There are many things that can be said about Wharton, but the full time MBA program has far exceeded my expectations. My classmates are collegial and supportive, the professors are world class and leaders in their industry, and the amount of career opportunities I've been exposed to is staggering. I was really on the fence between Wharton and another program and would go back and make the same decision again in a heartbeat if I could. Could not be happier with my decision.
The two biggest perks of the program, in my experience, are the student body and the alumni. My classmates have worked in nearly every country on Earth, at nearly every company you could think of, and in an incredibly wide range of roles. If I want to learn more about the McKinsey office in Moscow, I can grab lunch with someone who spent 2 years there tomorrow. If I'm curious about working in a fintech startup in San Francisco, I can grab coffee with someone that was employee #3 at one later today. If I want to know the gritty details about working at Goldman TMT in NYC, I can bump into a person that did that between classes. I didn't fully understand how valuable that level of connection would be until I got here and was able to take advantage of it before the waves of recruiting hit during my first year.
The alumni support has been very impressive. Coming into school, I knew I wanted to work in a certain industry in a certain geographic area, so I started reaching out to alumni from both schools I was considering to get a feel of the strength of each network. The Wharton alumni far and away were the most responsive and receptive to me and several of them went beyond the extra mile to meet or chat with me during my decision process. Since I've been a student, that aspect has only improved. I may be an anomaly, but I've had a hit rate of 100% when it comes to returned emails, phone calls, or coffee / lunch invitations from alumni. I know the burden will be on me someday to repay the favor to the next set of students, but I cannot overstate how strong and open the Wharton network has been for me thus far.
I thought the competition between students would be extremely cutthroat based on what I heard from some of the older alumni at my pre-MBA firm, but that hasn't been true at all. All of my classmates are extremely helpful and there isn't this "I win if I can make you lose" mentality like I was expecting. I think the TBD interview style really works to wash out the gunners before they get to campus.
The amount of electives and flexibility you have within the degree programs thanks to the short fixed core classes program is really fantastic. You can get as deep or as broad as you want in any subject and I've really taken advantage of it by using the course catalogue as a shopping menu for classes that I think sound interesting outside my chosen field of study.
WAY more tech firms and start ups recruit at Wharton than I thought would when I was applying. I come from a finance background and plan to continue in the investment field after school, but I've been pleasantly surprised at the amount of opportunity that exists beyond the typical financial roles. The school has a finance reputation for a reason, but there is a big push from the leadership to expand entrepreneurship and tech stuff and it's really starting to show when you look at the post-MBA jobs a lot of people are taking.
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