The Wharton School – University of Pennsylvania

FAQ

What is the tuition for Wharton’s MBA program?

The tuition for Wharton’s MBA program is $83,230 per year. The total cost of the Wharton MBA program is $115,464 per year; this includes budgeted living expenses.

How hard is it to get into Wharton’s MBA program?

The acceptance rate for Wharton is 20.7% It is important to consider the acceptance rate in the context of the student profile of those who are admitted. For example the average GMAT score is 733.

What is the average GMAT score for admission to Wharton’s MBA program?

The average GMAT score for the incoming class at Wharton is 733.

Does the Wharton MBA program accept the GRE?

Yes. The Wharton MBA program has accepted the GRE for a few years now.

What is the average GRE score for admission to Wharton’s MBA program?

The average GRE scores for the incoming class at Wharton are 162 Verbal and 162 Quantitative.

What is the minimum number of years of work experience required for admission to Wharton’s MBA program?

Wharton does not state a minimum requirement for years of work experience. However, it is important for candidates to be aware that they are being considered against other candidates with an average of 5 years of experience.

What is the average number of years of work experience for admission to Wharton’s MBA program? (or, What is the average age of a Wharton student?)

The average number of years of work experience among students in Wharton’s MBA program is 5.

What is the average starting salary for graduates of the Wharton MBA program?

The median starting salary for Wharton MBA graduates is $175,000. The salary will vary by industry, with consulting and finance jobs generally commanding the higher salaries.

How long is Wharton’s full-time MBA program?

Wharton offers a traditional 2 year MBA program.

What are the application deadlines for Wharton’s MBA program?

The Round 1 MBA application deadline is September 7, 2022. The Round 2 application deadline is January 4, 2023. The Round 3 deadline is March 29, 2023. The deferred admissions round deadline is April 26, 2023.

What percent of Wharton MBA students are women?

The percentage of women in the class at Wharton is 50%.

What type of interview does Wharton use for MBA admissions?

Wharton offers interviews by invitation. The interview is a team-based discussion, comprised of 5-6 interviewees. Following the team-based discussion, each interviewee has a one-to-one short interview, which is resume-based. This means the interviewer has not had access to the application materials.

Admissions

The Class Profile

The Wharton MBA program received 6,319 applications during the 2021-2022 admissions season, and 877 enrolled to be a part of the Class of 2024. Of those 877 students, 50% are women. Thirty-five percent of the class identifies as U.S. minorities, which includes students of African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic American, Native American and multiethnic backgrounds. Thirty-five percent of the Class of 2024 are international students, and a total of 77 countries are represented in the class. The Class of 2024’s average GMAT score was 733 and their average GRE scores were 162 in each section.

The undergraduate and professional profiles of Wharton students are quite diverse. The largest portion of the class, 35%, majored in the humanities, while another 34% had a STEM background. Business constituted 32% of the class. Of those graded on a 4.0 scale, the average GPA was 3.6. After graduation, enrolled students then earned an average of five years of work experience. In terms of industry experience, 27% of students had backgrounds in consulting, followed by financial services/investment banking/investment management at 20%. Technology and non-profit/government were next at 12%  and 11%, respectively. Private equity and venture capital professionals also make up 9 percent of the class.

Application Procedures

The Wharton application season includes three rounds that usually occur in early September, early January and late March; those interested in the Lauder Program must submit their applications in the first or second round. Applicants should apply through Wharton’s online application system and are required to fill out a data form concerning both their personal and professional background. Wharton also requires applicants to provide transcripts from all academic institutions attended, GRE or GMAT scores, TOEFL results if applicable, two essays, a résumé, two letters of recommendation and a $275 application fee. An interview is required for admittance to the MBA program, and interviews are offered to applicants by invitation only.

