MBA ADMISSIONS BLOG

Notes from the Director: Kicking Off the Summer Travel Season

MBA Admissions Blog — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 17:08:00 GMT

Greetings All,

It has been a busy few weeks here in Philadelphia, from the close of the Class of 2015 application cycle to Wharton’s graduation weekend festivities. Unfortunately, I had to miss Graduation this year (due to the wedding of one of our “Wharton couples”), but on behalf of the entire MBA Admissions & Financial Aid team, I would like to congratulate the Class of 2013. We wish them all the best as they embark on their next adventures and welcome them to the alumni network!

While life on campus slows down over the next few months, the Admissions team and I are ramping up on our MBA information session “world tour”. I had the pleasure of kicking off our travels, with a trip to Asia in May. My first stop was Hong Kong, where I was greeted by torrential rains and a natural “light show” (read: lightening). While it was thrilling to be staying on the 117th(!) floor of my hotel, it made for an eerie view (that I wasn’t able to capture well on film, unfortunately).

Once the weather settled down, I was able to thoroughly enjoy my time, albeit short, in the city. I had the chance to meet with Wharton’s Alumni Club of Hong Kong for lunch, where we chatted about the exciting new initiatives going on at Wharton, including the addition of the Team Based Discussion to the admissions process, the launch of our new curriculum and Semester in San Francisco last fall, and the many Lifelong Learning opportunities for our alumni. I also attended the Penn Campaign Celebration, which drew over 250 alumni from across the University’s undergraduate and graduate programs. The Making History Campaign event featured University of Pennsylvania President and Christopher H. Brown Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Dr. Amy Gutmann. You can find more highlights from the event here.

Penn President, Amy Gutmann, at the Penn Campaign Celebration in Hong Kong.

My second (and final) stop was in Tokyo for the first Wharton Global Forum of 2013 (the second will be in Paris in October). The Tokyo Global Forum had incredible attendance from our alumni community, industry leaders and media outlets. There were near 700 attendees for the two day Forum, which provided alumni and business leaders with an opportunity to discuss today’s most pressing issues in Tokyo and the region.

View from The Palace Hotel Tokyo which was the venue for the two-day Forum.

It was wonderful to have three of our recent MBAs, Miwa Gardner-Page WG’13, Akihisa Shiozaki WG’10 and Mari Takada WG’11 as the Masters of Ceremonies for the entire two-day event. I also had a chance to meet with our alumnae in attendance over breakfast – it was wonderful to see Wharton women from across class year and around the world, congregate together in Tokyo. The event officially kicked off with welcomes from President, Dr. Amy Gutmann and Wharton’s Dean, Thomas Robertson, and the next two days were filled with an educational mix of panels and speakers. One of the most interesting to me was on “Risks, Challenges and Opportunities: Lessons Learned from 3/11” which featured panelists from across government, business and the non-profit sectors who shared their lessons on leadership through Japan’s 3/11 earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

Next week, I’ll head to the annual Graduate Management Admissions Council conference in Vancouver, where I’ll be speaking about the Team Based Discussion as part of a panel on the Future of Interviewing. After that, I plan to let my passport rest for a while and look forward to spending a few weeks on campus.

While I’ll be holding down the home front, the Admissions team will be headed to a city near you, with events in South America last week and Europe to come this week. For more details on where we will be next, please continue to visit the event page on our website. Over the coming weeks, be sure to keep a lookout for more updates from the Admissions team as we travel the globe!

We look forward to seeing many of you in your home city over the coming weeks!

Sincerely,

Ankur Kumar

Congratulations JD/MBA Class of 2013!

MBA Admissions Blog — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 20:34:00 GMT

Penn Law and Wharton extend congratulations to the JD/MBA Class of 2013! The 12 talented students graduated with 2 degrees in 2 days – Wharton on May 12 and Penn Law on the 13th. Their graduations were celebrated with a JD/MBA reception that welcomed current students, graduates and their families, faculty, and alumni to celebrate this momentous achievement.

