Wharton’s Team-Based Discussion: The Most Important Thing to Remember

The Most Important Thing to Remember During Wharton’s Team-Based Discussion

The most important thing to remember during your Team Based Discussion at Wharton is to adhere to Wharton’s DNA: “Knowledge for Action and Collaborative Innovation.” However, many MBA candidates we prepare for the interview, initially come in thinking it’s about coming up with the best idea. Newsflash, the Wharton Team-Based Discussion is not about coming up with the best idea. It’s never been about having the best idea and here's why.

The TBD is a 35 minute exercise that provides an opportunity for you to interact with 4-5 fellow MBA applicants in a lively team setting. Your discussion will have a prompt and a purpose and, as a team, you will work together to achieve a tangible outcome. TBD groups are assigned randomly. Following the TBD, you will participate in a 10-minute one-on-one interview with a member of the admissions team regarding your interest in Wharton.

All Team-Based Discussions will be held virtually until further notice. The Virtual Team-Based Discussion (VTBD) is conducted in the same manner as the in-person TBD; however, applicants will meet their team on a remote conferencing tool instead of in a physical space. All of the candidates (5-6 per group) are participating virtually from various locations.

Wharton Team-Based Discussion is not about coming up with the best idea.

A lot of MBA candidates obsess over trying to have the most unique, perfect, hard-hitting idea ever. While that might be possible, you might also not have enough time to fully explain your genius idea in ten or even 35 minutes. The other team members might just not understand it. Therefore, if they don’t understand it, your contributions might not get baked into the final presentation.

The Pitch: Don’t fixate on all the small details. 

This one-minute pitch is probably about a hundred words. Be cautious because we see a lot of clients trying to come up with the best idea and then try jam that it into a hundred words. The result? It looks as if ten pounds are being jammed into a five-pound bag – it just won’t fit. Especially into a comprehensive one-minute pitch. The pitch is also not about restating what Pre-Term is during your Team-Based Discussion, you can bring that up in your 35 minutes. Lastly, the pitch is much less about giving a lot of background. Don't even say your name, just get right into it. If you’ve already made introductions say, “My proposal is to…” and get right into the pitch.

Team-Based Discussion is about having a clear idea that is unique.

The Team-Based Discussion is about having a clear idea that is unique and doesn’t copy something that is already at Wharton. You must be able to present your idea clearly during the Team-Based Discussion. And then, ideally, get in the fact that you know a lot about Wharton. It should be something understandable and something that builds off Wharton’s DNA. Always remember, "Knowledge for Action and Collaborative Innovation." Use phrases like, “This idea translates knowledge for action…” or “…this idea clearly demonstrates innovative collaboration.”

The Team-Based Discussion is about how well you get along with others.

The overall objective is not to have the most important wiz-bang innovative idea, but it’s about how well you get along with the others. Being a team player. How well you specifically facilitate the consensus building process during the actual Team-Based Discussion. You want the admissions committee and the current students who are sitting at the back of the room to think, “Ah, I like this girl or guy. I could work with them and have a beer with them too.”  

Individuals who screw themselves:

MBA candidates who think it’s about having the best idea, are the same types of individuals who screw themselves, as they insist their proposal is right. They insist chopping the legs off their fellow MBA candidates who are in the Team-Based Discussion with them. If you must dominate the conversation, you will probably come off as a person who thinks it’s all about having the best idea. Meaning, you’re probably someone who doesn’t play well with others. This directly contradicts Wharton’s DNA. This will probably be very evident to the Wharton MBA admission representatives in the room, and you will probably not get accepted. Don’t be one of those MBA candidates.

If a participant does indeed have a bad idea during your Team-Based Discussion, you don’t have to say it out loud. Instead, you can ask them questions about their idea. Not to make them to look stupid, but to get them to be a part of a conversation that is constructive.

The idea for the Team-Based Discussion is that you facilitate. You get others to think and share ideas, maybe by ways of questioning them. 

However, if you play nice, all members of the group may get in. At Amerasia, we have seen where all five MBA participants in the Team-Based Discussion got in. So, think about that. The idea for the Team-Based Discussion is that you facilitate and you get them to think. You share ideas and maybe you do this by ways of questioning your fellow MBA candidates. Don’t have this whole natural inclination to think it’s dog-eat-dog fight. All of you can be successful if you’re just cool.

Bottom line is, do you understand Wharton’s "Knowledge for Action" mantra? Do you understand what "Collaborative Innovation" means? This also means doing your research, luckily, we have a GMAT presentation for you on how to do that. Ultimately, in the Team-Based Discussion you want to be the facilitator role and you want to ask a lot of questions, what you don’t want to be is Mr. or Mrs. Sledgehammer.

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