UPenn / Wharton MBA News

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Published: December 7, 2015

U.S. News Short List Takes a Closer Look at How Many Applications Top Business Schools Receive

As Round 1 applicants anxiously await word from their top-choice MBA programs, does it help or hurt to know just how many applications those programs receive each year? U.S. News, best known in the MBA space for its annual ranking of top business schools, this week devoted its separate Short List—in which it parses data collected as part of the rankings process to spotlight individual data points—to overall application volume at leading schools. Perhaps not surprisingly, the schools that draw the greatest number of applicants also occupy most of the top spots in the U.S. News rankings. Specifically, in 2014 the three schools that received the most applications were also ranked as the top three business schools. Read more

Published: December 6, 2015

Online Meets Offline for Today’s Consumer, Notes Wharton Professor

This post has been republished in its entirety from its original source, metromba.com. David Bell, professor of marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, recently presented research exploring the intersection between online and offline shopping during a talk at the University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics. Bell is a specialist in consumer behavior, specifically how this behavior plays out online. Read more

Published: November 17, 2015

Bloomberg BusinessWeek Rankings Data Reveal High Cost of MBA Networking

While most who are contemplating an MBA at a leading business school are well aware of the steep costs of tuition and foregone earnings, the budget line item for “extras” is sometimes overlooked. Bloomberg BusinessWeek, as part of its annual ranking of full-time MBA programs, asked students from the Class of 2015 just what they spend on nonessential items. The findings? The more prestigious the school, the higher the cost of networking. Harvard Business School (HBS), which was number one in Bloomberg BW’s most recent overall rankings, also topped the charts in terms of students’ median expenditure on nonessential items, at $16,290. Read more

Published: November 13, 2015

How to Ace the Top Five MBA Admissions Interview Questions

Interviews, interviews, interviews...it’s all anyone seems to be talking about these days, and with good reason. Harvard Business School, Wharton, MIT Sloan and INSEAD are just a few of the schools that are busy interviewing Round 1 applicants as we speak. Instead of making yourself crazy with worry, why not buckle down and perfect your answers to the questions you are most likely to be asked? To help you prepare, we’ve scoured our Interview Guides and Interview Archive to compile our very own Top Five list of the questions that most often make their way into MBA admissions interviews at leading schools. Read more

Published: November 10, 2015

Wharton Grads Report Impressive Employment Statistics after Graduation

This post has been republished in its entirety from its original source, metromba.com. The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School recently released its annual MBA Class of 2015 Career Report--a breakdown of the industries, functions and locations graduates headed to upon graduation. An impressive 98.4 percent of students reported full-time job offers. Read more

Published: November 9, 2015

The Wharton TBD Prompt: Former Wharton Admissions Staffers Weigh in on How to Prepare

Clear Admit’s LiveWire blew up last week as Round 1 applicants to Wharton shared whether or not they’d received a coveted invitation to interview. Yesterday, Wharton Admissions Director Frank DeVecchis chimed in with his own advice for participants. “Relax and be yourself!” he tweeted. Easy for him to say. Imagining that some of you are less than completely relaxed—especially given that Wharton has changed up its team-based discussion (TBD) prompt this year—we’ve consulted with two experts who formerly worked in the school’s admissions office for their advice on how best to approach things. Read more

Published: November 8, 2015

New Forté Data Shows Impressive Gains in Female MBA Enrollment

Women make up at least 40 percent of the MBA class at 12 leading U.S. business schools this year, compared to just five last year, according to new data released today by the Forté Foundation, a nonprofit consortium of business schools and companies working to increase opportunities for women in business. “In 2011, less than a third of MBA students were women. Today we’re inching closer to 40 percent in the United States and working to close the gap significantly in another five years,” says Forté Executive Director Elissa Sangster. “Every percentage point gain is not only hard earned, but something to celebrate, and should go a long way in building the senior leadership pipeline at companies and on boards,” she continues. Read more

Published: November 2, 2015

Clear Admit LiveWire Lights Up with Wharton Interview Invitations

Wharton interview invitations are rolling out as we speak—we’ve already received more than three dozen reports via the Clear Admit LiveWire. It’s too early for analysis, but let’s just say that there are quite a few 700+ GMAT scorers reporting rejection. Here’s what we know from past admissions cycles at Wharton. Historically, Wharton has typically interviewed roughly 40 percent of applicants to the MBA program, though this does vary depending on application volume. Selectivity has generally fallen between 14 percent and 19 percent in recent years, which suggests that you can assume a roughly one in three chance of admission if invited for an interview. Of course, these are all based on past application seasons, and Wharton could change things up at any point. Read more

