Calling all Wharton Fall 09 Applicants

Yeah they actually took a little longer than I expected, but I think that thread will be a great resource for everyone. Since I pretty much check the schools' sites daily, I got pretty excited when I saw the GSB essays were out...just had to share with everybody.

I may apply to the Lauder institute (German program). I'm currently weighting the pros and cons .

Anybody applying to the Lauder institute this fall?

How are the essays coming? I'm going to be starting these first because the deadline is the earliest and it seems that I can leverage a lot of this material over to others.

I'm in, good luck to all.

Does anyone have the recommendations questions?

I'm in for R1.

Put me down for R1!
big time reach for me

Couple of words on my first days here...

Just been here for a couple of days, but I'm already 1. having loads of fun; 2. having to take care of a lot of admin b*llocks (it just DOES NOT STOP).

I travelled from Rome (Italy, not NY ) on Sunday (had a friend's wedding there) and I arrived after midnight at my apartment after not sleeping for 24 hours. Thank God the apartment was furnished. The day after the program started for the internationals with an orientation session beginning at... 8.30am.

The experience has been till now fantastic! I know this is cliche, but the diversity is incredible. Wharton has this year 45% of international students (must be some sort of record in the US). The only small downside to it is that I think it's pretty heavily Asia-orientated (Europeans got outnumbered by at least 8 to 1). But even then, the people are great wherever they come from (however I'm definitively struggling with the Indian names ). Median age is around 28, which I'm happy with since I don't agree with the "get them in younger" tendency.

Among the unusual admits we have a couple of NFL players, 2 professional basketball players, the Israeli army head sniper instructor (a very nice girl), a counsellor to the Jordanian royal court, etc. That gives a nice diversity touch. But don't get too poetic: the majority of the people still come from IB, PE, and NYC or maybe Boston The thing that impressed me most though is that people remain very humble about what they have done; it's very refreshing to be in that kind of atmosphere.

As for parties, you can go for a drink any day and you'll find people from Wharton. I was a bit worried that it might be a bit too serious, but rest assured, there are a LOT of opportunities to party and have fun. But I guess that when the real business will start we'll see who the real party animals are... (but I'm not worried, there'll be more than a couple)

Last word about Philly: I'm pleasantly surprised. It's not fantastic (let's be honest) but good enough for 2 years in an MBA: it's compact (you can do everything by foot), the centre is - from what I gather - relatively safe, you have enough bars to keep the students happy. All in all it's good!

Voila, I'll be sending an update of my experience soon! Sorry if this sounds like propaganda - I'm sure that the students in the other schools are also having a great time discovering their new environment and will probably say more or less the same positive things about their school - but I am geniunely happy to be here (for the moment). I'll try and update this regularly.

If you have any questions, please ask! I'll do my best to answer.

PS: don't want to sound arrogant, but Americans cannot drink! After 10 pints they are struggling!

any famous NFLers? or basketball players we would know?

And how do the girls look??

I just took a tour. Let's just say it's not UCLA or Arizona State

This girl intimidates me, a lot more than a Harvard grad.

Never been to UCLA, but at Wharton they're not that bad, you've got a couple of fit birds, but I agree nothing in the league of Adriana Karembeu. Still, not that bad!

PS: were you with those young kids in green - brown shorts with "squares"? (vertical and horizontal lines, dunno how to say it in English)

Count me in for R1

And Audio thanks for the description. Keep em coming

Count me in for R1 as well. Re-applicant from last year so hoping for better results.

Thanks for the help audio. Looks like you are going to be racking up the kudos.

Any advice for re-applicants? Should the essays just be revised or should we start from scatch. Thanks.

I wanted to add my impressions to Audio's spot on recap...

Pre-term started on Wednesday. The class make up is fairly diverse, lot's of people with NGO, engineering, gov't etc. backgrounds in addition to the myriad of IB/PE/VC/Consulting folks. It's been a fantastic experience, it sounds blase but everybody is incredibly outgoing and friendly, not to mention incredibly accomplished. The main thing that's struck me is how outgoing and helpful everyone is. The faculty is impressive, during the convocation and through the first few days everyone of the professors I've met has been both personable and knowledgeable.

Being one of those Americans who cannot drink I have to say my int'l colleagues are in amazing form...10 pints and I'll be sleeping under the table. That said the class make up is very international, not only those students who are of non-US citizenship but also the number of US citizens who have been working abroad. If you take that into account the number of people with sizable international experience constitutes over 50% of the class. The campus and city have also exceeded my expectations, it's easy to walk to and from class and the area around Centre City is actually quite nice for the most part. Philadelphia isn't New York or Boston but it has its own charm, and Huntsman hall has all the features you're looking for in a bschool building. Basically the first week has been a series of events at school plus lots of drinking in the city...at this point I'm just trying to put faces to names and get to know my classmates. Like Audio said if y'all have any questions let me know I'd be happy to help.

Good luck with your apps.

Thanks for the info shmegs. I have some Q's for you guys:

Is it weird sharing huntsman hall with undergrads?
Where do most students live? Where do students usually hang out?
How expensive is philly compared to other major cities? How safe?

I'm thinking of applying. Maybe Arabic track.

The Wharton application is supposed to go live sometime today (Monday, August 4th).