-WHARTON
今天上午面试的已经有2位.我是第三个.我面试时间比较长,大概讲了45分钟.主要是我废话比较多.
有2个问题,我没有讲好.给后面的人参考.
1,what make your success today? 这个问题我建议大家想好了再过去.我之前看到过类似的问题,但是一直没有找到合适的答案.所以今天碰到了,还是挺头疼.
2,do you think your contact with local(foreign colleague) difficult?
因为我有海外经历,而且是面试官曾经呆过的地方,所以她对这块问了很久.其实我也总结过海外经历对我个人心路和思想的影响.但是面试的居然脑子短路忘记了. 这个问题的回答我后来想了想,可以简单化解成 siar: situation, action, result, learn. 所以大家碰到类似不知道怎么回答的题目,一定不要慌,化解成这四个方面去回答. (说来容易做来难)
其他没什么了.大家一定要多说.尤其是她说:what else do you want to say about yourself? 我认为这是个很好的机会抓主动.就像打牌一直都是对方坐桩,现在轮到自己做庄了,一定要好好利用.我觉得我就是从这里开始大谈特谈.从这个入口,讲个有意思的话题,抓住对方兴趣和对方谈下去.只要能谈下去,就有讲话的空间.(我认为面试除了证明你是否会英文外,还要印证你是否还是个有趣的人)
祝后面的好运.
对了,我走的时候,看到后面的是位男士,不知道谈的情况怎样?
(昨天晚上到上海,在酒店的床上怎么都睡不着,折腾到半夜将近3点.今天归程时国航又晚点.不过在快深夜的时候我总算回到我深圳可爱的家.写下上面的简单文字.祝各位好运!)
Wharton Hub Interview 3.1
我是11:30面的。
一开始玛里琳女士就问我是不是P什么的,我犹豫的一下,感觉好像不是说我,但是又怀疑是不是老美我的姓发不准(公司的老美就经常这样说),所以就还是应了一下,然后就是寒暄。后来交简历的时候就发现名字确实不对,玛里琳女士确实即严谨又很nice,一边上网查,一边叫我不要担心 (其实我一点也不担心,反正是学校这样通知我的,哈哈),后来查出来确实是重排了schedule,因为我book的比较晚,可能玛里琳没有更新。anyway, 还是正常开始
一开始就问我毕业后想干什么,sign,害得我准备得career progress都没得说,然后就是我对social responsibility的看法,因为我的career goal里提到了,我就balabala的说了一下volunteer work. 后面的问题顺序记不清楚了,大概有如下几个
1. why wharton
2. why now
3. management experience
4. will you stay at US or come back to China after graduation (sign,每个学校都问了我这个问题,难道次贷危机真这么厉害?)
5. community work (这个我回答得特别不好)
6. what will you do at wharton outside of class?
7. have you met any person from wharton
8. anything to ask
感觉我说的挺散的,玛里琳女士确实比较厉害,我真的只是完全的 be myself,基本上没能用上什么修饰,wharton的面试官是我在这几个学校中遇到的最厉害的一个了。后面她还说了她是woman adimission之类的成员什么的。后来我还想寒暄几句,不过感觉可能有点画蛇添足。
感觉wharton确实是我面的几个学校中最好的一个,也是最难面的一个,这样就越让人想去。但现在,也什么都做不了,总之一句话,得之我幸,不得我命。自己面的比较迟,可能这个面经对今年申请的人也没什么帮助了,希望对来年面的人有所帮助。
Wharton Hub Interview @ BJ
地点:国贸二座 中金office
Interviewer:Marilyn Yakowitz
总共时间大概30分钟,Yakowitz女士非常Nice,上来就讲这个是informal 的,不用紧张。可能我今天穿得太正式了,让人觉得紧张?
