I am very interested in Wharton’s Accounting, Finance, and Economics programs, but I’m afraid my lack of experience in those areas looks bad. I’ve taken one business class in high school (Grade 9) and have tried to upstart a company in Gr. 11–12 (not very successful) but other than that I don’t have experience. I could add another business course next semester though.
Does experience affect admission chances? If I have a legitimate interest and reason for my interest, will Wharton look kindly on that? Please let me know and thank you so much!
@liesa981 Believe it or not, sounds like you have more business experience than the average student entering Wharton. Most high schools don’t have business classes, and even if it wasn’t successful, trying to start a company is great business experience that you can write about or in some way mention in your application. You’ll be fine.
Showing Plenty of Leadership and Strong Academics (particularly math) is just as important than stacking your resume with Business stuff (Although that is good to have if you can). They do have on their admissions page (as well as what i just mentioned) that they would also like to see “an interest in business to fuel positive change to advance the world’s economic and social well-being”. If you look closely, it says “an interest in business…”, not “involvement in business in high school”. As long as you show your passion and interest in business, you should be fair game in admissions.
So bottom line is it’s ok to not have more business experience than you have right now, just show your interest and show leadership+math skills, which are important if you want to pursue business as a career.