I had my campus interview with a 2nd-year student at Wharton this morning.
Arriving at the front desk, I handed in my resume to the receptionist. (According to my research, she must be the Renée who is originally from Alabama but also has family in Georgia.) Then I blended into a group of fellow applicants in the waiting area and started chitchatting with them. Among this crowd, there was a guy with a European accent, and he turned out to be French currently working in the Bay Area. So I said to him, “Je suis de la Chine, et je peux parlez juste un peu Francais.” :-p As my memory of French dried up quickly, we started to talk about French wine vs. Californian wine. But suddenly everybody else stopped talking to stare at somebody behind me.
Yes, behind me stood a 2nd-year student. When she repeated an Asian name with perfect pronunciation, I guess it was my turn.
The interview was just like what others have reported. It was exactly 30 mins, highly standard set questions, and quite conversational.
1. The same question as the Chi alumnus asked about a bullet at the bottom of my resume.
2. Walk me through your resume.
3. Why MBA?
4. What are your criteria of selection b schools?
5. What would your supervisor say about your 2 strengths and 2 weaknesses?
6. Give an example of your involvement in a challenging team environment.
7. Will you return to your current company after MBA? Will you stay in your industry?
8. Describe an experience that exhibits your strategic view as a key element of leadership.
9. What can you bring to the Wharton community?
10. How would your Wharton classmates describe you after graduation (in one sentence)?
11. What kind of concern the adcom might have on you?
12. Any questions?
I think there were some other questions, but I just can’t remember, because I didn’t spend time jotting down the Qs right after my interview. Instead, I met with several friends at Penn for lunch at a Japanese restaurant, which was scheduled even before I started the prep of my W interview. :-p And I even shopped at a toy train store and dreamed my boyhood fantasy.
I know this is supposed to be an interview report, and I do have one more comment on today’s experience. The weird thing is that I was just exhausted. Even a whole cup of coffee didn’t stop me from dozing off for at least an hour. So I figured that my nerve was still intense during the 30-min interview, no matter how pretty the interviewer’s smile was.
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