1. Walk through resume , 聊了一些我现在的工作问题。
2. Past working experience
2. Long Term and Short Term Goal, which concentration will choose in Wharton, 这个我回答的不太好,她追问比较多...
3. What do you do outside work, 特别问了community service, 因为我确实这个方面比较缺乏,只好讲我将要去参加。。。汗!
4. Strength and Weakness, 我讲到 fast learner , 然后她追问 moving fast 有什么优缺点.... 然后weakness 也追问了一下..
5. How do you learn English? 这个完全没有准备,只能说我自学啥的,然后她还追问 writing English怎么样,我就说我的IBT分数啥的...
6. What things else do you want to talk to me? 我讲了一些我对Wharton 的印象,算了扯了扯why school
7. Qustion 我问了关于 leadership venture program 的问题,后来就扯到我自己在大学参加的一些club.
总体感觉比我预计的要好一些,昨晚到今天一直在紧张中度过,以为自己会上场哑口无言。结果是基本上我在哇啦哇啦说....
Anyway, 该做的都做了,剩下的就是祈祷了~~
Good Luck to all!
面筋:wharton 3.1 hub interview shanghai
周六早上9点,俺是第一个面试的,进了会议室adcom officer marilyn就说:好像名单上被面试人是个韩国gg,你是谁啊?当时吓得我一身冷汗,赶紧把所有和interview相关的邮件都拿出来给她show, 她这才说,可能是招生办弄错了,直向我道歉,所以大家去面试的时候,一定带上相关邮件。
问题:
career progress and follow up questions
why MBA and follow up on why not a technical MA in the sector I am interested in
why now
cross cutural experiences, how to handle work relations with foreign colleagues, and how to lead in such an environment
what do you do outside of work including community service
how do you learn english
any question
因为是blind interview, 在整个面试过程中,面试官一直在laptop前不停的打字纪录,有两次面世官叫我hold on, 示意我慢下来,看来语速控制得还够好。
Marilyn 以前在经合组织的环境部门工作,因为俺的public sector背景和环保志向,问了俺你认不认识这个领域XX ,XX 和XX啊?我提到了一个环保组织,她问这组织头头叫啥名?我紧张得忘了,只好说回去查了告诉你。
星期五晚上飞到了上海,在酒店房间里伴着窗外呼啸的车流噪音挣扎了半宿,各位在外地面试的同学一定选一家服务好又安静的住处,睡眠不好会影响面试效果的。
Wharton面经 2.29
今天下午的校友面试。运气实在是太好了,遇上一位特别愿意提携晚辈的老校友(岁数比较大,自己创业的)。
整个面试一个半小时,大概只有30分钟左右是在问一些standard questions. 不分顺序有:
1. Tell me about yourself
2. Why change jobs
3. Why MBA, why now
4. Why Wharton (he really want details for this question)
5. What do you want to get out of your MBA experience
6. Long-term, short-term goals
7. Team work experience and style (he gave me an example of a tough team situation, ask me how would I handle it)
8. How would you imagine your first 3 months at Wharton, what is on your top priorities
9. How would you allocate your time spent at Wharton
10. How many schools did you apply, why (he analyzed every school for me, then he reached the conclusion: Wharton is the best ^_^)
11. Community services
12.Last, I updated the recent change on my job responsibilities
大概有一小时都是在聊天,他告诉了我他的背景和经验,他喜欢Wharton什莫,不喜欢什莫。还给了我很多学习和工作上的建议:在Wharton上MBA成绩不是主要的,要建立network, learn to handle team environment, work & life balance, family is important (因为我告诉他今年Lg和我一起申请,但没拿到Wharton面试,他就很认真地和我讨论如果我去Wharton,Lg应该去那所学校,我们应该保持很好的communication…), 以我的背景应该申什莫summer intern, 以后在北京应该进那一行。。。他还告诉我,面试的时候一定要be yourself, 我如果说那些准备过的答案时,他一听就知道,而且不喜欢canned answer. 再次印证了不要背答案,要自然。
最后他说:Wish you and your family the best! Hope to see you in Beijing as a Wharton alumnus.
