Wharton EMBA

October 11, 2023

January 17, 2024

Essay 1: Career Objectives

Prompt: What are your career objectives and how will the Wharton MBA Program for Executives contribute to your attainment of this objective? (500 words maximum)

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This is the essay in which you state what you'll gain from attending Wharton and provide your career goal(s). Your objective(s) should be the logical outcome of pursuing the Executive MBA, a specific job role or position, and some larger objective beyond yourself, either for your organization or the industry.

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In discussing what you'll gain from Wharton, put it into a context that describes yourself and what motivates you. Wharton calls this part "The Setup": This is who you are, what you are doing, and what you have learned.

Example

"I was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, where my destiny was to become an obedient wife and mother, yet I went on to take a fast-paced job at an international financial giant, where I lead a 20-person team of analysts - the only woman leader in our region. So, perhaps it is not surprising that I have always been interested in supporting women in business."

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The next sections are what Wharton calls "The Pivot Point" and "The Future."

The Pivot Point: You realized that you didn't know enough about X topic, and needed X skills or knowledge to succeed.
The Future: These are your short-term goals and long-term goals, and how the Wharton MBA program will help you achieve these goals.

Here are two final thoughts for The Future section.

First, you can discuss any courses, academic departments, campus opportunities, faculty members, experiential learning, and specific alumni networks that you know will contribute to your learning and professional advancement. Be specific and concrete. It is helpful if you know why Wharton is the very best place for you to pursue your MBA.

Warning: Don't spend time describing Wharton's offerings back to the reader. Admissions already knows everything about the school. Instead, spend that time describing how those offerings will benefit you, specifically.

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Second, show them that you've thought about Wharton beyond the website marketing. Truly, everyone parrots the website, and so everyone sounds alike. If you can, look beyond the website, to your independent research or conversations with students/alumni.

Example

"A Wharton study revealed that venture capitalists sometimes rely too much on intuition, rather than data, when making investment decisions. The problem with this approach, the study argued, is that intuition comes from experience; when VCs’ most successful experiences have been investing in white male founders, intuitive decision-making can perpetuate the lack of diversity at VC firms and their portfolio companies. Wharton’s dedication to uncovering data to solve these problems, and its commitment to improving diversity and equality, give me confidence that it is the best school to prepare me to achieve my ambitious goals in VC."

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In this example, the writer clearly demonstrated independent thought and analysis.

Essay 2: Inclusion at Work

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Research has shown that there is a compelling business case for diversity, equity, and inclusion in organizations. Please respond to one of the following two essay options:

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Essay 2a

Prompt: Provide an example of how you created or advocated for a work environment where differences are valued, encouraged, and supported. What did you do? What was the outcome? (500 words maximum)

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In writing this essay, be sure to address every aspect of the question.

The question implies that the environment that had previously existed did not value, encourage, or support differences. You would begin the essay by describing the environment that you were committed to changing.
Based on the above, answer the following question: What were the problems that you observed?
You might also create analysis on any impact to the organization: What was the impact on the employees that you observed? What was the impact on the quality of leadership? What was the impact on the quality of decision-making? What was the impact on business results (e.g., sales or customer favorability ratings)?
In this story, you may have actively created this inclusive environment, or advocated for this environment. You won't just have stepped into an existing inclusive evironment, or be trying to maintain this environment. For this reason, Wharton asks you to answer the following: What did you do? (In other words, what actions did you take?)
Answer the following: What was the outcome? The outcome should include differences being valued, encouraged, and supported. Extra points if you are able to point out any observable or measureable positive outcomes (improved employee morale, better leadership, better decisions, improved business results).
If you have word count remaining, include the following: What overall management or leadership lessons did you learn from this experience?

Essay 2b

Prompt: Describe an experience when you were part of an event/meeting/workplace that involved diverse perspectives. Include your contribution and what you learned. (500 words maximum)

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This essay is looking for an MBA-like experience, in which the participants are seeking to either include multiple perspectives into planning and/or decision-making, or arrive at a mutual understanding despite the obstacles of having very different perspectives.

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"Diverse perspectives" refers to people coming from different countries (possibly with language barriers) or regions of a country, job roles (very different roles, not similar roles, e.g. sales and marketing), ethnicities, economic backgrounds, genders, and/or ages.

Begin by describing the situation (what needed to be accomplished) and the objective, be it including multiple perspectives or arriving at mutual understanding.
Describe the points of view that you heard. What was your own distinct point of view that you contributed to the others?
Were there issues arising from a multiplicity of perspectives?
In this story, you may have actively worked to create an inclusive working environment at this event/meeting/workplace. What did you do? (In other words, what actions did you take?)
Answer the following: What was the outcome? The outcome should include different viewpoints being valued, encouraged, and supported. Extra points if you are able to describe how a new, better, stronger perspective or business solution was arrived at by listening to several points of view.
If you have word count remaining, include the following: What overall management or leadership lessons did you learn from this experience?

“What is most important is to be authentic and thoughtful about how you embrace diversity and inclusion in your life. There is no perfect answer, and it’s OK if the question makes you realize that you’d like to do more in this area.” - