Fall 2012 Admission Wharton MBA Interview Preparation
Updated on 11/17/11. There are now numerous public reports up on the Clear Admit Wiki and those additional reports have helped me further update this post on Wharton MBA interviews for the Class of 2014. My Wharton essay analysis can be found here. I will continue altering this post based on additional public interview reports, but I am seeing the same questions repeated over and over, so I suspect that Wharton is not using that many questions (maybe 9-12 questions), but will wait to make that judgment. After more reports are in, I will rework this post further to assist those applying for R2.
The reports I am receiving from my own clients are consistent with those from the Wiki though there appears to be significant variation in to what extent applicants are asked the general non-behavioral questions. Please note that I never provide questions that my own clients have given me because they have been communicated in confidence. The only information that I have used from my own client reports is to confirm publicly available information.
INCLUDES SOME GENERAL MBA INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
The public reports (Clear Admit Wharton Interview Wiki) so far includes general questions "Tell me about yourself," "Talk about yourself/walk me through your resume," "What do you do?" (asked before a resume walk through), "Why Wharton, "Why now?", and "How do you choose between business schools?". There is some variation on what non-behavioral questions get asked. Expect 1-2 questions either at the beginning or end of the interview, but not necessarily the questions reported so far. These routine interview questions may also simply take the form of a conversation about your background.
RESUME WALK THROUGH
During the October 26th Wharton interview chat, admissions emphasized knowing your resume and application well. The public interview reports I mentioned above are consistent with that comment. That said, keep in mind that the Wharton interview is totally blind. The only thing the interviewer will have your is resume.
If you are asked to walk through your resume or asked "tell me about yourself," I suggest you provide a short 1-2 minute walk through and not a 3-5 minute version.
A "typical" answer would consist of the following:
A sentence on your background.
A sentence on your education.
A sentence on your professional experience.
A sentence on what you do outside of work.
Adjust as necessary, but not too long. The "sentence" above, might be 1-3 actual sentences depending on your situation. My point is rather to give a general idea of what to include.
I think it is usually easiest to provide the above chronologically. Emphasize not just the facts, but provide an interpretation (How? Why?) of your past.
The roles of the resume in Wharton interviews
In the event that you get asked such questions be prepared to provide a short and clear answer to each of the above. Be prepared for limited or perhaps zero follow-up.
Be ready to ask a few questions
There will likely be time to ask your interviewer a few questions.You should be ready to ask questions to your interviewer. What you ask should be governed by the following considerations:
1. Is the answer to the question obvious? If so, don't ask the question.
2. Is the answer to the question really relevant to you? If not, don't ask it. General questions that have no specific connection to you are probably not worth asking.
3. Will the interviewer be able to answer the question? In general avoid asking interviewers questions that they are not really able to answer.
When formulating questions it is obviously important to consider who you will be interviewing with because what you ask a current student is not necessarily the same as what you ask an admissions officer (or what you ask an admissions officer who you know is a Wharton alumni versus one who is not).
Updated on 11/17/11. There are now numerous public reports up on the Clear Admit Wiki and those additional reports have helped me further update this post on Wharton MBA interviews for the Class of 2014. My Wharton essay analysis can be found here. I will continue altering this post based on additional public interview reports, but I am seeing the same questions repeated over and over, so I suspect that Wharton is not using that many questions (maybe 9-12 questions), but will wait to make that judgment. After more reports are in, I will rework this post further to assist those applying for R2.
The reports I am receiving from my own clients are consistent with those from the Wiki though there appears to be significant variation in to what extent applicants are asked the general non-behavioral questions. Please note that I never provide questions that my own clients have given me because they have been communicated in confidence. The only information that I have used from my own client reports is to confirm publicly available information.
INCLUDES SOME GENERAL MBA INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
The public reports (Clear Admit Wharton Interview Wiki) so far includes general questions "Tell me about yourself," "Talk about yourself/walk me through your resume," "What do you do?" (asked before a resume walk through), "Why Wharton, "Why now?", and "How do you choose between business schools?". There is some variation on what non-behavioral questions get asked. Expect 1-2 questions either at the beginning or end of the interview, but not necessarily the questions reported so far. These routine interview questions may also simply take the form of a conversation about your background.
RESUME WALK THROUGH
During the October 26th Wharton interview chat, admissions emphasized knowing your resume and application well. The public interview reports I mentioned above are consistent with that comment. That said, keep in mind that the Wharton interview is totally blind. The only thing the interviewer will have your is resume.
If you are asked to walk through your resume or asked "tell me about yourself," I suggest you provide a short 1-2 minute walk through and not a 3-5 minute version.
A "typical" answer would consist of the following:
A sentence on your background.
A sentence on your education.
A sentence on your professional experience.
A sentence on what you do outside of work.
Adjust as necessary, but not too long. The "sentence" above, might be 1-3 actual sentences depending on your situation. My point is rather to give a general idea of what to include.
I think it is usually easiest to provide the above chronologically. Emphasize not just the facts, but provide an interpretation (How? Why?) of your past.
The roles of the resume in Wharton interviews
Since
they are asking you to bring your resume, even if you are not asked to tell them about yourself or walk through your resume, unless this purely for
symbolic reasons, I think it is worth remembering the kind of roles a
resume is likely to play in your interview:
A First Impression: Make sure your resume is really designed for ease of use by the interviewer. One of my objectives when helping a client with a resume is always to focus on how effective the resume is for this purpose.
Agenda Setting Device: To a greater or lesser extent, a resume has an agenda setting function in many interviews. While Wharton is seemingly providing interviewers with a very high level of guidance about what questions to ask, the resume may very well impact which questions the interviewer focuses on. Or it may not have any such effect at all.
Booby Trap: The resume can blow-up in your face if you are not careful. Failure to review your own resume closely prior to interviewing can put you in an awkward position if you are not fully prepared to discuss everything on it. Since adcom repeatedly emphasized during the October 26th chat that you should know your resume well, this point is worth keeping in mind.
Your Main Depository of Past Experience Answers: Since you have presumably highlighted many of the key things you would actually want to discuss on your resume, it is in essence, a primary source for your answers to past experience questions aka Behavioral Questions. Especially when I working with a client with limited English ability, I will tell them to practice explaining “Who What Why How When” questions related to their resume.
WHY Wharton? Why MBA? What are your Goals? Why now? How do you choose between business schools?
A First Impression: Make sure your resume is really designed for ease of use by the interviewer. One of my objectives when helping a client with a resume is always to focus on how effective the resume is for this purpose.
Agenda Setting Device: To a greater or lesser extent, a resume has an agenda setting function in many interviews. While Wharton is seemingly providing interviewers with a very high level of guidance about what questions to ask, the resume may very well impact which questions the interviewer focuses on. Or it may not have any such effect at all.
Booby Trap: The resume can blow-up in your face if you are not careful. Failure to review your own resume closely prior to interviewing can put you in an awkward position if you are not fully prepared to discuss everything on it. Since adcom repeatedly emphasized during the October 26th chat that you should know your resume well, this point is worth keeping in mind.
Your Main Depository of Past Experience Answers: Since you have presumably highlighted many of the key things you would actually want to discuss on your resume, it is in essence, a primary source for your answers to past experience questions aka Behavioral Questions. Especially when I working with a client with limited English ability, I will tell them to practice explaining “Who What Why How When” questions related to their resume.
WHY Wharton? Why MBA? What are your Goals? Why now? How do you choose between business schools?
In the event that you get asked such questions be prepared to provide a short and clear answer to each of the above. Be prepared for limited or perhaps zero follow-up.
Be ready to ask a few questions
There will likely be time to ask your interviewer a few questions.You should be ready to ask questions to your interviewer. What you ask should be governed by the following considerations:
1. Is the answer to the question obvious? If so, don't ask the question.
2. Is the answer to the question really relevant to you? If not, don't ask it. General questions that have no specific connection to you are probably not worth asking.
3. Will the interviewer be able to answer the question? In general avoid asking interviewers questions that they are not really able to answer.
When formulating questions it is obviously important to consider who you will be interviewing with because what you ask a current student is not necessarily the same as what you ask an admissions officer (or what you ask an admissions officer who you know is a Wharton alumni versus one who is not).
THREE BEHAVIORAL QUESTIONS
All reports so far indicate that every applicant will be asked three interview questions, just like last year, but the questions are not necessarily as limited as last year. In fact, based on the October 26th chat (See my report.), unlike last year, interviews for Fall 2012 admission will not be limited to the small group of six questions that were asked. Still, as indicated below, the reports don't indicate that Wharton is using as nearly large a range of interview questions as MIT Sloan uses.
STAR
Before reading the rest of this post, I strongly suggest downloading a copy of MIT's guide to behavioral interviews, The MIT Sloan Interview Guide, because
reading it first will maximize the value of my comments below. Also,
since the meanies at Wharton Adcom don't put anything like this MIT
guide together and can't give better advice than "I would encourage you to do some google research...behavioral interviews are based on situations and reactions," I suggest you look at MIT guide. In addition to the MIT SLOAN Guide, I suggest also taking a look at the slightly different guide to the Star Technique that MIT Career Services provides.
The STAR technique is really the core method you need to use for answering behavioral questions. It is simply this:
• Situation: define the situation or “set the stage.”
• Task: identify the task/project performed.
• Action: describe the action you took.
• Result: summarize the outcome
The behavioral interview method is not old (if you are me and born in 1968):
“Bill Byham, CEO and founder of Development Dimensions International, originated the behavioral interviewing method in 1970.” The STAR technique was developed by Byham as THE WAY to answer behavioral questions:
Byham
calls an example of past behavior a STAR, because a complete example
consists of a situation or task, the specific action you took and the
result of your action. The result you describe doesn't have to be
positive; it could be that you learned a valuable lesson from doing
something the wrong way.
In his book "Landing the Job You Want: How to Have the Best Job Interview of Your Life" (Three Rivers Press, 1997), Byham tells candidates how to identify the skills for a job; explore their own "behavioral dimensions" (the behaviors they use every day to get things done); and recognize and present a STAR with positive impact in an interview.
In his book "Landing the Job You Want: How to Have the Best Job Interview of Your Life" (Three Rivers Press, 1997), Byham tells candidates how to identify the skills for a job; explore their own "behavioral dimensions" (the behaviors they use every day to get things done); and recognize and present a STAR with positive impact in an interview.
When
you are using STAR, just keep in mind that you need to be introspective
as well, so in an interview say what you thought as well as what you
did. Don’t just present “the facts” but actively interpret your actions. There is really nothing overly complicated about this as long as you understand that you need to tell a DETAILED story. Pure
abstractions disconnected from a concrete set of action steps are
highly likely to result in a weak answer. Similarly, grand actions not
told in any depth are also likely to be weak. Identify specific actions
that contributed to the result so as to establish a clear link between
cause and effect.
As when answering any kind of question,
another important consideration is to think very critically about what
your story selection, understanding of the task, actions taken, and
results say about you. Keep
in mind that the whole point of asking behavioral questions is to
determine how someone acts and thinks as a basis for selecting or
rejecting that person. It is obviously critical to be aware of your own
message. Specifically
think of examples you can use to highlight your intelligence,
creativity, leadership skills, interpersonal communication skills, and
conflict resolution skills.
KNOWN CATEGORIES OF QUESTIONS USED BY WHARTON
Last year, Wharton only used 6 questions divided into three categories. According to the chat, they will be using many questions and it will not be just limited to a few. I think it is worth keeping these six in mind (Taken from Poets and Quants):
KNOWN CATEGORIES OF QUESTIONS USED BY WHARTON
Last year, Wharton only used 6 questions divided into three categories. According to the chat, they will be using many questions and it will not be just limited to a few. I think it is worth keeping these six in mind (Taken from Poets and Quants):
The questions on “team building” are:
“Describe
a time when you have been working toward the completion of an important
task, when it has been necessary to consider the opinions and feelings
of others.”
“Describe
a time when you have worked as part of a team working towards an
important goal, when you have addressed conflict between two or more
team members.”
The questions on “facilitative leadership” are:
“Describe
a time when you have worked with others to complete an important task,
when there was no formally appointed group leader.”
“Describe
a time when you have ensured an important task has been completed, when
you felt others were less focused than you on completing the important
task.”
The questions on “persuasive communication” are:
“Describe a time when you have had to persuade others to your way of thinking, when at first they did not buy into your idea.”
“Describe a time when your ideas have been challenged by others, requiring you to defend your opinions.”
Here are questions from the published public reports:
-Describe a time when someone convinced you to change your opinion. How did they do it and what was your response?
-Describe a situation where team members initially disagreed with you and you convinced them of your view. What was your strategy and their response?
-Describe a time when you had to manage someone either much more or much less experienced than you. What was your strategy and their response? Were you successful?
- Tell me about a time when you had to manage someone very senior to you in your team/ organization/ client. (UNLIKE THE PREVIOUS QUESTION, WAS NOT GIVEN THE OPTION OF CHOOSING SOMEONE YOUNGER)
-Tell me about a time when you were unsuccessful at a task/ managing a team and what will do you do differently now.
-Describe a time when someone convinced you to change your opinion. How did they do it and what was your response?
-Describe a situation where team members initially disagreed with you and you convinced them of your view. What was your strategy and their response?
-Describe a time when you had to manage someone either much more or much less experienced than you. What was your strategy and their response? Were you successful?
- Tell me about a time when you had to manage someone very senior to you in your team/ organization/ client. (UNLIKE THE PREVIOUS QUESTION, WAS NOT GIVEN THE OPTION OF CHOOSING SOMEONE YOUNGER)
-Tell me about a time when you were unsuccessful at a task/ managing a team and what will do you do differently now.
TEAM WORK:
-“Describe
a time when you have been working toward the completion of an important
task, when it has been necessary to consider the opinions and feelings
of others.”
-“Describe
a time when you have worked as part of a team working towards an
important goal, when you have addressed conflict between two or more
team members.”
-Describe a situation where team members initially disagreed with you and you convinced them of your view. What was your strategy and their response?
-Describe a situation where team members initially disagreed with you and you convinced them of your view. What was your strategy and their response?
-Tell me about a time when you were unsuccessful at managing a team. What would you do differently now.
LEADERSHIP:
LEADERSHIP:
“Describe
a time when you have worked with others to complete an important task,
when there was no formally appointed group leader.”
“Describe
a time when you have ensured an important task has been completed, when
you felt others were less focused than you on completing the important
task.”
-Describe a time when you had to manage someone either much more or much less experienced than you. What was your strategy and their response? Were you successful?
- Tell me about a time when you had to manage someone very senior to you in your team/ organization/ client. (NOTE:UNLIKE THE PREVIOUS QUESTION, WAS NOT GIVEN THE OPTION OF CHOOSING SOMEONE YOUNGER)
-Describe a time when you had to manage someone either much more or much less experienced than you. What was your strategy and their response? Were you successful?
- Tell me about a time when you had to manage someone very senior to you in your team/ organization/ client. (NOTE:UNLIKE THE PREVIOUS QUESTION, WAS NOT GIVEN THE OPTION OF CHOOSING SOMEONE YOUNGER)
PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION:
“Describe a time when you have had to persuade others to your way of thinking, when at first they did not buy into your idea.”
-Tell me about a time when someone did not agree with you at first and you convinced them of your opinion. (How exactly did you do it? What was their reaction? Did they agree immediately or it took several attempts?) (NOTE: Same as the previous question of last year. This report included nice follow-up questions)
-Tell me about a time when someone did not agree with you at first and you convinced them of your opinion. (How exactly did you do it? What was their reaction? Did they agree immediately or it took several attempts?) (NOTE: Same as the previous question of last year. This report included nice follow-up questions)
“Describe a time when your ideas have been challenged by others, requiring you to defend your opinions.”
-Describe a time when someone convinced you to change your opinion. How did they do it and what was your response? (Note: MULTIPLE REPORTS, in this case you are the one who is convinced to change your opinion.)
-Describe
a situation where team members initially disagreed with you and you
convinced them of your view. What was your strategy and their response?-Describe a time when someone convinced you to change your opinion. How did they do it and what was your response? (Note: MULTIPLE REPORTS, in this case you are the one who is convinced to change your opinion.)
-Describe a time when you pushed for a project.
-Describe a time you pushed forward or championed a cause or initiative, and what did you do to influence people?
FAILURE
-Tell me about a time when you were unsuccessful at a task/ managing a team and what will do you do differently now.
-Tell me about a time when you led a team and it failed. How did that teammate initially react?
-Tell me a time when a project you led failed
-Tell me about a time when you were unsuccessful at managing a team. What would you do differently now?
How To Prepare Outlines for Practicing Behavioral Questions
I would suggest making some simple STAR (Situation Task Action Result) outlines. For example:
Team Story 1: Project X
S: Harry was not cooperating with the rest of the team on Project X.
T: My job was get the team to work together because Project X really required everyone to participate. Harry was important because of his technical skills.
A: In order to get Harry to cooperate I.. (ACTION 1) first talked with him privately to better understand his perspective. Next, (ACTION 2) I talked with the rest of team to try and make an adjustment so that Harry would feel more comfortable. Finally (ACTION 3) Established information sharing sessions so that everyone understood what needed to be done and how our work fit together.
R: Project X succeeded.
S: Harry was not cooperating with the rest of the team on Project X.
T: My job was get the team to work together because Project X really required everyone to participate. Harry was important because of his technical skills.
A: In order to get Harry to cooperate I.. (ACTION 1) first talked with him privately to better understand his perspective. Next, (ACTION 2) I talked with the rest of team to try and make an adjustment so that Harry would feel more comfortable. Finally (ACTION 3) Established information sharing sessions so that everyone understood what needed to be done and how our work fit together.
R: Project X succeeded.
