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| University of Pennsylvania Wharton School |
OVERALL 1998 RANK: 1 BW corporate rank: 1 BW graduate rank: 2 BW 1996 rank: 1 |
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1999 Profile Update School Profile School Statistics Graduates' Comments: Wharton's competitive edge stems from its employment of a 'co-production model.' Administrators and students together manage the program's evolution. Administrators and faculty constantly solicit student input and make rapid changes based upon that input. Wharton is a remarkably nimble, flexible, and cutting-edge institution due to this co-production model and Dean Gerrity's inspired vision. --No career path given My finance and accounting courses in particular have provided me with an excellent knowledge base in these areas. My real estate and operations classes were also wonderful. --No career path given Wharton's MBA program includes a terrific integration of very pragmatic technical skills with a strong emphasis on teamwork, leadership, and communication. These skills -- both technical and interpersonal -- are critical to post-graduation success. Faculty are leaders in their field and are very open to help students and discuss issues with them outside of class. --Consulting I feel that Wharton's main strength has been its responsiveness to student demands and needs. The whole system is organized to listen to student needs and to react to them in a timely manner. For example, brown bag lunches with the dean, take a professor to lunch program, quality circles in every class, systematic feedback, awards for teaching performance, and general openness of the academic services department are all services provided by Wharton. I felt more like a customer than a student at Wharton. --Finance I have been impressed with the diversity and intelligence of my classmates. In particular, I found Wharton to be a much more cooperative and team-oriented environment than expected... --Consulting Wharton provided me with an excellent overall perspective of Management issues and how to approach them. I came in with a minimal background in economics, accounting, strategy, finance, marketing etc., and I am leaving with a rich toolkit for analyzing and solving business issues. The school can, sometimes, over emphasize 'functional' skills in Finance or Marketing. However, it also provides avenues to give oneself a more well-rounded education. --Entrepeneurship Wharton's leadership program is outstanding , its level of the use of teams is just right. Teams do a lot of assignments together but do not get together every night. The level of extra-curriculars and recruiting is almost too great. There is not enough emphasis on school. --Consultant After working nine years mainly as an engineer, I was able to switch careers and enter marketing. The key factor that made my career switch possible was Wharton's Leadership class... --Marketing I enjoyed Wharton a great deal. I am now looking forward to a lifelong association with the school and its alumni. I believe Wharton's greatest strengths are the administration's responsiveness to student concerns and the depth and breadth of faculty experience. There are also two major areas where improvements can be made. 1) Students should be encouraged to take more risks (i.e., pursue careers other than investment banking and consulting. 2) The job search process should not be emphasized as early or as strongly as it currently is. Students need time to explore and reflect before engaging in small talk at recruiting presentations. --Marketing Overall, my experience was a positive one, Wharton really has an outstanding program. The level of teamwork is surprising. Certain aspects such as the career planning office, the alumni network, and the wide variety of opportunities to get involved in are without fault. Unfortunately, the administration can be very difficult when it comes to course enrollment. While I understand it is a problem at all business schools because popular courses with good teachers are usually in high demand, I find it outrageous that for over $30,000 per year I was not able to get into some of the courses I wanted to take. The school's new course auction system is a horrendous way to deal with the issue of course registration. Even though Wharton is a business school, it is an academic institution first and should focus more on meeting the needs of the students. --No career path given I came to Wharton for its health care management program, which is by far the top program in the nation (I believe that some of the ratings agree with me on this). I didn't relish the thought of the core courses, or of associating with the 'cutthroat' MBAs at Wharton. What I found truly shocked me: classes which focused on providing skills that I could take to the real world, the top information strategy department in the country, professors who bent over backwards to make their classes relevant and interesting to students, and an active, diverse group of genuinely caring students who want to make the world a better place through responsible business.--Operations Wharton is a good school, but the core curriculum is a mess -- it's poorly taught, the lectures have too many students and teach subjects that may not interest many students. For example, we took 3 OPIM courses, which I considered of little or no value -- one good intro to operations management would have sufficed. Teaching is still secondary to research. The academic services office seems to lack power in dealing with teaching quality problems. They told me that 'the academic departments run the show, they don't have to be responsive to the academic deans.' Wharton has too many students, creating a mass cattle car atmosphere much of the time. The school's facilities are horribly overcrowded and overburdened. Students don't complain much, because they want the Wharton brand name on their resume -- spotty quality is ignored. The curriculum should be more easily customized to suit students' individual interests: The approach is still too "cookie-cutter." --Marketing