The JD/MBA Class of 2013 will be heading out to begin their lustrous careers in law and business. Our students have secured post-graduation employment and will be heading to firms such as JLL Partners, Kirkland & Ellis, Skadden, McKinsey, Bain, Morgan Stanley and Schulte, to name just a few. Some notable achievements of the class:

• JD/MBAs graduated with Honors at both Penn Law & Wharton – including cum laude, Palmer Scholars (top 5% of Wharton Class) and Wharton Honors (top 20%) distinctions
• One JD/MBA student was awarded Penn Law’s Nathan Burkan Memorial Award for the best paper on copyright law
• Half of the Class was honored with the Award for either Distinguished (80+ hours) or Outstanding (120+ hours) Pro Bono Service!
• Many JD/MBAs held leadership positions including chairing conferences, being presidents of Wharton clubs, editors of Penn Law journals, chairs of various conferences, including the Wharton Social Impact Conference, and competitors in business plan competitions and moot courts

We extend a fond farewell to the Class of 2013 for being such wonderful, talented and energetic ambassadors of the JD/MBA Program and look forward to welcoming the Class of 2016 to campus in a few months. The Admissions teams at both Penn Law and Wharton will be on the road this summer hosting marketing events, which are great ways to learn more about each school.

For general information about the JD/MBA Program please visit our website or reach out to Colleen France, Associate Director of the Program, at cfrance@wharton.upenn.edu.

Learn more about the Lauder Institute - a joint-degree program in International Studies at Wharton

MBA Admissions Blog — Tue, 28 May 2013 19:56:00 GMT

Most of Penn’s campus is relatively quiet now that graduation weekend has passed, but that is not the case at the Lauder Institute. In fact, this is one of our busiest times of year as we welcome the newest class of students pursuing their Wharton MBA and MA in International Studies through our unique joint-degree program.

Several weeks ago 72 new members of the Lauder Class of 2015, including seven students in our inaugural Global Program, joined us in Philadelphia to begin a demanding but incredibly rewarding two years. Already they have visited Estee Lauder Companies in New York City to meet with the Lauder family and other executives, attended several Lauder alumni networking events, and are well on their way to finishing two Lauder classes, including International Political Economy of Business Environments taught by Mauro Guillen, Lauder Director and Dr. Felix Zandman Endowed Professor in International Management. They are also preparing for their upcoming summer immersion program, where each of our ten programs (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Global, Hindi, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish) spend two months in a country/ies that corresponds to their regional or global concentration. The focus of summer immersion is to advance students’ language proficiency and develop their ability to discuss complex social, political, cultural, and economic issues. Students also take part in cultural excursions, corporate visits to a diverse set of organizations in the region, and complete a research project on a topic related to their summer immersion, which is published by Knowledge at Wharton in the annual Lauder Global Business Insight Report.

While the Class of 2015 is exploring Philadelphia, the Class of 2014 is spanning the globe as they pursue internships everywhere from Moscow to Cape Town to Bogota, conducting overseas research for their Global Knowledge Lab projects, and participating in Lauder’s Culture Quest. Launched in 2011, the annual Lauder Culture Quest is an experience designed to challenge Lauder students to interact personally with the peoples and cultures of various countries in a given region through an exciting 10-day race. Through creativity and resourcefulness, participants demonstrate teamwork by completing challenging tasks that impact local communities in positive ways. This year’s program started in Vienna and the groups are just making their way to the final destination of Istanbul!

If you’re interested in integrating an MA in International Studies with the Wharton MBA we invite you to join us this summer at an information session to learn more about Lauder and how we combine international business and management education, advanced language study, global and regional focuses, dynamic research projects, and an overseas summer immersion into our joint-degree program. Learn more about where we’ll be this summer on our events page. For general information about Lauder please visit our website or reach out to Meghan Ellis, Associate Director of Admissions, at ellismeg@wharton.upenn.edu.

Meet Wharton in your city this summer!

MBA Admissions Blog — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:58:00 GMT

Now that the 2012-2013 application cycle has come to a close, we wanted to provide you with the dates and deadlines for the 2013-2014 application process. With these dates in mind, please note that our 2013-2014 application will become available on our website in early August.

• Round 1: October 1, 2013
• Round 2: January 7, 2014
• Round 3: March 27, 2014

As you are beginning to think ahead about which MBA program would be the right fit for you, we wanted to provide you with an update on our on and off-campus summer travel plans. While our Campus Visit Program resumes in September, there are a number of ways to connect with the Wharton MBA off-campus this summer! The MBA Admissions events page provides details about all of our upcoming admissions events being held in over 20 countries around the world – from general presentations, to alumni-led events and industry-specific panels.

The MBA Admissions team really enjoys the opportunity to meet prospective students on the road, while also having the opportunity to reconnect with our local alumni around the globe. In the coming weeks, we look forward to seeing many of you in Canada, Europe, the Middle East, South America and Southeast Asia!

