After using the same prompt for the first essay for years, they modified the wording. I’m a fan! Last year’s “What do you hope to gain professionally from the Wharton MBA?” has been expanded and amplified. The additional direction can only help applicants as they frame their response.
Essay 1: How do you plan to use the Wharton MBA program to help you achieve your future professional goals? You might consider your past experience, short and long-term goals, and resources available at Wharton. (500 words)
What are they telling us with the new wording? Well, first, they got rid of the awkward and ambiguous “gain professionally” to explain that they want to see an essay that focuses on the role of the MBA in your overall career trajectory. “Future professional goals” is much clearer than “gain professionally,” not to mention that adverbs don’t belong in essay prompts.
The second sentence offers additional guidance, and also mirrors the advice I’ve long been giving my clients. It shouldn’t be necessary to hire a consultant to interpret a prompt, so I’m glad that Wharton has added this explanatory note.
You will want to respond to this prompt using the standard “why MBA?” format. So far, you have followed a path and made choices that have led you to apply to Wharton. Now you are standing at the bank of a river, and your goals, both short and long-term, lie on the other side. What do those goals look like? How is Wharton the bridge to get you across the river to reach them?
When responding to the question, go beyond the courses that Wharton offers to consider the culture, the extras, and the class configuration. Make sure you are conversant with Learning Teams, Cohorts, and Clusters. Also note that Wharton offers a number of majors; I would suggest that you choose one to demonstrate that you know what you’re doing (even if you aren’t quite at that point yet.)
The worst thing you can do is start listing the courses you want to take. Listing courses is the fallback position for many applicants, and it rarely works, both because it shows that you aren’t really familiar with the program and because learning about a particular subject is not a good reason to shell out lots of money and dedicate two years of your life to business school in this era of online MBAs and Coursera. You have to want/need the interaction, the head-to-head competition and collaboration that hone your interpersonal as well as professional skills.
Wharton has huge classes, over 850 students per year. There is no right answer to essay 1, but you do have to show that you can articulate your goals, you know the program, you know your development needs, and you can describe how Wharton fits into the plan..
On to the second essay:
Taking into consideration your background – personal, professional, and/or academic – how do you plan to make specific, meaningful contributions to the Wharton community? (400 words)
This is year 3 for this particular prompt! So far, it’s working for them, but it took a few iterations to get to that point.
It may be helpful to look at the 2020 version of this prompt:
“Describe an impactful experience or accomplishment that is not reflected elsewhere on your application. How will you use what you learned through that experience to contribute to the Wharton community?”
I understand why they changed this prompt: “not reflected elsewhere” only confused people. If something was on their resume did they have to exclude it? (Answer: no, but understandable that applicants felt uneasy about it.)
The prompt the year before that:
“Teamwork is at the core of the Wharton MBA experience with each student contributing unique elements to our collaborative culture. How will you contribute to the Wharton community?”
Although admissions moved away from “teamwork” a few years ago, that doesn’t mean they don’t care about teams or collaboration. They do! Keep that in mind as you forge ahead.
I recommend that applicants work backwards with this essay. First, go through the vastness that is Wharton, looking for places where you might have an impact. Perhaps you have experience organizing a charity drive, or serving as a mentor. Look at opportunities to dive in and help in those capacities at Wharton. Some people approach this essay by describing the soft skills they bring to the party, like mediating discussions or providing unusual expertise – skills that will improve the classroom dynamic.
Once you’ve figured out how you can contribute, step backward and look at your experiences to see if there are any that align in some way with your proposed contribution. If not, then you’ve chosen the wrong contribution; start over.
Keep in mind that this is not essay 1, part 2. They hope to get a glimpse of a different you in this essay. Don’t disappoint them!
