Here are this year's Wharton tips from our Wharton alum (who is also one of our most active essay reviewers):
How will the Wharton MBA help you achieve your professional objectives? (400 words)
- Begin this essay by stating, as succinctly as possible, what your professional objectives are - ideally, both short term and long term objectives
- I wouldn't spend too much word-space describing where you are today -- the important thing is to bridge between where you are now and your objectives, so it's okay and sufficient to mention your current position / status briefly to set it up
- In describing your objectives, try and be as specific as possible - e.g., if you want to be an entrepreneur, try and describe what area / field and how Wharton sets you up for this in as much detail as possible - this should be the meat of your essay
Select a Wharton MBA course, co-curricular opportunity or extra-curricular engagement that you are interested in. Tell us why you chose this activity and how it connects to your interests. (500 words)
- The nice thing about this question is how open-ended it is - it allows you to pick almost any curricular or extra-curricular offering at Wharton and describe how it ties to your goals
- The usual question we get here is - is it okay to mention multiple things that relate to a passion of yours? e.g., if you're interested in consulting, can you mention the club, the GCP, etc. - it is in fact, okay to do this, as long as the ties to one primary activity are clear
- This is a good opportunity to surprise the reader too - describe an attribute of your personality or resume that you haven't covered in other areas
Imagine your work obligations for the afternoon were cancelled and you found yourself "work free" for three hours, what would you do? (500 words)
- This question is much harder than it seems on the surface - it's challenging to decide what to focus on, whether it's one or many activities, and what activity will seem like it's "right" :)
- Our advice here is to be yourself - and be 100% authentic - if you aren't, it's going to be really easy to smell out. For example, are you really going to spend your 3 hours working on solving world hunger? If not, then don't say you are.
- If you're struggling with this essay, try multiple topics - write it out two or three different ways, and then go with the one that works best
"Knowledge for Action draws upon the great qualities that have always been evident at Wharton: rigorous research, dynamic thinking, and thoughtful leadership." - Thomas S. Robertson, Dean, The Wharton School. Tell us about a time when you put knowledge into action. (500 words)
- In simple terms, this question is asking about times when you translated academic learnings into action in the workplace or in your personal life
- The "knowledge" here doesn't have to be book-based or classroom-based learning - it can be something you trained yourself in, or learned on the job from observing other people
- The truth is a lot of people don't have very direct examples to use here, and this one may take some creative brainstorming about your individual experiences and learnings