Please note that we will continue to add more events throughout the summer, so if you don’t see a location close to you at this time, please check back again soon.

MBA Admissions and Financial Aid Office Closed on Friday

MBA Admissions Blog — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:32:00 GMT

The MBA Admissions and Financial Aid Office will be closed on Friday, May 17, 2013 for an off-site meeting. Regular office hours will resume on Monday, May 20th at 8:30 am. Should you have any questions, please contact the MBA Admissions and Financial Aid Office directly at 215-898-6183.

Meet Wharton students in your city this summer!

MBA Admissions Blog — Wed, 08 May 2013 18:53:00 GMT

In the coming months, current Wharton MBA students will be spread across the globe for their summer internships. To take advantage of having so many student ambassadors around the world, Wharton MBA Admissions offers informal 'coffee chats' with these students for prospective students to learn firsthand about the Wharton experience and life in Philadelphia.

If you are interested in learning more about the Wharton MBA, register today for a meet-and-greet near you, as space is limited (click on the 'Coffee Chats' tab). Additional dates and cities will be added soon.

The students look forward to meeting you!

Best Regards,
The Wharton MBA Admissions and Financial Aid Team

June Kinney Recognized by the Business School Alliance for Health Management

MBA Admissions Blog — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:24:00 GMT

With its 18 majors and over 200 electives, the Wharton MBA Program prides itself on the strength and variety of its curriculum. Within this curriculum, one of the most unique programs is Health Care Management (HCM). HCM is the only major within the full time MBA program where students must indicate their interest at the time of application. This major helps students strengthen their management skills and expertise within the health care industry. Leading the way for the HCM program is June Kinney, Associate Director and Lecturer in the Wharton School Health Care Management Department. Recently, the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics and The Wharton School joined together to congratulate June as the inaugural recipient of the Business School Alliance Health Management (BAHM) June Kinney Achievement Award for “outstanding service” in advancing health care-related education, research and practice at Penn. You can read more about this award here.

The MBA Admissions & Financial Aid Office would like to congratulate June on this wonderful accomplishment and thank her for her ongoing enthusiasm for the program!

Notes from the Director: Spring Welcome Weekend Recap

MBA Admissions Blog — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:13:00 GMT

Greetings from Philadelphia,

It was such a pleasure to see so many familiar faces on campus last week for the Spring Welcome Weekend events. Despite the initial torrential downpour (Wharton umbrellas to the rescue!), we had a wonderful turnout with over 400 of our Round 2 admitted students from around the globe in attendance. Last week also marked the completion of the Round 3 interview process on campus. Needless to say - it was a busy week here in Philadelphia!

Welcome Weekend is not only an exciting time for our admitted students, but it also helps to bring together the greater Wharton MBA community – from our faculty to staff to current students. Along with our Welcome Committee, we had over 300 current students participate throughout the weekend – from club-related events to dinner soirees, such as the ever popular Spring Welcome Soiree at the Ritz Carlton.

Welcome Weekend serves as a way for our admitted students to get a real feel for the Wharton experience. It provides an opportunity to learn more about academic offerings, student-led clubs and career services, while also being able to attend social events such as the MBA Pub and Follies. New to the Welcome Weekend scene, we had over 200 admitted students attend a housing fair at our new 2401 Walnut Street facility. We had local property management companies, realtors, student start-ups, and Penn housing services available to speak about housing options in Philadelphia. Early feedback from students and local buildings has been extremely positive!

The Partner’s Club saw over 80 partners registered for the weekend and the current Wharton partners ran a fantastic program educating incoming partners about Wharton, Philadelphia, accessing the community, and resources available to them. All in all it was a fantastic weekend and it’s always wonderful to see so many recent admits on campus after meeting you on the road.

Not only was last week a busy time for us at Wharton, but it was also a trying time for many of you around the country. It is with heavy hearts that we, here in Philadelphia, extend our deepest condolences to those affected by the events in Boston. Please know that our thoughts are with you all during this very difficult time.

Wishing everyone a safe and restful week ahead,

Ankur Kumar

Campus Visit Program Ending on Friday, April 19th

MBA Admissions Blog — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:19:00 GMT

The Campus Visit Program will officially end for the academic year on Friday, April 19th. The full campus visit program will start back up again in late September 2013.