Interview Reports

Wharton MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / Zoom

Joined Zoom room 10 minutes before interview time, but was only admitted at interview time. Had around 5 minutes to chat to other interviewees, before the 2 second-year students gave us instructions. We gave our 60-second pitch (no timer on screen), then the 25 minute timer for discussion began. Lastly, we had our 5-minute presentation. […]

Wharton MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Zoom

Interview consists of two sections: Team-Based Discussion (30mins) and 1:1 Interview (10 mins), with instructions given by Adcom taking an additional 10 mins. Team Based Discussion: Group of 5-6 students that spend: -Quick intro about yourself, current company, intended major at Wharton -1 minute pitch on TBD prompt, which the Adcom will decide the order […]

Wharton MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Virtual

After the TBD I had a 10 minute one-on-one interview. The adcom asked just 3 questions. Why MBA? Why Wharton? What other clubs and activities do you plan to join? Then I had time to ask her questions.

Wharton MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Second-Year Students / Zoom

Invited to interview 17FEB (scheduled via portal; confirmation along with details and prompt sent same-day) Completed the Virtual Team-Based Discussion (VTBD) on 28FEB with two Second-Year facilitators and 5 other (6 total) applicants. Joined 12 minutes prior to start-time (tested A/V); was allowed into the meeting at exactly 10-minutes prior. Facilitators A/V was off, but […]

Wharton MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student & Adcom / Zoom

I interviewed at Wharton on November 13th, 2022 via Zoom. The interview consisted of two parts – a 60 minute Team Based Discussion (TBD) along with a 10 minute 1:1 interview with a second-year Wharton MBA student. There were 5 other students in my virtual interview in a common Zoom room – everyone was quite […]

Wharton MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / Zoom

I was interviewed in early November. It was a group of six people with two second years. The second years joined 10 minutes before the official time. The TBD was well run. Everyone chimed in and was able to provide input to the final presentation. I was expecting the 25 minutes to be quite long, […]

Wharton MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / Zoom

TBD: The TBD experience was pretty friendly and we had 6 people in total from diverse backgrounds in our discussion group. The facililator started with rules of the TBD and set the countdown. We then focused on each question in the prompt and finished around the countdown of the given time frame. Everyone in my […]

Wharton MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / Zoom

Date of interview: Nov 9 Interview atmosphere: Second-years are casual and friendly. Among the group, there is definitely an effort to be friendly and supportive. However, there is always a hint of competition as expected. Type of interview: Team-based interview followed by a 10-min chat with second years Interview question: Why MBA and why is […]

Wharton MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / Zoom

The interview took place on Zoom with two second-year students. They let us into the room about 10 minutes before the TBD was scheduled to start. There were 6 prospective students participating. We were all American. I actually knew one of the other interviewees, but neither of us let on to the rest of the […]

Wharton Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / Zoom

The interview was really straightforward: “I want you to tell my why MBA and Why Wharton.” The student listened to me, not saying a word and asked in the remaining 1’30” if I had any questions. Not much of an interaction.

Wharton Q&As

Admissions Director Q&A: Blair Mannix of The Wharton School

We are rolling along with our Admissions Director Q&A series and are thrilled to welcome Blair Mannix, Director of Admissions for The Wharton School. Blair has a rich history in higher education, working at Penn since 2008 and specifically in admissions at Wharton for nearly a decade. She has an undergraduate degree from Saint Joseph’s […]

Admissions Director Q&A: Blair Mannix of the Wharton School

We continue our Admissions Director Q&A series with Blair Mannix, the Director of Admissions of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in Philadelphia.  In addition to rigorous quantitative training, Wharton MBA students enjoy an intimate learning environment due to the Learning Team and cohort structure. Students spend their first year divided into Learning Teams of […]

Admissions Director Q&A: Blair Mannix of Wharton

While you may have recently enjoyed her podcast with Clear Admit or her Real Humans profile, Blair Mannix, the director of admissions at the Wharton School, has plenty more to share about the leading MBA program. While she has been a member of the Wharton MBA Admissions team and admissions committee for seven years, her career […]

UPenn / Wharton LiveWire and DecisionWire

Academics

Faculty

Students in the MBA program at Wharton have access to over 240 professors; the school overall has roughly 270 faculty members. Faculty teach across 10 academic departments and also contribute to Wharton’s 20 research centers and initiatives, which have study areas ranging from customer analytics to health economics.