Wharton's culture of continuous improvement has really impressed me, as has the number of student organizations which sponsor top-notch conferences and speakers on campus. I enjoyed and learned from the diversity of my classmates' professional backgrounds, i.e. not everyone came from business. --No career path given Wharton has a truly exceptional and well rounded program. Coming from a manufacturing environment, I felt the need to round out my skills. Wharton provided me with the opportunity to expand my knowledge base in all functions in a practical and applicable manner. Furthermore, the quality of the career placement office is unmatched in their commitment and breadth of contacts. --Finance There has been debate on campus over the school's new course bidding system and grade nondisclosure. The debate should be seen as a positive as it shows the school's willingness to listen and respond to the student opinions. The result: a state-of-the-art course selection system has been developed with numbers showing only a couple of the over 100 courses being completely filled after registration is complete. The school has also made a compromise on grade nondisclosure, which promotes teamwork and extracurriculars while proving an incentive for academic excellence. --Finance Wharton's efforts to internationalize and integrate the curriculum are tremendous. The quality of professors and of the administration, in particular, far exceeded my expectations. My best class was the Global Consulting Practicum, which teamed groups of Wharton students with groups of MBA students from international schools to solve specific business problems for real companies (my team helped an Israeli manufacturer discover markets for their products within the U.S.). The Finance, Operations Management and Entrepreneurial classes also had outstanding teachers. Wharton also has an outstanding Health Care Management major that doesn't get as much press as it should... My only disappointments with my MBA program were the first-year workload (which I thought was too excessive to maximize learning), flexibility in the first-year curriculum (a few more electives for first-years would have been more satisfying) and the Leadership Program (which needs to be shortened and improved). --Consulting Wharton's greatest asset is its grade non-disclosure policy... Teamwork and class comments are more important than raw exam scores. The bar is thus very high for pulling your weight on teams and in making class comments. Also, people like me (without any formal business education) are encouraged to take the more advanced finance classes without fear of getting hammered in grading by former Wall Street analysts. Simply put, Wharton's culture is competitively cooperative. In my undergraduate course work, I excelled "academically", but my education was hindered by overstudying extraneous material rarely tested and otherwise of negligible value. At Wharton, the pressure is not to ace every exam. Instead, the pressure is to maximize one's personal investment in time and money. Finally, the quality of life is way beyond expectations here. My family and I have loved (believe it or not) living in Center City. It has given us a taste of Manhattan with a much higher living standard (our 2,000-square-foot apartment would take us ten years to afford in NYC). When I applied to Wharton, my wife and I looked at Philadelphia as a deterrent. In our first month, we recognized what a hidden asset the city is to the school. At the least, Philadelphia provides clarity toward one's aspirations of going to New York City. --Finance Wharton is an amazing institution. Its electives are vast and impressive. Here, a graduate student can study the nuances of the Alternative Minimum Tax, the '33 Act, linear programming, international WACC calculations, and travel on leadership retreats, meet innumerable visiting CEOs, and develop business plans for startup ventures. The student body is entrepreneurial and international. It is absolutely not pretentious. The location is unbeatable. Philadelphia has great cultural attractions and restuarants, and it is only an hour and a half away from New York City. --Finance Class size in the popular courses was absurd. When the professor needs a microphone to be heard, you know something is wrong. On the other hand, if this doesn't bother you, you will thrive here. Course variety is amazing. I only wish I had more time to take more! --Consulting A course bidding system introduced in 1997 is an incredible way of allocating courses to interested students. It has incredible capabilities and operates very similar to the stock market. The academic services department deserves credit for putting this system together. --Consulting The school's resources are incredible, from the students to speakers to technology, through our SPIKE system and E-Talk for new admits, to an administration that is open and willing to take chances. Being in the halls of Wharton is like being at a startup company -- the energy and new ideas. --Finance The Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center at Wharton is an amazing asset to the MBA program and is best at bringing industry leaders to the classroom.