Wharton MBA Essays & Analysis 2025-2026

The following essay topic analysis examines the Wharton MBA essays for the 2025-2026 admissions season.

You can also review essay topic analyses for other leading MBA programs as well as general Essay Tips to further aid you in developing your admissions essays.

Wharton MBA Essay Topic Analysis 2025-2026

Essay 1

• What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (50 words)
• What are your career goals for the first three to five years after completing your MBA, and how will those build towards your long-term professional goals? (150 words)

Wharton poses a pair of focused career goals prompts, asking candidates to articulate their post-MBA professional goals and providing some guidance as to the scope of candidate’s responses. With 50 words for the short term, be sure to include your target industry and a potential role or two, as well as some target firms immediately upon graduation. It may behoove you to review what organizations recruit at Wharton or establish your relevant connections, to show the adcom you have done your research and have a sound base for your plans. You can then establish how this position is a springboard for the next steps in your career–whether through skills or industry exposure you expect to gain, or natural progression within a given firm.

Then, applicants are asked to explain their medium- and long-term career goals, as Wharton is looking for how you expect to progress in your career. You can identify your anticipated industry and roles, culminating in a foundation for the long term. For instance, if you ultimately want to open your own business in the long term, consider how the short- and medium-term plans will have prepared you to do so. Keep in mind that leaders are expected to have vision, so, throughout this response, consider the broad impact you hope to have on your industry, community, country or region and be sure to note it.

Essay 2

Taking into consideration your background—personal, professional, and/or academic—how do you plan to make specific, meaningful contributions to the Wharton community? (350 words; Required)

When first announcing this essay, which appears for a sixth admissions cycle, Wharton Director of Admissions, Blair Mannix, said, “Our main goal is to get to know you the best that we can, and the change to our second prompt was largely motivated by that desire. We hope to give applicants room to reflect on their unique backgrounds and think about what their value-add will be to the Wharton community. Applicants should remember that the Admissions Committee is looking for candidates who will contribute to all aspects of Wharton life.”

With that in mind, you should aim to balance reflections on your past and connect your history with potential future contributions to Wharton. That said, this second question is another classic in terms of MBA essays; adcoms are interested in people who make an impact, whether at work, or in other avenues of their lives. They want to know you’ll make an impact while on campus at Wharton and then as an alum, as you pursue your career and life goals. Whether you choose to draw on your professional, personal or academic life, it’s important to create context before connecting to how you would contribute to Wharton.

As you approach the contributions, specifically, think about how you can translate your experience and related lessons into involvement on the Wharton campus. Creating a link between your past and your potential future at the program will enable you to present a consistent and clear picture of your candidacy, as well as your professional and personal interests. The more information you can provide about how exactly you would contribute (playing a certain role in organizing a particular annual event, for example), the more reason you’ll give the adcom to admit you.

Wharton MBA Reapplicant Essay

Please use this space to share with the Admissions Committee how you have reflected and grown since your previous application and discuss any relevant updates to your candidacy (e.g., changes in your professional life, additional coursework, and extracurricular/volunteer engagements). (250 words; required for reapplicants)
Given the narrow word limit for this response, reapplicants will want to offer a straightforward account of the specific steps they’ve taken to strengthen their applications since last applying to Wharton. Candidates should aim to be as exhaustive as possible as they cover improved quantitative records, enhanced professional qualifications, efforts to become more familiar with the Wharton MBA program, and other ways they’ve worked to become a stronger applicant this season.

Optional Essay

Please use this space to share any additional information about yourself that cannot be found elsewhere in your application and that you would like to share with the Admissions Committee. This space can also be used to address any extenuating circumstances (e.g., unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, areas of weakness, etc.) that you would like the Admissions Committee to consider. (500 words)
Consider these five questions before providing additional information (and extra reading) to the adcom. If you need to address glaring weaknesses or liabilities (as opposed to offering “bonus information” about one’s candidacy), keep responses brief and to-the-point. Offer explanations without making excuses and humbly bring mitigating factors to the reader’s attention.

Clear Admit Resources

Thanks for reading our analysis of this year’s Wharton MBA essay topics! As you work on your Wharton MBA essays and application, we encourage you to consider all of Clear Admit’s offerings:

• UPenn Wharton School of Business Profile on the Clear Admit website: up-to-date advice and admissions information
• Clear Admit LiveWire: admissions updates submitted in real time by applicants to Wharton
• Clear Admit DecisionWire: school selections in real-time by admits to Wharton

Last updated July 16, 2025