The 2012 Essential Guide To The Wharton School

2011/12 EssentialGuide to
THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
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2011/12EssentialGuide
THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA
The Veritas Prep 2011/12 Essential Guide to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Veritas Prep is a leader in GMAT prep and admissions consulting, so naturally thousands of clients have asked us for help in their applications to Wharton. We are pleased that so many of them have gained admission, and we have developed the Veritas Prep Essential Guide to provide insights into how Wharton has maintained its status as one of the premier MBA programs in the world. In the pages that follow, you will find details about Whartons MBA program and tips for how to present your profile in a way that maximizes your chances of admissions success. We also encourage you to reach out directly to the school by attending a local Wharton information session or going to campus and visiting a class, as there is no substitute for that type of first-hand exposure to what they offer. Be sure to explore the Veritas Prep website for further information and resources to help you prepare your application to The Wharton School.
Whats Inside
About The Wharton School ..........................................................2 Whats New at Wharton .................................................................7 The Wharton Approach .................................................................8 What Makes Wharton Different? ................................................9 Admissions at Wharton............................................................... 11 2011-12 Essays (for the Class of 2014) ............................. 11 Deadlines and Round Strategies ........................................ 14 Admissions Criteria ..................................................................... 15 Wharton Students ....................................................................... 16 Wharton Academics & Grading Policies ............................... 17 Notable Faculty at Wharton ...................................................... 21 APPENDIX ........................................................................................ 24 Admissions Statistics .................................................................. 24 Visiting Wharton ........................................................................... 25 Costs & Financial Assistance at Wharton ....................... 27 Professional Recruitment at Wharton.............................. 29 Employment Statistics .............................................................. 30 Veritas Prep and Your Wharton Application ........................ 32
About The Wharton School

Wharton is considered the birthplace of modern business education. Although it hit a rocky patch in the mid-2000s attributable to sluggish leadership and a vacuum in Career Services, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has for generations been one of the most prestigious programs anywhere, consistently appearing at or very near the top of most rankings. The Wharton School is Penns prized program and is positioned at the forefront of the research and business communities. Many consider Wharton to be the best of the six Ivy League graduate business programs and is a continual leader among its peers. Wharton was one of the first business schools to change its curriculum in response to the economic crisis, an effort that it continues to this day. And, Wharton impressed many in Spring 2011 by announcing that their incoming Class of 2013 is 45% female, which is the highest proportion of women at any business school in the world. Given Whartons heritage as the first collegiate business school in the world, the school prides itself on its history of ingenuity and advancement, infusing innovation into every aspect of its approach to business education. From experiential learning opportunities such as leadership treks, to first-oftheir-kind interdisciplinary dual-degree program offerings, Wharton is a pioneer of new possibilities in business education. Wharton also offers more electives than any other business school. Penn also showcases a very strong global sensibility and commitment to expanding the programs global reach. Whartons worldview is evidenced through the makeup of its student body (approximately 40% of which are international), partnerships with 14 different business schools around the world, and the many international learning opportunities such as the International Volunteer Project and the Global Immersion Program (GIP). Whartons alumni network totals about 86,000 and they span the globe, on every continent and in 140 countries around the world. Wharton faculty are also known as leaders in their fields. Mainstream journalists and the business press in the U.S. and abroad frequently rely on experts from Wharton in their reporting. From the Wall Street Journal to National Public Radio to CNBC to Inc. Magazine - on topics from entrepreneurship to race and happiness to real estate and the Federal Reserve - youll find quotes from and articles by the influential thinkers at Wharton across the media on a regular basis. And, Wharton publishes a free online resource called Knowledge@Wharton featuring discussions of business trends and articles by faculty. With this online presence, Wharton is a leader among its peers, launching the K@W portal in 1999, and reporting over 1.25 million subscribers to date. Some content is even available as podcasts distributed on iTunes. While the information at K@W may be cutting-edge, the portal itself seems a little dated, and Knowledge@Wharton doesnt quite compare to the venerable Harvard Business Review print publications in terms of reputation. With so many graduates typically moving into finance jobs, the economic downturn hit Wharton particularly hard. Wharton has since recovered somewhat, however it still placed down at #17 in 2010 (an improvement from a dismal #23 in 2009) on BusinessWeeks ranking of schools by placement outcomes. (Tuck was the leader on that list, with the best placement numbers anywhere.) The Wharton brand name is perhaps the strongest in the world, though, and the vast alumni network means that current students and recent grads have a lot of possible connections out there to help them in all aspects of their careers. With such a prestigious history and reputation, expectations are high at Wharton. This school considers itself the elite among the elite, and they make no bones about what a privilege it is to go there. This Essential Guide offers detailed insights to help you see the differences of and advantages offered by a Wharton business education.
The University of Pennsylvania

The Wharton School is one of many prestigious programs at Penn. Other schools at the University of Pennsylvania also rank among the top schools in their respective fields, including the School of Design, the Law School, the School of Medicine, the School of Dental Medicine, and the Annenberg School for Communications. The School of Nursing is one of the top two nursing programs in the country. Despite the concentration of University programs on campus, each school tends to be fairly self-contained, infused with its own unique culture and community.
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The Wharton Campus

Situated in an urban setting, Wharton occupies several city blocks on the UPenn campus just west of downtown Philadelphia. The Wharton School is mostly housed in its own stateof-the-art building, Huntsman Hall, further enhancing the Wharton as an island feel. School administration is in Steinberg and Vance Halls, while the Lauder program is primarily based, appropriately enough, in Lauder-Fisher Hall. Wharton students have access to all the main Penn facilities such Van Pelt Library (and Lippincott Library, the business library housed there) and the David Pottruck Fitness Center. The 2002 opening of Whartons Huntsman Hall kicked off a building boom at business schools across the country that is still going strong today. Huntsman was designed to flexibly support the specific needs of an innovative curriculum and changing student body. Wharton undertook the development project the way any smart business would: by conducting research and holding focus groups of its constituents - faculty and students - to incorporate practical needs into the core of the design. At the time of its opening, Huntsman Hall was by far the most advanced and innovative business school facility in the world. Huntsman is new enough that its technology infrastructure is still relevant; technology support for students is a moving target that business schools often struggle to keep up with. Whartons peers have of course studied Huntsman in the quiet quest of top schools to one-up each other, and you will find as good or better features in the new buildings on other campuses, such as those opened at the University of Chicago Booth in 2004 and Stanford in 2011. There is very little interaction between the graduate and undergraduate communities at Wharton, or between grad students in other Penn programs except for Lauder, and the occasional jointdegree student. Study rooms at Huntsman can be tough to come by given the focus on teambased work at Wharton, and undergraduate and graduate students usually scramble to book them during prime study hours. When rooms are fully booked, students can be found in clusters all over the building. Much of the group work done by MBAs takes place in local coffee shops or at students apartments in downtown Philadelphia (about 15 blocks away), closer to where most students live. The large main forum in Huntsman serves as a gathering and meeting place for students. However, graduate students tend to congregate in the graduate-designated Caf on the second floor or in one of the building entrances on Locust Walk or Walnut Street.
Philadelphia is the sixth largest city in the U.S. (behind Phoenix, surprisingly enough, and ahead of San Antonio). Philadelphia is a just few hours away by train to Washington, D.C., New York City, and Boston. Most Wharton graduate students come from outside the area to attend the school. Wharton is a very large program, and Philadelphia is a big city. It may help to be more of an extrovert in order to not get lost in the hustle and bustle at Wharton and the City of Brotherly Love.
Wharton San Francisco

San Francisco is home to Whartons MBA for Executives program which primarily attracts individuals living in the Western U.S. A variety of Executive Education programs and some research initiatives are also located at Wharton San Francisco. The satellite school is moving to renovated facilities at the Hills Brothers building in the Embarcadero area in 2012.
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Degree Programs at Wharton

The Wharton School offers programs across the entire spectrum of higher education, including undergraduate education that many business schools do not offer. Wharton does not have a part-time MBA option, though they do have a part-time post-bacc (non-MBA) business education program for working adults. Undergraduate. Whartons rigorous undergraduate business program features a highly selective admissions process that requires application not just to UPenn but also to Wharton. Wharton undergraduates are known for their intensity and seriousness about their studies. Only a small percentage of them matriculate directly into the graduate business program; this is because Wharton is still a hold-out among its graduate school peers for preferring their MBA students to have significant work experience, rather than accepting them straight after their bachelors studies. A wide range of joint programs are available for undergraduates to pursue with other schools at Penn. About 2,500 undergrads are enrolled each year. Full-time MBA. Wharton has the standard two-year, full-time MBA experience - and its actually a little longer than some other programs, because first-years begin pre-term coursework in late July or early August of their year of matriculation. About 1,750 full-time MBAs are enrolled at one time. The bulk of this Essential Guide is focused on application requirements and strategies for the full-time MBA. MBA/MA Lauder Program. If Wharton is considered a competitive and challenging program, the Wharton/Lauder combo is over the top. Wharton/Lauder is an MBA combined with a Masters in International Studies from The Lauder Institute at UPenns School of Arts & Sciences (Penn Law students can also do a dual JD/MA program with Lauder). An important admissions requirement is advanced proficiency in English and one of the nine target languages - ranging from Arabic to Japanese and now Hindi, among others - and a key focus of the program is increasing that language skill and cultural exposure through in-country projects, extensive field research, and a masters paper. Its a longer program, starting in May of each year (compared to the summer start date of the full-time MBA track). This is not for the faint of heart; even the application is rigorous, requiring two additional 1,000-word essays (on top of the 1,500 words required for the standard Wharton MBA application), plus a separate oral interview to assess language proficiency - along with all the other aspects of the admissions process. The Lauder program usually has 60 students. For what are hopefully obvious reasons, most Lauder graduates pursue careers outside the U.S., though this is not a mandatory element of an application strategy. MBA/Lauder applications can be submitted in Whartons first or second rounds only. If you apply for Lauder and are declined, youre still in the running for a spot in the full-time Wharton MBA class based on their separate evaluation process.
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Other Joint Graduate-Level Degrees. Besides the Lauder program, Wharton students can also pursue joint or dual degrees in conjunction with Penns other leading graduate schools, including: MBA/JD three-year joint degree with Penn Law MBA/MA in Environmental Studies dual degree at the School of Arts and Sciences MBA in Healthcare Management, or the more common MBA/MD available in conjunction with Penn Medicine (must apply in round one for this option) MBA/VMD and MBA/MS dual degrees with Penn Veterinary Medicine MBA/MSN and MBA/PhD available through the School of Nursing (simultaneous applications required for the MBA/PhD) MB/MBA (Master of Biotechnology), a very unique offering not found at other schools. This combines coursework from Wharton as well as both the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the School of Arts and Sciences MBA/March, MBA/MLA, MBA/MCP, and MBA/MHP dual degrees offered through the School of Design, another opportunity not typically found at other business schools MBA/MSW, or the innovative MBA/MS through the Nonprofit/NGO Leadership Program, both available in conjunction with the School of Social Policy and Practice, and both unique options not typical at other schools MBA/MA with the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins in Washington, D.C., appropriate for those interested in international politics Several MBA/Masters degrees available in a partnership with Harvards Kennedy School of Government This amazing list reinforces Whartons claim of an interdisciplinary focus to education and shows how the school leverages not just its own resources but those across UPenn and the higher education universe. Admission to dual-degree programs requires candidates to apply separately to Wharton and the respective school. In general, the dual-degree programs require one less year than pursuing each of the degrees individually. Whartons decision last year to accept the GRE as an alternative to the GMAT was motivated by the variety of joint programs available (and, probably just as much, the fact that schools like Harvard were accepting it).
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MBA for Executives. Sometimes Executive MBA programs are considered inferior to their full-time brethren; they can be faulted for not being as rigorous nor as demanding of their students, partly due to the format, and also because of the reality that their participants are juggling high-responsibility mid-level management jobs (and often families) at the same time as theyre pursuing their education. Many EMBA students travel from large distances to attend their programs, which typically meet for short, intense periods (a long weekend, or a full week) several times per quarter, then they disband in order to attend to their real job. Accordingly, admission for most EMBA programs tends to be less competitive, often with more flexibility in accommodating lower GMAT scores or undergraduate GPAs. Not at Wharton. The Wharton MBA for Executives, offered both at the main campus in Philadelphia and through the satellite campus in San Francisco, is actually one of the few EMBA programs that is comparable to the rigor of the standard full-time track. The MBA for Executives has near-identical curriculum and it runs on the same cycle that the full-time program does (the EMBA students accrue the necessary credits by continuing with coursework through the summer while their counterparts in the regular MBA program are pursuing internships). The Wharton EMBA even requires a tiny bit more work, with 19.25 total units required to complete the degree, compared to 19 for the full-time program. Graduates of the MBA for Executives program are awarded the identical Master of Business Administration credential as those in the full-time program. Over 400 students are enrolled in the MBA for Executives programs in Philadelphia and San Francisco at any one time. PhD. Student-designed doctoral studies are available in all of Whartons 11 areas of concentration - from accounting to various flavors of economics to marketing to statistics. Wharton PhDs typically stay in academia when they graduate. The very small program has about 180 students. Wharton actively promotes its available PhD candidates by listing their research areas on its website, and frequently places graduates on the faculty of well-regarded schools such as MIT, Chicago Booth, and NYU. Executive Education. Open-enrollment executive education seminars, certificates, workshops, and programs are available for individuals and organizations looking to increase their human capital. (Executive Education is separate and distinct from the formal MBA for Executives.) Summer Programs. During the summer, Wharton also opens its doors to high school students and foreign university undergrads looking to get a jumpstart on their leadership education.
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Whats New at Wharton

Whartons Dean Robertson had led an intensive effort to overhaul the curriculum, which is rolling out beginning with the Class of 2013. Since taking over in 2007, Dean Robertson has made an effort to address some issues that had been threatening the school in the mid-2000s. His focus has been on repairing relations between the administration and students, improving the schools showing in the major rankings, and launching new initiatives centered on innovation, international business, and social impact. New developments that are evident at the school today include: New curriculum. Whartons new curriculum is primarily an effort to increase flexibility - a common theme driving changes at many schools. The administration recognized that teaching the core subjects should not be done through a one-size-fits-all approach, given the diversity of experience that students bring to the classroom, and their varied future goals. Different students have different needs. The new curriculum features student choice to guide their own education along defined pathways in the typical MBA education areas of finance, management, and operations. Additional opportunities for leadership training, self-assessment, and an emphasis on standard skills like writing and presentations are also intertwined in the new Wharton experience. A lifelong commitment to alumni. Along with the new curriculum, Wharton announced that alumni will now be able to benefit from the schools expertise long after graduation. All alumni will be able to participate in free executive education classes throughout their lives. This bold move has prompted some schools such as Berkeley-Haas to follow suit (albeit with a much more limited offer, available only to future graduates); more schools are likely to follow. These efforts should to help boost the schools in certain rankings, based on increased alumni satisfaction over time (and the good PR never hurt either). The biggest news at Wharton: the Class of 2013 is made up of 45% women. This is a record percentage of female students, not just at this school, but at any school - and it is even more noteworthy given the fact that Wharton was at only 40% women last year. Starting a few years ago, Wharton made a goal to attract more diverse applicants and intentionally increased its recruiting and outreach efforts through its Women in Business student club, and alumni. Similar efforts have also been made to military candidates and to specific underrepresented geographies and other populations.
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The Wharton Approach

Under Dean Robertson, Wharton has been emphasizing the themes of Innovation, Social Impact, and Global education. Microsites dedicated to each of these are linked from the home page at http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/. Innovation The new Innovation Group is tasked with identifying and cultivating mediumto long-term projects at The Wharton School. Examples of Whartons previous innovations include the Leadership Ventures (Wharton is the first school to offer such leadershipfocused global treks), conferences focused on innovation such as Supernova and the Future of Publishing, and simulations including the Learning Lab and Management Simulations created in partnership with Penn technology students. Wharton also commonly makes significant changes to its admissions essay questions from year to year, which may be a reflection of their focus on innovation (or it may simply be an effort to ensure that applicants always write their Wharton essays from scratch!). From permitting students to design their own majors, to offering first-of-their-kind jointdegree programs like the Lauder MBA, to initiating the first integrated entrepreneurial curriculum through the Wharton Entrepreneurial Program, the school consistently drives forward and explores new ideas. Global While Wharton has about the same proportion of foreign passport holders in the student body as other top programs, an international focus permeates here more than any other U.S. school. Wharton faculty have an orientation to international business that spans back countless years. The Knowledge@Wharton online portal is available for Spanish, Chinese, and Indian audiences. The awareness of the global community is profound throughout everything that Wharton is and does. The Wharton/Lauder program is perhaps the best preparation for a career in international business that can be found on the planet. Many Wharton students take advantage of the Global Consulting Practicums work-abroad opportunities (interestingly, this is optional at Wharton, compared to Stanford who requires it of all students). Also popular is the Global Immersion Program, which in past years has focused on regions including Africa, China, Southeast Asia, and South America. There are also more study-abroad options with Wharton than any other school, allowing students to leverage the vast network of relationships with the best business programs around the globe. Wharton and INSEAD have forged especially deep ties, with a formal alliance of cross-promotion of each others programs, whereby about 50 students trade places for semester-long study-abroad experiences each year. This isnt to say that all candidates must have international or multicultural experience in order to be a fit with Wharton. In years past, the emphasis has been stronger in the application essays than it is today, however in any year, the school is clearly looking for applicants who can frame their experiences and goals in a global context, and who plan on engaging in the communities around them. Social Impact Namesake Joseph Wharton founded the school to produce educated citizens who are pillars of the state, whether in private or in public life (get used to hearing this quote from Dean Robertson; hes fond of mentioning it in speeches and interviews). The emphasis at Wharton is on creating economic and social good. These are noble goals. The economic crisis has heightened Whartons emphasis on the interconnected obligation to create both economic wealth and improve the lives of the worlds citizens. The curriculum features a wide array of courses and even whole majors, including Social Impact Management, which is a timely - and yes, innovative - offering that you wont see at many other top business schools. And, a quick glance at this years essay questions - particularly the first of the choices on the choose three list, about designing your own course at Wharton - and you can see the prominence of social impact as a new priority for the school.
At Wharton, the focus isnt just on learning and doing and the common business school refrain of putting theory into practice; they are also committed to creating knowledge.
Wharton is a pioneer of new possibilities in business education.
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What Makes Wharton Different?

