MBA Applications To Wharton Soar By 21% To A New Record

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Outside the Wharton School on the University of Pennsylvania campus – Ethan Baron photo

FINANCE STILL TOP BACKGROUND FOR INCOMING MBA STUDENTS

Not surprisingly, the largest single group of students had worked in finance, with that industry representing 32% of the class, exactly the same percentage as last year; followed by consulting (24%), technology and Internet services (10%), nonprofit and government (15%), healthcare (5%), consumer packaged goods and retail (4%), energy (2%), and media/entertainment (1%). All are in line with recent-year totals, often with just one-percentage-point changes here and there (see table below).

In the finance group, students from private equity and venture capital topped every sector as usual, with 12% of the class. Some 7% were in investment banking, down two percentage points from last year, 5% in investment management, and 8% in other financial services jobs.

Wharton said its newest incoming MBA students averaged five years of work experience, with a range of zero to 14 years.

Of the 916 students in the new class, 17 are JD/MBA students, up a couple from last year; 80 are in the dual-degree Lauder program, a big increase from last year’s 67 total. That jump surprised Abraham because, she says, “that is the opposite of what I would have expected since travel is so limited now.” Some 76 students are in Wharton’s health management option, down just two students from a year earlier.  Another pair came into this class from the school’s Moelis deferred admissions program.

DON’T MISS: The New HBS Class Profile: Harvard Enrolls Smallest MBA Class In Decades or Columbia Sets New MBA Application Record: Nearly 7,000

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