by Kelly Wilson
Wharton MBA Essay Tips and Deadlines [2025-2026], Class Profile
Despite some changes to the format of the questions, Wharton’s essay prompts continue to focus on career goals and community-oriented themes. As with most MBA goals questions, candidates are asked to share their professional plans for the short and long term and to discuss what they can contribute to the Wharton community. The school’s additional information 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
Essay #1: Two short-form questions
- 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)
Seeking specific information, Wharton provides a combination of prompts that gets to the essence of the career trajectory you are hoping to follow. Whether you pivot or continue down your current path, the adcom wants to understand what role and industry you are aiming for immediately after graduating from the MBA program. With just 50 words available, you also want to include target companies that could serve as the next step in your career path and to communicate a plausible plan.
The second part of the prompt combo seeks information on your medium- and long-term professional goals. By explaining your vision for your long-term goal (think eight to ten years), you help the committee understand your motivations for your desired career path. To complete the picture, explain how you will navigate the medium-term, describing what skills and experience you will need to further gain that will lead you to realize your long-term dream. Identify the specific steps and functional roles that you will follow along your career path.
Essay #2: Long-form essay
Taking into consideration your background – personal, professional, and/or academic – how do you plan to add meaningful value to the Wharton community? (350 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 school’s cocurricular opportunities and pedagogical approach. 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?
Next, decide which aspects of your experience and background have prepared you to make 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 – not just your goals, but also 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 it. Then, bring that lesson forward and apply it to your intended role at Wharton. Alternatively, you could start with your intended impact at Wharton and then go back to your past experience.
Regardless of how you structure your essay, you want the Wharton adcom to see you as a giver and contributor.
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 you were the previous time.
Additional Information 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)
“Address[ing] … extenuating circumstances” means you should describe any issues and situations in a straightforward way. Provide the adcom with sufficient context, and avoid giving excuses or placing blame elsewhere. If possible, provide evidence that the circumstances in question were temporary and will not affect your MBA performance.
Use this essay strategically. Admissions officers are reading many, many applications, so do not use this additional information essay to superfluously expand on something you have already touched on in your other essays. Any aspect of your candidacy that you think might raise a question mark for the adcom should be addressed clearly and succinctly here. Don’t make them guess about anything. Alternatively, if you have a 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 the advice provided in this Accepted video: What Is Wharton’s Team-Based MBA Interview Like? Tips From Director of Admissions Blair Mannix.
Wharton Application Deadlines
| Round 1 | September 3, 2025 |
| Round 2 | January 6, 2026 |
| Round 3 | April 1, 2026 |
| Deferred Admissions Round | April 22, 2026 |
Source: Wharton website
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.
***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 2026 (data taken from the Wharton website):
Applications: 7,322
Enrolled class: 866
Women: 47%
LGBTQ+ students: 10%
First generation: 11%
Military 6%
U.S. race/ethnicity (Federal guidelines reporting):
- White: 33%
- Asian American: 20%
- Hispanic/Latinx: 8%
- Black/African American: 6%
- Did not report: 3%
- Multi-race: 1%
- Native American: 0%
International students: 31%
Countries represented: 65
Average GMAT: 732
Average GRE Quant: 163
Average GRE Verbal: 162
Average GPA (students who attended universities with a 4.0 grading system): 3.7
Undergraduate major:
- Humanities: 36%
- Business: 32%
- STEM: 32%
Interdisciplinary and dual degree programs (students):
- Health Care Management: 89
- Lauder: 76
- Moelis : 62
- JD/MBA: 12
Average years of work experience: 5
Range of years of work experience: 0-17
Previous industry experience:
- Consulting: 28%
- Private Equity/Venture Capital: 15%
- Nonprofit/Government: 11%
- Technology: 10%
- Investment Banking: 9%
- Other: 7%
- Financial Services: 5%
- Health Care: 4%
- Investment Management: 4%
- Consumer Packaged Goods: 2%
- Media/Entertainment: 2%
- Energy: 1%
- Real Estate: 1%
- Retail: 1%
As the former executive director of admissions at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School and assistant dean of admissions at Georgetown’s McDonough School and the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz School, Kelly Wilson has 23 years’ experience overseeing admissions committees and has reviewed more than 38,000 applications for the MBA and master’s programs in management of information systems, computational finance, business analytics, and product management. Want Kelly to help you get accepted? Click here to get in touch!
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