Tune into Episode 533 of the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast for insights into this year’s TBD Prompt.
The prompt for the Wharton Team-Based Discussion (TBD) for the 2026-2027 admissions season is below. The exercise this year focuses on student treks. Here is the prompt:
“Treks are a popular part of the Wharton MBA experience outside the classroom. They combine company visits and alumni events with time exploring a city alongside classmates. They give students a shared experience and connect them with employers who have relationships with the school. Most treks are organized by student clubs around a shared industry or regional interest.
“This year, Wharton’s MBA Career Management team, in partnership with Wharton Alumni Relations, will pilot something different: a school-wide trek open to MBA students across all career interests. The destination will be a city with a growing economy across multiple industries, where the alumni community provides Wharton with a foundation for new recruiting partnerships. The trek has three goals:
- Give students with a wide range of career goals a valuable shared experience
- Build new employer relationships in a city where Wharton is expanding its reach
- Respond to regional alumni clubs that have asked for more engagement with current students
“For the purposes of this discussion, you and a few classmates have been asked to select a city that meets these criteria and design the trek, which will take place over spring break. Wharton will handle travel logistics and costs, which are outside your team’s scope. Assume a group of about 40 students and 4 days in the city.
As a team, decide on the following:
- The destination for your trek, and why it is the right place for students with a wide range of career goals
- A recommendation for company visits and/or meetings with business leaders, including how the mix of organizations will serve students across industries and open new recruiting relationships for Wharton
- An alumni event or experience that gives the city’s alumni club meaningful engagement with current students and builds lasting ties between Wharton and the city’s business community
- How you will measure the trek’s success, and what follow-up will turn contacts made on the trip into relationships worth building on next year”
In this special edition of the Clear Admit MBA Admissions podcast, we analyze how to best approach this year’s TBD.
It is important to understand the basic mechanics of the TBD and to know how you might handle the different sorts of team members you may encounter (from the talkers to the timid). Applicants can tune into this podcast episode on the Team-Based Discussion as we break down the format and advise on how to perform well. Remember that Wharton will be conducting all interviews virtually.
And, as always, remember that the Clear Admit Interview Archive also offers a repository of applicant-submitted details about the interview process. Our Clear Admit Interview Guides provide school-specific insight about admissions interviews and you can practice your interview with our MBA Interview Simulator.
Good luck!
