Meet Wharton’s MBA Class Of 2027

Two hundred electives. One hundred and fifty clubs and conferences. Twenty concentrations.

Over 1,750 full-time MBA students – and 240 full-time faculty members to match.

Picture a business school with over 5,000 students across its degree programs. Imagine an alumni network – 105,000 members strong – spread across 153 countries. And that doesn’t count another 200,000 people who’ve earned online certificates or taken executive education courses from the school.

That’s the scale of Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. More than size, Wharton is associated with excellence, influence, and prestige. Various rankings applying differing methodologies have pegged Wharton as the world’s top business school. Their MBA applicants boast some of the most impressive credentials – and their graduates land some of the biggest starting paychecks. Founded in 1881, Wharton is credited as America’s first business school. And that’s just the beginning of Wharton firsts. Over nearly 150 years, Wharton has been the first to produce programs in entrepreneurship, healthcare, and international management. Add to that, the school rolled out the first research center, executive education program, and business radio station too.

‘A ROCKET SHIP’

That’s one reason why Wharton is a household name among the general public. For employers, a Wharton MBA is a stamp of approval: proof that a graduate is connected, tested, smart, and ready. Among the MBA Class of 2027, Zoë Spence, most recently a brand manager at Kraft Heinz, speaks of Wharton as a place to “transform ambition into action” through its “unmatched resources, mentorship, and community.” Her classmate, Amos Jackson III holds a master’s degree in Theology from Harvard. He frames the program in terms of opportunities and possibilities, “where you’re encouraged to take risks, explore new industries, and push beyond your comfort zone.” By the same token, Tanishi Agarwal hypes the program’s capacity to spur personal growth.

“Wharton feels like the space between who I was and who I’m ready to be — the right challenge, one that nudges you forward without throwing you off balance,” writes Agarwal, a Goldman Sachs alum.  “Wharton helps you step into that challenge with clarity to start shaping the version of yourself you haven’t met yet.”

In true creative form, Netflix’s Gorav Menon uses the metaphor of a rocket ship to portray Wharton: a vehicle that takes students to coveted heights and unexplored destinations.

“Wharton gives their students a rocket ship and spends the next two years teaching them how to ride it. Each one is different, and none of us flies it the same, but they all go fast and high. When a Wharton career advisor asks what we want to do after this, they are not asking what industry we want to make money in; they are asking what industry we want to shape. This difference is emblematic of a juggernaut. Wharton is the vehicle that allows me to explore my dreams, and the school is giving me the launch codes to chase it with ferocity I didn’t know I had.”

What is such a ride like? Andy Yim, a West Point grad, sets the scene. “Wharton, the combination of elite faculty and staff, a strong alumni network, and diverse academic programming and events means you can create your own adventure. A possible day here at Wharton might include taking a class on entrepreneurship or negotiations, attending a talk by renowned business leaders at lunch, then grabbing a bite or drink with classmates before an Authors@Wharton event with Adam Grant –which just highlights that no two days here will be alike.”

GOING ALL-IN ON AI

The Wharton School is also home to over 20 research centers, including areas like Family Business, Real Estate, Health Economics, Leadership, and Entrepreneurship. At the same time, the program – true to its first adopter mentality – maintains an AI, Analytics, and Data Science Center, along with recently introducing a STEM-certified Artificial Intelligence for Business concentration. Such differentiators reflect Wharton’s heavy investment in AI and data sciences in recent years. The school has even created a fund to support faculty research and student projects with the belief, in the words of Dean Erika James, that these areas “fundamentally transform every sector of business and society.”

Gaining fluency in these areas was one reason why Goran Menon moved across the country to join the Class of 2027 at Huntsman Hall. “Wharton is ensuring its students are ready to engage with these technologies, build businesses around them, and ask the questions shaping this economy today. Courses like Impact and Ethical Implications of AI in Business and Technology Strategy will allow me to learn directly from the researchers, practitioners, and companies building the future of AI. Just as importantly, the program recognizes that leadership in this space requires more than technical knowledge—it demands the ability to balance profit, purpose, and long-term impact.”

Alumni have already noticed the difference. In her Innovation class, ’25 grad Aarati Cohly points to faculty challenging her to use ChatGPT to generate startup ideas, adding that Wharton provides licensed OpenAI accounts to all students. More than that, adds ’25 classmate Simi Shah, the Wharton faculty are heavily embracing AI.

“They encourage its use by asking students to disclose when and how they’ve used AI in assignments so that they can learn alongside us,” Shah continues. “That level of curiosity and open-mindedness is something I appreciate, especially when it would have been easier for professors to be dismissive. The conversations around AI at Wharton feel forward-thinking, experimental, and iterative, which is exactly , how I think business schools can keep their students at the cutting edge.”

A PRESIDENTIAL AIDE

Of course, the Wharton Class of 2027 consisted of pioneering innovators and top performers long before they arrived in Philadelphia. Take Zoë Spence. A former Top 20 junior tennis player, Spence developed FreshSuspence as a side gig. A precursor to NIL, the video-sharing platform enabled athletes to build their personal brand by sharing their stories. At JPMorgan Chase, Nyla Thompson rose to being a vice president of product management in just two years – the same amount of time it took her to earn a promotion to being a senior business consultant at Ernst & Young. Before starting business school, Amos Jackson III worked for the Office of Barack and Michelle Obama, topping out as the office manager and special assistant to the former president.