实在太感动了,遇上这麽热心的校友。觉得因为遇上了他,现在真地对Wharton印象太好了。觉得今天认识了这位校友,不管怎莫说这一趟都没白跑。
08第三面-Wharton (yeah)
中彩票了,中彩票了。居然在倒数第二天收到Invitation。本来都要不指望了。不过,负作用是on-campus的位置全满了。偶道听途说,说还会加on-campus的位置,迟迟没有schedule alumni interview,每天F5的频率可比刷CGX的干劲。结果adcom出来说不再发了。 最最郁闷的是,某天早上看到一 on-campus opening, 大喜,打电话给朋友,5 秒后,没了。。。我,我,,,我倒。
还好找的这个Alumni很快就回了email,人也nice, 大大牛一个,还抽时间出来面我。超赞一下。
Questions:
Why do you want to go back to school?
Why Wharton?
Basically walk through resume, Under, graduate study, work.
Failure experience.
What do you do at your leisure time?
总结,我比较喜欢找早毕业的人面,顺带可以学习下人家的career经历。这次总结了上回Columbia Alum 面的经验,一开始就conversational,比较好适应。
另外:听说今年Wharton广发interview,cover rate 有56%, 但最后只收17-18%。interviewee 中还要三选一,惨烈呀。。那句话,成事在天了。 呵呵。。
Follow up on Wharton Interview Tips
Below are some discussion with other Whartonites about the application in general.
Q: Is Wharton looking for certain types of candidate?
A:No. Wharton is looking for good candidates in every industry. As Ialways say, if you have unique background/experience, you are likely tohave better chance to get in than typical consultants/bankers as a lotof them are applying and every school is trying to diversify itsstudent pool.
Response from Vickiyan, class of 08:
I would like to elaborate this point a little bit more:
I'm not quite sure that Wharton is looking for candidate in every industryintentionally, but I believe what Wharton is looking for are goodcandidates. No bias on the background, and I don't think the diversityis intentionally designed and picked out: good candidates happen to bespreading out in every industry. What impressed people most are alwaysthe personal qualities: achievements, solid skills (hard+soft) andpersonality.
For your reference.
Response from Jason, class of 10:
To elaborate even further, I'm not sure that there even exists a 'typical consultant/banker'. Everyone has had such a variety of experience, growing up in different places, attending different schools, and many have a lot of different jobs in addition to being a consultant/banker. Indeed, even within consulting/banking, there are so many ways to distinguish yourself, to seek out your own path, and etc. At the end of the day, what it really comes down to is who you are: which is why I'm always against someone using a 'profile' to determine whether he/she is suitable for a school. Indeed what is most important is not your profile, but the stories that you can tell about your life! For your reference as well
Response from myself:
Jason, it's great to see current student being active and help prospective students here on CD. Your background is impressive, too.
Let me elaborate more on what I meant about "typical consultant/banker." For consultant, if you join those big consulting firms right after college, it is a natural or sort of mandatory move to apply business school after 2 to 3 years of work because those big consulting firms need you to have a MBA degree to move up. Also for banker, even though you don’t need a MBA to be promoted from analyst to associate, many analysts tend to go to business school to 1) take a break 2) try something else after work 100+ hours per week for 3 years.
From my observation, 5-10 years ago, you can see many top b-school students with this type of “typical” background/experience”. 3 years in consulting/banking and then go to top b-school. However, I do see the percentage of this type of students is decreasing, especially for candidates with pure banking/consulting experience. Two main reasons:
1. Average age or years of working experience to enter business school becomes higher. (You are an extreme case which is very rare. The average age for class of 07 is 28.6 and average year of working experience is 6 years.) Understand HBS and Stanford started to look for young talents these years but you can see the average year of working experience is still higher than say 5 or 10 years ago. Having said that, people with 3 year pure banking/consulting experience need to try hard to persuade adcom to admit them.
