UPenn / Wharton MBA News

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Published: May 4, 2014

UPenn’s Wharton School Awards $30K to Slidejoy for 2014 Wharton Business Plan Competition

How would you like to view beautifully designed ads every time you unlock your phone? What if you got paid to do it? Slidejoy, an intelligent Android app designed by a team of Wharton students, is built on precisely that model—and it took top honors in the 2014 Wharton Business Plan Competition last week, the school announced. The Slidejoy team won the $30,000 Perlman Grand Prize at Wharton’s annual Venture Finals on May 1st, where total cash prizes and in-kind services topped $125,000, the school reports. Read more

Published: May 1, 2014

Economist Ranks Top 20 North American MBA Programs, Chicago Booth Leads

In case you missed it, the Economist earlier this week broke out the top 20 North American full-time MBA programs, as a follow-up to its global ranking. As an introduction to this North American-specific list, the Economist calls America the “spiritual home of the MBA,” noting that the first MBA was offered there more than a century ago and that today, U.S. schools dominate the publication's global ranking. (Eight of the top 10 business schools in the worldwide ranking are located in U.S.) Among the Top 20 North American MBA programs, the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business claimed the top spot (as it did in the global rankings). Among the other highest-ranking North American schools were several prestigious U.S. names, including Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, Harvard Business School, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, MIT Sloan School of Management and Stanford Graduate School of Business. Read more

Published: April 24, 2014

Fridays From The Frontline

Hello and welcome to Friday From the Frontlines, Clear Admit's weekly account of the adventures of the b-school blogosphere. This week marks a lull in applicant updates as most notifications have gone out for R2, and now its a matter of waiting for final decisions, preparing for matriculation, or starting the application process again for next year. Current students however, have taken time to reflect on the quickly approaching end of the MBA journey, as well as discuss the experience of being a veteran at Wharton and give an interesting insight into Harvard Business School's newly launched HBXCORe. Read more

Published: April 17, 2014

Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Second-year Student / On-Campus

I arrived about 15 minutes early and chatted with some of the other interviewees. Everyone was very nice and friendly. We were called into three different rooms in groups of 5 or so, and my group was called last. We were read the prompt, told our time constraint, and then asked to start. Everyone shared their idea, and then I summarized the key deliverables we were trying to work towards and offered to play the role of timekeeper and offered a general structure for how the time should go. We settled very quickly on our topic, and then spent some Read more

Published: March 24, 2014

Clear Admit Bullish on New Wharton Dean

As we reported last week, Geoffrey Garrett has been named to replace outgoing Dean Tom Robertson and will take the helm on July 1st. So what’s Clear Admit’s take on this new dean? We welcome what we believe to be a strong candidate and wish him well in his new role. A political economist with a Pacific Rim orientation but clear U.S. interests as well, we think Garrett will make a good fit for Wharton on several levels. He brings an understanding of the intersection between business and politics that will lend itself well to Wharton’s focus on globalization and on preparing its graduates to understand how business is done internationally. Read more

Published: March 20, 2014

Online Here We Come, Says Harvard Business School

Harvard Business School (HBS) today announced that it is joining some of its peer business schools in launching an online learning program. Called HBX, the online initiative is one the school hopes will successfully convey its signature case method digitally. HBX’s initial offering, called CORe (Credentials of Readiness), will provide participants with a primer on the fundamentals of business. “The HBX launch marks an important milestone in our ongoing efforts to educate leaders who make a difference in the world,” HBS Dean Nitin Nohria said in a statement. The program embodies the school’s hallmark highly engaged, interactive learning and will provide an important means of engaging with new and wider audiences, he added. Read more

Published: March 16, 2014

New Dean to Lead Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania

The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania will have a new dean beginning this summer, the school announced today. Geoffrey Garrett, a distinguished political economist and former faculty member in Wharton’s management department, will take the reins on July 1st, succeeding outgoing Dean Thomas Robertson, who has led the school since 2007. Garrett is currently dean and professor of business in the Australian School of Business at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), where he has contributed significantly to business research and education for the Asia Pacific region. In this role, he has overseen more than 350 faculty and researchers, eight academic departments, nine research centers and a student body of more than 12,000. Read more