Curriculum

Upon entering the Wharton MBA program, first-year students are immediately divided into Learning Teams of approximately five to six students. The teams are chosen with professional and personal diversity in mind. When classes begin, multiple Learning Teams are brought together to form cohorts of about 70 students. Wharton students complete most of the core curriculum with their cohort fellows and work with the same faculty for their first year; they are better integrated into the Wharton learning community as a result. Wharton adds another layer of group activity through clusters which are groups of approximately 210 students from three cohorts. These students share faculty and administrative resources as well as social elements of the program, like group community service projects. Course material at Wharton is delivered through a mix of lectures, case studies and field study.

Pre-Term commences for first-year MBA students in mid-August, three weeks before the formal beginning of the program. All students are required to participate in Pre-Term activities, which include preparatory courses in key subjects such as financial analysis.  In addition, the first core course of Wharton’s curriculum, Foundations of Leadership and Teamwork, is taught during Pre-Term. Wharton students also attend a two-day Learning Team Retreat at an offsite location, where they are first introduced to the other members of their Learning Team and the second-year student who will serve as their Leadership Fellow.

Wharton’s MBA program operates on a semester system, with the fall semester running from late August through mid-December and the spring semester lasting from mid-January to early May. Students must earn a total of at least 19 and no more than 21 credit units over their four semesters at Wharton. Both semester-long and quarterly classes, which last for about six weeks, are offered each semester. The core curriculum is comprised of six fixed core courses and a choice between over 25 flexible core courses that can be completed in the first year or anytime thereafter. Students may waive courses through pre-term exams or the demonstration of other relevant qualifications. MBA students also have the option to fulfill certain core requirements in either their first or second years of study.

While Wharton provides students with nearly 200 elective courses to choose from, those seeking to further expand their studies may take up to four credit units at another University of Pennsylvania graduate school or may spend a semester studying abroad at one of Wharton’s 17 international exchange partner schools. MBA students are required to tailor their studies by choosing a major or double major and completing at least five credit units in each major area. The 22 major options include the “individualized major,” an opportunity for students to complete their majors in an area not adequately covered by the more standard offerings. The major “Social and Governance Factors for Business” takes effect in 2023-2024. Nearly 5 percent of students choose to pursue this path, while about 40% of students opt to double major. Students wishing to pursue Wharton’s Health Care Management Program must note their interest in this program at the time of application; the program provides supplementary academic and professional resources to help students gain the necessary education in all areas of health care.

Other MBA Degree Options

Beyond the full-time MBA, Wharton offers the MBA/MA Lauder Program—the first joint degree in international management—as well as a three-year MBA/JD from Wharton and Penn Law, and 13 other dual-degree options at University of Pennsylvania schools.  Students may also choose from three dual degrees in conjunction with Johns Hopkins University and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Wharton offers an Executive MBA program at its campuses in Philadelphia and San Francisco, in addition to the new Global cohort, which is a remote learning program with five weekend residencies in Philadelphia and San Francisco.

Majors at Wharton

• Accounting
• Business Analytics
• Business Economics and Public Policy
• Business, Energy, Environment and Sustainability
• Entrepreneurship & Innovation
• Finance
• Health Care Management
• Individualized Major
• International Business
• Management
• Marketing
• Marketing and Operations Management (Joint Major)
• Multinational Management
• Operations, Information and Decisions
• Organizational Effectiveness
• Quantitative Finance
• Real Estate
• Social and Governance Factors for Business
• Statistics
• Strategic Management

Degree Offerings at Wharton

Full-time MBA Program
mba.wharton.upenn.edu/

Interdisciplinary Programs
International Studies (Lauder), Healthcare Management, Biotechnology, Design, En­gineering, Environment, Law, Medical Sci­ences, Nursing, Social Work
https://mba.wharton.upenn.edu/interdisciplinary-programs/

Wharton/School of Advanced International Studies, Wharton/Harvard Kennedy School
https://mba.wharton.upenn.edu/interdisciplinary-programs/

Executive MBA Programs
Philadelphia, San Francisco, Global
http://executivemba.wharton.upenn.edu/

Campus Life

Clubs, Conferences & Competitions

Wharton students can get involved in extracurricular activities across more than 110 student-run organizations, including professional clubs, culture-based clubs, intramural athletic organizations, and community service and special interest associations. For example, the Wharton Global Health Volunteer Program sends volunteers to developing countries to consult on healthcare services. Meanwhile, the Mountaineering and Climbing Club organizes outdoor activities such as hiking, camping and biking that are open to Wharton students, partners and faculty. Most MBA student activities are managed by the graduate program’s student government organization, known as the Wharton Graduate Association.