The
above outline could be used to answer such questions as "Tell me about a
time when you were part of a team that had poor dynamics/didn't get
along well," "Tell me about a time when you had to deal with someone who
wasn't pulling his/her weight," and “Describe a time when you have
worked as part of a team working towards an important goal, when you
have addressed conflict between two or more team members.”
Now, when you actually practice the above for a behavioral interview,
you would need to flesh out the story and provide more details. If you
have outlined a STAR story, you have not practiced it yet.
The only reason to outline STAR stories is if you cannot systematically
turn any spoken story into STAR automatically. Actually once you start
using STAR, chances are that you will not need any outlines. STAR is
actually a highly intuitive way to tell stories and useful for telling
stories in any situation.
THE MAP IS NOT THE TERRITORY
Clients often want me to read their interview preparation notes. I usually refuse because I think it is a total waste of their money to have me do that. I believe such outlines are useful for the person doing the preparation, but all I can really evaluate is their performance. If I have a client with a TOEFL under 100, I might review their scripts because given that they may lack basic English vocabulary for effectively telling their stories. This is not case with the vast majority of my clients, even those with TOEFL scores at the 100 level.
An outline is a map, but in the case of an interview it is really lousy map because an interview is all about performance, the territory. You can have the best stories in the world, but if you can't deliver them effectively, you are dead.
ACTUAL PRACTICE
Depending on your communication skills, available time, and comfort with interviews you may need days or weeks or months to be at your best. Whatever amount of practice you think you need, try to actually do more than that. One of my clients who had already been admitted to two top schools, did 50 hours of practice on his own to get ready for HBS. He was successful because he put in enough time actually speaking the answers to many common questions that he could feel comfortable and confident. He did just a couple of hours of interview practice with me and one of my colleagues. He was admitted to HBS. I wish all my clients followed this example of extensive self-practice. While the exact ratio of counseling hours (strategy sessions focused on developing good answers and mock interviews) to self-study will vary, I think somewhere between a 1:5 and 1:20 ratio is ideal. I am always depressed when a client only does interview practice during sessions with me and then does no practice by themselves because I know they are not maximizing their performance. Like a great musician or actor, you need to internalize your script/notes/outline to perform it effectively. I can best help a client by judging that performance. Something could look great or horrible on paper, but very much the reverse when actually performed.
Clients often want me to read their interview preparation notes. I usually refuse because I think it is a total waste of their money to have me do that. I believe such outlines are useful for the person doing the preparation, but all I can really evaluate is their performance. If I have a client with a TOEFL under 100, I might review their scripts because given that they may lack basic English vocabulary for effectively telling their stories. This is not case with the vast majority of my clients, even those with TOEFL scores at the 100 level.
An outline is a map, but in the case of an interview it is really lousy map because an interview is all about performance, the territory. You can have the best stories in the world, but if you can't deliver them effectively, you are dead.
ACTUAL PRACTICE
Depending on your communication skills, available time, and comfort with interviews you may need days or weeks or months to be at your best. Whatever amount of practice you think you need, try to actually do more than that. One of my clients who had already been admitted to two top schools, did 50 hours of practice on his own to get ready for HBS. He was successful because he put in enough time actually speaking the answers to many common questions that he could feel comfortable and confident. He did just a couple of hours of interview practice with me and one of my colleagues. He was admitted to HBS. I wish all my clients followed this example of extensive self-practice. While the exact ratio of counseling hours (strategy sessions focused on developing good answers and mock interviews) to self-study will vary, I think somewhere between a 1:5 and 1:20 ratio is ideal. I am always depressed when a client only does interview practice during sessions with me and then does no practice by themselves because I know they are not maximizing their performance. Like a great musician or actor, you need to internalize your script/notes/outline to perform it effectively. I can best help a client by judging that performance. Something could look great or horrible on paper, but very much the reverse when actually performed.
How to practice:
1. Speak. Doing it in your head is not enough. Actually perform to the hardest audience you will ever encounter: yourself.
2. Record yourself and listen and/or view the results. Note problems and practice more.
3. Speak in front of other people who can give you feedback. Even if you are using a consultant try to practice in front of other people. This will help make you comfortable having an audience.
4. Have school specific mock sessions, either with a admissions consultant or someone who can at least ask you the questions.
(For additional suggestions on interview strategy, see here, here, and here. Some of the content in those posts repeats what is here.)
I know that what I am suggesting might be burdensome and time consuming, but so what? The whole application process is like that. And at least with interview practice, you might actually become better at telling stories (Good for making friends!) and interviewing for jobs. Best of luck with your Wharton Class of 2014 interview!
-Adam Markus
I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.
