"Hi folks, from speaking with a number of our clients over the past few days that have interviewed at Wharton, it is obvious there has been a huge shift in interviewing style this year. So far, we had not come out with this info because we wanted to hear it from our clients directly, rather than publishing it based on other sources. We spoke to 14 interviewees about their Wharton interview experience in November 2010, and here's what we found.
What's changed?
Questions have changed focus from Why Wharton / why MBA, etc. to six behavioral questions. Tell me about 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
- You have worked as part of a team working towards an important goal, when you have addressed conflict between two or more team members
- You have worked with others to complete an important task, when there was no formally appointed group leader
- You have ensured an important task has been completed, when you felt others were less focused than you on completing the important task
- You have had to persuade others to your way of thinking, when at first they did not buy into your idea.
- Your ideas have been challenged by others, requiring you to defend your opinions.
What stays the same?
A lot. Interviewers still look for the same things that they did before. Solid experiences, good communication skills, a humility and warmth and friendly body language. Through these questions, you should try to demonstrate both your professional experiences and your personal attributes. Be enthusiastic, describe your experiences with expression and draw the interviewer's interest into your story.
So why would Wharton use the same questions repeatedly with all students?
Mostly to establish consistency. When you ask the same questions of people back to back, you get a clear way of distinguishing between personalities, characters and ideas.
What about the scripted questions?
While it might seem like the Wharton interview just got super easy because you know the three questions they will ask, don't be under that illusion. Know your resume, why Wharton, why MBA, why now COLD. These could come up at any time in the conversation and could make/break the reviewer's impression of you regardless of how you answered the questions above.
How should I prepare for the new 2010 Wharton interview format?
- Think about some situations that have been crucial in developing your career or have been personal milestones for you (3 - 5 experiences)
- List the people that were involved in these situations and the role that you played, as though you were writing a script
- Write down a summary of each situation, the actions you took and why it was such a critical experience for you - what did you take away from it?
- Use these experiences to then weave your answers to the questions above.
- Don't restrict yourself just to these three questions, think about other behavioral questions that may be asked and how you could use these situations to respond to them
- Try to be a (real) story-teller, not a newscaster. Tell a story that you would want to hear from someone you just met
- Tell the story to someone you don't know at all. Shameless Plug: it could be one of us :-)
- Practice, Practice, Practice - Get in front of the mirror, record yourself, observe your own body language and shrug off the gestures or mannerisms or phrases that you don't like from your vocabulary and body language