Published: March 11, 2014

Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Adcom / Off-Campus Hub

My interview was in London with a team of 5 others. I got there 45 minutes early and was the first to arrive. Gradually other team members arrived and we got along talking really well, laughing and getting to know each other. I noticed when the ADCOM member came in--I don’t think others did. She dressed casually and hung back from us for about 10 minutes, most likely eavesdropping on our conversation. I had met her twice on her trips to my country, but instead of going to introduce myself I rather focused on making sure my name came up a few times and was noticeably conversational. The TBD (Team Based Discussion) commenced, and it was quite obvious from the get-go how everyone had prepared for this. There were 3 guys and 2 ladies: 2 from investment banking, 2 from consulting and 1 from IT. The IT guy who is a project manager got off the block quickest and tried to ensure that we followed a structured approach to the discussion. We had nametags so didn't need to write names down. The first person didn’t really follow the 1-minute requirement, probably spoke for 3 minutes and her topic wasn’t clear either. After the first round, I felt my topic was the clearest and had the strongest base to be built up on but I didn’t overly push it. Instead as the discussion progressed, I reiterated why my topic was sound but Read more

Published: March 10, 2014

Harvard, Stanford, Wharton Tie for First in U.S. News Business School Rankings

U.S. News & World Report released its annual rankings of the best graduate schools, and a familiar cast of characters topped the list of top business schools, though with a few minor shifts. The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania sashayed up from third place up to tie for first with Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business. The University of Chicago Booth School of Business gained some ground as well, moving up from the No. 6 spot last year to No. 4 this year. Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, meanwhile, dipped – sliding into the No. 6 spot vacated by Chicago Booth. MIT’s Sloan School of Management, which tied with Kellogg for fourth last year, also slipped, falling to fifth place. Read more

Published: March 6, 2014

Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Adcom + Second-year student / On-Campus

1. Healthcare portion I interviewed for the health care major, which involves an interview with the director of the program. I already have a healthcare background so we just discussed my previous steps in more detail and my motivations going forward. It was a logical conversation. It wasn’t explicitly told to me, but I get the feeling that post-MBA job placement marketability is important to them (does your background/profile match with the type of jobs you’re trying to get?) 2. Non-healthcare portion (Team-based discussion) The team-based discussion was pretty anticlimactic and still baffling to me on its utility. Two 2nd Read more

Published: March 3, 2014

Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Adcom / Off-Campus Hub – Singapore

I arrived an hour early to avoid rush hour traffic. This gave me time to get settled and converse with all my group mates. It made me less nervous since I already knew everyone and their backgrounds before stepping into the room. The group session was a bit scattered, since everyone was very diplomatic but everyone wanted their own idea to move forward so ideas just kept multiplying. I and another group mate would occasionally moderate the session by summarizing and suggesting a process to move forward. Our proposal eventually came together, but I suggest that other groups don’t force Read more

Published: February 23, 2014

Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / Off-Campus Hub

I went to Shanghai for the interview. The first part was a group discussion lasting about 35min. The second part was one-on-one interview with the Adcom. My teammates were very nice, and we had a pretty nice team discussion. Everybody had a chance to talk, but there was one guy who was quite outspoken, taking the role as a leader. He tried to summarize what others had said and gave a 1min presentation at the end. I think the Adcom was quite impressed, and he was admitted. The one-on-one interview was very short. The Adcom asked: 1) What did I Read more

Published: February 10, 2014

Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / On-Campus

My biggest takeaway from the interview experience is that Wharton really cares about your ability to interact with your peers. I arrived about 20 minutes early and had the chance to meet most of my group members prior to the beginning of our group-based discussion. I also had the opportunity to meet many other applicants as I waited for my group to be called in for our discussion. Once we were in our discussion room our administrators (two current students) introduced themselves, and then our group went around the table providing similar introductions. Next, the administrators gave us guidance that Read more

Published: February 10, 2014

Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions Round 1 / 2nd year student / On-Campus

The interview was a 1-on-1 session with a second year student after the Team-Based Discussion. The interviewer took me to a small office and was pretty pleasant and informal. She had only my resume in hand, but had no prior information about me other than what had come out over the course of the Team-Based Discussion, where she had been a silent observer. I was asked a few questions, primarily about the team interview experience. 1) How did you think the Team-Based Discussion went, and did you feel your team accomplished the goal at hand? 2) What could you have Read more