--Finance High-technology is really emerging at Wharton. A lot of students are becoming very aware of startups and Internet companies. This is a nice change from what was primarily a consulting and I-banking focus just a couple years ago. --Entrepeneurship Wharton is phenomenal in its use of technology to enhance the learning experience. One particular professor used video, teleconferencing, guest speakers from industry, guest professors, a professional musician (Suzanne Vega), and musical CDs to enhance the course material and stimulate learning. Of course this was in addition to the coursepack and exams, etc. It was by far the best class I have ever taken and the one from which I learned and retained the most. In addition, virtually all course work, exam schedules, etc. was on our intranet, called Spike. Since I commuted 1 1\2 hrs to Wharton daily, this intranet was essential to me. I was able to keep abreast of everything and communicate with my Professors and student colleagues as if I was right there on campus. There are so many excellent electives offered, but unfortunately one can't take them all. --Marketing Professors are very accessible, and the administration is very responsive. The Dean, Vice Dean and other faculty even act in the annual Wharton Follies. They are down-to-earth, fun-loving people. The school encourages teamwork, even in courses that may not be very team-oriented, e.g. some finance classes. Not once in my two years did I feel like I was competing against my classmates. There is enough to do on campus and off campus, no matter what one's interests may be. --Marketing The professors all were very dedicated to helping the students learn, and to that end, they did a great job of being open and accessible outside of class both in person and through E-mail. They were also acutely aware of the opinions of the students and continuously updated their classes to try to implement student suggestions for change. The caliber of the student body was also amazing. The students are intelligent, highly driven, and very involved in activities outside of the classroom... The number and quality of companies recruiting on campus was staggering, and the recruiting office did a good job of providing students with the opportunity to, whenever possible, see companies they were interested in. The help provided by the school really took a lot of pressure off during the interview season and helped the students stay focused in the classrooms. --Finance The quality of the professors, especially in the core curriculum, is not universally great. I'm not sure whether this is due to a certain level of disinterest on the professors' part or the fact that many are teaching in the core curriculm for the first or second time. Moreover, given that the quality of professors varies so drastically, many of the best professors are oversubscribed. Finally, during my short stay here at Wharton, the admissions committee has almost completely turned over twice. In that time, diversity has taken on the much broader definition of diversity of thought, background and approach. For better or worse, this means that underrepresented groups such as African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans are sorely underrepresented in the program, and it is obvious to all that care. Despite these shortcomings, Wharton prepares its MBAs for success far better than any other program in the country. I heard this from recruiters before and after I chose Wharton. It has proven to be the case, given the school's tough analytical and quantitative curriculum. --Finance The Small Business Systems class was taught by a successful entrepreneur, himself a Wharton graduate. He brought credibility to the classroom. Every day in his class was exciting. I was eager to gain pearls of practical wisdom not only from the professor but also from my classmates - each one of whom had accomplished a lot in their careers prior to coming back to school. --Consulting I too often found that the professors teaching quality fell below my expectations. First-year workload is too heavy to truly learn the material. There is too much emphasis on recruiting in banking, consulting and Fortune 100-type companies. --Entrepreneurship This program was absolutely outstanding. I was also a dual degree candidate in the Lauder International Studies Program. The opportunities for global business education are really second to none. I have visited with many international students from around the world and different schools. It really is clear that Wharton achieves absolute success in comparison. The future is truly global regardless of which firm one works for. --Finance The Lauder institute is the hidden gem of the Wharton experience: it has an international focus, a smaller group of students than the full-time program (55 vs. 750), fosters great friendships, and offers exciting international experiences! --Consulting I can personally attest to Wharton's commitment to diversity. The administration is also incredibly responsive to student-led initiatives whether to have a new conference on the financial crisis in Asia or to sponsor a symposium on diversity in the workplace. Wharton has absolutely superb intellectuals in the classroom, but beyond this there is an entire world of possibilities unrivaled by all of the other top schools. --Consulting ...Today I am a new person thanks to Wharton. I feel confident and I learned how to behave in different situations and in different cultural environments. I even feel myself a much more international-oriented person, and I know this will make a difference for the rest of my life. --Finance ...From personal experience as an Admissions Graduate Assistant, I am pleasantly surprised at efforts to encourage underrepresented groups (women, minorities, and international students) to apply to MBA programs and Wharton in particular... --Marketing ...Contrary to preconceived notions that Wharton is only a finance school, it is a leader in many other fields as well, including Real Estate, Healthcare, Insurance, Marketing, Operations Management, and Legal Studies, and has made significant advances in the last two years in the areas of High Technology and in the area of Entrepreneurship. --Finance Wharton is tough going if you know that you do not want to go into consulting or I-banking. However, I wound up with a great summer internship and a great full-time opportunity on the West Coast in part because of my own initiative and in part thanks to the Wharton degree. Overall, I do believe academics should have been more highly stressed vis-a-vis the job search, though I believe this is a downfall of most MBA programs, and is not unique to Wharton. --Marketing ...Wharton's goal of creating "renaissance leaders" is the direction that B-schools need to be going. --Finance Overall, I was disappointed with the MBA curriculum, because I naively believed that it was going to be something more than just a rubber stamp required by