Wharton EMBA (Philly/SF) 2019 Intake: Calling all Applicants!

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Before you judge on me and others, please do your research on candidates being admitted. Folks with a score of 650 and full financial support from his/her pop’s company get in, while folks someone like me with score 710 waitlisted, just because I don’t have financial assistance.
It was no where a personal attack on you but you took to personally attack me. Again this just proves what type you are
Good luck.

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I think, in general, the point is that there's a very small sample size here. Moreover, a lot more goes into admissions decisions than just GMAT score and level of sponsorship. I think you're really discounting the accomplishments of those on here that were admitted by assuming that only those two factors drove decisions.

I realize it sucks to be waitlisted or rejected (my first application season I went 0/5 at my chosen schools, so I know the feeling), but I don't think it's fair to speak negatively about the quality of the admitted candidates nor accuse the school of an unsavory admissions practice.

And nobody spoke negatively about candidates. I made a general comment on admission committee for which Alex just personally attacked and twisted my comment.
May be he is from admission office that hurt him. ???

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Exactly my thoughts too! Current/past work experience, examples of leadership, recommendations, and your interview should be weighted more than a standardized test score.

Even if an applicant received partial or full sponsorship, that doesn't mean that they were automatically given the money. I'll admit that I'm receiving sponsorship from my company (not a family business). I work for a Fortune 100 company. I've made meaningful contributions to my role, but I still had to put together a full proposal on why me, why now, and how will it benefit the company. I had to socialize and present my plan to HR, my manager, his manager (COO), and even the CEO of our division before I was even considered for sponsorship. So, while the WEMBA program may or may not factor company sponsorship as part of their admissions decision, don't discount the hard work people had to go through to secure it.

R2 Phl admit

I look forward to meeting the rest of the class in May

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I'll mention I also received sponsorship from my organization not to brag but to provide a useful data point for future candidates reviewing this thread. I think it's helpful because I, too, had to present my case to HR, my manager (EVP Strategy) and the CEO of the company and did it through a presentation in PowerPoint. It wasn't just a lucky gift - individuals work to secure the support.

I'd also recommend to stop creating conspiracies, the problem is most likely with your own application. Period. Always blame yourself first.
Unless you want to share your own stats, don't point finger at "someone with 670 got admitted" and you didn't. Stop looking for excuses.
Sponsorship can't possibly play any role in it, but we were all trying to get some. 70% of admitted applicants have 0% sponsorship according to Wharton stats.
It does not benefit them in any meaningful way.
Go back and revisit where YOU failed and YOU got rejected and what's wrong with YOUR application, and let us know why you think your application was not strong enough.

I am sick and tired of people from this new generation blaming everyone but themselves.
Especially when they have nothing to show.

If you research how hard it is to the top 10 B school, you'll learn that not everyone could be admitted based on the average accomplishments. The school want to show some great stats, not how many people received sponsorship beforehand. Obviously.

I think financial sponsorship absolutely plays a role. It strengthens how highly recommended you come across to the committee. Certainly many get in without it because there are many factors being considered.

Honestly, it must be very disappointing to not be admitted to something you worked so hard to apply for, so maybe take it easy a little here. I don't think Sansreddy was trying to discredit the quality of those that were admitted.

I’ll share my story here as I think it’s relevant and may drive another interesting angle. I’m a Fellows candidate and Waitlisted in SF.

I had arranged for financial sponsorship from my company few months ago, obviously after jumping through the hoops of HR policies and writing the proposal etc and the management team had agreed to provide it. A week before the application deadline I was told that due to some changes in management (new CEO) and some unexpected revenue losses they can’t provide a firm commitment in the current time frame and that it could happen maybe in the next few weeks. I reached out to Ad com and Wharton agreed to consider my application if I was able to secure a sponsorship letter approving the time commitment and that financial sponsorship will be determined later. I thought that was a sweet deal considering Fellows candidates are required to have financial sponsorship.

There is a twist in the tale. In late Feb, after I submitted my application we were informed that my company is being acquired by another firm in San Diego and I have to relocate to San Diego as part of the acquisition deal. My management told me this was why they couldn’t provide the letter earlier. Unfortunate, sad, terrible timing whatever you want to call it. I’m on the WL now and I reached out to ad com after the decision came out and told that I’m still motivated to attend Wharton commuting from SD although I was initially planning to attend locally in SF. I only got a generic “thanks for your interest” email which felt pretty impersonal and insincere.

