Wharton has not changed its application essay questions for several seasons now. This is usually a sign that the admissions committee is happy with the kind of essays applicants are providing in response. Wharton asks candidates to share what they plan to do with their MBA in the short and long term and to discuss what they can contribute to the school’s community. The school’s optional essay then lets applicants address any issues with their profile, if needed.
Ready to get to work on your Wharton application? Read on.
- Wharton application essay tips
- The Wharton MBA Team-Based Discussion
- Wharton application deadlines
- Wharton class profile
Wharton application essay tips
Wharton Essay #1
How do you plan to use the Wharton MBA program to help you achieve your future professional goals? You might consider your past experience, short and long-term goals, and resources available at Wharton. (500 words)
This question is specifically asking you to reflect on your aspirations, accomplishments, and essentially, “Why Wharton?” It is future focused and exclusively professional. What do you want to do professionally that you can’t do now and that a Wharton MBA will enable you to do? What “soft” and “hard” skills do you hope to acquire at Wharton? How will a Wharton MBA (the education, credential, and experience), combined with your past experience and education, help you achieve your dreams?
Wharton Director of Admissions Blair Mannix explains:
“We want students to do self-reflection on why they want this degree. We want students to explore the pivot moment – when they decided they wanted to do this – and unpack the talent and treasure they can bring to the MBA. Spend the time and really think about the top three things you will get out of the program.”
As with most MBA goals questions, Wharton wants to see how you plan to connect your MBA education to your future aspirations. Keep in mind that Wharton has an incredibly rich curriculum with a wide variety of majors and courses available, both at Wharton and across Penn. How will you take advantage of its unique offerings to achieve your career goals?
To answer this question well, you need to have a sense of your next steps professionally and how you plan to use Wharton’s myriad resources to make it the perfect next stop on your professional journey.
There are many ways you could structure your response. You might start with a pivotal experience that illustrates either what you seek to accomplish or how it shaped your short and long-term goals. Then explain why this experience – ideally, an accomplishment – is important to you and how it relates to the question. In doing so, make sure you specifically state how the Wharton experience is key to achieving your objectives.
Wharton 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? (400 words)
For this essay, start with the end in mind: How do you intend to contribute to the Wharton community?
To answer that question, research the cocurricular opportunities and pedagogical approach at Wharton. How will you add to the program and its community? Based on your experience, what difference do you intend to make? How will you participate and contribute?
Now decide on the aspects of your experience and background that have prepared you to have your intended impact. You can highlight achievements, challenges you’ve overcome, initiatives you’ve led, and teamwork situations, and that’s just for starters.
Brainstorm ideas and jot them down. Talk with friends and family and ask them what they think your personal strengths are and how they have seen you make an impact in your student or professional communities. What unique value-add do they think you can bring to a student community of professionals?
Remember to think about what is important to you, and not just your goals, but your values. Now you’re now ready to write. The MBA application process is nothing if not a journey of self-reflection!
Start this essay with the impactful experience from your past and analyze the lesson you learned from that accomplishment. Then bring it forward and apply it to your intended role at Wharton.
Alternatively, you can start with your intended impact at Wharton and then go back to your past experience.
Regardless of how you structure your essay, you want Wharton to see you as a giver and contributor.
Wharton 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)
The name of the MBA reapplicant game is “Growth and Improvement.” Wharton is asking for reflection, and you need to provide it, while also showing how that reflection has led to action and advancement. Demonstrate to Wharton that you are a better candidate this time than last.
Wharton 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)
“Addressing extenuating circumstances” means that you should describe the issues and situations in a straightforward way. Give the admissions committee context, and absolutely avoid giving excuses or deflecting blame. If possible, provide evidence that those circumstances were temporary and will not affect your performance.
Use this essay strategically. Admissions officers are reading many, many applications, so do not use the optional essay to superfluously expand on something you have already touched on in your other essays. Any aspect of your application that you think might raise a question mark for the admissions committee should be addressed clearly and succinctly here. Don’t make them guess. Alternatively, if you have some crucial aspect of your profile that you feel you need to convey (and have not shared in another essay or on your resume), this is a good place to do so.
The Wharton MBA Team-Based Discussion
If you are invited to participate in a Wharton MBA Team-Based Discussion, be sure to listen to this advice: What Is Wharton’s Team-Based MBA Interview Like? Tips From Director of Admissions Blair Mannix.
Wharton Application Deadlines
| Round 1 | September 4, 2024 |
| Round 2 | January 3, 2025 |
| Round 3 | April 2, 2025 |
| Deferred Admissions Round | April 23, 2025 |
To be considered for a round, you must submit a completed application by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the day of the deadline.
Source: Wharton website
***Disclaimer: Information is subject to change. Please check with Wharton directly to verify its essay questions, instructions, and deadlines.***
Wharton Class Profile
Here is a look at the Wharton MBA Class of 2025 (data taken from the Wharton website):
Applications: 6,194
Enrolled class: 874
Women: 50%
LGBTQ+ students: 11%
U.S. race/ethnicity (Federal guidelines reporting):
- White: 27%
- Asian American: 21%
- Black/African American: 9%
- Hispanic/Latinx: 7%
- Multi-race: 4%
- Did not report: 1%
- Native American: 0%
International students: 31%
Countries represented: 70
Average GMAT score: 728
Average GRE Quant score: 162
Average GRE Verbal score: 162
Average GPA (from students who attended universities with a 4.0 grading system): 3.6
Undergraduate major:
- Humanities: 40%
- STEM: 33%
- Business: 27%
Interdisciplinary and dual degree programs (students):
- Health Care Management: 73
- Lauder MBA/MA: 70
- Moelis Advance Access (Deferred Admission): 57
- Carey JD/MBA: 16
Average years of work experience: 5
Range of years of work experience: 1-21
Previous Industry Experience:
- Consulting: 27%
- Private Equity/Venture Capital: 14%
- Technology: 12%
- Nonprofit/Government: 10%
- Investment Banking: 9%
- Financial Services: 7%
- Other: 7%
- Health Care: 5%
- Investment Management: 3%
- Consumer Packaged Goods: 2%
- Real Estate: 2%
- Energy: 1%
- Media/Entertainment: 1%
- Retail: 1%
Is Wharton your target school?
Get started with your b-school research:
- Which MBA Program Is Right for Me? The Ultimate Guide to Choosing an MBA Program
- M7 MBA Programs: Everything You Need to Know in 2024
Once you have decided that Wharton is the place for you, Accepted can help you make your application stand out from the rest.
- What’s New at Penn’s The Wharton School. And How to Get In, podcast Episode 440, an interview with Wharton Director of Admissions Blair Mannix
- Applying to Wharton Lauder? Do Your Research!, podcast Episode 465, an interview with Kara Keenan Sweeney, former director of admissions marketing and financial aid at the Lauder Institute
Kara Keenan Sweeney has more than 15 years of experience in MBA admissions, having worked for some of the world’s top business school programs, including Columbia Business School, INSEAD, and The Lauder Institute’s joint degree MA/MBA program with The Wharton School and the MA/JD program with Penn Law at the University of Pennsylvania. Kara has guided, coached, and counseled thousands of MBA and EMBA applicants, reviewed innumerable applications, sat on admissions committees, and interviewed countless applicants, including while running Wharton’s Team-Based Discussions both virtually and in person. Want Kara to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!
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