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(4.7) |
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The Wharton MBA program has the deepest curriculum I could think off in finance. Moreover, the school provides training and access to all the top wall street courses to help folks from non-finance transition to finance.
In terms of visibility from employers, banking, consulting and investing are all hot on recruiting. If you network well with the employer, put in the right effort, and do all your prep thoroughly - I don’t think there's much stopping you from getting your dream job. Obviously, things have been a bit harder this year, but even then, relatively its much stronger than other schools.
Overall, I’d say if you want to pivot to banking or investing (PE/HF/Long Only Investing), you have the best resources in terms of clubs and classes to make this happen for you, and have all the top employers you would imagine coming on campus to hire you.
For me, the school helped me meet the needs to transition to an investing role (at least for summer) in the US.
As a future applicant, I’d say focus on displaying your quantitative aptitude. For what its worth people are very sharp, and you want to showcase yourself to be up there and do enough research to get to know the school and resources. I am six months in and still learning more about Penn and the offerings of the MBA program. Speak to enough people and get a good sense of how you want to spend your time here.
Overall BSchool experience (4.0)
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I'm not going to lie, my expectations were low matriculating this year with classes being virtual. I decided to move to Philly despite all classes and clubs being virtual because I wanted to be more connected to the school. It was the best decision ever.
Despite classes being online, students have found ways to connect through small group dinners, sitting at a park in a circle, 1:1 coffee chats, and etc. I found that people were much more willing to accept random requests to connect. Sometimes I would cold message someone I have never met on Slack to grab coffee and, 100% of the time, they would accept with enthusiasm. I've also found the students to be very accepting of everyone's personal preferences/differences. I personally don't drink and, given Wharton's reputation for parties, was worried about people pressuring me to drink. Surprisingly, I've never been questioned once for not drinking and, in fact, there are many others who do not drink.
The virtual classes are even great. One benefit of being online is that guest speakers do not have to travel to Wharton. This means that there were a lot more guest speakers at our classes. I feel like I got to hear at least one CXOs, Partner at VC funds, lead technology researcher, etc. talk in one of my classes every week. As cliché as it sounds, their perspectives and experiences shattered a lot of assumptions I had on certain topics.
Finally, the career support is unparalleled. You simply get access to companies that otherwise wouldn't bat an eye at you. For example, when I first got accepted by Wharton, an EM at MBB and an Associate from a PE fund reached out to me to coffee chat (this is even before I accepted the offer). During the summer, MBB consultants continued to reach out to me to chat and get to know me. It's wild to think these top firms are so excited to get to know me. Moreover, career services provide weekly emails, office hours, interview workshops, and mock case interview support. Pretty much anything that you can think of, it's there. I can't even compare this to the career services available to me at my undergrad institution (because it was non-existent).
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
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Wharton is excellent when it comes to the brand, alumni network, and faculty. I am part of the HCM program and I was pleasantly surprised by the opportunities and connections that the program provides. I knew going in that the network is solid but never could I have ever imagined the true power of the alumni network. You really have to experience it to know the full extent to which it helps.
The classes so far have been really great even in COVID times. The school is trying really hard to make the classes engaging given the situation. Definitely very rigorous and quant heavy. Everything is solved analytically in classes.
Classmates and the community is real. Even during COVID most of the class is in Philly that helped us bond in a socially distanced manner. I would highly encourage anyone looking at an MBA to apply to Wharton for any career choice.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
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My time so far at Wharton has been enriching from an academic standpoint as I have found the profs very impressive, and most of the course work relevant to my future goals. Additionally, I feel that Wharton has put me in a strong position for recruiting into IB as the structured recruiting process has made connecting with banks and bankers easier than expected.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 has made networking with my peers and making friends more challenging than it should be, and the lack of club activity definitely hurts. Hopefully these issues will be cleared up before the start of year 2.
