Whats your opinion on the Wharton interview questions, esp the leadership + failure questions. Is it ok to cite same examples as written in essays (given that the interview is blind) or shall I cite other instances? Is there are any cons of citing other examples than the one written in essays?

hmmmmmmm, those questions are not critical on W, except in some generic way, as to how yo present in general. Worry more about goals, resume walk thru, why mba, why W? etc.  Some interviewers actually write down content of answer [nerdy compulsive types, not a small number of W. alums + 2ndyrs, esp types to do interviews ] so that could be communicated to adcom WHO DOES HAVE YOUR ESSSAYS, also, if you interview w. kid at school, that kid cld be at the table when your file comes up, soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, a better practice is to have either a dif. answer than in essays, or a really expanded one. Sometimes Q is also a bit diff: e.g. tell me about a failure at work, or team failure, or recent failure, or failure to get along w. someone, or failure to finish a crossword puzzle [38 across, 7 letters for B School Virgil, ans. HBSGURU] SOOOOOOO, it helps to have a laundry list of failures ready to throw in the game.

As a current Wharton student & co-president of our Net Impact Chapter, I find it particularly frustrating that Wharton chose not to participate in the Beyond Gray Pinstripes rankings. 

Contrary to popular belief, there are a surprising number of opportunities at Wharton for students interested in using their business education to effect social change.

For more information, please see: http://www.whartonsocialresponsibility.org.

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Hello Sandy- I want to ask you why you always said that HBS and Stan are the best MBA ? According to a lot of magazine ranking  ,Wharton is number one ,I can understand that the HBS brand may sell better around the world ,but why prefer S to Wharton ?I want to ask you this question because i’m applicant to all of these school ( H/S/W) , but I prefer wharton due to it’s finance focused program ( I want to work in IB/PE after MBA ) Do you think that it’s a good idea to choice Wharton instead of HBS/S if admitted?

the only rating I care about is reality, where do most kids go if admitted to all 3–most kids go to H and S, as a matter of brand, etc. I dont give a hoot about which school has better programs in a b c , altho you might. My views are pretty darn simple, you dont really learn much in b school anyway, except by scmoozing and making contacts, and cert. the DIF in what you will learn between top school A or B is really trivial. Most people say the finance stuff at W is more rigorous and built in to more aspects, big whoop! Most PE shops and also VC and Hedge Funds, just care about super smart kids from brand name places,and not what in fact you can actually do. Small exception might be some quant driven PE shop looking for quant jock. Of course, Wharton is a brand name, and kids there get jobs at PE and IB, but for instance, it is WAY easier to get IB job at Stanford b.c. most kids there look down on business, etc. etc. Soooooooooooooo, IB interviews are sorta empty while at W. you have to fight for them.

Hey Sandy,

Im a reapplicant for Wharton this year and just got an interview invitation. Im not very excited this time since  I was invited last year as well but I was denied admission afterwards. I guess I was “dead meat” last year, but do you know if my chances are any better this year since I am a reapplicant? I mean, do they ask “dead meat” for interview twice? I would reallly appreciate any input.

This may not have been directly addressed… how often are HBS interviewees dinged even after good interviews (ie didn’t even have a shot walking in)?  What are the typical reasons for why this happens?