2. Bankers and consultants are too busy to work on GMAT and application. Imaging if a person works till mid-night everyday, has almost no weekend and travel every week, it will be tough for him/her to focus on application and we both know MBA application is not just filling the forms.
However, from my perspective, consultants are at better position than bankers to apply business schools. Few reasons
1) The firm will prepare and sponsor them to go to business school. For Mckinsey, they have very comprehensive training and materials to help BAs to apply business school. Also their senior people all have MBAs and know the application process well.
2) Consultants tend to have more diversified working experience from and hours is not as crazy as bankers.
3) Many consulting firms have the policy “up or leave.” You need to have an MBA to move up.
4) Bankers were paid too well before. If you can earn +200K (USD) a year, spending 70K to go to business (a year) means your yearly opportunity cost is 270K.
I can’t agree more on there is no typical candidate/career path to promise you to get into top business school. The most important thing is you need to tell and persuade adcom why you need a MBA and why you.
Wharton今年共申请了四所,现已面完三所,还等着Yale,还是申请得最认真的,怎么还没给面试呢。。。
从命中率来看,申请材料写得还算可以,但最近公司实在太忙,面对与金融危机的斗争,总觉得面试准备不足,sign...
明后天应该是Wharton Hub interview 的日子,先在这share下今天下午与Wharton alumni面试的情况,给明后天的战友们打打气。其他2个面经明后天继续发表
The 03' alumni is quite nice.似乎帮wharton面试好多年,但今天可能没怎么准备,问题如下:
1) Walk through your professional experience (似乎开场不确定该问什么,我就主动回答起了这个问题,呵呵)
2)Why did you choose current industry?
3) How do you select right person? ( related to my occupation)
4) How do you develop people
5) Case of facing conflict within team
6) what do you do in spare time
7) Anything else you want to tell me
8) Q&A
The interview lasted for around 40 minutes. 间或八卦闲聊了下生活.
God bless us!!
Wharton Alum interview Mar.7这么晚才面试上,估计能帮到的战友不多了。
在校友的办公室面的,比较能集中注意力。问了
- walk thru yr resume
- career changes (跳过槽,问原因)
-Why MBA
- Why Wharton
-Career goals
- What will you contribute to wharton community
- Your understanding of Leadership
- Your strengths
- What are the three words your colleagues describe you
- How do you manage to achieve many things at the same time
- What do you think is the most important in life
-Questions for him
(最后两个问题说是out of curiosity问的,没怎么记录)
校友人很nice也很有insight,剩下的交给运气了。。。
祝大家好运!
Wharton:
Q:为什么申请MBA?为什么申请Wharton?
A:在读Wharton之前我是做consulting,对于这个行业的人来说,工作了三五年
之后去读MBA可以称得上是一个typical career path,就我个人而言也是这样的,
工作了四年之后,我想要学点新的东西,想要有机会可以去了解一下其他的行业
和机会,这就是我选择读MBA的原因,至于为什么是选择Wharton,是因为我觉
得Wharton的finance和marketing,是一个非常全面的program,这刚好符合我个
人的期望。
我在读MBA之前也是做咨询的,我之所以在工作了三年之后选择去读MBA是因
为我发现几年工作下来,如果让我去领导一个小的team的话我是可以胜任的,但
是如果要进一步作为一个领导去带领一个大的团队的工作的话,就会有很大的困
难和挑战,我感觉在个人的管理和领导能力上需要有很大的提升,这就是我选择
去读MBA 的原因;至于为什么选择Wharton,一方面是因为Wharton的finance
很强,尽管我也是学经济出身,但是我之前在本科的专业是accounting,对于经济
的基本以及战略方面的内容并不是很清楚,这一方面Wharton可以给我有很大的
提升,另外一个很重要的原因是,在跟很多的名校的alumni接触的过程中,我发
现Wharton的alumni给我的感觉是最脚踏实地的,另外就是Wharton的学生非常
地diversified,对国际学生比较友好。
Q:Wharton是否非常看重申请人的international experienced,海外工作背景是
否会对申请有很大的帮助?
