The Wharton School
Wharton's Locust Walk on a recent fall day.
4. University of Pennsylvania
Wharton School
420 Jon M. Huntsman Hall
3730 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Admissions: 215-898-6183
Email: mbaoperations@wharton.upenn.edu
Website: http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/mba/
Apply Online: http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/mba/admissions/apply-to-wharton.cfm
Admission Deadlines for Class of 2014:
Round One: 10/3/11
Round Two: 1/4/12
Round Three: 3/5/12
Wharton has just announced a new MBA curriculum that promises life-long education to MBA graduates, along with more leadership and communication experiences. The basic program will still about an intensive core in general management, plus the depth of 18 majors and breadth of nearly 200 electives. The school’s month long pre-term session includes a two-day off-campus retreat where students begin the process of learning to lead in a team environment. The first year’s focus is an intensive core curriculum that students complete together in learning teams of six. The core gives students the foundation of broad management skills that are applicable to any industry.
During the summer months between the first and second years, students are busy with internships, career treks, and volunteer projects around the world. When they return, the second year curriculum offers flexibility to follow personal interests and career goals. Students select from a wide range of majors and electives that help to develop one or more areas of expertise.
Latest Up-to-Date MBA Rankings:
Poets&Quants (2011): 4
BusinessWeek (2010): 3
Forbes (2011): 4
U.S. News & World Report (2011): 4
Financial Times (2011): 1 (Global & U.S.)
The Economist (2011): 15 (Global), 10 (U.S.)
Rankings Analysis:
Wharton maintained its fourth place finish in the new Poets&Quants ranking for 2011. Despite a drop of seven places in The Economist’s 2011 global ranking to 15th from 8th, the school fared very well in most of the other key ratings whose methodologies have far more credibility than The Economist. Wharton gained ground in the 2011 lists put out by U.S. News, Forbes, and The Financial Times. The school moved up to fourth from fifth in both the U.S. News and Forbes rankings, the latter which measures return-on-investment. Even more notably, the school also inched up into a two-way tie with London Business School for first place in the 2011 Financial Times survey.
BusinessWeek, which ranks MBA programs every other year largely on the basis of student and recruiter satisfaction, had Wharton in third place in 2010, up from fourth in 2008. Wharton was second in BW’s survey of corporate recruiters, behind only the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. It was 11th on BW’s graduate satisfaction poll. One Class of 2010 graduate summed up the Wharton experience this way: “Wharton is rigorous and analytical. It teaches students to use data to think critically about business issues. It attracts top talent. Peers challenge one another to think broader but in a collaborative, not competitive way. The academic, career and social aspects exceeded all my expectations and I would highly recommend it to anyone.”
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Ryan