Published: October 29, 2015

Fridays from the Frontline: MBA Mama on Pitching as a Female Entrepreneur

This week in our Fridays from the Frontline series, we are delighted to have as our contributor Divinity Matovu, a first-year MBA student at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Matovu, whose focus at Wharton is on entrepreneurial management and finance, also happens to be a mother of two and the co-founder and president of MBA Mama, an online platform where millennial moms can find the products, services, tools and inspiration they need to pursue an MBA. Her passion for start-ups (she’s launched four of her own) and women’s empowerment shines through in the following post, where she shares a recent experience she had pitching to an all-male panel as part of Wharton’s Venture Initiation Program (VIP). Her spirit and pluck are evident as well. Even amid everything else she’s doing, she finds time to blog regularly—check out her posts to learn more about some of her other passions, including technology, financial inclusion and African affairs. We’re grateful to Divinity for lending her voice and perspective to our series. Read more

Published: October 27, 2015

MBA Admissions Mashup: Breaking News from HBS, Value of Alumni Networks, and the Importance Balance

Every Wednesday, we share a round-up of the latest news from admissions blogs at the top business schools. In this week’s edition of MBA Admissions Mashup, we take a look at some breaking news from HBS, the value of a vast alumni network, careers and internships, work-life balance, on-campus conferences as well as some last minute admissions advice. This morning, Harvard Business School Managing Director of MBA Admissions & Financial Aid, Dee Leopold announced that she will be stepping down from her post in May 2016. In the post, she assures all of you Harvard Hopefuls Read more

Published: September 21, 2015

MBA Application Volume Up Around the Globe, According to Latest GMAC Survey

At the annual Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) conference in Denver this past June, the admissions directors we talked to from leading business schools were almost giddy. It was still early in the cycle, but application volume had been high—and applicants had been strong—making preliminary profiles for the Class of 2017 look very exciting. As students have come to campus and schools have shared their actual Class of 2017 profiles, the cause of that excitement has become clear. The average GMAT score for this year’s first-year students at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management jumped from 716 last year to an all-time high of 724. At Wharton, the mean score for the incoming class this year is 732, up from last year’s record-setting 728. At Harvard Business School (HBS) the median GMAT score rose from 724 last year to 730 this year. (HBS does not publish mean GMAT scores.) Today, GMAC, which owns and administers the GMAT, released figures from its 2015 Application Trends Survey , revealing that the giddiness at last June’s conference was warranted—MBA application volume was indeed up around the globe, with a majority of full-time MBA programs reporting an uptick in applicants. GMAC consulted 641 graduate business programs at 306 universities worldwide to arrive at its findings. Read more

Published: September 7, 2015

Admissions Director Q&A: Wharton’s Frank DeVecchis

Way back in February, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School named a new director of MBA admissions. Aside from an immediate flurry of coverage here and elsewhere about this Wharton “insider” Frank DeVecchis stepping in, little else has been heard since. What gives? As was reported then, DeVecchis does know Wharton intimately. He worked in the Wharton MBA Program Office for more than five years before heading over to admissions. In charge of operations and daily management of the MBA program, he advised more than 800 students, implemented the school’s innovative Course Match registration program and rolled out a new three-week orientation for incoming students. Read more

Published: August 13, 2015

Wharton Joins the 43 Percent Club, Average GMAT Score Soars

The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania will welcome a 43 percent female class this year, according to Class of 2017 profile statistics released this morning, placing it among the front runners of elite business schools. Just last week, the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern shared class profile statistics, revealing that it, too, has an incoming class that is 43 percent women. Both schools this year match UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business female enrollment last year, when that school held the record. Notably, Wharton did set a record itself in 2011, when women made up 44.7 percent of its entering class. But the school then backslid a little, to 42 percent in 2013 and 40 percent last year. It’s nice to see the Philadelphia school regain some ground. Read more

