Wharton Essays 2011 - 2012 Tips and Analysis

One of our founders, and most active reviewers at Essay Critique is a Wharton alum, so  we asked her to write up some tips on Wharton's essay questions for this season, and here they are!

What are your professional objectives? (300 Words)

• Strike a balance between your "visionary" objectives and some tactical post-MBA next steps in this question - state the idealist long term, but support it with pragmatic commentary about your near term plans
• If you're going to describe objectives in a high-buzz area like micro-finance or renewable energy, be cautious - make sure your objectives are articulated such that they tie in well with your background and experiences - the two shouldn't appear disjointed

Reflect on a time when you turned down an opportunity. What was the thought process behind your decision? Would you make the same decision today?

• This is a difficult question - and most people struggle with it - it's not easy to come up with an opportunity, and even less to recreate it in your current situation
• A good idea for this question is to come up with 2 or 3 situations, write them up in draft, and this will give you a good idea of which one to move forward with
• The question we get from a lot of candidates for this is - do I have to answer "no" to the last part of the question - i.e., would you make the same decision today?  No - you don't have to - it's perfectly okay to say that you would make the same decision today
• It's important to articulate the thought process behind your decision - this is the meat of the question - what were the elements of your decision?  What was most important to you?  If you are going to say that you would not make the same decision today, explain why - candidates can use this to highlight their growth and evolution

Discuss a time when you faced a challenging interpersonal experience. How did you navigate the situation and what did you learn from it?

• First, what is an interpersonal experience?  A challenging inter-personal situation could be an exchange with people in the workplace, with a client, with family, or with other important players in your life that was difficult
• It could be a situation that was challenging because of the context that it was set it (regardless of the roles), or because of the people involved - the former is much better than the latter
• My LEAST favorite responses to this question are ones in which candidates find faults with others that they worked with - or a situation in which they glowed spun around differently - most frequently these essays fall flat, because they sound immodest and immature

“Innovation is central to our culture at Wharton. It is a mentality that must encompass every aspect of the School – whether faculty research, teaching or alumni outreach.” – Thomas S. Robertson, Dean, The Wharton School. Keeping this component of our culture in mind, discuss a time when you have been innovative in your personal or professional life.

• Don't mix up innovation and invention; and please, don't try to force an innovation story into one of invention
• Innovation can happen in your day-to-day at the workplace, or at home, or with your friends - any situation that you contributed significantly to make it better, either for yourself, or others

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