I am back in Toronto, the interview went pretty ok. The
interviewer is a second year student and her business card states that
she is a member of the admissions committee. First of all, she
explained the purpose of the interview was to help the school to know
more about me, as well as an opportunity for me to get to know more
about the program. She also briefly introduced her background, an
investment banker at Goldman.
As usual, she asked me to go through my resume, and then why mba.
I guess I gave very specific answers to that question, eg improve my
teamwork skills in a team environment, acquire specific knowledge by
taking such such classes, get involved by joining particular clubs, so
she didn't ask me the why wharton question. After that she asked
me how I can contribute to the program and how I would handle team
conflict. The last question was what concern that I believe the
admissions committee might have, my answer was my age, one possible
concern for younger applicants is that they are not as focused as their
older counterparts, therefore once at wharton, a place full of
resources and opportunities, they might got lost and end up accomplishing nothing
if with no clear career objectives, as for me, I said I always have a
clear goal of what to accomplish, I chose go back to school to develop
a sound implementable business plan, build a team of accomplished
individuals with entrepreneurial instincts, receive the training and
knowledge required to execute my business plan, and of course have the Wharton brand
name on my resume to attract angel investors.
In the Q&A section, I asked her what factors encouraged her to join
the wharton community, and then we started to talk about some irrelevant
topics, I shared my awkward experience at the restaurant called pod the night
before, how I was surrounded by loving couples and spent the valentine
day by myself the first time in 6 years.
Overall, the interview was more like a conversation and I totally didn't use the
script that I prepared earlier. My strategy was to focus on my
uniqueness as someone who has the small business background, and can
contribute to class discussions especially in those entrepreneurial
classes. I believe I have done the best I could, so there are no
regrets. | 