Student Involvement. Inside and outside of the classroom, students play a leading role in defining the Wharton experience for themselves, their classmates, and for future students. The expectation is that Wharton students will be active members of the community - a standard that manifests itself in all aspects of the Wharton experience as evidenced by more than 100 studentrun clubs that evolve each year depending on student leadership, the existence of the Deans Graduate Student Advisory Committee and the Wharton Graduate Association, and student participation in the admissions process. Experiential Learning. Nearly every elite business school is advertising its action-based or experiential approach, but Wharton deserves credit for the way it puts a premium on student involvement in campus activities and organizations. Gaining knowledge and putting it into practice is seamlessly integrated into the student experience through initiatives such as the Global Consulting Practicum. Leadership. Building leadership acumen is a core of the Wharton program. While wed be hard pressed to say that leadership is more important at Wharton than it is at Harvard, opportunities to build this skill abound at this school. Wharton features a dedicated Center for Leadership and Change Management, which spearheads multiple leadership-driven initiatives including Leadership Ventures (outdoor experiential leadership experiences and global leadership treks) and the Leadership Fellows Program (a leadership development/mentor program). Leadership is also baked into the Wharton experience through its entirely student-led community and the many opportunities to be a leader outside of the classroom through programs such as the International Volunteer Project and Wharton Community Consultants.
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The Wharton School Is a Good Fit for You If...

You are interested in finance. We havent even mentioned it much so far because we figure everybody already knows: Wharton is a finance school. Theyre quick to point out that theyre more than that, but the core strength, and the interest of the majority of their students, remains in the world of finance. They send large numbers of graduates into investment banking, portfolio management, and corporate finance, and place a few here and there into hedge funds, private equity, and even sales and trading - areas that some schools never place anyone. If youre looking to go to Wall Street, Wharton is a natural for you to consider. You are interested in entrepreneurship. Less commonly known is that behind finance, entrepreneurship is the most popular field of study at The Wharton School. Around 20 to 25 graduates start companies coming out of Wharton every year, and this number is increasing. Schools like Stanford, MIT Sloan, and even Harvard might give Wharton a run for its money on the entrepreneurship side, but its an area that is seeing more attention with Whartons renewed interest in innovation and social good. You have had, or want to have, internationally diverse work experiences. Wharton loves those multicultural stories in applicant backgrounds. Ex-pat experience is definitely not required in order to gain an offer from Wharton, but it never hurts. Just dont be tempted to try to overstate your two weeks of European vacation into a multicultural experience; oftentimes, vacation stories can come across as fairly routine, and thats not the level of cultural exposure the adcom values the most. Any travel to foreign countries is worth mentioning; whether you make it a cornerstone of your application depends both on the real nature of your experiences in country, and even more important, any international flavor to your stated future career goals. (Making these kinds of strategic decisions about what stories to include and how to position them is obviously a key benefit of the Veritas Prep admissions consulting process.) Youre a woman. Sorry, guys: in this case, the women may have a slight advantage. While Wharton definitely does not have looser standards for its female applicants, it is actively courting high achievers, and strong women will likely be well received in the application process. While women need to have the same high qualifications as far as GPA, GMAT, and quality of work experience, Wharton has acknowledged that their female students tend to be a little younger, having fewer years of work experience than the average male they admit. So, younger female candidates should not hesitate to apply. In our experience at Veritas Prep, female candidates who gain admission to Wharton also are successful at other great schools. Youre changing careers. Wharton is very welcoming to career changers. If youre in this position, be sure to highlight the relevant skills and experience that you bring with you from your previous life, and show how you will apply those strengths in the new undertaking you are interested in pursuing after Wharton.
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Admissions at Wharton
2011-12 Essays (for the Class of 2014)
Wharton has three standard essays: one required question, and then a list of three questions from which candidates must choose two. As is common with other schools, an optional essay is allowed to explain unusual circumstances or weaknesses in the application that the applicant is unable to address elsewhere. Those interested in the Lauder joint program have additional materials and processes, including two separate 1,000-word essays and proof of language proficiency. Whartons essays have once again undergone a fairly significant overhaul. They are about a third shorter overall this year. Wharton is forcing applicants to be even more focused in their responses - and also forcing new writing. It is unlikely that an essay written for a different schools application will be reusable for the Wharton question. Reapplicants are asked to write all three essays just as new applicants do, along with a very short reapplicant essay explaining how their candidacy has improved (schools like Columbia only require a single, longer reapplicant essay for those making a second go of it). Whartons 2011-12 essays and Veritas Preps snapshot assessment of each are provided below. The Wharton S2S online discussion forum sometimes contains helpful bits of advice from the Wharton students who monitor it (look for posts by Fanatical Fan), or you can post your own question if you get truly stuck. Of course, Veritas Prep clients receive extensive coaching and guidance on how to approach each individual question based on their unique background, experiences, and goals.
Required Question: What are your professional objectives? (300 words) At its core, this question is still in many respects a Why an MBA? essay. (Note that those questions dont come up in any other Wharton essay so you will need to address them here.) Also note that, while this mandatory question only requires 300 words - about two paragraphs - you have 600+ words each for the two other, more introspective essays. Clearly, the Wharton admissions committee is more interested in getting to know you as a person than as a professional. Business schools always say that, but Wharton is really putting this idea into action. Still, it is critical that you use this essay to properly set the stage for the rest of your candidacy. Its only 300 words long, but after reading this essay, admissions officers should clearly understand where you want to go in your career and why a Wharton MBA makes sense for you now. Wharton doesnt ask Why Wharton? and you dont have many words to spare, so dont devote too many words to answering this here. You have 1,200 words across your two other essays to help lead them to the conclusion that youre a great fit with Wharton.
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Respond to 2 of the following 3 questions:
Reflect on a time when you turned down an opportunity. What was the thought process behind your decision? Would you make the same decision today? (600 words) This is a terrific introspection question that carries over from last year; however some of our clients have had difficulty with this one. MBA admissions officers really want to see selfawareness and introspection in applicants, and this question provides that. Dont worry if the opportunity that you turned down seems small - you dont need to blow them away with the sexiness of the one that got away. The emphasis in your answer should be on your thought process; thats far more interesting to Wharton than what the actual opportunity was. Help them understand why you made the decision, what you learned about your wants and values in the process, and how its shaped you as a person. Also, answering No. to the last part of the question is okay - and could even make for an unusually interesting story for the reader. Having the humility to wish you could make a decision over again is one terrific sign of maturity.
Discuss a time when you faced a challenging interpersonal experience. How did you navigate the situation and what did you learn from it? (600 words) This question is new this year, although it is not radically different from one of last years essays. The difference to note is that, while last years question only asked about navigating a challenging relationship, this new version specifically asks for how you did it and - perhaps most importantly - what you learned from the experience. Our bet is that last year many applicants didnt place enough emphasis on this last point, and now Wharton wants to make clear that this is a critical part of this essay. This essay is your chance to demonstrate empathy, maturity, and a willingness to consider others points of view. Where it differs is that it takes a little emphasis off of the idea of diversity and explores tough relationships of all types. As weve said before, its most important here that you can make clear why the situation was challenging, what you did to overcome it, and - hopefully - how you were successful. Even if you werent successful, though, whats most interesting here is what you learned in the process.
The worst thing for a student to do is to ignore something they have noticed about their application that they regard as an issue or weakness and hope we wont notice. A hundred percent of the time, we will notice - its our job to notice.
Kathryn Bezella, Associate Director of Wharton MBA Admissions
Whartons application volume is so great that they enlist the help of graduate students - about 70 of them - to assist with various parts of the process.
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Innovation is central to our culture at Wharton. It is a mentality that must encompass every aspect of the School - whether faculty research, teaching or alumni outreach. - Thomas S. Robertson, Dean, The Wharton School. Keeping this component of our culture in mind, discuss a time when you have been innovative in your personal or professional life? (600 words) This question is entirely new this year and it fits squarely with Dean Robertsons major initiatives. Innovation can be interpreted in multiple ways. If no example from your past immediately springs to mind, then think about the word creative. How did you creatively solve a problem at work or in your life? How did you go beyond your normal job description, or come up with a solution that had never been tried before? While its so trite that were reluctant to use this phrase, think about a time when you thought outside the box. More than anything, here the Wharton admissions committee looks for signs that youre not content to just follow your job description, you do more than simply work on assignments as theyre handed to you (but do no more than that), and youre not afraid to dream big now and then. Dont think innovation necessarily means science or tech here!
Veritas Prep clients working on their Wharton applications receive expert guidance on each of these essay questions. Our Wharton Consultants help our clients understand how to highlight strengths and weaknesses as well as unique elements within the confines of the question, while also addressing each of the key Wharton admissions themes.
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THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA Wharton features the traditional three-round admissions process, and their deadlines are loosely the same as last year. Applicants to the Lauder MBA/MA program (see Programs at Wharton above) must apply during one of the first two rounds. All deadlines are 5pm Eastern time on the date indicated. Round 1 Application Deadline October 3, 2011 Decision Release Date December 20, 2011 Round 2 Application Deadline January 4, 2012 Decision Release Date March 30, 2012 Round 3 Application Deadline March 5, 2012 Decision Release Date May 8, 2012
Deadlines and Round Strategies