Strong IB/Consulting recruiting processes
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (5.0)
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I have been admitted to Wharton's Class of 2020. I have been very satisfied with my experience and exposure in the school so far. Wharton has a very dedicated staff working constantly to provide the best student experience. They have a huge focus on 'maximizing Wharton experience' and are committed to achieving this target. I was amazed by the way they have effectively and efficiently managed a class size of 800, ensuring sufficient networking opportunities in both small and large group settings. The school is committed to help you not only get the best professional career path, but grow as an individual. Wharton has an approx. 3 weeks of pre-class program, where the intent is to familiarize the student with the different school resources and work on one's teamwork & leadership skills. This ensured that I had sufficient time to settle down in school, and not feel overwhelmed with the various resources/ opportunities available. Wharton also has its flagship course on 'Teamwork and Leadership' which is specifically focused on teaching managers to build effective teams via a patented simulation analysis. For career services, the school does not allow employeer chats/ session in the first quarter, so that students get sufficient time to prepare. The school has a dedicated career services team which is divided basis the various industries. We can book regular advising sessions with them, and clarify all our doubts over mail as well. They are very responsive. For student life, the school has a club for everything you can possibly imagine. So it's important to be clear with the intent of pursuing a certain activity. In short, I am pleasantly very pleased with Wharton's overall culture. Everyone is very nice, and tries to help each other. The school has a huge focus on teamwork which gets reflected in all the course assignments that we get. One opportunity area could be in terms of student diversity. The school is filled with consultants and bankers.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (5.0)
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I started my own company during Wharton and have been working on it full-time since. Wharton prepared me well for all aspects of startup life. I have relied a ton on the Wharton network and have always been amazed by how helpful classmates are. The Philly Entrepreneurship system continues to grow rapidly. Definitely make sure you join both Founder's Club and the Entrepreneurship Club!
Courses are also a great way to get free help from brilliant classmates on your startup. In particular, I highly recommend the soft skill courses, such as Influence and Negotiations, which are invaluable. The hard skill courses that stood out include Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship through Acquisition. Finally, the brand has helped significantly in opening doors for my company.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
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I am extremely happy at Wharton. Philadelphia is a great place to go to school. You get the resources of a city, but on top of that, everyone lives within a mile radius, creating a tight new community. Everyone embraces the “My Wharton” mentality, making the most of what they want of the experience. Whether you want to focus on classes, clubs, social life or family, there is a place and plentiful opportunity for you. The classes, especially the electives, have great content and professors. All of the top consulting firms and investment banks come to Wharton, and the clubs/career services do a great job preparing you for those interviews. I would suggest that anyone serious about a great network and education to consider this school.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
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Prior to business school I worked at a hedge fund but knew I wanted to get into management and operations. High priority for me was getting into the best school I could and Wharton was my #1 choice. Why over H/S and others? It came down to people; of all the alumni from the schools I knew, I got along best with Wharton people and my 3 years did not disappoint.
I'm getting in, best advice is to find someone with 3 characteristics who can help you: they've been through the MBA process successfully, they know you well, and they are candid. If you don't have someone like that in your life then hit on as many as possible. Do your best and forget the rest!
I got an internship and accepted full time with an MBB but had a lot of other unique opportunities in management, startups, and finance. Wharton will be great for 99% of people. The only place it came up a bit short on career oops was in PE and HF, but I believe it would have been the same for all programs given the ad IOC nature of hiring. For anything blue chip, Wharton is great, plus the San Francisco center is an amazing opportunity for those interested in the bay.
Biggest complaint is that the classes are run by academics as opposed to practitioners and the classes feel to academic. I wish the curriculum were more practical.
Socially, the school does a TON to facilitate friendships and invests a lot in the class.
Overall a great program a very happy with my investment and the prospects it is providing me.
Overall BSchool experience (4.0)
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After the first year of bschool, I will say that it has been a fun experience. I've met some great people and have been able to travel to some fantastic places, however, career wise, I can't say at this point that it's been worth the tuition. Unless you want to go into finance or consulting, the career options post business school may be a bit disappointing and limited. Industries are not as open to career switchers as bschools make them out to be. If you know exactly what you want to do in two years, then you'll hopefully be able to make the most out of your bschool experience. However, if you're looking to "find yourself" or "explore", I'm not sure you'll be able to do so in the limited amount of time/worth the amount you're paying.
Overall BSchool experience (2.0)
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Without the Lauder program, I wouldn't have gone to Wharton. With its small group size (~70 students) and amazing international programming, it was an incredible academic, social, and personal experience. As a somewhat introverted person, the huge class size of Wharton was intimidating. Having a solid base of friends and contacts through Lauder made navigating Wharton much easier.
One thing that pleasantly surprised me about Wharton was the lack of competition among students in classes. Thanks to the grade non-disclosure policy, I found my classmates very willing to help one another.
Another huge selling point on Wharton for me is the breadth of the alumni network. While many schools have huge regional concentrations of alumni, Wharton has pretty even global coverage, with obvious hubs in NYC and SF.
If I could change anything about Wharton, it would be the classroom technology policy. I wish Wharton would adopt a full-blown, accross-the-board technology ban in class as is done at HBS. The quality of class participation suffered significantly due to students working on laptops, phones, and tablets during class. It was very distracting. and a shame given the investment we all made to be there.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
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Admissions Team
