At Wharton, Apps Dip But GMATs Climb

The Wharton School is placing a big bet on business analytics

SOME 35% OF THE CLASS OF 2020 BOAST BACKGROUNDS IN FINANCE, WITH PE/VC TOPS

As you would expect, the largest single group of students had worked in finance, with that industry representing 35% of the class, followed by consulting (27%), technology and Internet services (10%), nonprofit and government (9%), healthcare (5%), consumer packaged goods and retail (3%), real estate (2%), energy (2%), and media/entertainment (2%).

In the finance group, students from private equity and venture capital topped every sector, with 13% of the class. Some 9% were in investment banking, 8% in diversified financial services, and 5% in investment management. Though consulting was up just a single percent, the 27% reflect a new record for Wharton.

Those percentages reflect only small, inconsequential changes from last year’s mix of work backgrounds. Nonprofit and government students fell by three percentage points from 12% last year. Consulting rose by a single percent from 28%. Students from investment management are up two percentage points from just 3% last year which had been a new low for that sector of finance.

MORE JD/MBA DUAL ADMITS THIS YEAR, NEARLY DOUBLING FROM A YEAR EARLIER

Of the 862 students in the new class, some 26 are JD/MBA students, a big increase from the 14 last year; 70 are in the dual-degree Lauder program, while 72 are in Wharton’s health management option. The near doubling of JD/MBA students reflects an improving market for law schools in general after a severe multi-year slump.

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