Published: August 11, 2015

Wharton Prize for Organizations Working for Social Change Doubles

This year’s winners of the Barry & Marie Lipman Family Prize at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School will get double the money to work toward social change thanks to significant new investment poured in by the prize founders, the school announced earlier this month. The Lipman Family Prize was established in 2011 by Wharton School undergrad alum Barry Lipman (W ’70) and his wife, Marie, to celebrate organizations that champion social impact. The Lipmans recently doubled their investment, with prize money doubling as a result—to $250,000 in unrestricted funds for this year’s winning organization and $25,000 for each finalist. The Lipmans were motivated to increase their support this year by what winning organizations from the past several years have achieved as a result of the prize. “Previous winners of the Lipman Family Prize have shown how well they leverage unrestricted funds and expert advice to unleash their full potential,” Lipman said in a statement. “Seeing the huge difference innovative organizations can make when they have the resources they need is a better return on investment than I ever imagined.” Read more

Published: July 30, 2015

Wharton India Economic Forum to Take Place in Both India and Philadelphia

This post has been republished in its entirety from its original source, metromba.com. The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania has announced that it will hold its annual India-focused conference next year in India for the first time. The Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF), which is marking its 20th anniversary, has historically been held on Wharton's Philadelphia campus. The 2016 conference will be held both in Mumbai and Philadelphia. The main goal of the conference is to bring together industry leaders, investors, government leaders and Wharton professors to discuss specific challenges facing the Indian economy and Indian businesses. Read more

Published: May 13, 2015

Wharton Commencement Speaker to Share How the MBA Could Save His Life

David Fajgenbaum, MD, MSc, has been working toward his MBA as if his life depends on it. Because it does. On Sunday, in his commencement address to his classmates at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, he will share just why he believes a graduate management education can be the difference between life and death. Fajgenbaum was diagnosed with idiopathic Multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD) in 2010, a rare and poorly understood hematologic disorder in which the immune system becomes activated and causes cells to release inflammatory proteins that ultimately shut down the body’s organs. At the time of his diagnosis, he was in his third year of medical school at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. He took a year’s leave and underwent aggressive chemotherapy, which initially was unsuccessful. Over a six-month period, he was hospitalized for four and a half months and even read his last rites. But ultimately the chemo helped put the disease into remission, and Fajgenbaum returned to complete his MD. He then proceeded straight into the MBA program at Wharton. Read more

Published: April 23, 2015

Potential Leaders in Global Real Estate Should Have McDonough in Their B-School Sights

Benefactors of McDonough's new Steers Global Real Estate Center The new Steers Center for Global Real Estate at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, launched yesterday, promises to redefine the educational experience received by both undergraduate and graduate students preparing for leadership roles in global real estate, the school reports. Formerly known as the school’s Real Estate Finance Initiative, the Steers Center will offer students one-on-one career planning with professors and mentors, as well as experiential learning opportunities through the Real Estate Clinic and Real Estate Laboratory. Consulting projects and career treks will further expand the global nature of real estate opportunities at McDonough. McDonough Dean David A. Thomas asserts that the new Steers Center will offer students “a transformative program that provides an opportunity to engage the world of real estate through a very practical approach.” He also expects the Steers Center to propel McDonough toward its goal of becoming the premier destination for global business education, he said in a statement. Read more

Published: April 21, 2015

Leading Business Schools Commemorate Earth Day

From Philadelphia to Los Angeles, business schools and their students are endeavoring to combat climate change at both the campus and the corporate level through innovation, conservation and awareness raising. The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, for its part, is hosting the 8th Annual Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership (IGEL) Conference. This year’s theme, “Business Takes the Lead,” will examine how business innovation holds promise for helping the world both mitigate and adapt to climate change. Read more

Published: March 23, 2015

Round 2 Decision Day at UPenn’s Wharton School, Harvard, Stanford

The fate of many hopeful MBA applicants hangs in the balance, with the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School scheduled to release Round 2 decisions today and Harvard Business School (HBS) and Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) scheduled to release Round 2 decisions tomorrow. We know from the Clear Admit LiveWire that lots of applicants have already gotten the good word from Wharton and Stanford via phone today, so a hearty congrats to those of you who fall into this category! Don’t expect early calls from HBS, says Admissions Director Dee Leopold. “While we love to give happy news, we don't want to create an anxiety zone where you are watching your phone constantly,” she wrote in a post to her Director’s Blog today. All notifications from HBS will go out via email at 12 noon Boston time tomorrow. “We know you've been out-of-control throughout much of this process - we can give you the control of where you are and with whom when decisions go out,” Leopold added. Read more