When should I apply? Even though Wharton does not have a rolling admissions process, it can be to your advantage to submit your application early - they are now explicitly encouraging this. And, because of high server volumes on the day of deadline, the chance of a technical issue or glitch is high - adding to the probability of stress during what is already a high-pressure moment. Our advice? Submit your Wharton application at least a day or two - if not a week or two - early. Which round? Everyone should apply in Rounds 1 or 2; the earlier the better. The only exceptions are: a) Lauder candidates, who must apply in one of the two early rounds; and b) current Wharton undergraduates, who are termed submatriculates and who must apply in Round 3. What if I apply late? Applications received after the cut-off time on the day of the deadline are automatically rolled to the next round. Applications received after the final cut-off in March will not be processed. When can I interview? As with other top schools, interviews are by invitation only, and interviews are required for acceptance to the program. In past years, Wharton has issued a lot of interview invitations. They have a very large class to fill, and so this makes sense, however compared to other large programs, they seem to interview a bigger percentage of candidates. Getting an interview invitation from any good school is always a win, but its less of an assurance of success at Wharton than it might be elsewhere. Interview invitations can go out anytime after the application is received. Soon after the deadline passes, the admissions office generally will email all candidates with information about the process and timing; this email often indicates the final date that interview invitations are issued, which is usually a few weeks ahead of the decision date. None of this is set in stone, and how early - or how late - you get an interview invitation has little bearing on the strength of your application in the admissions committees eyes. Interviews are 30 minutes long and most applicants are interviewed locally (where you live) by alumni. You can also travel to Philadelphia and interview on campus with a member of the admissions team, who might be a staff member or a second-year student. Interviews are blind; interviewers do not have access to any application material, aside from the applicants resume. Like other top programs, Wharton considers on- and off-campus interviews with equal weight. When will I find out their answer? Acceptance decisions also go out on a specific day (see schedule above), through an email notification that alerts the applicant to check the ApplyYourself online application system. You must log on and retrieve your admissions letter from the secure website. Wharton does not call accepted candidates, although they do also generate a hardcopy letter with further information about your acceptance to the school. What is this conditional admission? Wharton is a little unusual with their decision called conditional admission. Weve seen this outcome at a few other schools before, but its uncommon. This means that the admissions team wants to admit you, but theres an issue that you must take care of first, to satisfy them that you can handle the coursework. The typical condition that needs to be met is an improved GMAT score or retaking the TOEFL, or perhaps taking a class to demonstrate quant ability. What about the waitlist? Wharton clears the waitlist at the end of the following round, so a Round 1 candidate can expect to get a final decision at the Round 2 decision date, and a Round 2 candidate at the Round 3 date. It makes for a very long summer if you apply in Round 3 and are placed on the waitlist! Wharton is very direct about not accepting any additional materials from waitlisted candidates.
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Admissions Criteria
Gaining admission to Wharton is as much about the measurable characteristics (grades and scores) as it is about intangible characteristics (fit, personal experiences, sense of direction, etc.). While there is no recipe for the perfect Wharton candidate, the admissions committee evaluates candidates on the following metrics:
Academic ability Leadership aptitude Interpersonal/communication skills Professional experience and progression - traditionally, about four years of work experience was recommended to apply, though this is changing
No single application component is considered more important than another (e.g., essays, GMAT score, interview, etc.) - although an early-career candidate would have a lot to prove about how he or she is ready for a Wharton MBA. The admissions committee reviews the application holistically and within the context of the applicant pool in any given year. Wharton places a strong emphasis on professional experience and tends to accept more seasoned professionals relative to some of the other top business school programs. Military experience is absolutely relevant (sometimes perceived as more relevant than other types of work experiences, in terms of the leadership and teamwork skills); other graduate work at Penn or elsewhere does not count as work experience for the application process. In the absence of extensive work experience, the admissions committee looks for the maturity that comes from time in the saddle in other areas. How candidates use their time both personally and professionally is a critical consideration for the admission committee, given the emphasis on student involvement in the Wharton community.
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Wharton Students
As with any elite business school, the student experience at Wharton is defined as much or more by the students as it is by the program, faculty, or career opportunities. Wharton is committed to admitting a highly diverse student community, and that diversity extends well beyond cultural diversity. Whether its professional background, personal interests, or languages spoken, the student community is intelligent and dynamic. As one of the countrys largest business schools, Wharton offers a little bit of everything in each class makeup.
Student Stats
Total Full-Time Graduate Enrollment ........................about 1,730 Percent Female ............................... 45% Percent US Students of Color ................................................ 32%
(a deceptively high number, as Wharton includes Asian-Americans in this number whereas other schools do not) (higher than at any other top-ranked MBA programs)
Student Organizations
One of Whartons most prized attributes is its student-run community. No other component of the Wharton program illustrates this more than the 110 student-led campus clubs including Professional, International/Cultural, Social/Special Interest, Athletic, and Community Service clubs. (Most schools have about 50 student clubs. In fact, with such a huge number at Wharton, it is likely that some are not very active.) The diversity present within these clubs serves as a strong reflection of the overall diversity of the Wharton student community. A complete list of all student clubs can be found on the Wharton website, while some of the schools most popular campus organizations are featured below:
Percent International................... 36% Number of Countries Represented...........................................68 Average Age ..........................................28

Wharton also has about 2,500 undergraduate students enrolled, with 400 more in the Executive MBA and nearly 200 PhD candidates.
Community Consultants Consulting Club Europa Finance Club Follies International Volunteer Project Investment Management Club Latin American Student Association (WHALASA) Marketing Club Media & Entertainment Club Private Equity & Venture Capital Club Wharton Social Impact (Whartons Net Impact chapter) Women in Business Wildmen Hockey Club
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Wharton Academics & Grading Policies

Teaching Philosophy
Wharton attempts to strike a balance among the different ways the school imparts knowledge to its students, using a combination of case-based learning, traditional lectures, team-based projects, simulations, and experiential learning across the curriculum. In any given class, a professor may employ any combination of these approaches. Given the facultys extensive involvement in key industries, a plethora of real-world examples is integrated into the classroom experience.
Content Areas in the new Core Curriculum

