WHY GET A MOCK INTERVIEW FROM  SANDY–WELL, HERE IS ONE HAPPY CUSTOMER (NOT PICTURED ABOVE BUT YOU GET THE IDEA)

Sandy,
Just finished my Wharton interview. 

After you bitch-slapped me during the mock interview earlier this week, I canned the notes/list and simply started preparing questions in my head.  There were zero “robotic” responses as a result.   I also took your advice in telling stories about extras/community service, and passions outside work to combat the Finance-geek impression that you could get from reading my app.  Feel that strategy paid off, as non-work areas were where she focused.   
Questions:

- Walk me through resume. 
Kept it real crisp, then transitioned naturally into cultural rediscovery story –which she loved. 

- Why MBA, why now, why Wharton. 
Took why Wharton a step further to how I would contribute to Wharton. Emphasized how I wanted to strengthen the career dimension of the program’s SE Asian components (i.e. Global Immersion Program), snd changing the perspective that SE Asia club/tour is more of a fun party event (which I’d heard was the case from current students, and which she laughed, and confirmed was her impression as well) 
- ST/LT goals
- Tell me about a leadership challenge you faced. 
Talked about my struggles being a leader….while I was the youngest person in a culture where age is viewed as prerequisite for decision-making power.  I followed your advice and added as much self-awareness in my response as possible… i.e., admitting that I made my share of snafus initially as I was learning the cultural ropes.  She responded with empathy, citing a simular situation she had faced while working in dif country.

- Tell me about a leader you admire and why.  Talked about one of my recommenders… brought in skill in managing conflict in cross-cultural teams, and then how I have tried to emulate that in my own experience. Talked about how he succeeding coming from a disadvantaged past and how he took advantage of all his opportunities to succeed… then brought that make to me and stated examples of how I have done the same in my life.
- Considering your age, why do you feel you would fit into a learning team where most people are a few years older? Went to our prep. Talked about how maturity was one of my strenghs, and how I both enjoy and work really well with people older than me.

Mentioned ethnic  professional community I started in NYC, and how I was able to inspire other members of the group (doctors, lawyers, etc. whose average age was 30+) while I was just 23.  Also mentioned how I was able to thrive in —– despite being the youngest employee at IB.She responded by saying that that was a great answer.

- What are some of your passions outside work.  Talked about how I love to play ____, and worked in my interest in Psychology and how that was an effort to be well-rounded academically. Then I moved on to ____.  Mentioned how I have been ____ for over five years (hopefully that dispelled any remaining impression of being a typical Finance-geek), . she was able to visualize this as she had lived in NYC for two years.  Then I worked in how I could continue to pursue both of these interests at Wharton through x and y.

I am confident that I have added another ally to my cause, and have my fingers crossed for the decsion.  Thank you for being so cruel to me during the mock interview.  At the time, I thought you were being too harsh (even bordering on being a jerk), but it turned out being exactly what I needed.    

CAN A STUDENT AT STANFORD HELP YOU GET AN INTERVIEW????

for those who love lists–all 50 can be found  here:

The Top 50 Women in Hedge Funds
By Yoree Koh

http://bit.ly/c8BLXrWhile the hedge-fund industry guards its secrets, it is widely known that it’s a male-dominated field with few women at the top. But female finance pros with a knack for innovation and entrepreneurship take notice: The Hedge Fund Journal is spotlighting 50 women in hedge funds who are tearing it up.