Published: March 16, 2015

UPenn’s Wharton School Announces New Partnership for Student-Led Impact Investing

Students at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School will have new opportunities to gain hands-on experience with impact investment thanks to a innovative partnership with an online crowdfunding platform and an investment firm founded by Wharton MBAs, the school announced earlier this month. The Wharton Social Impact Initiative (WSII), which coordinates the school’s social impact activities, research and opportunities, has partnered with equity-based online crowdfunding platform OurCrowd and investment firm Locust Walk Impact Partners to create what the school touts as the “largest and most active student-run impact investing fund in the world.” The new collaboration greatly expands the student-run Wharton Social Venture Fund (WSVF), which is operated under the WSII. Read more

Published: March 15, 2015

SXSW Conference Spotlights Business School Students’ Embrace of Design

Student-led design clubs can be found at 70 percent of the top-ranked MBA programs both in the United States and globally, an indicator that MBA students are embracing design wholeheartedly as part of their general management education, according to a presentation yesterday at the SXSW Conference in Austin. The presentation, entitled “Design in Tech,” was delivered by John Maeda, former president of the Rhode Island School of Design who last year joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) as its first “Design Partner.” As part of the presentation, Maeda provided a data-driven examination of the intersection of design and technology. Reporting on the findings of his inaugural “Design and Technology Trends Report,” Maeda highlighted the rising importance of design in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, noting the acquisition of design firms by tech companies like Facebook and Google, as well as the trend toward venture capitalists funding startups that have designers as co-founders. Read more

Published: March 10, 2015

Stanford GSB Edges Out HBS, Wharton in 2016 U.S. News & World Report Rankings

Stanford’s Graduate School of Business took the number one spot in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings of the nation’s best MBA programs, released yesterday, knocking Harvard Business School (HBS) to second and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School to third. Last year, the three powerhouse schools tied for first place, but slight differences on core metrics caused HBS and Wharton to slip this year. U.S. News uses multiple core measurements to compile its rankings, with the greatest weight given to quality assessments by deans and MBA directors at peer schools and corporate recruiter survey scores. Wharton’s scores slipped in both these regards, as well as in average pay for its MBA graduates, precipitating its drop this year in the rankings. Read more

Published: March 9, 2015

UPenn’s Wharton School Names Insider as New Director of MBA Admissions

The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School has named a new director of admissions, the school announced to students last week. Frank DeVecchis will work closely with existing Deputy Vice Dean of Wharton MBA Admissions, Financial Aid and Career Services Maryellen Reilly Lamb to oversee the entire application process, from recruitment through matriculation. DeVecchis knows the Wharton MBA program like few others. He joins the Admissions team from Wharton’s MBA Program Office, where he served most recently as director of MBA Academic Operations. In this role, he led all operations and daily management of the MBA program, including successfully implementing Wharton’s new Course Match course registration program. He also advised more than 800 students during his tenure as the senior member of the MBA academic advising team and helped plan and implement Wharton’s three-week orientation for incoming students. Read more

Published: February 25, 2015

UPenn Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Report: Round 2 / TBD / On Campus

The following is a Wharton MBA admissions interview description provided by a recent applicant: With several close friends currently at Wharton, I expected to have a positive experience, but walked away from my interview/lunch/class experience extremely disappointed. Perhaps it was coming off the positivity of Haas' Super Saturday, or a very enthusiastic interview at Fuqua the day before - I'm not sure. I will explore this after running you through the process. Read more

Published: February 25, 2015

UPenn / Wharton Interview Report: Round 2 / TBD / On Campus

The following UPenn / Wharton interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 2 applicant. Good luck to them! With several close friends currently at Wharton, I expected to have a positive experience, but walked away from my interview/lunch/class experience extremely disappointed. Perhaps it was coming off the positivity of Haas’ Super Saturday, or a very enthusiastic interview at Fuqua the day before – I’m not sure. I will explore this after running you through the process. My group of 6 was ushered into a small conference room by two current second-year students. They sat in opposite corners of the room Read more