“It was a privilege not only to serve a leader who has shaped history, but also to be exposed to a wide array of business enterprises and nonprofit work in the process<” Jackson tells Poets&Quants. “That experience gave me a front-row seat to leadership at the highest level while teaching me how to balance service, responsibility, and impact. That experience was another degree in Life.”

Andy Yim most recently served as a U.S. Army Battalion Fire Support Officer for the Nightstalkers (160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. After earning his MBA at Wharton, Jacob Yallowitz will be returning to the U.S. Coast Guard, where he worked as an Operations Officer for the Venturous vessel. Before that, he spent two years in one of the most coveted positions imaginable.

“[I completed] a successful tour in the White House Situation Room as an Intelligence Watch Officer during globally transformative events.”

That’s not his only achievement, with Yallowitz noting his work across law enforcement, humanitarian aid, and defense missions. “Together, we’ve rescued mariners clinging to life, stopped a drug-laden vessel transporting $100 million in contraband, and projected peace through strength in the Arabian Gulf.”

A STORYTELLER AT HEART

After playing in a college rock band, Gabriel Villarreal parlayed a finance degree into a stint as a senior associate at EY-Parthenon, where he helped build its Monterrey office from scratch. Samidha Sane, a Penn undergrad, made her name at the Boston Consulting Group. A master of four languages – English, French, Marathi, and Hindi Sane – Sane once developed a five-year ESG strategy for a client who implemented all 20 of her initiatives. At the Gates Foundation, Aditi Rathore worked on behalf of the Women’s Economic Empowerment team to measure their economic impact.

“I worked with colleagues and grantees to design a framework built on strategically significant yet simple indicators,” she writes. “This allowed us to track progress toward our north star of increasing women’s income generation. This framework now enables the team to track results across investments, identify the most effective levers for women’s economic mobility, and communicate a clearer story of impact.”

Speaking of storytelling, Gorav Menon turned his side project, the Linen Suit & Plastic Tie podcast, into a bona fide hit that averages five-star reviews on Apple podcasts. “[It] has grown into a five-year, 80+ episode platform dedicated to unlocking the power of storytelling in our mental health, careers, businesses, and everyday lives,” he tells P&Q. “Along the way, I’ve had the privilege of interviewing voices from Marvel, Google, and a16z, alongside professors from HBS and GSB, bestselling authors, award-winning creators, scientists, and economists. Together, they’ve helped our listeners study storytelling not as an abstract idea, but as a practical skill that can transform how we lead, create, and connect.”

A TRADER … WITH A PASSION FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

At HSBC, where she worked as a foreign exchange options trader, Sheena Ma also created an e-course on Global Markets Climate Science – one that is required for over 20,000 of its employees. For Ma, the course tapped into her passion for climate change.

“My biggest passion is tackling climate change through practical, community-driven projects. Whether it was helping a London-based rooftop solar enterprise design financing models or volunteering as a composting ambassador for New York’s Department of Sanitation, I’ve seen how grassroots actions can build momentum for big change and empower financially viable solutions.”

Victoria Bernstein Fenoglietto, most recently a McKinsey analyst, lists Latin American growth as her passion. After spending a decade researching sexual safety on public transit and establishing health clinics in Southern Asian immigrants, Samidha Sane considers women’s reproductive health to be her passion. For Goran Menon, asking questions is a passion – and “building technology businesses around the answers” has been the return.

“At Netflix, I helped design the foundational reporting structure for the new Ads platform, translating uncertainty into the data and strategy that guided early executive decisions for what I believe will become a multi-billion-dollar business. At Snapchat, it meant rethinking how to rebuild the SMB Ads business from the ground up—forcing me to challenge assumptions and ask sharper questions. A questioning mindset isn’t just a habit—it’s an essential skill in a world where AI is redefining how people live, work, and connect.”

A CLASS PROFILE

This year’s incoming MBA class saw enrollment swell to 888 students, making it Wharton’s largest class in four years. One reason: the school received its largest number of applications over the past decade. Test-wise, the average GMAT score improved by three points to 735, while GREs came in at 163 and 162 for Quant and Verbal respectively. As a whole, the class averaged a 3.7 undergraduate GPA.

Demographically, 74% of the class hails from the United States. That’s a 5-point increase over the previous two years, as 68 countries are represented in the class. Another 44% of the class are women, down 3 points from the previous year (and 8 points lower than the high-water mark set by the Class of 2023). LGBTQ+ and First-Generation students account for 12% and 11% of the class respectively, while military veterans make up 6% of the class.

In terms of work experience, consultants constitute nearly a third of the class at 31%. Private Equity and Venture Capital professions hold another 15% of the class seats, followed by Non-Profit and Government (10%), Investment Banking (8%), Technology (8%), Financial Services (6%), and Investment Management (4%). Several professionals are also represented by shares of 2% or less: CPG, Media and Entertainment and Real Estate.

In terms of undergraduate majors, the class is split relatively evenly. 36% of first-years majored in Humanities-related fields, while Business and STEM fields each made up 32% shares. In total, 82% of class members earned their degrees in American institutions. As Wharton students, another 213 students are pursuing interdisciplinary and dual master’s degrees, led by the Lauder Joint Degree in International Studies and the MBA in Healthcare Management with 72 students each.

Next Page: Profiles of 13 Members of the Class of 2027.

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