A Five Star Experience: Wharton’s Winter Welcome Weekend

Some Fun Facts

Sometimes, I’m floored by what I didn’t know that I didn’t know. Here are a few tidbits of info that caught me off guard in the most pleasant and positive way as they were revealed at various points during the weekend.

Wharton has the most published business school faculty in the world.This is very important to me because I not only want good experiential learning in a business school but the opportunity to be mentored by thought leaders; speaking of which, Daniel Pink (one of my favorite thinkers) had just left the campus days prior.
Last summer, Google brought in the largest class of interns from one school in the history of the company. There was 20 of them, and they were all from Wharton. Who woulda thunk it? In fact, tech (my chosen industry) was #3 in terms of intern placement with 110 placements in that industry (closely following IB with 125 and consulting with 114). I did NOT expect that from an east coast school (other than MIT). Pleasant surprise indeed. I guess that west coast campus is beginning to pay strong dividends.
The largest collegiate hackathon in the world, PennApps, takes place at UPenn (I know, hence the name duh). Previously, I wondered as to whether I would be able to meet talented coders in Philly if I chose to attend Wharton; question answered.
The school is tenaciously supportive of its entrepreneurs in ways that transcend curricular and co-curricular programs such as the Venture Initiation Program (seed money + office space) or the Venture Award (summer internship alternative where you can work on your business idea instead). For instance, the name plates that the school uses are made by a Wharton start up. Looking for student loan alternatives? The school suggests that you look no further than Common Bond, which was started by current MBA students who were allowed to defer their 2nd year to build their burgeoning enterprise. Need somewhere to stay? Wharton recommends The Rent Scene, another start up founded by class of ’13 member Marvis Burns.
As an entrepreneur, you can negotiate with the school to give your classmates elective credit for working (pro bono) in your startup. Free-99 slave labor? Yes! You have my attention.
The entrepreneurial community in Philly is apparently dominated by Wharton. Similar to what I’ve heard of Tuck, any “action” that takes place on the entrepreneurial front tends to be concentrated in and around Penn. This appears to be the upside to having a lot of activity occuring within one institution in a city where there is much less going on in that arena. This factoid definitley caught my attention. I hate being lost in a crowd.
In addition to the entrepreneurship club, there is apparently a Founders Club just for people who are actively building companies (or have in the past). The group is very close knit and super intense. My kind of people indeed.

Motivational Beverages, Motown and Real Estate

During our first evening, my cohort of admits got to experience Pub, a long-standing social tradition at Wharton that generally takes place on Thursdays. I also picked up a new vocabulary term: “motivational beverages”. I got a hoot out of that.

While doing my research about a year ago I stumbled across this blog. I got to meet the main blogger, Motown, at the African American MBA Assoc (AAMBAA) happy hour. She somewhat retired after her hectic fall term got under way, but I got a lot out of her writings when she was active as an applicant.

During the entrepreneurship happy hour, I was able to meet a current student who is running a start up with a similar business model (SaaS-based data solutions) to that which I am interested in. That commonality made for a great conversation. I’ll be staying in contact with that dude regardless of where I end up attending.

Recently Wharton purchased a floor in a high rise not too far from campus. It provides additional meeting space for MBA students to meet for projects (I’ve heard the undergrads have been known to storm the meeting rooms at Huntsman). It also is a lot closer to Center City, where 99.9% of the MBA students live.

Finally, there’s this issue of the cold. Since all 3 of my potential schools are in famously cold cities (Philly, Boston, Chicago) I told myself some time ago that I’d need to get over my love of mild California weather. Surprisingly, I didn’t mind the freezing Philly weather at all as long as I had on the proper gear. I don’t know whether my tolerance has changed or I’m just really good at deluding myself, but yeah, I’ll take it either way.

MBAOver30 offers the perspective of a 30-something, California-based entrepreneur who is applied to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Chicago, and MIT Sloan. He has been offered admission into Class of 2015 from Wharton, Chicago and MIT Sloan. He blogs at MBAOver30.com. Previous posts on Poets&Quants:

How I Totally Overestimated The MBA Admissions Process

Musings on MBA Failophobia

Letting Go Of An MBA Safety School

When A Campus Visit Turns Off An MBA Applicant

Yale, Tuck and Booth: The Next Leg of My Pre- MBA Research

My Countdown: Less Than 30 Days To The GMAT

From Suits To Startups: Why MBA Programs Are Changing

Why I’m Not Getting Either A Part-Time MBA or An Executive MBA

Preparing To Sit For The GMAT Exam

Falls Short of GMAT Goal, But The 700 Is A Big Improvement

A 2012-2013 MBA Application Strategy

Celebrating A 35th Birthday & Still Wanting A Full-Time MBA