Published: January 26, 2014

Harvard Business School Again Tops Financial Times Global MBA Ranking

Harvard Business School (HBS) appeared at the top of the Financial Times Global MBA annual ranking, released yesterday. It was HBS’ second consecutive claim to the number-one spot and its fifth time topping the rankings since they debuted in 1999. Stanford Graduate School of Business also remained steady this year, reclaiming the number-two spot it held last year. The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania slipped to fourth as London Business School stepped into the number-three spot. Columbia Business School and INSEAD tied for fifth. The FT compiles its annual global MBA rankings based on two surveys of the business schools and their alumni. (For this year rankings, alumni who graduated in 2010 were surveyed.) Based on the responses to these surveys, the MBA programs are measured according to the career progression of their alumni, the school’s idea generation and the diversity of students and faculty. Read more

Published: January 15, 2014

Background Checks Not Always Standard Practice at Some Top Business Schools

The process top business schools use to screen candidates is coming under greater scrutiny in the wake of the revelation that an MBA student was admitted to Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) after having been expelled by Harvard Law School for falsifying his transcript. A Wall Street Journal article this week reveals that while thorough background checks have become more the norm at top business schools in the past decade, not all schools have a formal process in place. This newfound focus on what protocols MBA admissions offices use to verify information on candidates’ applications comes amid the trial of Mathew Martoma for alleged insider trading at SAC Capital. Martoma, it turns out, was admitted to Stanford’s MBA program not long after being expelled from Harvard Law School for falsifying his transcript to try to obtain a judicial clerkship. He graduated from Stanford in 2003 and joined SAC in 2006. Read more

Published: January 8, 2014

Campus Chronicles: The Wharton Journal

Welcome back to Campus Chronicles, our weekly perusal of the news pages at top business school student newspapers. This week we explore what’s happening at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business by scanning their student-produced paper, The Wharton Journal. Wharton’s Business Economics and Public Policy Initiative has recently awarded its Henry & Marcelle Morgenthau Fellowship to 7 MBA students. Awarded to students with a drive to "be a force for social good," the fellowship is given every year to students who have made substantial contributions to public policy and social causes and are looking to make more. This year's winners include Julia Kurnik ('14) for her work to bring sustainable healthy food to Philadelphia, Tiago Correia ('14) for his ambitions in public policy related to real estate development in urban environments, and Vidya Venkataraman ('14) who is looking to improve cooperation between the private sector and governments after graduating from Wharton and completing a dual law degree at Yale. Read more

Published: December 22, 2013

Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / Off-campus Hub

The 1-to-1 portion of the Wharton interview was held in a meeting room of an office in a hub city. There was one admissions officer who conducted the interview. She was cordial but also hard to read. The interview was rather surprising, with the admissions officer simply stating that she had not read my file and asking me to use the 15 minutes in whatever way I wanted. This did throw me for a bit. I ended up using the time to: 1. Describe my views of the TBD component. 2. Give a bit of background (essentially a “walk Read more

Published: December 18, 2013

Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / Off-Campus Hub

My interview took place in a quiet hotel area – I met the assistant dean of admissions at the Hilton in midtown New York. It was a blind interview, and she had my resume. She was prepared with a full sheet of questions, and she wrote down almost everything I was saying. The interview took about 30 minutes, as there were about 15 questions. What surprised me was that there were a lot of questions about times I had failed/times I had to overcome obstacles. I was more prepared to speak about my accomplishments so this took me by a Read more

Published: December 9, 2013

Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / Off-Campus Hub

I arrived 15 minutes before the scheduled time and had a chat with other participants of the group discussions. We were 5 in total, all males. Then, we were invited to another room by the adcom representative. After we took our seats she gave a guideline on the discussion format. She took notes and kept time. Each one of the participants made a brief introduction of his idea. Next, we selected one common idea and elaborated on it. Quite quickly we came up with a constructive idea and added some solid layer of details. Then, one of the guys made Read more

Published: November 20, 2013

Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Group Interview with Second-Year student / On-Campus

I got there early and waited in the waiting room with the other interviewees for my time slot. There were 18 of us, and one student came out at a time to lead six of us back to the interview room for the team-based discussion. I’m a military person, and in my group we had an aerospace engineer, a business development person for a construction company, two real estate investors, one consultant, and an accountant. The second-year students gave us 30 seconds to introduce ourselves, and then they read off the team-based discussion question (which we’d already been emailed, but Read more

Published: October 16, 2013

Career Services Directors at Top Business School Report Strong Jobs Market

MBA graduates from some top schools are finding jobs in less time and at higher starting salaries than they have in years, according to a recent article in Forbes. Despite the undeniably adverse effect of the economic crisis on MBA hiring, especially in the financial services, careers in consulting remain strong, and today’s graduates are also finding growing numbers of opportunities in technology, e-commerce, luxury retail and energy sectors. Indeed, 75 percent of companies reported as part of the GMAC 2013 Corporate Recruiters Survey that they plan to hire recent MBAs this year (up from 71 percent that hired in 2012). Not only that, those employers expect to hire an average of 14.6 new MBA hires, up from 11.4 a year before. Read more

