Prepare for the Wharton Team-Based Discussion Before Your Interview Invite Arrives
Round 1 invites go out October 28, with just two weeks to prepare. Get ready with mock Wharton TBD sessions led by Susan Berishaj.
You won’t see the prompt until the day you’re invited
Your prompt and your interview invite arrive the same day, October 28, and that’s also the day you book your interview slot: a specific future date, anywhere from a few days out to the full two weeks. Wharton’s own advice is to grab your preferred slot immediately, before availability fills, so the moment you have the prompt, you already know exactly how many days you have before you’re in the room.
Building the pitch itself is not a warm-up. In sixty seconds, you have to show a specific, unique way of thinking about the problem, one that makes clear what you’d bring to the room, not just that you understood the prompt. Then the pressure compounds: five strangers, all working the same problem, in a live discussion where the group’s dynamic, not just your individual answer, is what’s being watched. Then, with no break, a ten-minute one-on-one where a moderator who just watched you in that room asks how you thought your performance went in addition to other poignant questions.
Of the applicants who make it to this stage, only 1 in 3 are admitted. That is not a reason to panic. It is the reason both the pitch and the discussion that follows it need real preparation, not a system for figuring out which one to worry about.
What already having done this once changes
The candidates who walk out of a Wharton TBD feeling like themselves are not the ones with the strongest pitch. They’re the ones who already know, before they sit down, how they behave once the group discussion gets messy.
That means already knowing whether your instinct with five strangers is to lead, to synthesize, or to hang back, and whether that instinct is helping you or costing you. Already having a redirect ready for a discussion that’s drifting off the prompt or a teammate talking over the group. Already having sat across from someone who just watched you do this and asked, directly, how you thought it went, so the real version of that question doesn’t catch you off guard in the actual ten minutes that count.
What’s included
A 20-minute one-on-one calibration session
Once you have your prompt, you meet with our founder to build your one-minute pitch and calibrate your approach against what the admissions team is evaluating before you walk into a group discussion with strangers who are all working on the same problem.
A full Wharton TBD simulation
You join a group of up to 6 candidates for a 2-hour live run of the actual format on your real prompt: your one-minute pitch, roughly 20 minutes of group discussion, and presenting your group’s solution to a moderator, the same structure Wharton uses. Immediately after, you go through the real ten-minute one-on-one, the same kind of reflection questions an actual moderator asks.
A one-on-one feedback session
After the simulation, you meet with our founder again for a direct read on your performance in both the discussion and the one-on-one: what worked, what didn’t, and specifically what to adjust before the real thing. This is not a general debrief. It’s built around what actually happened in your simulation.
What your two weeks look like
Once your invite and prompt arrive on October 28, your calibration session, simulation, and feedback session all happen inside the window you booked for your actual interview, timed around it rather than around a fixed calendar.
1-1 Calibration Session:
Book your session before your target simulation (between October 29th and November 4th).
Full Wharton TBD Simulation:
Choose 1 of 3 simulation dates below for a 2-hour simulation matching Wharton’s own TBD time block (all sessions in the Eastern Time Zone):
- Session 1: Nov 4th at 11:00 AM
- Session 2: Nov 6th at 6:30 PM
- Session 3: Nov 9th at 11:30 AM
In-Depth Performance Feedback:
Book your 1:1 feedback session after the simulation and before your Wharton TBD Interview (sessions between November 5th and November 10th).
Why join before your invite even arrives
Susan runs a maximum of 3 simulation groups each round, with up to 6 candidates in each, the number at which the format can still deliver real feedback to every person in the room.
Between now and October 28, the waitlist keeps you in the loop. You’ll get an exclusive email sequence built around the waitlist itself, content you won’t find anywhere else on the site, so you’re not finding out what a Wharton TBD actually involves for the first time on the day your invite lands. When your invite arrives, you’ll already have first access to book your preferred slot before the groups fill.
What Wharton Clients say about Sia Admissions interview preparation process
I completed several Wharton TBD mock sessions before my interview, and the one hosted by Susan and the Sia Admissions team was by far the most helpful in contributing to my successful admission. It was a genuinely full-service offering, with detailed input on my pitch beforehand and thoughtful, actionable feedback after the mock session. Her guidance helped me approach the real TBD with much greater clarity and confidence. Susan’s MBA admissions expertise was evident throughout, and I would highly recommend her to anyone going through the MBA application process.
O.K., FT MBA Candidate, The Wharton School
Susan led me through a thorough and structured interview practice. Her feedback is succinct and effective, [helping] ensure my best application.
T.S., MBA Candidate, The Wharton School
When it came to interviews, her preparation was thorough and assiduous. She practiced several mock interviews with me and we practiced contingency scenarios for Wharton’s unique TBD.
Review from GMAT Club
I delivered responses that were true to myself. I felt I gave a strong interview with my top school, and again, this is because of multiple practice sessions with Susan.
Review from GMAT Club
Wharton Interview FAQ
The Wharton TBD is a group-based interview format, roughly 30 minutes. Interview invites, the prompt, and your interview slot booking all happen the same day, October 28, and you choose a specific future date for your actual interview, anywhere from a few days out to the full two weeks. On interview day, you deliver a one-minute pitch on your prompt, join about 20 minutes of live group discussion with 5 other candidates, and present your group’s solution to a moderator. It’s followed immediately by a separate 10-minute one-on-one, where the moderator asks you to reflect on your own performance in the discussion. What’s being evaluated isn’t just your pitch. It’s how you contribute to a live discussion under time pressure, with a group of strangers who are all working the same problem.
Reading about the format tells you what to expect. It doesn’t tell you how you actually behave once you’re in a live discussion with strangers and a clock running. The simulation does, with a group and your actual prompt, including the one-on-one that follows it, before you ever do it for Wharton. The feedback session afterward is built around what actually happened in your specific simulation, not a general list of tips.
Everyone on the waitlist receives an exclusive email sequence built around the waitlist itself, giving you context on what to expect from the Wharton TBD as your interview window approaches. It isn’t a substitute for the calibration, simulation, and feedback sessions. It’s what keeps you oriented until you’re ready to book them.
$700, one flat rate for the full 3-part process: calibration session, simulation, and feedback session.
Nothing is charged while you’re on the waitlist. You only pay once your invite is out and you book your sessions, and at that point, the booking is final. There are no cancellations after you book, which is also why we don’t ask for payment any earlier than that.
Joining the waitlist is free. If your invite doesn’t come through, you were never charged anything to begin with.
Don’t wait for October 28 to start
Invites go out in a matter of weeks. The candidates who walk into that room, already knowing how they handle 5 strangers and a live discussion, are the ones who joined before they even knew they’d be invited.