Information sessions will be held at 3:00pm on the following days:

Monday, April 22, 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Friday, April 26, 2013

Round 3 Update and Spring Welcome Weekend

MBA Admissions Blog — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 14:53:00 GMT

We are excited to announce that our Round 3 interview invitations were released on Friday, April 5th. If you have not done so already, please check your application status through your myWhartonMBA account and be sure to register for an interview if you have been invited. We look forward to meeting many of you in the upcoming week!

Congratulations again to our Round 2 admitted students! We look forward to seeing many of you in a few days for Spring Welcome Weekend!

If you have any questions, please contact our office directly office via phone at 215-898-6183, or e-mail at mba-admiss@wharton.upenn.edu.

Sincerely,

The Wharton MBA Admissions & Financial Aid Team

Updates from the Office of Student Life

MBA Admissions Blog — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:38:00 GMT

Dr. Kembrel Jones, a.k.a. Wharton's "Dean of Happiness"

Greetings,

Only at Wharton!

It is hard to believe that it is already Quarter Four at Wharton…time flies when you are busy and enjoying your life! The action has been nonstop for the Office of Student Life and shows no sign of abating until graduation in May. Already this quarter we have had our Student Life Fellows Retreat. The Student Life Fellows (SLFs) are rising second years who, along with the Cluster Directors, will serve as advisors and activity coordinators for the Class of 2015. The retreat was held at our newly opened MBA space at 2401 Walnut Street in Center City, already being referred to as simply “2401.” Philly Fight Night was held last Saturday where 1,500 Wharton and Penn Law students gathered to support their classmates in boxing matches with each other. Needless to say, Wharton men and women knocked out the competition! The event also supported the Philadelphia Boys and Girls Club to the tune of $85,000. Last night a thousand Wharton MBAs gathered to watch nearly 300 of their classmates shake it at the annual Wharton Dance Studio show. The audience was thrilled with dances ranging from a classic Broadway tap number to a cosmic collision of hip-hop dance styles, with a big Bollywood production featuring bhangra and garba to spice things up! Still ahead this quarter, Wharton will produce the Annual Cultural Show, the Charity Fashion Show, the Wharton Relays, and the Battle of the Bands. O.A.W., I say. Only at Wharton!

Congratulations and Welcome Round 2 Admitted Students!

The Welcome Committee and Student Life Fellows are busy prepping for our big Spring Welcome, where we share two days in the life of Wharton with admitted students from the second round. The first day of Spring Welcome begins with academics, moves into careers and ends with the Pub and small group dinners in Center City (downtown Philly where 95% of Wharton MBAs live). The second day focuses on leadership programs and student life and features the “The Follies” spring production. In its 37th year, the Follies performance is a beloved Wharton tradition. The Follies’ mission is making most laugh and some squirm as they poke fun at the countless nuances of life at Wharton both inside and outside of the classroom through musical satire. The show is a distinctive collaboration of the talent of the 100 members of the Follies’ team – the writers, producers, techies, orchestra and cast. We will close the weekend with the Spring Soiree at the Philadelphia Ritz Carlton - the perfect way to celebrate an acceptance to Wharton!

If I can be of any assistance to you as you navigate Wharton, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or to any member of the Student Life team. I look forward to meeting you.

Go Wharton!

Dr. Kembrel Jones
Deputy Vice Dean, Student Life

Notes from the Director: Round 2 Decision Release and Round 3 Update

MBA Admissions Blog — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:28:00 GMT

Greetings from Philadelphia,

With the close of March has come spring (finally!), and we hope that the weather stays after a last hurrah for winter and bout of snow earlier this week. In addition to the change in season, March also brought our Round 3 application deadline and the much-anticipated (from our end and yours) Round 2 decision release. Tuesday morning, the Admissions Committee and our Welcome Weekend Committee had the always delighting opportunity to call and congratulate our extremely excited new members of the Class of 2015. For our admitted students on the West Coast, it was the best kind of wake-up call and for those in Asia, a great way to end a long day of waiting to hear the news. For all of us, it is hands down one of the best days of the year – and from your excited reactions (we love you, our screamers and criers!) we know it was for you as well.

Yet, not unlike the weather, I recognize that this is also a season of highs and lows and mixed emotions, as we were unable to offer admission to every outstanding candidate that we met during the process. On behalf of the entire team, we sincerely appreciate your engagement throughout our process and truly enjoyed getting to know you. We wish you all the best in your future professional endeavors and have no doubt of your incredible accomplishments to come wherever your journey takes you next.