I’m on the R1 Waitlist at Kellogg.  My profile:

M/27/740/3.42 from top 10 public/5 yrs WE at Fortune 50 company

I passed Level 1 of the CFA last spring, held leadership positions in college and I just earned a leadership post at a non-profit, but got dinged w/o interview at H/S/W/MIT, and Booth.  My dad got his EMBA from Kellogg and my fiancee’s in N’western’s grad school of Ed.  I let Kellogg know about my new leadership post, but what else can I do to earn a spot in next year’s class?  Since I got dinged everywhere else, I’ve got everything riding on Kellogg.  Any advice on what else to do and how to communicate it?  Any take on my chances?  Thanks,

But dont let that throw you: biggest mistake of WL kids is doing too little. You need to be far-reaching and innovative and often ceaseless in thinking about this. I’ve seen longshot stuff pay off, including cold calls to SUPER bigshots w. whom caller shared nominal affiliation like same frat, town, org, religion etc. etc.

What % of their total admits do top 10 schools admit in Round 3.

VARIES BY SCHOOL AND YEAR  BUT FREQ UNDER 5 PCT OF TOTAL CLASS. OFTEN EVEN LESS THAN THAT, E.G. 18 KIDS PERIOD. I’VE HEARD OF NINE AS WELL, AT WHARTON, A WHILE BACK. ALSO THE PERCENT OF TOTAL 3RD ROUND APPLICANTS ADMITTED IS ALSO USUALLY DEEPLY BELOW PERCENT OF APPLICANTS ADMITTED IN PRIOR ROUNDS. IN CASE YOU WERE HAVING A BRAIN STORM THAT, GEE, 18 ADMITS IS NOT BAD, IF ONLY 50 KIDS APPPLY. BUT IT IS USUALLY MORE LIKE 18 ADMITS AND 450 KIDS APPLY.

SCHOOLS ARE HUSH-HUSH ON ACTUAL NUMBERS BECAUSE THEY ARE SO LOW. 3RD ROUND IS ALSO WHEN THEY SOMETIMES TAKE IN FACULTY RELATIVES, OUTLIERS, AND COLLEGE SENIORS. IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING WHY THEY EVEN GO THRU THE  TROUBLE OF HAVING ROUNDS PAST ONE AND TWO.  YOU CAN NEVER TELL WHEN JOE MONEYPOTS MIGHT THINK IT IS A GOOD TIME FOR JUNIOR TO LEAVE REHAB AND ENTER B SCHOOL, AND SCHOOLS WANT TO BE READY.

ALL THAT SAID, MY GUESS IS, THIRD ROUND PERCENTS GO UP AS SCHOOL RANK IN TOP 10 GOES DOWN, W. H/S/W 3RD ROUNDS BEING MOST SELECTIVE ETC. ETC. IT COULD BE BY THE TIME YOU GET TO DUKE, DARDEN ETC., 3RD ROUND ACCEPT PERCENTS ARE NOT SO DRAMATICALLY DIFF THAN ROUNDS ONE AND TWO.

 I am wondering if I have a shot at Round 3.
I have very normal credentials.
720 Gmat/3.5 public school/8 years WE at Fortune 20 company with leadership experience.

MAN OH MAN, 8 YEARS WORK EXPERIENCE USUALLY SIGNALS YOU NEED AN EMBA AND NOT AN MBA, THAT COULD BE A CHALLENGE TO OVERCOME.  SAME PROFILE W. 3 YEARS EXPER. YOU COULD BE IN THE RUNNING AT A LOT OF PLACES FOR R1 AND R2 AND EVEN 3.

I need to pick your brain for a moment. It’s about MIT Sloan’s deferral process. Is this process a new thing? (last couple of years?).

The thing is I was deferred to Round 2 AFTER an interview, which is very strange. I would have thought they would do this before but not after the interview. Now, I won’t ask you to guess why this happened to me (no way to really know) but I do want your opinion on something.

It is common knowledge on this board and elsewhere that MIT Sloan’s acceptance rate after inteview is very high, around 70% or so. Now, if this deferral is a new thing does this mean that their acceptance rate most likely has declined? Or do you think they still have that very high acceptance rate and instead of outright rejecting people they decided to defer some percentage of the 30% not accepted?

Any insight on this extremely excruciating process would be greatly appreciated! Cheers!