UPenn / Wharton

CLASS SIZE: 866

Women: 47%

MEAN GMAT: 732

MEAN GPA: 3.7

Livewire Decisionwire Interview Reports Essay Topic Analysis MBA Admissions Deadlines View Full Profile

MBA Applywire

November 14, 2024 8:16pm ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Cambridge / Judge, Columbia, Cornell / Johnson, emlyon, IESE, Imperial, INSEAD, London Business School, Manchester / AMBS, Northwestern / Kellogg, NYU Stern, UPenn / Wharton

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Hospitality

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Technology, Consumer Goods, Other Companies: Amazon , Apple , Google , Coca Cola , LVMH , Nestle , Nike

GRE: 326

GPA: 3.46

Years of Work Experience: 6

Post MBA Location: Consultancy

November 14, 2024 6:29am ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Columbia, Cornell / Johnson, Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua, Georgetown / McDonough, UVA / Darden

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Consulting, Capital Project Development (Renewable Energy/CCS)

Post-MBA Target Industry: Investment Banking, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Commercial Banking, Family Business, Entrepreneurship

GMAT: 664

GPA: 2.9

Years of Work Experience: 7

Notes:

Pakistani male, looking to get into the financial services industry short term, and long-term make a significant contribution to the family business or pursue entrepreneurship. Studied engineering from UT Austin for undergrad followed by three jobs (roughly 2 years each) and a nine month break in between job 2 and 3. Planning to take the GMAT again in 3 weeks to offset GPA. Goal score is 695. Mitigating circumstances around GPA are just illness and general family/self issues but doubt they will be very convincing.

November 13, 2024 11:52am ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Columbia, Dartmouth / Tuck, Georgetown / McDonough, Michigan / Ross, UNC Kenan-Flagler, USC / Marshall

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Real Estate Development Analyst and Acquisitions Project Manager

Post-MBA Target Industry: Private Equity, Family Business, Entrepreneurship Companies: Other

GPA: 3.44

Years of Work Experience: 3

November 13, 2024 3:41am ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Cambridge / Judge, Columbia, Duke / Fuqua, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Oxford / Saïd, Stanford GSB, U. Chicago Booth, UCLA Anderson, UPenn / Wharton, Yale SOM

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Pharmaceutical

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Pharmaceutical Companies: AT Kearney , Bain , BCG , McKinsey , Other , Amgen , Astra Zeneca , Johnson & Johnson , Merck , Novartis , Pfizer , Roche

GRE: 329

GPA: 3.1

Years of Work Experience: 4

Location: Tokyo

Post MBA Location: US

November 12, 2024 5:15pm ET

Applying: Columbia, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Stanford GSB, UPenn / Wharton

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Investment Banking

Post-MBA Target Industry: Technology, Consumer Goods, Entrepreneurship Companies: Amazon , Google , IBM , Microsoft , 3M , Anheuser Busch InBev , LVMH , Mondelez

GPA: 3.6

Years of Work Experience: 2

Location: New York

Post MBA Location: New York

Notes:

I would like to attend a top business school to launch my career as a strong business leader. I am a senior dual major in Information Technology and Business Analytics. I'm involved in greek life at my school and also have founded and quickly grown my school's Finance Club. I will begin my career in investment banking but would like to gain admission to a deferred admission MBA track before I join the workforce.

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MBA LiveWire

November 15, 2024 12:47am ET

Accepted to NYU Stern

Round: Round 1

Received via phone November 14, 2024

GMAT: 760

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Finance

Note:

Interviewed at 10/22 and got offer call today. Offical offer letter and scholarship information will be updated through portal tomorrow(11/15).

November 15, 2024 12:41am ET

Interview Invite to Berkeley / Haas

Round: Round 1

Received via email on November 12, 2024

GRE: 318

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Technology

November 15, 2024 12:19am ET

Waitlisted at NYU Stern

Round: Round 1

Received via portal November 14, 2024

GPA: 3.85

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Finance

Application Location: Southeast Asia

November 14, 2024 11:52pm ET

Waitlisted at NYU Stern

Round: Round 1

Received via portal November 14, 2024

GRE: 331

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Healthcare

Note:

Waitlisted after interview

November 14, 2024 10:03pm ET

Accepted to NYU Stern

Round: Round 1

Received via phone November 14, 2024

Program Type: One Year Program

Target Career: Technology

Application Location: United States

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