Finance and the Global Economy Ethical and Legal Responsibility Managing the Global Enterprise Understanding and Serving Customers Corporate Reporting and Control Management of Operations, Innovation, Information, and Decisions under Uncertainty Various courses will be offered in each of these Content Areas so that the student may satisfy the core through a custom curriculum that is tailored to her background, existing knowledge, and future goals.
Class Organization
Each incoming Wharton class is divided into four clusters (numbered 1 through 4) and 12 cohorts of approximately 65 students (labeled A through L), with three cohorts to a cluster. The cohorts are established to maintain a mix of professional and cultural backgrounds in every group. Cohorts tend to assume specific personalities defined by their constituents, and friendly competition usually emerges amongst the cohorts, especially within the individual clusters. All the first-year core courses are taken with members of the cohort, and each cluster shares the same faculty members who function as a team in order to integrate coursework across different disciplines. Given the size of the Wharton program, the cohort system is extremely valuable due to the intimacy it creates within the overall class. Within the cohorts, students are divided into learning teams of five to six students. These teams are somewhat randomly selected, taking into account the same need to balance the different backgrounds of the team. First-year students work intensely with their learning team in all the core courses throughout the academic year. The learning team model is considered a cornerstone of the Wharton experience (and has been for more than 20 years) and is believed to be a critically important way to explore leadership styles in a risk-free environment, while also fostering the development of leadership and collaboration.
Core Classes
Like most top business schools, Wharton aims to lay a strong foundation in general management that will prepare students to face a range of business issues throughout their careers. First-year students are required to attend a one-month Pre-Term session prior to the official start of the school year. Pre-Term, which begins in late-July or early-August each year, features several introductory and review courses in financial accounting, microeconomics, statistics, and financial analysis. There is also an optional math review course offered to those students whose math skills are rusty or who never took a college level calculus or statistics course. The idea of Pre-Term is to level the playing field and ensure that there is a common knowledge base on which to build over the course of the program. In addition to the academic elements of Pre-Term, there is also a two-day, off-campus retreat designed to introduce students to members of their learning team and to begin the practice of leading in a peer environment. The first year is defined by a flexible core curriculum. All students are required to satisfy educational requirements in six separate Content Areas, however they are given choices in how the requirements may be met (called pathways). Wharton operates on a quarter system, with most courses lasting only a quarter and some the full semester (combination of quarter one and quarter two, or Q1 and Q2). A Wharton MBA degree requires a minimum of 19 credit units (referred to as cus) of graduatelevel courses. There is flexibility within that requirement to take up to 4cu outside of the Wharton program and students may also waive out of most (although not all) of the core courses on the basis of prior coursework or experience in a given subject. Students can waive a course in one of two ways: by waiver application and through the waiver exam process. All waived credits, however, must be replaced by electives to meet the minimum 19cu requirement. Roughly 65 percent of first-year students waive out of at least one core course, which allows them to take advantage of one of over 200 electives offered.
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In addition to the core courses, first year students can also pursue the optional Global Immersion elective, which is a four-week immersion experience in one of several different regions of the world immediately following the spring semester of the first year. Once all core course requirements have been satisfied, students can begin to explore the roughly 200 elective offerings across 19 different majors. This typically begins in the second year, but should a student waive out of courses in the first year, those credit units can be satisfied with electives.
Majors
Wharton students are required to select one of 19 different in-depth majors. The idea behind majoring is that it provides students with the opportunity to delve deeper into specific areas of interest, either to cultivate an area of expertise, or to assist in facilitating a future career shift. Students have the choice to double major and roughly 30 percent of students go this route. Representative of Whartons focus on innovation, students can also design an individualized major based on their unique professional interests (roughly 10 percent of students take advantage of this opportunity). A major is typically declared by completing five course units within a specific department, with certain courses counting towards more than one major. Students can also petition their major advisor to have specific courses counted toward a major. Additionally, students also have the opportunity to participate in dual or joint degree programs. While Wharton is known as a finance school, it boasts the largest marketing department in the world and is also well known for its strength in management, real estate and insurance and risk management. Some of the most popular majors include Finance, Marketing, and Entrepreneurial Management.
Majors include: Accounting Business and Public Policy Environmental and Risk Management (Interdisciplinary Major) Finance Health Care Systems Insurance and Risk Management Management Entrepreneurial Management Human Resource and Organizational Management Management Multinational Management Strategic Management Managing Electronic Commerce (Interdisciplinary Major) Marketing and Operations Management (Joint Major) Marketing Operations and Information Management Information: Strategy and Economics Real Estate Statistics
W H A R TO N A C A D E M I C S A N D G R A D I N G P O L I C I E S
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Grading Policies
Grading System. In 2006, Wharton made significant changes to its grading system, moving away from a non-numerical system that consisted of Distinction (DS), High Pass (HP), Pass (P), and No Credit (NC) grades allocated on a forced curve. In any given course under the old system, 15 percent of students received Distinction, 20 percent received High Pass, 60-to-65 percent received Pass, and zero-to-five percent received no credit. Wharton courses are now graded on a traditional letter grade system of A through F, with plus and minus distinctions carrying the usual point values (A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0 with the pluses and minuses coming in at 0.33 above or below the full grade value). Students are also permitted to take up to one elective credit unit each semester as pass/fail. The party line on the new grading system is that both students and faculty were dissatisfied with the shape of the old forced curve, believing there wasnt enough incentive to study hard since 65 percent of students in each class, by definition, received the same grade (Pass, equivalent to a C). Given the greater grade granularity associated with the addition of pluses and minuses, the belief is that theres now greater incentive to exert more academic effort. Distinctions. In addition to the grade designations, there are also opportunities for academic distinction and the criteria for this did not change with the 2006 grading system changes. Based on GPA each semester, the top 10 percent of students are placed on the Directors List, and the top 20 percent at the end of the first year are awarded First-Year Honors. Additionally, the top five percent of students at graduation are designated Palmer Scholars while the top 20 percent receive Graduation Honors. Grade Disclosure. Another very contentious topic with respect to the grading system is the grade disclosure policy. The Wharton administrations stance is that students are free to disclose any aspect of their transcript to employers and are, in fact, encouraged to do so. The administration also contends that employers are permitted to request grade information from students. Having said that, there is a long-standing tradition among students (dating back to 1994) of Non Grade Disclosure (NGD). The idea behind NGD is that it promotes risk-taking, teamwork, experiential learning, and community building while preventing over-reliance on metrics that may be imperfect predictors of job performance, according to the Wharton Graduate Association (WGA). As such, the NGD policy is reaffirmed annually by the WGA (in which the vast majority of students are dues-paying members) and students are asked to adhere to it. Its worth noting that the debate around NGD within the Wharton community (specifically the administration and faculty versus the students) perfectly illustrates the student-led nature of the community. If students arent happy with something at Wharton, they force change, whether the administration supports it or not.
The party line on the new grading system is that both students and faculty were dissatisfied with the shape of the old forced curve.
There is a long-standing tradition among students (dating back to 1994) of Non Grade Disclosure (NGD).
If students arent happy with something at Wharton, they force change, whether the administration supports it or not.
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Course Enrollment
While students are automatically enrolled in most of the core courses, Wharton students engage in an auction-based process to register for elective courses. Upon entering the program, each student is given an initial endowment of points that can be used to bid for seats in electives over the course of their time at Wharton. The registration process consists of 10 auction rounds in each semester, during which students are able to buy and sell seats in their desired courses. Courses command a range of auction points for a variety of reasons, such as the reputation of the professor, whether or not a given course is required for a major, the number of course sections offered, and the day or time the course is offered. Students either love or hate the auction process. For some students it becomes something of a sport to try to game and strategize the system, collecting as many points as possible by buying a seat in one round and selling it in another. For others, it is a painful and laborious process. That said, most students feel that the auction system is a fair way of securing electives because it forces students to discern how much they want a specific course, to prioritize what is most important to them, and to make trade-offs accordingly. Through careful planning and strategizing, as well as significant effort to understand the system, students can collect enough points to secure spots in all or many of the most coveted elective courses.
Entrepreneurship Experiences
Wharton Business Plan Competition. Launched in 1998 by the Wharton Entrepreneurship Club and now a part of the Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs (WEP), The Wharton Business Plan Competition is one of the most renowned business plan competitions across all the top business schools. The competition, which is open to all Penn students, spans a seven-month, three-phase process. The top three finalists in the competition share in $70,000 in cash and prizes. Venture Initiation Program. While not an actual competition, the Venture Initiation Program (VIP) is among the most well known opportunities for budding entrepreneurs in the Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs. Students apply to the VIP in which they can remain for up to five consecutive semesters, assuming they are making the proper progression. As members of this program, students benefit from access to office space and administrative tools to launch their businesses, as well as access to an entrepreneurial support system including monthly advising sessions and networking opportunities.
Most students feel that the auction system is a fair way of securing electives because it forces students to discern how much they want a specific course, to prioritize what is most important to them, and to make trade-offs accordingly.
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Notable Faculty at Wharton

Populated with many prominent business leaders, researchers, and teachers, the Wharton faculty is exceptional. Among Wharton students, there are a handful of professors who are considered a must due to their reputation both as educators and as experts. This list isnt merely a collection of famous names, but rather the instructors that Wharton students deem to be essential for the full experience. These notable professors include: Eric Bradlow The K.P. Chao Professor; Professor of Marketing, Statistics, and Education; Co-Director, Wharton Interactive Media Initiative Professor Bradlow is well loved by students not just for his teaching prowess and ability to make dry topics such as marketing research dynamic, but also for his affable manner, teaching enthusiasm, approachability and genuine interest in getting to know students. Professor Bradlow is always willing to make himself available to chat with students about course concepts and projects and he has been known to return emails off his BlackBerry at all hours of the night. He prides himself on his accessibility to students (even those students who arent in any of his classes). Given his background as a statistics PhD., he is somewhat of a quant guy demonstrating how sound marketing decisions can be made by breaking down data. His classes are typically characterized by 50 percent lecture and 50 percent case discussion and he employs a Socratic style at times. Hes not afraid to cold call (but goes as far as to warn students ahead of class that they might be cold called) but will never embarrass a student if he/she doesnt offer a solid answer. Michael Useem The William and Jacalyn Egan Professor; Professor of Management; Director, Center for Leadership and Change Management A world-renowned expert on corporate leadership and change management, Professor Useem consistently ranks among the most popular professors at Wharton. His extremely interactive teaching approach and dramatic storytelling ability, featuring examplesranging from the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies to famous military moments to NGO and non-profit organizations--captivates his students. Professor Useem has close relationships with top executives around the world, and is particularly mindful that managerial styles and work cultures differ by geography, making it a point not to suggest that western/U.S. managerial practices are always ideal or applicable. His classes are typically characterized by a 50/50 split between lecture and case method, with a very inclusive approach as he skillfully weaves students comments and feedback into class discussions. In addition to being very accessible to students outside of the classroom, he also creates a Feedback Circle where students can provide him with guidance on how to improve his courses. Finally, as Director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management, Professor Useem is also responsible for pioneering Whartons very well know Leadership Venture program which students clamor to be a part of.
The Wharton faculty is divided into 11 academic departments

