What types of students get into Wharton undergrad? What values are they looking for?
If there was a secret formula someone would be bottling and selling it. Bottom line is be the best “you” you can be.
Per the website https://undergrad.wharton.upenn.edu/admissions/
We seek students who will avail themselves of the rich academic, cultural, and social opportunities of the Penn community. Students who flourish at Wharton and Penn possess a history of academic excellence, a healthy degree of motivation, and a well-developed interest and involvement in their environment.
While there is no magic formula, we are looking for students who have:
An interest in business to fuel positive change to advance the world’s economic and social well-being
Demonstrated leadership
Strong preparation in mathematics, particularly calculus
Unsolicited advice - you have asked a number of questions about Penn on this forum and one question about other highly selective schools. Please be sure you don’t just focus on the top tier colleges (as many people do). Take time to seek out match and safety schools that you would be excited to attend (they are out there) and work to create a balanced application list with schools that appear affordable (run net price calculators).
What types of students get in – people who are typically val/sal of their HS class; have taken pretty much every AP class at their HS; have been leaders in their HS communities – whether that’s varsity sports, student gov’t, doing a lot in their community and typically all 3 of those things.
Reality is the above is what CAS looks for as well as Columbia, HYS, MIT etc. – you get the idea. For Wharton – you have to be able to demonstrate some interest in business and pursuing a business career. That does not mean that you have to have started a business in HS (though TBH a lot Wharton kids do that bc it’s the “easiest” way to demonstrate business interests). But it can also be done by having had internships or simply discussing/showing your leadership abilities with demonstrable plans for how a business education would pursue your goals. Even if your goal is to end up with the same cookie cutter Goldman Sachs job that every Wharton aspires to, I would encourage you to NOT focus on that and focus genuinely on some industry/some problem in your community etc. that you know about that you feel a business education would be helpful for. (Not saying you can NEVER talk investment banking but honestly that looks more legit coming from someone who actually has maybe worked on Wall Street as a gopher and/or has parents in banking or something, rather than someone sitting in Texas who has merely heard of banking bc it often comes across as – this is a $$ profession, so I want in).
Remind me – are you the one who posted a few days ago about having some interest in law? Bc that in itself is an interest way to frame your application.
Sorry about this, but no one who wants an elite and thinks they might qualify, should be asking a bunch of strangers. You should be looking for yourself. They prefer that sort of empowered kids.
Within 7 minutes of your question, happy1 found and posted what YOU could have.
And starting a business is NOT it. Nor a non profit. And elites don’t admit based on career goals.
My son, a Wharton grad had no business experience when he was in HS. People don’t expect you to know what you want to do when you are 18. I don’t recall any Wharton specific essay in his application, but there was a “Why Penn?” essay that could be very general. They want students who have a strong passion and can express it well in an essay in the ways they have or their goals to pursue or achieve it.
I was just admitted to Wharton undergrad, and I had solid stats, but what really got me in I believe was my significant amount of leadership in my EC’s, strong interest in real estate (tho I did not start a business in hs), and my Why Penn essay. Wharton is looking for people who will be impactful on campus and after graduation through business. They want people who are ambitious, but who are also socially conscious, hoping to find ways to solve societal problems through business. In my Why Penn essay, I wrote about how I could use the resources in Wharton to explore how to create businesses that will create positive impacts in the future, specifically to addressing the growing problems posed by urban gentrification through real estate.
There really is no one type of student that Wharton is looking for, but from the people I have met, everyone is extremely well-spoken and determined. Essentially, you need to try and make the case to Penn (especially through your essays) on why the incoming class would be incomplete without you as a part of it. You don’t need to have won international competitions or started a company yourself, but you need to demonstrate where you will fit into the Penn/Wharton community.