I understand that maybe I’m lucky to be on the WL considering Fellows candidates are required to provide sponsorship. Any thoughts or comments welcome.

joannaStern
Who would I really have to blame here? Sure, I can blame myself that I didn’t have a stellar enough application that got admission even without sponsorship but where does that really end?
At some level, one has to realize that there are external factors that have to work in your favor in order for someone to be successful.
But do I blame the management team for not communicating this beforehand? I wouldn’t think any management will convey an M&A deal before the deal is done.

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Kylebecker9, I tend to agree with you 100%.

First of all i saw some statistics about percentage of admits with NO sponsorship, those numbers are not accurate.

Before I get to far down this reply and share my understanding that is my PERSONAL understanding without insinuating anything. Congrats to all who have been admitted and or wait listed.

Certainly this is a brutal process, requires skills, talents, motivation, dedication, sacrifices you name it. So Kuddos to all the admits WELL deserved.

I met through the forum many individuals from all circles of life across the globe, highly qualified, a resume second to none, scores amazing and some others with not as much to show, i am sorry i have to say it, and at the end not everyone is identical to each other right? Yet when you start compiling all the data and you happen to be analytical mind you start forming patterns and that is the sponsorship as clearly indicated above by others is a huge positive element to the application process. See below for some examples.

I too have to say is that there seems to be a trend. An average organization, and I am referring for those that belong to the top 100 in the world provide very little financial sponsorship.
Cisco = 8K, Amazon and Google = 12K a year, Verizon = 8K a year, we are talking major firms here, the ones that provide the most are the Big Fours and the MBBs of the world and yes indeed if someone requests a sponsorship it is understood that a business case needs to be put together, justification of the program, benefits to be past back to the org, you name it needs to be included. But no one and I mean no one receives more of what that allowance is.

I met folks with 750+, many years of experience, a great career progression, and they were rejected, and then others with considerably lower scores and not as impressive career path do get in.

So before we start judging the generation that has migrated educated, worked hard for a better future in this lovely country, lets do some analysis, gather some data and formulate an educated opinion.

Congrats once again for every single member who has been admitted and for all of those that have worked really hard to join such a competitive program.

Yep I agree with that, certainly.
It plays a role only in the sense that they recognize how valuable your are for your company or how much effort you put into getting some sponsorship.

It all adds up to how strong your application is at the end of the day compare to other applications.
and it's FAIR.

But I don't think someone FAKES Wharton stats( I am not allowed to attach a file for some reason, it has stats provided by Wharton. I'd be very surprised if it's all untrue). Or try to pick ONLY people with sponsorship or there is some other conspiracy involved

Another major cause is a privilege factor.
All schools try to take women, black, mexican, LGBT students, even with below 700 scores.
So it's really silly argument to say "some people with GMAT 750 were rejected but someone with 680 was admitted due to sponsorship"
You need to remember that these schools want to show they treat minorities well.
You might be a white man, or an indian/asian and no-one would take you with average application profile(GMAT alone means nothing).

I think minoriry status is a waaaay bigger factor than sponsorship, probably in terms of weights it holds 3 times more weight. Maybe a bit less at Wharton compare to some other schools and programs. But it's still the case for both full time and part time.
I am not saying I agree with that acceptance criteria, it's just given in the current political climate.

So I am surprised when many members of the forum just take 1 factor and try to analyze it and collect some metrics around it. Without having details on 100 more factors known to be baked into the cake.

Hello All ,

Congratulations to those who were admitted to prestigious EMBA program .
I have applied in two schools in round one ie Wharton and Haas and currently i am waitlisted in both schools .I am resident of Bay Area and would like to attend nearby school for my EMBA . What different schools did you all apply ? Any suggestions ?

I'd wait for the results first, both schools are very very good.
It also depends on your goals, whether you plan to stay on west coast or not.
Wharton has great community on both coasts where Berkeley is somewhat more focused on west.

Berkeley is more known in tech space for its product and entrepreneurship focus but you can't go with top 3 school EVER.
WEMBA can be a greater quality of network from different industries.

If you are in finances you choice is obvious, otherwise, without knowing your background, goals and especially who's going to admit you, it's hard to advice .

Good luck. There are several threads on this forum as well to pick between Wharton and Berkeley.

Has anyone heard about when they will give a final update on WL candidates? The only timeline I know is that you have to tell them if you want to remain on WL before April 12.

I emailed Wharton to notify them that I wanted to stay on the waitlist. I received a generic email reply from the admissions staff. Has anyone on the waitlist been accepted?

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It is strange that I couldn't find a single example of a waitlisted candidate being admitted in the last 3-4 year old threads. Perhaps once they get admitted they no longer care to reply to the thread.