1. Finance 2. Management 3. Operations & Information Management 4. Marketing 5. Statistics 6. Accounting 7. Legal Studies & Business Ethics 8. Business & Public Policy 9. Real Estate 10. Insurance & Risk Management 11. Health Care Management
Professor Bradlow is always willing to make himself available to chat with students about course concepts and projects and he has been known to return emails off his BlackBerry at all hours of the night.
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FA C U LT Y
Franklin Allen Nippon Life Professor of Finance, Professor of Economics; Co-Director of the Financial Institutions Center Professor Allens approachable and engaging teaching style, and ability to make complex corporate finance topics simpler to understand, has won over Wharton students year after year. His introductory finance class, which he has taught for 25+ years, has often been referred to as a well polished diamond. Professor Allens class material is very accessible to students (they can attend lectures in person, view online, read his lecture notes, or read the textbook which he co-authored) allowing them to learn the content in whatever way best suits them. Students often describe his class as story time since his course notes essentially serve as a script for what he says in each class making class attendance optional, a luxury for time constrained Wharton students. Although his class is almost 100 percent lecture, he is very willing to take questions to cement students understanding. Professor Allens classes are always characterized by his signature motivating stories/examples, which are presented at the start of each class. Amazingly, he learns every students name despite having roughly 700 students each semester. He is highly approachable and accessible outside of class, providing lunchtime chats to allow students to interact with him in informal settings, and responds quickly to student emails and inquiries. Professor Allen is very engaged in Wharton Student life, and has even had a few cameo performances in Wharton Follies demonstrating his enthusiasm for the community. Students have made clear their affection for Professor Allen, handing him their Whatever It Takes and Above and Beyond the Call of Duty student teaching awards. He is also a recipient of the Helen Kardon Moss Anvil teaching award for outstanding teaching quality, selected by students, administrators, and faculty members. Jeremy J. Siegel Russell E. Palmer Professor of Finance In addition to being a world-renowned and very high profile finance expert whose book Stocks for the Long Run is considered one of the top books on investing, Professor Siegel is considered one of the best professors on the Wharton faculty. A recipient of countless teaching awards including the Helen Kardon Moss Anvil award, students bet the farmin the auction when it comes to securing a spot in one of Professor Siegels classes. His lectures are not only entertaining, but also highly relevant to what is going on in the financial markets. If students arent lucky enough to get into a Professor Siegel class, they can always hang out by the front door to witness him pontificating on whats happening in the market while staring intently at his Bloomberg screen in one of his legendary weekly market updates. In addition to his tremendous enthusiasm for his area of study, Professor Siegel does a great job of integrating course material with current events, and is known for bringing the real world into the classroom. Professor Siegel speaks from the perspective of a trader and does not get bogged down in theoretical minutiae. One student referred to him as a traders trader. While his courses are heavy on lecture, his engaging style encourages students to grapple with the complexities of the market. However, given the large size of his classes, they can be somewhat impersonal at times, and Professor Siegels very busy schedule makes him difficult to reach, although he does respond to email. Z. John Zhang Murrel J. Ades Professor; Professor of Marketing Professor Zhang epitomizes genuine enthusiasm for his area of expertise (Pricing). Its clear that pricing problems keep Professor Zhang up at night. Students love Professor Zhangs passion for his subject and his ability to integrate real world examples into very theoretical course content. His coursework has also been praised for its applicability to marketing and non-marketing majors alike given his ability to put the content into a broader context of increasing firm value. Professor Zhang brings a great sense of humor and engaging manner to the classroom, and there is never a dull moment in his classes. Starting each class with his signature brain teaser underscoring the concept of the day, Professor Zhang gives students the tools to think strategically about pricing and teaches them how to frame issues enabling them to think through them. Very accessible outside of class, Professor Zhang is eager to help students think through class projects and to sponsor independent studies. He is also quick to respond to email questions and easy to find for questions.
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Marshall L. Fisher UPS Transportation Professor for the Private Sector; Professor of Operations and Information Management; Co-Director, Fishman-Davidson Center for Service and Operations Management In addition to being a highly regarded expert in the retail and global supply chain management field, Professor Fisher is enthralled with the topic and his enthusiasm is something students love. Professor Fishers classes are very discussion-oriented and typically 90 percent case method and 10 percent lecture. Professor Fisher is known for leveraging his excellent relationships in industry to bring in fantastic guest lecturers from companies ranging from Nokia to Nike that provide unique, real world insight that extends student learning beyond the case material and significantly improves the classroom experience. Many of his students have also been lucky enough to interact with these executives outside of class as a direct result of Professor Fishers close relationships. Professor Fisher is also known for his affable manner and approachability. He very accessible responding quickly to email and regularly meets with students outside of class. Stuart Diamond Practice Professor of Legal Studies; Adjunct Professor of Law The recipient of top student ratings every year, Professor Diamonds Negotiations course is a tough one in which to gain a seat. Influenced very much by his own experiences versus just negotiation theory, Professor Diamond uses and refines his negotiating methods every day in his own strategic consulting practice where he advises and trains Fortune 500 companies, veteran executives and even heads of state. His teaching methodology forces students to practice negotiating every week in real-life situations, and students quickly learn that Professor Diamonds lessons are practical and that his negotiating methods effective. He is known for engaging honestly with students, giving them tough feedback but also asking them for unvarnished criticism of his class. Professor Diamond is very open-minded and is actively tweaking his course throughout the semester based on feedback from current and past students. His classes are typically a split of lecture and case study and are quite demanding, requiring quite a bit of preparation outside of class. Despite his busy travel schedule, he is very accessible and consistently offers his time to students outside of class, going as far as to make himself available for phone call appointments if the need arises.
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THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA The data below is for the Class of 2012, reflecting candidates in the 2009-10 admissions season, and an incoming class that matriculated in Fall 2010.
APPENDIX
Admissions Statistics
In keeping with its status as one the biggest (and best) business schools in the world, Wharton receives over 7,000 applications each year - a number topped by only Harvard Business School. That massive application volume, combined with a robust yield rate of 67%, is why Wharton admits just 13% of the applicant pool despite bringing in a large class of over 800 students. The average GMAT and GPA numbers are as lofty as one would expect for a program of Whartons caliber, however there is a much larger range of both scores and grades than a smaller program (notably Stanford) typically has. Wharton is very generous in reporting the entire range of scores, which many schools do not do. Do not read too much into this though; it could be raising hopes inappropriately high to presume that because they admitted at least one person last year with a 560 GMAT score, that your application with a similar score will be successful. The odds against it are great.
Total Applicants ...........................6,442

(a drop of 375 from previous year)
Number Accepted ......about 1,000 Enrolled Class .....................................845

(up from 817)
Percent Admitted ......................... 15% Median GMAT ...................................720

(stable for several years)
GMAT range of all admitted students ...............560-790 Middle 80% GMAT Range ............................................650-770 Median Years of Work Experience .................................. 4 Percent of Early-Career Candidates Accepted................. 22%
(with 0-3 years of work experience; a decrease from 26% previously)
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Visiting Wharton
The best way for candidates to truly understand if Wharton is the right fit for them is to visit the campus and get a feel for the academic environment, student life, and overall campus culture though visiting the school has no effect on the admissions decision. Visiting the school presents the opportunity for face-to-face contact with current students, professors, and admissions representatives. Interestingly, some of Whartons peers have cut back on the opportunities that visitors have to engage with them on campus, while also restricting travel for their admissions team due to budget concerns with the economic downturn. Wharton still offers a variety of ways for candidates to experience the school for themselves. Advance registration is recommended for all activities, although it is not required. Campus Tours. Wharton offers student-led tours that allow the candidate to explore the campus from an MBA students perspective. Tours depart from the Admissions Office reception area in Huntsman Hall, Monday through Thursday, 12:00 noon to 12:45 PM, during admissions season starting in mid-September and running through mid-April (advance registration recommended). Information Sessions. On-campus information sessions are offered daily during the academic year, Monday through Friday, at 3:00 PM. Information sessions are held on Fridays only in April and May, and are discontinued entirely in the summer months (check the Visit Wharton page of their website to confirm availability). These sessions provide candidates with the opportunity to interact with a member of the admissions committee who will present an introduction of Wharton and answer questions about the program and the admissions process. When school is in session, current MBA students join the group to provide a student perspective. Meet at the reception area of the Admissions Office in Huntsman Hall (advance registration recommended). Class Visits. Class visits afford the candidate an opportunity to observe the interaction between Wharton students and professors. Candidates are permitted to visit classes anytime school is in session from mid-September to mid-April either independently based on class availability, or accompanied by a student escort when one is available for the class you wish to visit . The candidate can choose the course they would like to attend from the courses offered while they are visiting. Class visits are 90 minutes long and are offered Monday through Thursday at 9:00 AM, 10:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 3:00 PM. See the Visit Wharton page to explore the options available. Lunch with Students. Wharton offers prospective students the opportunity to lunch and learn with current students, which is an excellent opportunity to gain first-hand insight into the Wharton community. The Lunch Program is available to candidates daily, Monday through Thursday, from 12:45 PM (right after the student-led Campus Tours end) to 1:15 PM from midSeptember through mid-April. (Lunch is Dutch treat meaning each person pays his or her own meal) Meet at the reception area of the Admissions Office in Huntsman Hall. Happy Hour at the MBA Pub. MBA Pub is a weekly activity that allows Wharton students to connect with their classmates in a fun, social setting. Prospective students are invited to attend the MBA Pub Happy Hour if visiting campus on a Thursday. There they can interact with many Wharton students and experience the schools culture directly. Happy Hour takes place every Thursday starting at 4:30 PM (and usually going on quite a bit longer than an hour!) from midSeptember through mid-April. Outreach Events. In addition to campus visits, Wharton offers a variety of opportunities to engage with the Wharton community, including admissions events and coffee chats in more than 150 cities and 45 countries. Unlike other schools who often dont begin these outreach activities until August or September, you can spot Wharton on the road starting around June. There are also MBA/Lauder events designed specifically to educate prospects about that unique program. Visit the schools website to view the most current list of upcoming events.
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The Wharton School and Social Media

