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Great stuff. What are your plans after the MBA?
Congratulations of your acceptance to Wharton.
I applied to several schools for R2, so still on the tail end of the application process. I didn't apply to UPenn, but nonetheless the group interview interested me.
Can you write a bit more about how it was? Did you feel that people were "playing a game" or "too strategic" in their comments, which are two things I've heard about the process? In whole, did you find it a better experience than the more traditional Stanford interview?
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stellar post
thanks for posting! good info
Congratulations! I strongly agree with you on the point "Your undergrad, company name, and GMAT are far more important factors to the adcom". Stories in essay are important, but there is a quantitative threshold that candidates need to pass to get into an elite business school such as Wharton.
We hear a lot of those "How I got into Harvard with 650 GMAT" or "How I got into Wharton with a 620 GMAT", those are always going to be rarities and something else about their profile that made them stand out.
Bottom line: Do try to score as high as possible on GMAT and if you have a chance to join a blue-chip company for a decent role after undergraduate, I believe it adds credibility.
Can you give an example of your structured thinking?
@TommyGunn" @CorK2016" Blueapple 200West ^ not sure if this is the correct way to do this. Pls let me know if no.Hello - happy to see this is helpful for some. Please let me know if there are any broader topics you'd like to hear about and I'm happy to write new posts about them. I'm hear to learn about the banking industry but think it's imp
Can you elaborate on what your post-MBA goals were and how the Stanford interviewer was doubtful?
Congrats on your acceptances! Do you mind if I shoot you a PM? I am in the same boat and was wondering if I could ask you some questions about your experiences.
Fire away
The MBA application is ultimately a marketing tool. I think what would better help these pre-MBAers is how did you sell yourself to these top-schools in which you were ultimately successful in gaining an admission. The background you presented seems to be 1 of 10,000, and also note the mantra known throughout M7 schools is that a top gmat score doesn't get you in, and a bad GMAT score definitely will keep you out. Essentially, the GMAT is a check mark for these schools and is not least of which a factor that determines admission over other applicants; it just gets you a ticket to play in the pool of "possible candidates". There must have been something else to your application. If you said I'm a top 25 ugrad working in consulting with aspirations of banking/MB(B) and a 750 gmat score, I think you would likely have been passed over...
Just my .02s
I disagree on your point in terms of GMAT vs. positioning. If you have a GMAT above the average, top school, top/2nd tier employer, your chances are already pretty high. Positioning yourself to the max vs. positioning yourself to be OK I think has a far smaller impact than a 700 vs. a 750 GMAT.
The variability in what you can write about is so wide that reading 10 applications is just that... 10 data points on what got people into their schools. And you'll never see the 1,000s of other data points that did and didn't get applicants in. For how to prepare, I suggest people spend more time trying to get a GMAT above the average and less time trying to think about a compelling essay topic, simply because the essay topics/positioning of yourself should come naturally. People aren't spending 50 hours thinking of essay topics. But hopefully they're spending 50 hours studying for the GMAT.
But to answer your question, my positioning was something to the extent of: 1) Thought big in terms of my aspirations and ensured they had buzzwords relevant to current trends: green, startup, etc. 2) Connected the dots from my personal interests to why I did consulting to why MBA to how all those three prior dots make me a logical leader in the green tech space.
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So basically how many months did you take to prepare for the GMAT? I've just started in order to apply for the MBAs in September and I'm already getting nervous...
Dude, congrats! Also headed to Wharton this fall and didn't have a golden background. The thing that I'd say is that at Wharton, and especially at Harvard and Stanford, you need something special or unique driving you in. I didn't come from an ideal role beforehand (i.e., not MBB or top PE), so I had a few strengths that drove me in, namely strong performance at work, dedication to charity, and a very high GMAT. Each piece of differentiation is critical. I think that my profile with a 720-range GMAT probably wouldn't have gotten a second look, and the same goes for if my total impact at work and ECs had been significantly smaller. Each weakness in the profile must be offset by some sort of strength - don't expect adcoms to blink at weaknesses.
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Thanks, Cork! I'm happy to provide more info about the process and about my background if you want to PM me!
Congrats on your acceptance.
One of my younger sister's got admitted into Wharton last year.
Good luck!
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