General Questions
These are general questions that may be asked in any interview situation, or a variant.

• Tell me about yourself.
• Why did you decide to come to Penn?
• Why are you interested this position?
• Tell me about your interest in the field of ____________ .
• Why are you interested in working at this organization / company ?
• Tell me about the specific skills you have in ____________ .
• How do you see this position fitting into your long range plans?
• What are your greatest weaknesses in the workplace?
• What do you think is the most important issue facing this field today?
• Describe the most complex project you’ve ever worked on.
• What distinguishes you from the other candidates?
• Describe ways in which you are creative.
• What has been your most difficult class at Penn? Why?
• What questions do you have for me?

Case Questions
These questions are designed to give you the opportunity to demonstrate your ability to handle ambiguous data. The process that you follow to answer the question is much more important than arriving at the "right answer". Your quantitative ability will be judged. Consequently, it is important to have the figures that you develop in your answer be correct.

• If you wanted to buy a ski resort, what would you consider? Draw a graph of cost and revenue per skier. Questions regarding graphs - how they would move/change with certain contingencies?
• Estimate the total value of all the personal items on a commuter flight that arrived at La Guardia airport at 8:30 am this morning from Boston given that the plane was approximately 2/3 full. (Tip: Don't forget to include checked luggage.)
• You are a manufacturer of toys and you have a product that cost US $1,000. Estimate how many of those you can sell in Hong Kong.
• You're taking a trip to Indonesia tomorrow to work with a company for a period of time. You don't know anything about this firm but you are provided with the financial statement of this firm from last year. How do you get the general idea about the firm's "health" condition, given that you only have one hour to report your opinion to your boss?
• How would you go about advising a bank if it should implement an ATM system?
• Discuss the economics of a gym.
• You are the consultant for a bank. Give some quantitative measures that can tell about the productivity of the operations department.
• How many skis will be sold in the U.S. next year?
• What is the market size for wall paper?
• Estimate the number of airplane flights in a year.
• Estimate the size of the paper clip industry.
• A company dealing with a commodity product is thinking about expanding internationally. If its labor costs are competitive with industry standards, what issues might influence its decision?
• What is the population of dogs in the United States?
• Where would you put a gas station if there were none in New Jersey?
• How many drug stores are there in Manhattan?
• How would you estimate demand for forks in one year?
• What is the number of people in Pennsylvania?
• How many planes take off in the U.S. per day?
• The sales of a travellers cheque company are falling. How would you go about deciding what should be done about it?
• Estimate the demand of airplanes for a select category 10 years into the future. There are three producers and 10 airlines.

• Tell me about the CAPM (Capital Asset Pricing Model).
• Describe what you believe to be the future of the derivatives market?
• What is .125 squared?
• How would you go about selling the idea of a derivatives hedge to a prospective client?
• What is 5 2/7 - 3 7/8?
• Two retail banks have different return rates on their loan portfolios, although default rates are similar. What might explain the difference?
• Why would the cap rate on a Holiday Inn be the same as the Plaza Hotel?
• How can you convince your client that the "higher yield" bond does not really give a higher yield?
• How would you go about valuing a firm?
• Give some suggestions to improve the credit card business of your bank?
• What is the relationship between the forward and spot interest rate?
• How would you value a hotel in Minnesota if you only had one day to look around?
• Use 12 equal sided sticks to construct 6 equal size squares?

• Interviewer picked up a paperweight and said "sell me this."
• If you were to introduce a new product into a foreign market, what are some of the factors you would first study in that country?
• You need more shelf space in a store. How do you convince the store manager to give it to you?

• Did you ever have a group leader or boss you despised? Why did you despise him/her?
• Describe a time when you used data to prove a point?
• How would someone who dislikes you describe you?
• Talk about a group situation in which there were problems. How did you handle the situation and what was the outcome?
• Tell me everything you know about _______ in three minutes. (or, Tell me everything you know about our company in three minutes)
• Why did you not get a permanent offer from the firms you worked for last summer?
• Give me an example of how you are a risk taker.
• If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?
• What motivates you?
• Why do you want to work for us and not for our competitor?
• Why should we hire you over everyone else we spoke to today?
• Why are tennis balls fuzzy?
• You have very good grades. However, you don't you have a 4.0. Given the fact that there are students around with stronger academic credentials, why should we consider you?
• What do you think is the most important/difficult ethical dilemma facing corporations today?
• Give a one sentence positioning statement of yourself.
• What problems do you see in your school? How would you go about correcting them? 
  

(8)^3?;  16% of 25?
The three consecutive numbers that added up to 45? 

The middle one was pretty interesting because .16 * 25 = 16 * .25 = 4 : a much simpler way to the answer than you would expect.  On the whole though most of my interviews for trading, tech, and tech consulting have been 'chatty'."

• Why the company in particular? Why banking?
• Example of team interaction?
• How do people negatively perceive you?
• Explain PE ratios?
• Given 10 million dollars, how would you invest?
• What have been the Dow trends in the last few weeks?
• What do you feel are the ramifications of the repeal of Glass-Steagal?

• Tell me about a situation where you made a mistake and had to live with the consequences?
• Tell me about a situation where when you were first presented a problem, you had absolutely no idea how to approach it, and how did you eventually solve the problem?
• Tell me about a situation where you attempted to improve something and you are met with resistance...How did you handle the situation?

Firm 1: (Behavioral interview)

• Discuss two experiences with specific tasks in which you felt a sense of achievement and accomplishment. (various follow-up questions)
• Discuss a time you had conflict within a group and how it was resolved. (various follow-up questions)

• Why consulting?
• What makes you distinguishable from other candidates?
• What are you most proud of?
• In consulting, you must work on a diverse array of projects. Are you too focused on one subject or could you be interested in everything?

• Tell me the revenues generated from movie cinemas in the Philadelphia area.
• Tell about when you were a leader. Would you do anything differently?
• Tell me about something you have really enjoyed doing.

• "The guy and I just chatted about my resume and his company...no intense questions."

Firm 5:

• had 2 case study questions which surprisingly and unfortunately both had math. 

• A company's revenues have doubled one year, while during that same year costs only increased 20%...how could they be losing money?  I was asked not to discuss this, but write out formulas.
• You start up a doughnut shop in LA for $1 million.  Your revenue over the next 9 years will be $200,000 per year with a 15% rate of return...after 9 years an earthquake will level your doughnut shop...do you still make the investment?  Why or why not?

• How do you know the light in the refrigerator goes out when you close the door? Name every method you can think of.
• Why are manholes round?
• How would you estimate the cost of the U.K. switching from driving on the left side to driving on the right side?
• How many hotel rooms are there in Manhattan?

• Where else are you interviewing?
• Experiences with groups -leadership roles, reaction to failures, etc.
• How do you feel about travelling?
• What is your math aptitude?
• What do you know about what we do?
• One question I have gotten at almost every interview this year is: "What other colleges did you get into and why did you choose Penn?" Consulting and banking have both asked me this.
• "What's your favorite joke?"
• How do you measure the quality of your work?
• What would make you miserable at work?
• Rank order your top five strengths/weaknesses.