The main Wharton website and expanded Internet community at Wharton are useful, and the admissions team along with both graduate and undergraduate programs are active in various channels. Certain questions about the MBA application process can be answered on the valuable S2S (Student to Student) discussion board. Try searching through the forums before posting a new question, as most of the basic ones have already been answered.
S2S Discussion Board - http://engage.wharton.upenn.edu/MBA/forums/ - This is a valuable
Contact Information
Office of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid The Wharton School University of Pennsylvania 420 Jon M. Huntsman Hall 3730 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19104.6340
Email: mbaoperations@wharton.upenn.edu Phone: Fax:
source of information on the school and on admissions. Keep in mind that its student to student - the answers you see here are generally not from the Wharton admissions office. A few contributors have very valuable information to share; some others (even if they are current Wharton students) may not be as reliable. (Just because a student is posting on this forum does not mean that he or she is directly involved with the admissions process.)
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/WhartonSchool - Wharton Admissions seems much
215.898.6183 215.898.0120
more active on Facebook than most of their fellow admissions offices; lots of other messages from the overall community
Twitter - http://twitter.com/wharton - Worth following; lots of activity across the school
campus and community (more than just admissions)

YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/user/thewhartonschool - Becoming more prolific with a
stronger presence of videos featuring alumni, EMBA and conference activities, and of course commencement and convocation addresses
Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewhartonschool/ - Wharton is perhaps the only top school
using Flickr as part of its social media strategy; features both undergraduate and MBA events
Admissions Blog - http://engage.wharton.upenn.edu/MBA/blogs/mbaadmissions_blog/
default.aspx - mostly announcements about admissions events and news of holiday schedules, updated every few weeks
The Wharton Diaries http://engage.wharton.upenn.edu/MBA/blogs/studentdiarists/ - Al-
lows candidates to explore life at Wharton through the eyes of current students
The Wharton Website - http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/mba/index.cfm - contains a lot of
information, though, as with other schools, it may require digging to uncover the details
LinkedIn - Wharton Alumni Affairs has a private group on LinkedIn just for graduates
And of course the Veritas Prep Blog is an active resource for Wharton-specific information and targeted admissions strategies, available for free and updated every weekday.
The Wharton School invites candidates to register as a prospective student in their database. By registering your interest in the school, you will receive periodic updates including announcements of admissions events and other information about admissions, and you will gain access to the myWhartonMBA page.
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Costs & Financial Assistance at Wharton

For those who aspire to attend Wharton, the only thing more daunting than gaining admissions is figuring out how to foot the bill. Like most elite graduate school programs, Wharton offers a variety of programs to help students pay the programs lofty tuition - a tuition that is higher than almost all other programs in existence.
Tuition and Costs

The following annual costs are based on information released by Wharton for the 2011-12 academic year and are estimated for a single student with no dependents:
Financial Assistance Options
Wharton Merit-Based Scholarships. Approximately 30 percent of first-year Wharton students receive merit-based fellowships, ranging from small awards to full scholarships. Specific instructions and criteria for applying for these fellowships are provided at the time of admission. Wharton encourages fellowship applications from all students given that the criteria for selection of awards can extend beyond financial need and merit to include personal background, academic and extracurricular achievement, leadership, community involvement, interpersonal skills, integrity, and honesty. Corporate and Foundation Fellowships - Provided through the donations from a range of companies and for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Joseph Wharton Fellowship - Wharton Fellowship grants range from $5,000 to $20,000 named in honor of Joseph Wharton, the founder of the Wharton School. Specific instructions and criteria for applying for Wharton Fellowships are provided upon admission. Howard E. Mitchell Fellowships (HEM) - This full-tuition fellowship is awarded to exceptional students of Hispanic, African-American, and American Indian descent. Emerging Economy Fellowship - $20,000 fellowships for students from emerging economies, which help offset the financial costs of the MBA for students from regions where repayment of large loans would be difficult. European Fellowship - Established in 1996 by Whartons European Advisory Board, selected recipients receive $15,000. Applicants must be citizens of a European country. United States permanent residents, students who will become permanent residents during the MBA program and dual citizens of a European country and the United States, are not eligible. Henry Ralph Ringe Fellowship - Established in 1959 by Henry Ralph Ringe, this $10,000 fellowship is awarded to a Mexican citizen. United States permanent residents, students who will become permanent residents during the MBA program and dual citizens of Mexico and the United States, are not eligible. Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation Fellowship - Established in 2007 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai, this is full-tuition fellowship. Second-Year Fellowships/Assistantships - Wharton features a variety of second- year fellowships and assistantships including: Leadership Fellowships, Admissions Graduate Assistantships, Teaching/Research Assistantships, and Omnicom Communications Fellowships.
Tuition and Fees ................ $58,244 per year* Health Insurance ................... $2,974 per year Room and Board ................$22,188 per year Books and Supplies ............ $2,000 per year Miscellaneous ......... $3,794 per year TOTAL...........................$89,200
*Includes $1,715 Pre-Term fee The Global Immersion Program is optional; participation would incur additional costs This is definitely one of the more expensive MBA programs around.
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A P P E N D I X
Federal and Private Loans

As with most graduate programs, Wharton makes available a series of loan programs that make up the bulk of each students financial assistance: Federal Stafford Loan - Available to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. The maximum dollar amount is $20,500 and the subsidized amount can be up to $8,500, depending on financial need. Federal Perkins Loan - An interest-free loan while in school, it is a smaller loan program available to qualified students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Federal Graduate PLUS Loans - This loan can cover cost of attendance after other assistance has been calculated, provided the student qualifies and is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Outside Funding Options - Once a Wharton student has borrowed $20,500 in federal loans, they may engage with an alternative loan lender to subsidize the remaining expenses. Wharton does not advocate for any one program; however, they provide a list of options to explore. They also encourage students to identify a lender of their choosing outside of this list should they find more favorable terms. Wharton Teaching and Research Assistantships - Wharton makes it clear that its a fulltime job to get an MBA. However, sometimes on-campus jobs are available as a TA or Research Assistant, based on faculty need.
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A P P E N D I X
Professional Recruitment at Wharton

Career Development Resources
Similar to all the top business schools, Wharton offers a number of resources to its students to assist them in their job search process. Students are encouraged to take advantage of these resources from the moment they step onto campus and as alumni. However, the career management process is largely in the hands of the students, so they must take the initiative if they want to benefit from Whartons career management resources. In addition to official Career Management resources, Wharton students themselves are a resource, coming together to help and coach one another in preparation for interviews, etc., as part of professional clubs or as informal groups of students interested in similar career paths. Whartons Career Management team facilitates the following opportunities for students: Career Planning Workshops. These workshops are targeted at first-year students to assist them with a range of topics including how to conduct job research, interviewing, and rsum writing. Knowledge Resources. This is a comprehensive website maintained by Career Management offering students information on careers in specific industries, industry visits to campus, as well as tools to research companies and industries. Career Counseling. The Career Management office offers one-on-one counseling to assist students in their job exploration process, discussing a range of issues from identifying the right industry to developing a job search strategy to mock interviewing. Career Treks. The Career Management team, in conjunction with the various professional clubs, coordinates Career Treks. These small groups of students visit a range of companies and parts of the world, providing students with the opportunity to engage with target companies and learn more about working in certain industries or regions of the world. Some examples of past treks include the China trek, San Francisco trek, and the Venture Capital/Private Equity trek. Employer Information Sessions. These informal sessions bring representatives from various companies on campus to educate students about their company, culture, and industry. Rsum Book. A web-based rsum creation and collection system available to employers for recruiting purposes to identify students with the skills and abilities they seek. On Campus Interviews. The Career Management office works with hundreds of companies to bring them onto campus for interviews. A web-based system exists for students to identify companies coming to campus, to drop resumes, to schedule interviews, and to bid for interview spots. Job Board. An online job posting board available to Wharton students and alums hosting internships, full-time jobs, and post-graduate level job opportunities. Alumni Network. Wharton boasts the largest alumni network (accessible through a searchable online alumni directory) of any business school (approximately 84,000), which serves as an excellent resource for networking within or learning about industries and job opportunities. Alumni Resources. Career Management maintains a number of tools available to alums long after they graduate to assist them in the management of their career, including an alumni job board, experienced hire resume book, and salary and relocation resources.
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A P P E N D I X
THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA Far more graduates go to work in the Northeast, the West, and abroad than stay in the Mid-Atlantic region. The data below reflects the Class of 2010 (the latest available). Function
Corporate Finance 4% Business Development 4% Product/ Brand Marketing 7% General/Project Management/ Mgmt Dev 6% Private Equity 9% Investment Mgmt/ Portfolio Mgmt 9% Real Estate 3% Sales & Trading 3% Research 2% <1% Each: Legal Services Restructuring Risk Management Control/Accounting Consulting/ Entrepreneurial Mgmt. Strategy Operations/Prod. Mgmt. 32% Product Dev./Struct. Sales
Employment Statistics
Wharton puts the vast majority of its graduates into finance and consulting positions. Almost 60% of the accepted offers originated from Wharton-initiated recruiting activities or an alumni contact; this is not the strongest number weve seen (compare to 83% school-facilitated jobs landed by Duke graduates, for example - though to be fair, Duke is placing fewer students, and so in absolute terms, the numbers are probably comparable). About 25 students start their own businesses coming out of Wharton each year. This is similar to Columbia.
Investment Banking 14%
Location
Middle East 3% Latin America 4% Europe 5% Asia 11% <1% Africa Australia Canada
Southwest 3% South 3% Midwest 5% Mid-Atlantic 9% Philadelphia, D.C.
Northeast 42% Boston, NY
West 13%
Industry
Manufacturing 2% Media and Entertainment 2% Real Estate 3% Consumer Goods & Retail 6% Technology 6% Healthcare/ Pharma/Biotech 7% Public Interest 2% Professional Srvcs 1% Energy 2%
Financial Services 40%
Consulting 29%
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A P P E N D I X
Major Employers
Major companies across the globe recruit Wharton graduates and many of the most common employers are similar to those that recruit at other top business schools. The following are among the most common employers, listed in order of popularity.
Salaries

