‘Covering Less And Less & Charging More And More’: Wharton EMBA Students Challenge The Value Of Their Degree

Editor’s note: Second of two articles. Read the first: ‘We’re Paying A Quarter Of A Million Dollars To Get Graded By AI’: Wharton EMBA Students Speak Out

The program promises academic excellence. The brand is elite. The price tag: over $230,000.

But for some executive MBA students at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School — the top-ranked EMBA program in the world according to both U.S. News and Poets&Quants — the reality hasn’t lived up to expectations.

“I chose Wharton because I thought it was the most rigorous,” one student says. “I turned down a scholarship for this. But the rigor isn’t there. Not in the way it’s delivered.”

The problem, they say, isn’t the cohort — which they describe as “outstanding.” It’s the content. The structure. The outdated materials. The professors who haven’t updated their slides since the year they got tenure.

‘IT’S ABOUT THE MINDSET’

The concerns echo those raised by Stanford MBA students this summer in a series of stories published by Poets&Quants — from disengaged faculty to course content frozen in time. (See “We’re Not Learning Anything”: Stanford GSB Students Sound The Alarm Over Academics, “AI Is Devaluing The MBA”: Stanford Students Speak Out On Curriculum Lag & The Risk To The B-School’s Brand and “We Expected More”: Stanford GSB Students Call For Higher Teaching Standards.)

It’s a pattern, says one Wharton student who spoke to Poets&Quants on condition of anonymity. Cases are often outdated. “There is no mention of what happened after,” the student says. “We know the outcome. But instead of exploring whether a company made the right choices, we have been told to ignore the real-world results and write in a vacuum.”

One professor even assigned multiple textbooks — all written by the professor. “It’s not about the money,” the student says. “It’s about the mindset. It feels like faculty are recycling material and cashing in on the brand.”

A FRUSTRATED STUDENT BODY

Many of these concerns surfaced during a recent virtual town hall, where Wharton EMBA students were invited to share feedback directly with school leadership. The session, partially transcribed by Fireflies.ai, became an unexpected window into student sentiment.

One student described the program’s weekend classes as “counterproductive.” Another flagged a breakdown in logistics, reporting that they had received outdated information about lodging options and missed the Wharton-negotiated hotel rate. “I was told I should have asked earlier,” the student wrote.

Rather than quell frustration, the session seemed to confirm it. “It was all surface-level,” says one attendee. “Nothing really changed afterward. It felt like theater.”

CURVED GRADES WITHOUT STANDARDS

Wharton grades on a strict curve, a current student tells P&Q: The average GPA in any class cannot exceed 3.5.

“In one class, the distribution was bizarre,” the student says. “Correcting a grade mistake for one student could cause another student’s grade to drop.”

The result? “You’re incentivized to play defense, not to push yourself,” the student says. “It doesn’t foster mastery. It fosters anxiety.”

Reached for comment, Richard Waterman, deputy vice dean for academic affairs for the Wharton MBA Program for Executives, tells P&Q that “We value student feedback and proactively gather input in multiple ways to ensure community voices are heard. Students are encouraged to discuss any concerns about their grades with their instructor and School leadership. They are also encouraged to share candid feedback in their course evaluations, which play a key role in identifying areas for improvement and ensuring quality. We remain committed to continually seeking input and using it to guide ongoing enhancements to our program and the student experience.”

PAYING MORE FOR LESS

Tuition and fees for the Wharton EMBA class entering in 2025 is $238,620, or $39,770 per academic term, not including the cost of textbooks. If all the students in a single Wharton EMBA cohort pay the full $238,620 in tuition and fees, based on the size of the current cohort (222 students) the program generates approximately $53 million in revenue for the school.

Given that the program is such a huge money-maker for the school — easily one of the most lucrative degree programs in business education — it is curious that it no longer includes hotel lodging for students traveling long distances, the student who spoke to P&Q says. 

“They expect you to fly across the country, show up for class at 9 a.m., and pay for your own hotel if you need to arrive early,” the student says.

Global modules, previously subsidized, now require full out-of-pocket payment, the student says, while electives — particularly the popular or rigorous ones — are often booked before students outside the global cohort can enroll.

“They’re covering less and less and charging more and more,” the student says. “Meanwhile, the content isn’t improving. It’s going stale.”

‘I WOULD HAVE GONE ELSEWHERE’

Even the feedback process is, at times, performative, the student says. 

“You can’t see your grades until you submit a review,” they say. “And the reviews are sometimes required on the last day of class, while you’re still sitting there. It’s a box-checking exercise.”

Would they recommend the program to others?

“No. And if I had it to do over again, I would have gone elsewhere.”

DON’T MISS WHARTON TOPS P&Q’S 2024 EXECUTIVE MBA RANKING and ‘WE’RE PAYING A QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS TO GET GRADED BY AI’: WHARTON EMBARRASSING STUDENTS SPEAK OUT

© Copyright 2025 Poets & Quants. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Poets & Quants, please submit your request HERE.