As to stats, lets say X is percent admitted after interview (if 70, well good, but let’s just say X), where X is just raw percent derived from total  number of kids interviewed and total number of   admits last year. On day you get interview invite, your odds are X, after you get deferred, what are your odds??? Assumming we do not have data about what happened to similar kids last year(e.g how many interviwed kids on WL were there, how many got it), it would seem to me, just speculating and no longer calculating,  that odds are now less than X, and sorta more in line w. odds of any kid getting off WL or deferred status.  You used to be part of the X group, but fact you were deferred now puts you new group, and halo effect of being graded an X grouper, at one pt, dunno if that is better or worse.  By hunch is, MOST kids in deferred group have been interviewed, or is there evidence contra to that???  Also keep in mind a new kicker, moving kids off WL or deferred status, is something of a wild card, depending on Round 2 numbers and quality, and yield of ROund 1. all of which move around a bit. IN some years, schools take x kids off WL, in others 1.2, or even 1.5 or 2 X –and in famous cases, in some years ZERO.  (e.g HBS 3 or 4 years ago). Another reason why odds for you are now longer X. Sorry, but that is the way I dope this out, based purely on the same speculation available to anyone. Unlike H and S and W, I dont really have a private, large,  and powerful database about MIT.

THE CHANG-0-GRAMS BEGIN.

LOOKS LIKE HBS WLers will be

waiting tit April 6th, at the earliest,

for any outcomes.

February 1, 2010Hello Everyone:This is Eileen Chang from the MBA Admissions Board. As it is the beginning of February, I wanted to touch base and provide you with a waitlist update. We are currently reviewing applications from our Round 2 candidates and will extend Round 2 interview invitations soon. Some of you who have not yet been interviewed may be invited to interview in Round 2. If you have already been interviewed, you will not be asked to interview again. At this point, the earliest we anticipate making decisions on our waitlist candidates will be on notification day for Round 2, which is April 6. We will not be making any decisions before then. We realize that April 6 is more than two months away, and we are sorry if this causes inconvenience for those of you who are facing other deadlines. We will try to make decisions on as many of your applications as possible on April 6, and I will have more information about this in my spring updates. We understand that with this timeline you may need to make other plans before receiving a final decision on your HBS application. If at any time you decide to withdraw from our waitlist, please do so by emailing Dana at dana_scalisi@hbs.edu. For those of you who want to remain on the waitlist, it is important to keep your contact information updated, so please email Dana with any changes. We are grateful for your cooperation and patience with our process. Sincerely, Eileen Chang MBA Admissions Harvard Business School Soldiers Field Road Dillon House Boston, MA 02163

Sandy,

What are your thoughts on Wharton 3rd round? Know it is going to be hard, but it actually looks like a strong but “vanilla” candidate (blue chip banking/pe experience) might have a chance since the adcom states that there is room in R3 for the “strongest of applicants”?

Thanks.

that is just reading the words, and my subtle understanding of both English and adcom talk.

based on credible rumors, sometimes R3 Wharton admits are close to single digits, and some portion of those are ‘friends and family’ (e.g. faculty nephews, big donor favs etc. )

Hey Sandy, where is the picture of Ms. Leopold talking a nerd out of attending Stanford, it does not appear on your Business Week thread.-

———————————————————-

ahem. Happy?

Hi Sandy,

How will an adcom of top 5 schools view a switch in jobs to competitor? (sales/trading at Deutsche for 2yrs to investment banking at Goldmans)

do you think joining a competitor is somehow like being a traitor, or double-agent, or adulterer?

It happens all the time, and many major companies, etc. are, in origin, founded by dudes who broke away fr. mother company. It’s called capitalism.

Just explain growth, etc. reasons why you switched, and be sure not to engage in any silly invidious comparisons–b schools are interested in

1. what was positive and enlightening about each job

2. how the corporate cultures are diff. and how you responded to each (FAVORITE INTERVIEW QUESTION)