Each year, Wharton typically features nearly 20 conferences led by students. These include the Global Business Forums, the Annual Wharton Women Summit, and the Restructuring and Distressed Investing Conference, among others. MBA students can also take advantage of Wharton’s competition offerings. For instance, the Wharton Startup Challenge has helped student entrepreneurs receive thousands of dollars in funding and national media coverage for over a decade.

Campus Spaces

The Wharton School is situated on the University of Pennsylvania campus in the University City neighborhood of West Philadelphia. The core of Wharton’s complex, Jon M. Huntsman Hall, was opened to students in August 2002. Nearly $140 million was spent on this facility, which includes 48 classrooms, 57 group study rooms, four teaching labs, two lounges, and several large spaces such as its 300-seat auditorium. MBA students can opt for on-campus housing at Penn’s graduate student buildings, though many decide to live in Philadelphia’s urban neighborhoods or suburbs.

In 2019, Wharton unveiled plans for Tangen Hall, the first on-campus space dedicated to student entrepreneurship and innovation activities. Tangen Hall is a seven-story, 68,000-sqft hub developed by the Hankin Group, designed by KSS Architects, and funded by a $25 million gift from the AKO Foundation. Opened in 2022, Tangen is touted by Penn as the largest student entrepreneurship hub in the world. Tangen offers incubator spaces, maker spaces, a test kitchen, a new Venture Lab, and an Integrated Product Design Program operated by Wharton, the School of Engineering, and the Stuart Weitzman School of Design.

MBA Careers

Career Services

Wharton’s MBA Career Management Team offers a multitude of resources for MBA students seeking employment, including career education programs and mock interviews. Wharton students benefit from one-on-one advising in addition to employer information sessions, on-campus recruiting and job fairs, and varied opportunities for engagement with alumni. Recruiting for summer internships begins during the Focused Recruiting Period in January, a weeklong session that takes place while first-years are still completing core courses, and on-campus recruiting for full-time positions starts up around the second week in October. Students can also go on international and domestic career treks hosted by student clubs and MBA Career Management to meet with firms in many industries.

Career Statistics

Nearly 99 percent of the members of the Class of 2022 who sought employment after graduation had secured at least one job offer by mid-September 2022. The most popular post-MBA industry for 2022 graduates was financial services, with nearly 39% of the class joining such firms.  Just over 24% of graduates took jobs in the consulting industry. Technology, healthcare, and retail were the next most common post-MBA industries, representing roughly 17%, 6% and 3% of the class, respec­tively. Graduates also found work in real estate, media and entertainment, manufacturing, energy, social impact and professional services sectors.

Five percent of the Wharton Class of 2022 accepted positions outside of the U.S., with Asia being the most popular non-U.S. location. About 43% of 2022 graduates took jobs in the Northeastern U.S., while the West and Mid-Atlantic welcomed nearly 25% and 10% of the class, respectively. Six percent headed to the Southwest and nearly five percent settled in the South U.S.

The median salary for the Wharton MBA Class of 2022 landed at $175,000, about a $20k jump over the Class of 2021.

Financing

The cost of tuition for the 2022 to 2023 academic year is $84,874, which includes the $2,000 pre-term fee. Wharton has posted a total cost of $118,568 for students’ first year of study, and this includes $4,029 spent on health insurance, $22,887 for room and board, and $6,778 for books, supplies, and miscellaneous costs. U.S. students and permanent residents qualify for federal and private loans, and Wharton recently established a partnership with Quorum Federal Credit Union that will allow international students to acquire a loan without a cosigner. Wharton also offers a variety of fellowships for which all admitted students are con­sidered and no additional application is required. Students are notified of their acceptance and fellowship nomination concurrently.

Two-Year Program Tuition (per year)

• Tuition and Fees $84,874
• Room and Board $22,887
• Books, Supplies, and Miscellaneous $6,778
• Health Insurance and Personal $4,029
• Total $118,568

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