Published: October 8, 2013

Stanford Graduate School of Business Returns to Number One Spot in Forbes 2013 MBA Rankings

Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) reclaimed the top spot in the Forbes 2013 biennial ranking of MBA programs, released today. The University of Chicago Booth School of Business took second, bumping Harvard Business School (HBS), which topped the list in 2011, to third place. The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School followed up the lead in fourth. Forbes, which ranks full-time MBA programs every two years based on return on investment, found that at the top 25 programs in the United States, the degree still pays off, although it takes longer to do so. For the Class of 2008, the class surveyed for this year’s ranking, the average payback period was 3.7 years, as compared to 2.7 years a decade ago, Forbes reports. Read more

Published: October 7, 2013

UPenn’s Wharton School Sees Uptick in Round One Applicant Volume

The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School saw an increase this year in the number of applications submitted by its Round One deadline last week, according to the deputy vice dean for admissions, financial aid and career management. “If you believe that application volume is an indicator of the relevance of an MBA program, then I am pleased to announce that our Round One numbers are up,” wrote Deputy Vice Dean Maryellen Lamb in a post to the Wharton MBA Admissions blog yesterday. She did not disclose how much Round One application volume increased. Lamb’s comment referred to a Wall Street Journal article last week that questioned whether four years of declining application volume to the Philadelphia school might be an indicator that it had fallen from its long-held position as one of the most elite MBA programs in the world. Wharton’s Director of Admissions Ankur Kumar also announced last week that she was leaving her position to pursue other opportunities effective October 4th. Lamb, who was promoted earlier this year from her position as director of MBA Career Management to the role of deputy vice dean overseeing admissions, financial aid and career management, will lead the admissions department following Kumar’s departure. Read more

Published: October 1, 2013

Admissions Director Ankur Kumar Resigns from UPenn’s Wharton School

The admissions director at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School will leave her post this Friday, October 4th, according to an email sent by Wharton Dean Tom Robertson to the school’s faculty and staff this morning. The Wall Street Journal also reported the news, noting that the school had declined its requests for comment but that according to several sources Kumar informed her staff of her decision last week. A Wharton alumna, Kumar has been a member of the admissions team for the past four years, serving since 2011 as director of admissions and financial aid. In his email announcing her departure, Dean Robertson praised Kumar for helping the school reach unprecedented female enrollment (women now number more than 40% of the student body) as well as for introducing several innovations in admissions, including the “Team Based Discussion,” a group interview format launched last year. 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 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.

November 12, 2024 3:30pm ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Dartmouth / Tuck, IESE, Northwestern / Kellogg, U. Chicago Booth, Yale SOM

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Financial services

Post-MBA Target Industry: Private Equity, Entrepreneurship Companies: Carlyle Group , TPG , KKR

GMAT: 645

GPA: 7/10

Years of Work Experience: 4

Location: Latam

Post MBA Location: USA

Notes:

I have been working in financial services for the past 5 years. I have been promoted in my current job (private credit).

I have been active in volunteering roles throughout my life, especially from grad school and then while working (blood drives, low income kids, and people with different abilities).

I am a father (and provider of my family) which has shaped and inspired my main post MBA goal which is to focus on early childhood development. Alternative is to continue in private markets.

Concerned about low GPA (7.4/10). Not mitigating circumstances; however, I have two bachelor degrees: one in math and one in finance (both heavily quantitative), and both from the top business school in my country.

I got a 645 in my first try at the GMAT FE; will take another shot to try and raise my score to 665-675.

Eager to hear about school selection (my top choices are Yale and Kellogg).

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MBA LiveWire

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

November 14, 2024 9:12pm ET

Accepted to NYU Stern

Round: Round 1

Received via phone November 14, 2024

GPA: 3.98

GMAT: 740

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Note:

Interview - 10/15, offer via phone call - 11/14, official offer expected 11/15 on portal

November 14, 2024 8:01pm ET

Rejected at NYU Stern

Round: Round 1

Received via portal November 14, 2024

GPA: 3.52

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Non Profit / Social Impact

Application Location: Southeast Asia

Note:

rejected with no interview invite

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