The wharton group interview where ambiguity equals opportunity

1. The Wharton Group Interview:
Where Ambiguity Equals Opportunity
http://www.amerasiaconsulting.com/

2. The Wharton Group Interview:
Where Ambiguity Equals Opportunity
Four days ago was October 23rd. A
relatively uneventful day for many humans,
but a big one for a select group of Wharton
applicants who received an interview invite.
It’s obviously a magical moment to get that
letter, err, email that says that mighty
Wharton wants to talk to you.

3. The Wharton Group Interview:
Where Ambiguity Equals Opportunity
However, this year that feeling of
excitement is lasting for about two seconds
for most applicants as it is quickly replaced
by a feeling of uncertainty. That’s because
Wharton has partnered with the Wharton
Innovation Group to come up with a whole
new style of interviewing … the group
interview.

4. Enter the ominous organ music!
Our job today is to explain why this is not
so new, not so crazy, and – most of all –
not so scary. In fact, for applicants who
are A) cool people, B) nice, C) able to walk
and chew gum at the same time, and D)
intelligent, this is going to be a walk in the
park. More to the point, it’s going to allow
them to outshine the jerks and the people
who used smoke and mirrors to get to this
stage.

5. Continuation
Part of this is because ambiguity equals
opportunity for the deserving. It’s a
philosophy we have been fond of here for
a long time and it’s why we only work with
qualified applicants (judged less by
numbers and pedigree and more through
an hour-long consult, which measures not
just work experience, talent, potential, and
vision, but also personality and individual
values).

6. Continuation
For someone truly deserving and truly
awesome, the more ambiguous the situation
and the less of a road map that exists out there,
the more they will crush their less-deserving
foes. If you are someone who isn’t very nice,
isn’t very smart, or otherwise got an interview to
Wharton that you know (“deep down in places
you don’t talk about at parties,” to quote Jack
Nicholson from A Few Good Men) you didn’t
deserve, then you might very well fail in this
particular exercise. It’s pretty cut-and-dried and
there aren’t any shortcuts.

7. Continuation
(Indeed, one could surmise that
Wharton is, in fact, trying to cut out
people like us [admissions consultants]
or even powerful alumni, supervisors,
friends, or current students – you could
reasonably argue that they want to limit
preparation so that they get a more
unvarnished look at the true
candidates.

8. Continuation
This isn’t a bad theory, but it’s one
we don’t buy. Rather, we have it
narrowed down to either Wharton
wanting to honor a core tenant of the
school by being “innovative,” or they
want to appear to be doing that to
make a splash. We’ll go with the
former since it’s more positive, but
both are definitely in play.)

9. Continuation
Okay, so we covered the “it’s not that
scary,” part (well, if you are a deserving
candidate), but let’s also talk about why it’s
not that new or unique. For starters, there
are MBA programs in the EU, such as
IMD, that have been using these for quite
some time. More notably though, the
group interview dynamic has been part of
many medical schools’ “Interview Day”
since the dawn of time (loose estimate).

10. Continuation
Med school applicants for years have gone
through a hellacious grind of showing up for
a breakfast, taking tours, visiting classes,
being interviewed – all as a group – and
then spinning off to do a series of individual
interviews. If these guys and girls – most of
them in their early 20s and many college
seniors – can hold up to that, then surely a
bunch of highly accomplished professionals
in their mid 20s to early 30s can handle a
45-minute group interview. Right? RIGHT?
You can do it!

11. Continuation
Now, it’s all well and good for us to
huff and puff about how this isn’t that
scary and it’s not that new and also
try to guilt you into marshaling your
courage by pointing to some premed
students. However, it would also be
helpful, we suppose, to share a few
other pieces of advice. Just know
that these are more or less common
sense, because common sense
should be your guide here.

12. 1. Show up early.
Don’t chance it, don’t risk it, don’t assume
there will be parking. It’s bad enough to be
late for an interview, but to show up and
interrupt other people (presuming Wharton
would even allow you in), is basically the
worst sin you could commit because you
would be showing a lack of respect for your
peers, which is surely one of the very things
this is designed to evaluate. Which reminds
us…

13. 2. Don’t talk over people.
It’s rare, but every so often we will
have someone who takes us up for a
free consult, gets on the call … and
then talks over us the whole time.
Remember that we are experts they
have asked to speak to and are
considering paying, yet they won’t
listen and just keep interrupting.

14. Continuation
Many are capable and impressive on
paper, which means maybe they are
reading this right now, Wharton
interview invite in hand. Please, for
the love of all that is good and holy,
let other people have the floor and
finish their thoughts. Along those
lines…

15. 3. Listen.
Now for this one, we are as guilty as
anyone else for often thinking of
something great to say while others
are talking, rather than listening to
what they are saying. We don’t know
how these group interviews will play
out beyond the idea of bringing in a
one-minute prepared “speech” on
two separate topics

16. Continuation
(we’re not going to post the topics,
because it’s not our content to post – rest
assured you can find them all over the
Internet, at all your favorite blogs looking
to drive traffic). That said, we know that
it’s a group and that once everyone has
had their say, there is going to be a
conversation, with many people talking.
Our advice is that you relax, enjoy it, and
LISTEN to what people are saying, rather
than formulating your next genius
soundbite.

17. 4. Remember the individual
interview.
For our clients, we are telling them, basically
to “just do what got you here” for the group
interview … and then turning our attention
back to solid, rigorous, philosophically sound
prep for the individual interview. Ultimately,
the group interview is an experiment and it’s
a chance for them to filter out punks, brats,
and (to put it bluntly) people who can’t hack
it.

18. Continuation
However, for them to determine who
really has passion, vision, and a
connection to Wharton, they are
going to have to put a lot of stock in
the solo interview that follows.
Whether it’s 15 minutes like it is here,
30 minutes like it is at HBS, or an
hour like it is with many alumni
members from various schools, that
is where you have to shine as a
person and a candidate.

19. Continuation
Our guess is that a great number of
candidates this year will get all hyped
up about the group interview and
forget to really put in the time and
thought to perform to their best
abilities in the individual aspect.

20. Continuation
Overall, for all the hand-wringing and
supposed complexity surrounding
this new interview experience, it’s
actually really simple: smart, earnest,
conversational, and polite people are
going to stand out. If you are one of
those folks, you are in great shape
and all you need to do is take a deep
breath, relax, spend the hour
Wharton recommends prepping your
talking points,

21. Continuation
practice your one-on-one interview,
and then go have fun with the
experience. If you are not one of
those people, we’re sorry to say that
this isn’t something that prep,
practice, or smoke-and-mirrors is
going to help you with.

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