Wharton’s Interview Questions For Applicants Leak
The interview has become an essential step in the admissions process at all top business schools. Unlike Harvard, whose admissions staff does virtually all of the applicant interviews, Wharton heavily relies on alumni and second-year MBA students to conduct these sessions with applicants. Admissions staff does a minority of the interviews. In a typical year, Wharton will interview between 30% and 50% of all its applicants—far more than either Harvard or Stanford.
Most schools that enlist alumni to do interviews, including Stanford University and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, suggest questions alums should ask but those interviews are less structured than the new behavioral approach adopted by Wharton this year. The variety of questions in those interviews tends to be open-ended versus the new Wharton model, which dictates that only three of six standardized questions be used. The switch to behavioral interviewing was first disclosed in a Poets&Quants interview with a top admissions consultant earlier this month.
It’s not clear why Wharton chose to go the behavioral route. Some observers speculate that its traditional interview process turned up weaker students than it wanted last year, or that admissions simply believed the process would make it easier to winnow out the large number of applicants the school invites to interview sessions.
In the presentation, Kumar points out that “traditional interviews can be subjective and often end up assessing the candidate’s interviewing capability, rather than their suitability for the MBA program.” Traditional interviews, she adds, also duplicates many of the findings in the application—summarizing professional experience when a school already has a resume and essays that draw out professional goals. As a result, says Kumar, they failed to add new or substantive information to the application.
APPLICANT ‘QUESTIONS ARE NOT EXACTLY STATE SECRETS.’
It isn’t clear how many consultants are using all of this information to coach their clients, but it’s common knowledge that coaching for interviews is done and often based on posts by applicant willing to share their experiences. “The questions typically asked at MBA interviews are not exactly state secrets,” says Linda Abraham, of Accepted.com, a major admissions consulting firm. “The actual questions are posted on applicant blogs and forums and shared in our database and in Clear Admit’s wiki. We definitely use publicly available information in coaching our clients.” Abraham, however, said she is not aware of the leaked presentation. “We are not using any such information.”
THIS YEAR’S SIX KEY QUESTIONS TO WHARTON APPLICANTS.
Wharton alums are being told to ask applicants three questions, selected from six, on three “competencies” identified by students, alumni, recruiters, and faculty as key factors in the success of a Wharton student: “team building,” “facilitative leadership,” and “persuasive communication.”
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.”
HOW WHARTON WANTS ITS INTERVIEWERS TO FOLLOW-UP.
Kumar then suggests follow-up questions that alums are to ask applicants after they give their answers. Under team building, for example, the additional questions are: “What exactly did you do?” “Describe specifically how you did that?” “Talk me through what you did?” Under “facilitative leadership,” the follow-ups are: “How did it work out?” “What was the outcome?” “How did you measure the success of what you did?”
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Wharton Interview done | rid around the world
on February 22, 2011
I’ll be blunt: Having had 4 interviews so far, including Wharton, I can say as a candidate that Wharton just hit the trifecta of turn-offs for me. Never mind those who were helped by consultants–the way in which Wharton rolled out the process was wholly unfair to those who had the simple misfortune of interviewing early before the dissemination of the questions.
John just shed light on the second mistake: Simply ignoring their mistake instead of admitting and addressing it. Sandy compares it to BP, but I’m immediately reminded of Monty Python’s Parrot Sketch.
Here is the coup de grâce, which John did not mention: In some interviews (including mine), Wharton simply hired third-party consultants who never set foot in Wharton, let alone attend the MBA.
Knowing the questions in advance, I think my interview went fine. But this “trifecta” provided a stark contrast: I felt I was providing a 30 minute “deposition” to a Wharton stenographer, whereas my interview with a Booth alumni was a highly spirited, 90 minute-long conversation which deeply impressed me. I have no doubt Wharton is still a great program and I’d still be thrilled to attend if I get in. But if my options come down to between Wharton and Booth, I’d have to say Wharton would no longer be my top choice.
Get in at any cost. What a shame. This makes everyone invloved with the MBA process (schools, applicants, alumni and consultants) look bad. Looks particularly bad on schools who have recently come to embrace the consultants and their roles with prospective students.
If it’s unethical for admissions consultants to disseminate Wharton’s interview questions, isn’t it also unethical for this website to publish them?
Tory,
It would be an issue if some applicants had an unfair advantage over others because they had the questions and no one else did. The publication of this information merely levels the playing field.
John, you are unleveling the playing field between those applicants who have already interviewed and those who are about to. It’s not your fault though. Wharton’s stupidity has created an impossible situation for all involved parties.
The Interview, the only opportunity or process for adcoms to come in contact and interact with applicants in order to get to know them better and gain rounded information about their personality and characteristics is perverted.
This new system may create an ‘arms-race’ among applicants to equip themselves with knowledge concerning ‘what the adcom wants to hear’ via multiple channels, rather than presenting themselves candidly and as they are to the adcom, which are the adcom’s intended input.
Are there any difference between these and the majority of Behavioural-based Interviewing questions?
I’ve never heard of Wharton, haven’t considered even doing an MBA and I could still answers those questions. I’d be too young to get in, with no management experience whatsoever, but these aren’t exactly the “Why is a manhole round” style stumpers used elsewhere (I stumbled across this thanks to my interest in interview questions).
Well I don’t really see what the big deal is? All the questions are already listed on http://www.clearadmit.com/wiki/index.php?title=WhartonInterview by applicant who have already interviewed. This is nothing new. In a free market information travels likes this and so is shared amongst all parties. First round applicants had the feedback of applicants from last year or so on. Nothing unfair about the process.
There really is no big deal.
Anyone preparing for any interview – be it a consulting interview, or an admissions interview, would always be answering the same set of big questions : What differentiates you ? Why MBA ? Why this particular one ? Show me evidence for your leadership, problem solving and initiative. What makes you tick ? Blah Blah and Blah.
Wharton’s questions are merely a remix of the basic interview set.
Almost everyone knows the questions, but everyone’s answers reflect their maturity, experience set, and intellectual bandwidth. Preparation cannot change the result of years of foundation building. Yet everyone, rightly, prepares to smoothen the delivery. Preparing with this or that set of questions cannot make any difference.
Does anyone know if these questions are being used in Round 2 interviews this year? Presumably its possible Admissions changed the questions for R2 in light of the leak?