Median figures for Wharton graduates have been stable for several years: Base salary: $110,000 Hiring bonus: $20,000
McKinsey & Company Boston Consulting Group Bain & Company Morgan Stanley Citigroup JPMorgan Chase Deloitte Consulting Deutsche Bank Goldman Sachs Credit Suisse Microsoft Corporation Pacific Investment Management Company Amazon Booz & Company Merrill Lynch Barclays Bank Johnson & Johnson
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A P P E N D I X
Veritas Prep and Your Wharton Application

Veritas Prep has a distinguished track record helping our clients gain acceptance to the worlds elite business schools, including Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania. Our years of experience and unique consulting process are the keys to helping our clients present the best possible applications to this very selective school.
Our Team
Our team of Wharton consultants includes former admission representatives, alumni interviewers, members of influential student groups, and, of course, accomplished professionals in a variety of fields. With multiple Wharton consultants on our admission consulting team, we are able to provide customized service to clients based on background, timing, and needs. Our Wharton consultants have career experience in a variety of industries and functions. Each client who works with Veritas Prep on a Wharton comprehensive package is assigned a customized team of consultants: a Head Consultant and a Wharton Specialist. Head Consultant. All of our Head Consultants have experience in admissions that affords them a unique perspective on the applicant pool and how Wharton candidates must position themselves to express proper fit, and to stand out in an increasingly competitive process. Your Head Consultant guides you through every step of the process: from the initial Diagnostic Session to submission of the application, through the interview and hopefully to acceptance! Wharton Specialist. Every comprehensive package client will also receive input from a Wharton Specialist who is either a current student or a recent graduate. Specialists provide insider information about the program they attended to ensure that you demonstrate school fit. In addition, they offer valuable insights about how to stand out from your competition. If you select a Wharton school package or choose to work with a specialist on an hourly basis, our team will ensure that your application components are perfectly tailored to Wharton. For more on Veritas Preps incredible team and the individuals who serve as our Wharton consultants, please visit the Consultant Profiles page of our website.
I am thrilled to inform you that I will be attending Wharton this year! Veritas helped me to discover what Wharton has to offer, and why it would be a good fit for me. I truly feel that this program is the best fit for me, given my international business background and my future interests. Veritas, thank you again for all of your help. I truly could not have done it without you!
Domenick Scioli
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Our Wharton Services

The Wharton School is always one of the most popular schools among our clients due to its reputation as an innovative international program and because of its incredibly strong, globally recognized brand. Diagnostic Session. Our Diagnostic Session - the first step in our comprehensive packages and also available as a stand-alone service - assures that your goals and prospects are properly aligned. In the Diagnostic Session, you will speak with a Head Consultant who has experience with Wharton, and you will start to analyze your strengths and weaknesses and discuss your career goals in terms of how this great school can help you achieve them. Personalized MBA Game Plan. After the Diagnostic Session, if you have purchased a comprehensive package, your Head Consultant will create a Personalized MBA Game Plan, a strategic approach based on your professional, academic, and personal history. Those elements will become the foundation of the Wharton application story, allowing you to demonstrate leadership, innovation, maturity, teamwork skills, analytical ability, and potential for academic excellence. A major component of the Game Plan is the identification of your strengths and weaknesses - as well as truly unique qualities - relative to the Wharton applicant pool. The Personalized Game Plan becomes the application platform from which to work and can help mold and shape your strategy of how to address application components such as the rsum, essays, and letters of recommendations. Leadership. Leadership is an important theme to communicate in the Wharton application, particularly because Wharton knows that it is competing with Harvard for the best candidates. They will be looking for similar qualities in the essays, although they will also be on the lookout for evidence that an essay has been repurposed from another school! Leadership at Wharton is best expressed in terms of impact, and on a candidates ability to inspire and motivate. This is about more than just leading a team or spearheading a volunteer effort. Veritas Prep encourages clients to reach into their background and identify instances that may not be the most obvious stories to tell in order to display this important quality. Involvement. A source of great pride in the Wharton community is the fact that its students lead important initiatives that are often adopted by the administration and lead to exciting improvements at the school. Students are expected to play an active role and make their mark on the Wharton community. Communicating and demonstrating this level of involvement in your background can help the admissions team understand the type of contribution you might make while at Wharton. Global Sensibility. Whether applicants have never traveled outside of the U.S., or they have lived on multiple continents and speak several languages, communicating a global sensibility in a Wharton application is important. Wharton has one of the most diverse and internationally rich communities of all the top business school programs and a stated focus on expanding its global reach (as evidenced by partnerships like the Wharton/INSEAD Global Alliance). Candidates may want to demonstrate how they will benefit from the global aspects of the program and the contributions they will make to the diversity of the UPenn community. Balance and Perfection. Once the themes of leadership, involvement and global sensibility have been installed as the foundation of the Wharton application, the Veritas Prep Head Consultant ensures that all of the questions have been properly answered, that the rsum and essays have been crafted with style and efficiency, and that all of the key themes have been addressed in a balanced way throughout the application. Its not easy applying to one of the most popular schools in the world, but Veritas Preps teambased consulting approach and unique methodology ensure that our clients give themselves the best chance of admissions success through the most accurate, engaging, and persuasive portrayal of their candidacy that they can possibly create. This is true of our approach to all schools, but particularly at Wharton, where the themes must resonate so strongly and consistently throughout the application.
Our Diagnostic Session - the first step in our comprehensive packages as well as a stand-alone service - assures that each clients goals and prospects are properly aligned.
Your Head Consultant will create a Personalized MBA Game Plan, a strategic approach based on your professional, academic, and personal history.
A source of great pride in the Wharton community is the fact that its students lead important initiatives that are often adopted by the administration and lead to exciting improvements at the business school.
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About Veritas Prep

Founded in 2002, Veritas Prep has emerged as a global leader in GMAT education and MBA admissions consulting. The companys business school team includes more than 300 graduates of the worlds elite MBA programs, managed from its headquarters in Malibu, California. The Veritas Prep consulting model is built on adding value to a students application process by providing both mentorship and expertise. The business school admissions process has become increasingly competitive and applicants must do everything possible to showcase their value. Our consultants assist applicants in presenting their unique stories in the most professional and meaningful way possible. In a sense, our consultants are translators - helping an applicant discover raw materials and information and then helping that candidate articulate a unique story in a language that admissions committees understand. More than anything, Veritas Prep gives candidates a sense of ownership and control over the process. Quality of work, attention to detail, care for the client, and integrity are the lynchpins of a successful consultation. In addition to elite MBA admissions consulting services, Veritas Prep also offers the finest GMAT preparation available in the industry, as well as admissions consulting for law school, medical school, and graduate school. For a complete list of Veritas Preps many services, please visit our website.
Success Favors the Prepared
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The 2012 Essential Guide To The Wharton School

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THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

About The Wharton School

The University of Pennsylvania

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

The Wharton Campus

Wharton San Francisco

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

Degree Programs at Wharton

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

Whats New at Wharton

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

The Wharton Approach

Wharton is a pioneer of new possibilities in business education.

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

What Makes Wharton Different?

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

The Wharton School Is a Good Fit for You If...

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

Respond to 2 of the following 3 questions:

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

Deadlines and Round Strategies

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

Percent International................... 36% Number of Countries Represented...........................................68 Average Age ..........................................28

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

Wharton Academics & Grading Policies

Content Areas in the new Core Curriculum

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

Notable Faculty at Wharton

The Wharton faculty is divided into 11 academic departments

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

Total Applicants ...........................6,442

Number Accepted ......about 1,000 Enrolled Class .....................................845

Percent Admitted ......................... 15% Median GMAT ...................................720

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

The Wharton School and Social Media

campus and community (more than just admissions)

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

Costs & Financial Assistance at Wharton

Tuition and Costs

Financial Assistance Options

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

Federal and Private Loans

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

Professional Recruitment at Wharton

Investment Banking 14%

Southwest 3% South 3% Midwest 5% Mid-Atlantic 9% Philadelphia, D.C.

Northeast 42% Boston, NY

Financial Services 40%

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA