Back from the Wharton Info Session

So I’m back from the Wharton info session in Seattle, it was very interesting.
Here is my notes and what I take away from it (in no particular order or format):

- General points

• Finance is the field the school is reputed for but they are trying to be more balanced.
• After the core curriculum they offer more than 200 electives
• For the first year you team up with classmates on a project
• The adCom stresses a lot how necessary a track record of leadership is
• Engagement in the community appears to be very important (How do you impact people around you?)
• No classes on Fridays: good for doing extra-curriculum activities…or enjoying the long weekend
• They have an ‘Entrepreneur in residence’ program that seems very interesting
• So is the MBA/MA-Lauder international specialization program and the ‘Global immersion’ program
• There seems to be a gazillion of clubs at Wharton and the adCom stresses it: how social are you? What would you do on campus if you were accepted and would you have fun with your classmates?
• Wharton strive to use all types of teaching methods and the ones which make the most sense (simulation, case, lecture…)

- Advice from the alumni

Actually the Q&A with the alumni was the most fun and interesting part of the session. All of them where “interesting”, as in “I’d love to talk to this person again and discuss various topics”. All had a unique theme they conveyed consciously or not: the brazilian engineer that was acted in an opera show, the younger entrepreneur, the MIT engineer who slowly transitioned to management, the peace corps guy who majored in liberal arts and travelled around Africa, the editor whose passion is now video games(he branded it ‘interactive media’ haha, that sounds more glamorous)…

• Be sure of what you want to get out of your MBA, and convey it consistently
• What are your passions? Show it
• Consistency: choose 3 big themes about you and convey it through out your application and interviews
• Have a recent grad of the school you’re applying to read your essays if possible
• Do NOT B.S. on your application, you don’t need to
• Get “How to get into the MBA programs” by Richard Montauk (arrived in my mailbox 3 days ago, ha!)
• What is your perspective on the world? Show it in your essays
• In you essays focus more on what you learned, not what you did, and how that changed your perspectives
• Differentiate yourself! The application process is also a self-knowledge trip
• Don’t be afraid to be personal in your essays, especially the optional one that you should actually write
• Most of them agreed they learned maybe more from their classmates than in the classroom: show how interesting you are and that people could take away great things by having a long conversation with you
• You’re already different and unique. Just show it

- Other adCom notes
General:

• use the student2student chat, it’s a great tool
• For your GMAT, be at least in the 80th percentile (that means 90th me thinks) in both verbal and quantitative parts or explain why it isnt so
• Have you tried the path you are targeting? For instance, if you’re a writer interested in finance, have you taken some finance classes or something similar?
• The adCom members are also thinking: “can I like this guy?”
• Interviews are done with no knowledge of your application’s content. It is done to know how you think.

Work:

• Clearly explain achievements, responsibilities, leadership evidence, teamwork, yadda yadda…
• The question on this subject really is: what can you contribute?
• One other thing they look at is: what kind of impact can you have and what is your potential? This means, they don’t expect you to have a nobel prize you should show how your work experience will make you contribute in the class

Recommendations:

• Only 2 recommendations are required now (no peer ones)
• Make sure your recommenders really go to the details of why they have the opinion they have of you
• recommenders with big titles are not necessary and hurt your application if they dont know you well enough
• Make sure you explain them why you’re trying to get an MBA, why a specific school: they should know what you put in your application to corroborate what you conveyed in it
• Make sure you are aware of the questions adCom require them to answer
• If you can’t have your supervisor recommend you, go for previous supervisors or be creative with that issue

Wow that a lot of things, some that most applicants know, some they don’t or don’t pay enough attention to. One of the alumni works at my company, so I’ll invite him to lunch sometimes soon. Actually I’m stupid for not thinking about that earlier, there are tons of Wharton, Harvard, Stanford MBA alumni where I work, that’s already a good start for networking and feedback.

My next stop is contacting the local Harvard alumni network and going at one of their open events.