Wharton 面试归来

wxh7314

gowell:
To be specific, please! Your advice will be great help to every Wharton applicant.

taow

Admissions/Why Wharton?

I had been a scientist for several years, working in drug discovery and design. Along the way, I realized that my interests had grown beyond the confines of the laboratory: I wanted to get involved with the economic side of the industry. Armed with business training, I knew I’d be uniquely positioned to bring emerging cures to patients.

I researched different top-tier MBA programs and while each had different strengths, Wharton’s focus on finance made it the most appropriate choice for me. I liked that Wharton has one of the best health care management programs around and a very strong alumni support network. I was also impressed with the diversity of students in terms of their ethnic, educational, and professional backgrounds.

I am actually a unique case because I originally decided to pursue an MBA, matriculating and finishing my first year in Wharton’s full-time MBA program. Since I’m the only provider for my family, I became concerned about not being able to work and generate income. At that time I had a friend in the Wharton MBA Program for Executives who suggested I consider that option. At first I was skeptical because the general impression about EMBA programs is that they are watered-down versions of regular MBA programs. I wanted the original-strength, most-potent version. My friend kept raving about the Wharton program, though, so I decided to check it out. I sat in on some classes, in a few cases attending the same class in both the daytime and executive programs to compare them. After extensive research, I came to the conclusion that Wharton’s MBA Program for Executives offered the same rigor as the full-time MBA, so for my second year, I switched. Right away, I loved it, and I knew I’d made a very good decision.

http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/mbaexec/life/profiles/rizvi/admissions.html

taow

I may be able to provide some insight into helping you and others with the decision between Wharton, HBS, & other top programs. I went through the same struggle that many others have gone through. Obviously, deciding between schools should depend largely on what you are looking to get out of your MBA program. Wharton, HBS, Stanford, MIT, etc. are all excellent programs, but each one has its own particular strengths and weaknesses. In my case, I decided to only apply to Wharton/Lauder and fortunately was accepted in R1.



I became very familiar with Harvard Business School (and Sloan, for that matter) as a result of my education and indirect affiliation with HBS. I did my undergrad at Harvard and received my MS from MIT, and I have a number of good friends and a cousin who are graduates of HBS.



Despite my familiarity with Harvard and my improved odds of acceptance to HBS as a Harvard grad, I decided that I would apply to only Wharton in the first round and then to HBS and Stanford in the second round if I were not admitted to Wharton.



My rationale for choosing Wharton is based on the following:

1.                  Education—Because of my interests in private equity and other areas of investment, Wharton’s finance program was extremely attractive to me. Yet, Wharton also will enable me to balance the development of my finance skills with important management and leadership skills through the ability to double major in strategic management, Wharton’s Center for Leadership, and participating on one of Wharton’s advisory boards/committees.



2.                  International programs—Wharton offers an array of international academic, professional, and non-profit programs that no other school can match. The Lauder Institute will enable me to improve my language and international professional skills; Wharton’s alliance with INSEAD will allow me to gain a different educational perspective at the top European MBA program; the Global Immersion Program will increase my understanding of China; and the International Volunteer Project would allow me to contribute meaningfully to a developing region of the world.



3.                  Brand recognition—As hard as I tried to deny it, attending an MBA program with name-brand recognition was important to me. While Wharton may not be a household name, its reputation is phenomenal among those circles that truly matter in the business world.



What also amazes me is the strength of Wharton’s reputation despite not having a name like Harvard, Stanford, or MIT as a “crutch.” Penn is a great school, but most people are not even aware that it is in the Ivy League. Bottom line—Wharton, more than many of the top programs, has built its name on its own merit.



4.                  Location—To be honest, I was not excited about living in Philadelphia. Having grown up in Texas and having lived in Boston for 5 years, Brazil for 2 years, and South Florida for just less than a year, I was afraid that Philadelphia would be a significant downgrade in the quality of living.



When I visited Philadelphia in October, however, I was pleasantly surprised. Philadelphia boasts amazing architecture, excellent museums, and great restaurants. Moreover, it’s not nearly as cold as Boston and its relative proximity to NYC and DC are pluses for both career management and recreational purposes.

taow

H/W/S what's the difference?


I'm not a student any of these schools but have given a lot of thought to the same question as I've been preparing my applications. I hope my opinions are helpful - if only to encourage you to do more research on your own.