For our Round 3 applicants, we know you are eagerly awaiting interview decisions as your next step. All interview decisions will go out next Friday, April 5. Round 3 Team Based Discussions and 1:1 interviews will take place in April on campus. Should you have any questions around the application or interview process, please contact our office directly by phone at +1.215-898-6183 or via email at mba-admiss@wharton.upenn.edu.

Looking ahead, for those of you considering applying to Wharton next year (or for admits who have not been able to visit yet) please note that this academic year’s full Campus Visit Program will conclude for the year on Friday, April 19. We will offer limited information sessions at 3:00 p.m. Monday, Thursday, and Friday during the week of April 22 as well. Please consult the website for details or call us with any questions. Our full campus visit program will start up again in late September. Keep an eye on the website for exact dates to come later this summer, and we will certainly keep you posted on the blog as well.

In the interim, we are excited to bring Wharton and life in Philadelphia to you! Beginning in June, the Admissions Committee will be back on the road and hosting information sessions around the globe. The schedule and registration for these events will start to be posted on our website in late April. Please stay tuned for more details to come. As always, don’t hesitate to be with our office by email or phone for any other questions.

We look forward to seeing many of you on campus or around the world soon!

Sincerely,

Ankur Kumar

Round 3 Deadline and Update on Round 2 Interviews

MBA Admissions Blog — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:20:00 GMT

Tuesday marked the Round 3 deadline, closing out the application submissions for the 2012-2013 admission cycle! Congratulations to everyone who submitted their application and we look forward to reading them in the upcoming days as we continue to wrap up the Round 2 interview process.

Over the past few weeks, we have enjoyed meeting many Round 2 candidates in Dubai, Mumbai, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo and on-campus. In the remaining days of interviews, we look forward to meeting many more of you in London, Mexico City, New Delhi, Sao Paulo, San Francisco, Shanghai and Philadelphia. Similar to Round 1, we are overwhelmed by the amount of positive feedback that we are hearing from you, and our alumni, regarding the new Team Based Discussion. Your enthusiasm and level of engagement continues to make this process more difficult for the Admissions Committee every day!

Regardless of the outcome on March 26th, we wanted to take a moment to thank you, again, for taking this journey with us over the last couple of months. Whether you’ve ventured to campus or we’ve met you in a city around the globe, we have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to get to meet you in person and see you in action.

Should you have any questions over the next few weeks, please do not hesitate to contact the MBA Admissions and Financial Aid Office at mba-admiss@wharton.upenn.edu.

Campus Visit Program Will be Closed March 4th-8th

MBA Admissions Blog — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 18:29:00 GMT

The Campus Visit Program will be suspended during the University's Spring Break, which will occur during the week of March 4th. The full campus visit program will start back up again on Monday, March 11th. Please be sure to register online to take full advantage of all that the visit program has to offer.

Notes from the Director: Updates on Round 2

MBA Admissions Blog — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 00:41:00 GMT

Greetings All,

Winter weather officially arrived in Philadelphia, surprising us with the first few inches of snow in the new year just last week. For the Admissions Team, this weather could not have come at a better time as we are hunkered down inside reading the Round 2 applications. We are thoroughly enjoying getting to know each and every one of you through your personal written story.

In the upcoming weeks, we look forward to the opportunity to meet many of you for interviews. Interview invitations will begin to go out on Tuesday, January 29 and continue through Friday, February 22. As a reminder, interview invitations are not released in any particular order as we do not read applications in a particular order. The timing of your invitation to interview does not indicate anything about your candidacy. I know waiting to hear from us is always nerve wracking and appreciate your patience with the process.

After the remarkably positive feedback that we received during Round 1, we cannot wait to see what Round 2 has in store. The interview process is not only a wonderful way for the Admissions team to get to know our candidates “off the page" but also a wonderful way for our candidates to get to know each other. Should you be invited to interview, we look forward to meeting you in one of the following locations: on campus in Philadelphia, Dubai, London, Mexico City, New Delhi, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, and Singapore. All Round 2 applicants received an email with more details on the interview process last week; we’ll be in touch with further details as well. You can also read more about the interview process in a blog posting from the summer here.

Thank you all for your patience during this time. We look forward to being in touch over the next few weeks regarding interview invitations and next steps.

Hope the new year has been off to a great start!

Sincerely,

Ankur Kumar