A:我个人的感觉是,海外工作背景是有所帮助的,但是如果没有海外工作经验也
并不意味着劣势,在我们这一届的中国学生中,很多学生都是完全没有海外工作
经验的。
Q:Wharton是否对re-applicant有偏好?
A:我个人认为Wharton对re-applicant是抱着欢迎的态度,我有一个朋友去年申
请Wharton没有成功,今年再申请的时候在round 1拿到了offer,我觉得Wharton
在某种程度上看重re-applicant的commitment。
Q:你觉得你成功被Wharton录取的原因是什么,你申请时候的优势是什么?
A:我的profile在MBA申请人中算是非常typical的,TOEFL是111,本科GPA86,
研究生的GPA是89,GMAT750,有三年的consulting工作经验,我感觉就背景而
言我的challenge是我的工作经验相对比较少只有三年,而且我的profile跟其他
consulting出身的人很多都很相似,比较难以做到differentiate出来,我认为这也是
我一开始被放进waiting list的原因,至于为什么最后会被成功录取,我个人是认
为我的整个application中不存在硬伤。
Q:如何申请Wharton的healthcare major?
A:在Wharton,healthcare是一个独立的major,在申请的时候,你会需要做两个
面试,一个是general MBA的面试,另外还要被healthcare的人面试。如果你想申
请healthcare major,那么你在申请MBA的时候就需要做好准备,因为跟general
MBA不同,申请general MBA项目的学生是在进入学校之后第二年才决定自己的
major的,而healthcare这个专业则是在之前就要决定。
Q:我被放进了waiting list中,我是否有必要寄supplementary?
A:我当时也是被放进waiting list中的,不过我并没有寄supplementary,因为学校
也有相关的规定不能寄,我个人认为寄多的东西是一种冒险的行为,因此并不建
议。但是当时学校给了一个on-line chat的机会,我在这次活动之后,给组织这次
活动的Thomas写了一个thanks mail,表示谢意;另外据我所知也有人在被放到
waiting list中之后做了campus visit之后也是成功被Wharton录取了的,去年被放
到waiting list之后被录取的总共有两个,round 1跟round 2各一个,round 1的是
一个男生,round 2的是我。
Q:Wharton会在多大程度上value那些有较长的管理工作经验但是本科学历较弱
的申请人?
A:首先要说明的就是,最终还是要看你整个的application,学校看的并不是单纯
的某一个点。但是跟HBS喜欢年轻学生的倾向相比,Wharton相对更喜欢有较多
工作经验的人,就我们班的学生背景看来,那些有较长的工作经验但是本科学历
较弱的人,跟那些本科经历非常突出而后只有较少工作经验的人,这两类人各占
是一半,但这只是一些显示结果的数字,并不能说明什么问题。
Q:Wharton的学生在读完MBA之后回中国的人多吗?
A:据我所知,大部分的中国学生在在读完MBA之后都是想要回到中国的,尤其
是现在,中国是最有发展前景的,有一部分人可能会先去香港工作一段时间,因
为那里的金融产业比较发达,但是就长期看来,大部分人都会希望在中国大陆发
展。
Q:Wharton的essay中有一篇是关于weakness的,那么我写在Essay中的
weakness,跟我的推荐人在推荐信中说提到的weakness是否需要match?
