My Wharton Interview experience

I chose the alumni interview option. We met in a cafe. I had already spoken to my alumni interviewer on phone while scheduling the interview. Actually, I must say that that interviewer was very prompt when he received my mail, called me up and fixed the time and day.

He asked me to begin with my story (I had already sent him my resume, and so he wanted to know why I wanted to do an MBA.) I spoke about that. Then was the "Why Wharton" question. I spoke in length here, what I really liked about Wharton, the different things that appeal to me with respect to my goals (nonprofit et al) . After this, he asked about my strengths and weakness. Then came an unexpected question. "What is the worst moment of my life?". I spoke about something personal related to an experience. He really appreciated that aspect and also mentioned to me that it is better to talk honestly than to recite any memorized answer. The interview ended with a very different question "Wharton should admit me because ...." fill in the blank with a oneline sentence. I thought for a bit on that one, and told him something that came from my heart. We spent some time after this , talking about my alum's Wharton experience and he shared some interesting tidbits with me. Overall, I did not feel like I was having an interview. It felt more like a nice conversation, and my alum interviewer was genuinely interested in understanding the person behind me. I felt good about the interview experience. I really want to thank Wharton for such a fabulous opportunity, the alumni seemed great .
Regardless of the final decision, I will treasure this process, because it has helped me understand myself so much better and enrich the learning experience.

Best of luck to all those interviewing and then for the final decision.

On another note, looks like Sloan has started interview invites since this week.Stanford invites have started for the past few weeks as well. Buzz according to the BWforums is that these schools sent invites according to region .

Wharton wait

for interview invitation is over ... I received an invite some time back today morning. Guess, the invites do get released till the DAY as they say. I am mostly going for the alumni interview option, because I won't be able to take time off work for a on-campus. But let me see if i can do that. Any suggestions for selecting between alumni interviews in Seattle and on-campus Wharton interview.?

Updates

No, I haven't yet heard from W. Status is unchanged. On another note, someone on admissions411 got an invite from Stanford. Haven't heard about Sloan invites, but the ball is rolling now ....

W is for wait

Nothing beats the excitement and anxiousness for this week, the long wait for Wharton's choosy interview invites. Without an invite currently, all I can do is wait and hope to be in the 50% bucket that has some chance of getting in at Wharton. Least I fall in the other half, I will move on. Meanwhile, to all of us, trapped in the Wait, let's be positive.

3 apps and the learnings

3 apps later ....

1) Thou shall invest time wisely for each school. Essays from one school cannot be copied onto another
2) Thou shall understand the strengths of each school. Each of them have their unique personality, which is reflected even in the way they ask their essay questions.
3) Thou shall give let the essays rest for some time. There are so many points that come to mind after doing this.
4) Thou shall understand the feedback that various people give you, respect their opinions but choose what best applies to your application, story.
5) Thou shall be honest throughout the application, that is the only way your own voice shines throughout the application
6) Thou shall maintain a strong belief and focus, no matter how tough that may be.

One more down ...

MIT Sloan app submitted today, one more down, three more to go ... I will write a post later about what I learnt through this app, for now, I am just going to relax for a bit.