For starters, HBS and Stanford both provide basically a general management education. Wharton, however, has you select from 18 majors (or create your own) – which I think is a bit more practical since you're not likely to become CEO right out of B-school and may be doing more hands-on work in a particular industry. There is also a significant difference in teaching style. HBS teaches by the case method exclusively. Wharton, however, uses different methods depending on the subject matter. Here, I think Wharton is again more practical since there are some essential business skills that I don't think can really be taught using the case method.

Another major difference is the size of the school. Both Wharton and HBS are very large (around 900 students a year) whereas Stanford has roughly a third the size. This difference is also reflected in the size of the campuses. HBS has far and away the most impressive facilities – it is its own extravagant campus completely separated from the rest of Harvard. Wharton also has great facilities - but HBS is the size of some universities.

When I first started looking into B-school I was looking at (in this order) Stanford, Harvard, MIT, and then maybe Wharton just because I had heard it was the best. However, after having visited all of those schools Wharton is now far and away at the top of my list. My personal take on it is that Wharton just has the most available to pick and choose from. It is like a giant all-you-can-eat buffet. For me, choosing HBS over Wharton would be a subtle form of idol worshiping since my biggest reason for me to go there would be the platinum-plated brand that I could impress my grandma with (she's never heard of Wharton).

But I'll also admit, I'm not even sure I could get in to HBS. I've worked for some no-name startups, have a technical background (3.6 GPA, 760 GMAT), and haven't had any amazing leadership opportunities. I know HBS says stardust isn't really necessary, but almost all the people I've known who have gone there are way more charismatic than I and far less analytical. As I've worked on my application, the HBS essays are a bit harder for me to write than were Wharton's.

One of the biggest advantages of HBS is the alumni network – it's probably the largest and most influential. But I'm not interested in going to B-school just to join a club, which is almost what HBS seemed like to me when I visited. Of course, networking and alumni relations are important, its just not at the top of my list.

One last thing. The Wall Street Journal has been cited by many as a really odd and unreliable ranking (based on recruiter surveys). I think this year they ranked HBS #8 and Stanford #30. I don't necessarily buy into their methodology, but I've learned a lot in following the rankings. For instance, there was an article in the Harbus (HBS's student newspaper) reacting to their ranking at #8 which was representative with comments I've heard from current students. They discredited the rankings and called into question whether they even mattered. What I found interesting was that Wharton was ranked (I think) #8 last year and brought in a new guy and totally turned things around. They seem more humble, constantly innovating and re-inventing itself.

wxh7314

Taow:
The more you know Wharton, the more you will like it! That is why I was hurt when I knew that I was waived the tuition, the papers, the examinations and the class attendance by Wharton. I will never bother to worry about the degree. Because--I was not in!

danceindream

To wxh7314,
please read gowell's messages at:
http://forum.chasedream.com/dispbbs.asp?boardID=13&ID=30576&star=4

飞雪

以下是引用wxh7314在2003-12-23 22:05:00的发言：
The more you know Wharton, the more you will like it! That is why I was hurt when I knew that I was waived the tuition, the papers, the examinations and the class attendance by Wharton. I will never bother to worry about the degree. Because--I was not in!

Hi, wxh7314

I am a little bit confused by your posts here. I can't make sure you do love Wharton or you hate it. Yes, you are rejected by Wharton, then what? Life needs to move on. I think Taow just would like u know more about what Wharton looks like, u can't simply think that the EMBA is a wartered-down program before u know exactly about it. It may not like what the EMBA is in China. Meanwhile, u could know what kind of candidates Wharton is seeking for through all the info on its website, incl. other programs.

I think u should calm down a little bit to prepare for the next year application if u insist that you will go nowhere other than Wharton, but not complain about the Wharton's rejecting you. There must be something that Wharton and u does not match each other, which you should carefully think about.

No offence, just hope u will be ok soon with the rejection.

wxh7314

飞雪：
谢谢

comeby_j2004

以下是引用wxh7314在2003-12-9 23:21:00的发言：
如果让我选择得到WHARTON还是CURRENT    JOB我会选得到WHARTON。

如果让我选择失去WHARTON还是CURRENT    JOB我会选失去WHARTON。

总觉得逻辑上有些不对，但又是本人真实的内心想法。哪位大侠帮我讲解一下？

算是围城吗？你在目前想要wharton,在wharton的时候，想要工作？

vickiyan

ding!!!