A:我认为你在essay中写到的weakness跟你的推荐人在推荐信中讲到的weakness
是不一定要match的,因为推荐人写推荐信是站在他立场从他的角度来看你,因
此如果他提到的东西跟你讲的不match那是完全可以理解的。但是如果你的推荐
人所讲的weakness刚好是你在essay中写到的strength,而他讲的strength却被你
写成是weakness,这就有问题了,这种情况是应该避免的。我的建议是你可以跟
你的推荐人坐下来好好的谈一谈,你可以跟他沟通一下,为他提供一些相关的信
息,也可以把你写的essay发给你的推荐人看一下,这么一来就可以避免一些不必
要的冲突,而且你也可以向他说明你希望他从哪几个方面来写你。我当时就把我
写的essay很早就发给我的推荐人看了,不过我这么做的目的主要是希望他能够利
用写推荐信的机会写一些我在写essay过程中没有机会写进去的东西。
Q:请比较一下在Wharton的学习强度跟做consulting的工作强度。
A:在时间上看来,两者是差不多的,但是性质却是不同的。做consulting尽管有
很大的工作强度,但是在走出工作后就是personal life的时间了,与工作完全无关,
但是在Wharton,你是很难把学习和personal life完全地分开来的;另外,做
consulting工作总是会有一个deadline在催,你会需要在deadline之前把工作出色
的完成,然而在Wharton,尽管也有deadline,比如考试或者是测验的时间,但是
这里面是有个人选择空间的,你会有机会选择你说想要的生活方式,尤其对于
MBA学生来说grade并不是最为重要的,除此之外,参加课外活动,做networking
等等也都是非常关键的;可以说在Wharton最大的challenge并不是学习或者是课
业本身的强度,真正的challenge是在于你会需要同时做很多件事情,但是工作时
不同,你只会被staff到一个项目中去,因此你只要集中精力去做完这件事情就可
以了,在Wharton,学会更好地时间管理是一个很大challenge,因为常常会有很多
的突发事件,如果你不善于管理时间,那么很有可能会错过很多很好的机会。当
然这也会是一种非常好的learning,你会从中学会如何更有效地管理你的时间,如
何在必要的时候做trade off。另外还值得一提的是,很多人在进Wharton都认为他
们已经很清楚自己未来想要做什么了,但是进入Wharton之后又不知道了,因为
Wharton所能够给你提供的机会和资源实在是太丰富了,这里的选择和诱惑实在是
太多了,因此对于个人而言,想要弄清楚自己想要什么也会是一个很大的
challenge,但是这同时也是非常关键的。
Q:你在Wharton读书以及申请的感受?
A:在进入Wharton之前,我跟很多人一样都只把Wharton看成是一说finance很
强的学校,但是进入Wharton之后我才发现,Wharton真的不仅是一个金融的学校,
而是提供了非常全面的general management教育。对于申请人,我最大的建议还是
be yourself,不要为了申请一个学校而去make up story,最重要的是要想清楚自己
究竟想要做什么。对于interview,我个人的体会是要展示自己personal,以免给人
的印象是你只是在把一些准备好的leadership的技巧和内容说出来而已。
Q:在Wharton,一天24小时都具体做些什么?
A:第一年跟第二年会有很大的不同,每个人也都在过不同的日子,总的感觉是时
间非常地不够用,每天都会有非常多的活动邀请你去参加,当然每天还要上课,
看case,组织或参加小组讨论,在recruiting season,还会需要去参加很多公司的
on-campus presentation,可能你还要私下找自己感兴趣的公司去做interview,除此
之外你还会需要参加各种club组织的很多的活动,有很多的networking的活动也
是你不想错过的。举个简单的例子,就单单是看case这一项就会占很多的时间,
即便你是英语的native speaker,真要把一个case完整地看完也会需要用3个小时
时间,更不用说我们国际学生,而很多时候一天会需要看超过三个case,但这个
时候你只能选择看最重要的case,另外的就只能放弃。因此大部分人的睡觉时间
是比较少的,而且课程压力还是比较大的,Wharton的考试要求也是相对比较严格
的。因此,在这种情况下,每天你都会有无数的事情需要做,你会感觉自己的
时间严重地不够用,如此一来,学会prioritize你的时间就显得非常关键了,还有
非常重要的一点就是你一定要清楚自己真正想要做的是什么,学会trade off。
Q:Wharton会不会把学生的academic表现disclose给公司?
