A quick glance at Wharton: Wharton currently ranks in third place as one of the best business schools, according to U.S. News & World Report (March 2012). For entrepreneurship, U.S. News ranks Wharton as fifth.
Incoming Wharton Students and Entrepreneurship
The class of 2013 has an average of four years of work experience and a median GMAT score of 720.
29% have undergraduate degrees in business.
Wharton Academics Related to Entrepreneurship
Wharton has a new, updated curriculum as of 2012 that features a core curriculum with several fixed and flexible courses. The core focuses on analytical skills such as accounting, finance, marketing, management, operations, statistics, and microeconomics, as well as on "soft skills" like ethics, communication, and leadership skills. Students then specialize in an area of study by choosing courses that satisfy major and elective requirements. Students can major in one or two concentrations.
Students interested in starting their own businesses may major in Entrepreneurship. Students with this concentration often couple it with a major in Finance, Strategic Management, or Marketing as well. (See the full list of majors here.)
In addition to completion of the Core, there is one required course counted towards the Entrepreneurial Management major:
- MGMT 801: Entrepreneurship
The major requires students to complete 3.5 credit units by choosing from the classes below, which are .5 or 1 unit classes:
- FNCE 750 Venture Capital and the Finance of Innovation
- HCMG 866 eHealth: Business Models and Impact
- HCMG 867 Health Care Entrepreneurship
- LGST 813 Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship
- MGMT 731 Technology Strategy
- MGMT 802 Change, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- MGMT 804 Venture Capital and Entrepreneurial Management
- MGMT 806 Formation and Implementation of Entrepreneurial Ventures
- MGMT 809 Private Equity in Emerging Markets
- MGMT 810 Societal Wealth Venturing
- MGMT 811 Entrepreneurship through Acquisition
- MGMT816 Building Human Assets in Entrepreneurial Ventures
- MGMT 833 Strategies and Practices of Family-Controlled Companies
- MGMT 893 Advanced Study Project in Entrepreneurial Management
- MGMT 899 Independent Study in Entrepreneurial Management
- MKTG 781 Entrepreneurial Marketing
- MKTG 890 Global Consulting Practicum
- OPIM 614 Managing the Productive Core of the Firm: Innovation (new in 2012-2013)
- OPIM 651 Innovation, Problem Solving, and Design
- OPIM 654 Product Design and Development
- OPIM 662 Enabling Technologies
- REAL 891 Real Estate Entrepreneurship
- FNCE 751 Finance of Buyouts and Acquisitions
- MGMT 691/OPIM 691/LGST 806 Negotiations
- MGMT 721 Corporate Development: Mergers & Acquisitions
- MGMT 773 Managing Organizational Change
- MGMT 890 Advanced Study Project in Management
- MGMT 891 Advanced Study Project in Strategic Management
- MGMT 892 Advanced Study Project in Human Resource and Organizational Management Goergen Entrepreneurial Management Program
- MGMT 894 Advanced Study Project in Multinational Management
- MKTG 753 New Product Management
- MKTG 755 Advertising Management
- MKTG 756 Marketing Research
- MKTG 777 Marketing Strategy
Entrepreneurs work closely with The Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center.
During winter and spring breaks, students may participate in one of Wharton's Global Modular Courses (GMC), courses that expose students to the "challenges and opportunities in regions undergoing rapid change." Some past modular courses of interest to entrepreneurship students include Necessity and Experimentation: Lessons from Israeli Innovation (in Herzliya, Israel), Building Future Markets (in Cape Town), and Marketing in Emerging Economies: Understanding and Marketing to the Indian Consumer (in Mumbai).
Entrepreneurship-Related Clubs and Extracurricular Activities at Wharton
- Entrepreneurship Club – A club that helps entrepreneur students locate and use all the resources they need to start their own business.
- Dealmakers (Wharton Sales Club) – This club provides its members with the tools they need to "persuasively 'sell' their ideas and become excellent networkers." Good for entrepreneurs, managers, and anyone else who has something to sell.
- Wharton Entrepreneurial Intern Fellowship – This opportunity is open to Wharton undergraduates and first year MBA students who want to intern in an entrepreneurial setting over the summer. Students must apply to the program.
- Penn Founder's Club – A club where entrepreneurs can share ideas, get constructive feedback, draft business plans, and network.
- Private Equity & Venture Capital Club – This club runs events and activities that focus on career development, skill development, and networking for students interested in venture capital, growth capital and buyouts.
- Wharton Business Plan Competition – Create a business plan with a team and get feedback from successful entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. Prizes for this year-long competition include grants and venture funding. (See list of BPC winners below.)
- Wharton Venture Initiation Program – This program provides student entrepreneurs with office space, mentorship, and other resources to help them launch their businesses.
- Entrepreneur-in-Residence – This program matches experienced entrepreneurs with Wharton students interested in starting their own businesses for one-on-one meetings.
- Wharton Small Business Development Center – This center is part of the Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center. The center runs workshops for entrepreneurs as well as a consulting program for students.
Top Companies Started by Wharton Entrepreneurs
61 out of 853 class of 2011 graduates did not seek employment with "Self-Employed/Starting Own Business" given as their reason. 20 out of 823 class of 2012 students categorized themselves as such regarding summer internships.
Wharton alumni have founded the following companies:
- Reliance Group
- CEO Connection
- H-E-B
- Comcast Interactive Capital
- Blyth
- Huntsman Corporation
- Universal Health Services
- QVC
- Franklin Mint
- Liberty Franklin Pharmaceuticals
- Trinity Nutriceuticals
- Doctors Wellness Solutions
Wharton Business Plan Competition winning companies include:
- Cortical Concepts
- NIR Diagnostics
- Solixia
- NP Solutions
- MuscleMorph
- FibrinX
- Infrascan
- PAWS Pet Insurance
- Envisia
- ProtoCell
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