the business community. I was surrounded by people who had already taken many of the business courses in undergrad, so B-school was just a tour of duty that would bump their salary (in essentially the same field as pre-B-school) into an "acceptable" range. I did not experience the actual "transformation" of my intellectual capabilities that I had experienced in law school. Indeed, I felt that business school taught me to speak in catchy phrases (bullet points) and to "think out of the box", by putting my ideas into already existing frameworks. Additionally, I always thought that lawyers were rigid thinkers until I interviewed with companies--where a career changer was viewed as an oddity and not an opportunity. --Marketing My experience illustrates the special type of career alchemy that Wharton offers. I arrived on campus a so-called "poet" undergrad in Great Books, with the ambition to break into investment banking. Two years later, I am graduating with a solid footing in finance and accounting, and a job at my first-choice bank, Goldman, Sachs & Co. I could only have achieved this through business school, and only at two or three schools. I knew that the reputation of Wharton and the training itself would be important in establishing my credentials, but what I did not anticipate is how important the recruiting pull of the school would be... Another value of Wharton that I previously overlooked is the Wharton alumni network, which is the largest of all the B-schools. During the first semester, I traveled to New York several times and spoke informally to Wharton graduates at 10 banks. Similarly, the banks staffed their recruiting teams with Wharton graduates, who came to campus several times to present, answer questions, sponsor dinners, and recruit. The network was crucial in helping me learn about the industry and build the relationships that helped lead to offers... Finally, Wharton has a culture that I find really appealing.--Finance With the possible exception of Harvard, Wharton is nonpareil as a place to get a high-prestige job. The school's reputation, alumni base, and visibility among corporate recruiters is outstanding. That's what most people come to MBA school for, and Wharton delivers in spades. Probably the worst thing about Wharton is the condition and size of the physical plant. Many classes are overcrowded, and the physical surroundings don't meet the expectations one has for a top business school (especially compared to HBS's landscaped fairy-tale-like campus). Fortunately, Wharton is constructing a new $100 million building! There's still a fair amount of controversy over the non-disclosure grade policy. It unquestionably fosters a non-competitive academic environment and encourages the better students to help the "poets." For the most part, there is a marked absence of cutthroat behavior in the classroom, which sometimes verges on apathy (especially second year). However, it also makes a strong pre-Wharton academic record (undergrad GPA, GMAT) a valuable point of distinction in the recruiting process, while making it difficult for people to distinguish themselves based on their achievements at Wharton. My greatest disappointment with the MBA program is its highly applied nature. The emphasis is on explaining HOW things work, with almost no consideration of why or how should things be. --Finance I gave up a decent salary and a good career to pursue my MBA at the Wharton School. It was clearly the right choice, as it has opened up opportunities that were unavailable to me before. Dean Gerrity and the administration were very proactive in providing additional sections of popular courses. Additionally, issues/concerns raised by the students were aggressively addressed by the administration and faculty. ----Consulting The Wharton experience built my self-confidence, my comfort with risk-taking, and my arsenal of practical problem-solving skills. I feel transformed by these two years, professionally and personally.--Consulting While I found Wharton to be a challenge, particularly as a woman and as an African-American, I believe that the experience has prepared me to embrace and flourish in leadership positions. Because of Wharton I am now prepared to have a profound effect on current and future business leaders. I would do it all over again. Please make sure to note in your issue that Wharton now has a Summer Public Interest Job Fund. The Wharton Students for Responsible Business club initiated this fund, which will help to pay salaries for 1st year MBAs who choose internships in the public sector. --Finance I'd be doing a disservice to your readers if I failed to mention the Wharton Hockey club as one of the more memorable aspects of the Wharton MBA experience. This extremely spirited club boasts more than 130 members, including at least 30 women. When I joined the Wharton Hockey Club, I never dreamed I would be taking the ice with skaters from Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Spain, and Sweden as well as the the U.S. and Canada. The many friendships that I formed through this club will certainly last a lifetime. --Finance The class unity and pride at Wharton is incredible. One indication of that is this year's class gift. Over 85% of the class contributed for a total gift of approximately $250,000. There are a seemingly infinite number of opportunities to get involved in business, academic and social activities with classmates, and participation levels are always extremely high... --Finance ...The school administration regards the students as partners and invites and encourages student involvement in every aspect of administration. --Consulting Wharton students are in activities outside of the classroom. I did not know a single person who was not involved in at least one extracurricular activity. The initiative the students have, from putting together conferences, to hosting the first-ever MBA novice hockey tournament, no doubt surpasses efforts elsewhere. --Consulting Back to Top 1999 Profile Update School Profile School Statistics |
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