A:对于这个问题,学校并没有相关的policy,而是由学生经过vote决定的,为了
保护学生,最终的结果是不把学生的academic表现disclose给公司。从学校的立
场看来,学校的观点是认为这是学生的personal property,因此应当由学生自己决
定disclose还是non-disclose。同时,这种不向公司透露学生成绩的做法也是为了
鼓励学生更多地把自己的时间和精力放在自己真正兴趣的事情上,而不是为了
recruiting或者是更好的成绩而去选那些更容易拿高分的课程。
Q:在Wharton有什么样的teamwork的经验?
A:我读MBA之前是做consulting的,因此本身就是在teamwork的氛围中工作,
但是不同的是在咨询公司的team中,我跟我的teammates往往都是一些非常相似
的人,我们在一起工作可以有非常高的效率。但是在Wharton的team中,却有很
大的不同,team的成员往往是来自非常diversified的背景,在刚开始的时候,我
常常非常痛苦的发现别人完全不明白我在说什么,teamwork的效率非常低,这使
得有时候我们不得不放弃,但是在这个过程中你会学会应该如何去跟不同的人合
作,我想这为我以后工作中去管理不同的人是会有很大的帮助的,这真的是一个
很大的学习过程。
沃顿面试
I thought I'd write something very briefly about the Wharton interview, since it seems many people just got invites.
1) Wharton interviews are blind. 面试官不会看过你的application.所以application的内容不单单可以说,而且还应该说(要不然他无法了解你申请商学院的目的,等)。他们唯一看到的是你面试时候交给他的简历。
2) The interviews will be about 30 minutes long. Adcom and 2nd year students on campus are strict on time, although alumni may take longer depending on themselves.
3) 无论是adcom, 2nd year students, 或者校友给你面试, all interviews are treated exactly the same. The three options are there just to make it convenient for you to schedule something. Similarly, don't worry about which alumni to choose- the recommendation of all alumni, whether just out of school or 10-20 years out, are treated with the same importance and respect.
4) About 30-40% of applicants are invited to interview, and then about 30-40% of interviewed applicants are accepted. If you were not interviewed you cannot be accepted. The interview is just taken as another data-point in your application. A good interview does not guarantee admission; a bad interview does not guarantee a Ding. This is as you may expect, given that it is a blind interview. The idea is that Wharton wants to know as much about you as possible: the recommendations tell us about you from a person who's worked with you; your essays tell us about you from your own perspective; and the interview tells us about you from the perspective of the first impression of someone who has just met you, but is closely associated with the school.
5) The interviews tend to be very standard, asking all the basic questions: walk me through your resume, why MBA, why Wharton, why now. They also might ask a few behavioural questions (tell me about a time when you failed... etc). But in general it is not designed to trick you, so this interview might be your easiest among all your business school applications!
6) Don't worry about bringing in videos, newspaper clips, etc. You should be able to communicate your achievements verbally.
7) Also don't worry about giving gifts, etc to the interviewer when done. A simple thank you email would suffice.
8) The date of the interview (whether early or late) does not matter. The interview will be conducted by someone who has never read your file, and will in all likelyhood the report will be read by someone else who did not interview you. Hence when you interviewed is not a factor at all.
9) On-campus interviews are conducted by 2nd year students. Hub interviews are conducted by adcom.
Updated to reflect new interview questions and answers..
刚刚面好Wharton,上海校友面试的,这人一下午居然要面5个,比较无语。没约上hub,约了校友,发现校友也快变hub了,排队面。他反复说今年非常非常competitive。
没有很多常规的“说故事举例子”题目。个人感觉准备的时候再一次好好的想想到底怎么stand out,怎么differentiate,而不是只根据问题来准备。面试虽然是他问你答,但是你要尽量master,其实还是有很大空间展示自己的。(我没机会了,同志们继续冲)。
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