[面试经验] Wharton Interview Tips

Q: What does Wharton interview look like?
A: 1) It's a blind interview, which means the only thing interviewer has is your resume. 2) The interviewers tend to ask more detail about your background/experience to help the adcom cross check what you wrote on your essays is consistent with what you say. 3) For international students, the interviewers also need to make sure the candidate's English is good enough to study the courses and contribute to the class discussion.

Q: Should I choose hub interview or alumni interview?
A: It depends (cliché!). For hub, the interview will be conducted by people from adcom. It means you will be interviewed by well-trained interviewers. Good things are 1) the questions will be more "standard" and it is unlikely to see "unexpected" questions. 2) they could be more objective to examine your candidacy. However, on the other hand, it will be more difficult to "impress" the interviewer and you can be easily compared with other candidates on a relative performance basis.

For international students whose native language is not English, if you speak English well and have strong communication skill, maybe hub interview will help you stand out. On the other hand, if you know some alumnus with the same background/career path like you and he/she happens to be on your interviewer list, maybe you will find chemistry with that person.

Q: Is Wharton looking for certain types of candidate?
A: No. Wharton is looking for good candidates in every industry. As I always say, if you have unique background/experience, you are likely to have better chance to get in than typical consultants/bankers as a lot of them are applying and every school is trying to diversify its student pool. Wharton doesn't care how many other business schools you are applying and interviewer will not grill you on this. As long as the school thinks you are good and wants you, you will be admitted.

Q: What type of questions should I expect to be asked?
A: In general, interviewer will evaluate a candidate on the following areas. 1) Professional Development & Career Goals: what's your career path, progress, short-term and long-term goals? Why MBA? Why now? Why Wharton? 2) Soft Skills: communication skill, passion, energy, interpersonal skill, attitude, maturity, poise, etc. 3) Contributions: extracurricular activities, social services, hobbies, etc. In addition, you should expect some unconventional questions because the interviewer wants to see how you think and whether you can communicate effectively.

Q: Any special tips to crack the Wharton interview?
A: Unfortunately, no. Be well-prepared, be confident, be open-minded. Show your urgency, your passion and your commitment to have a MBA degree from Wharton at this stage of your life. Also, practice makes things perfect.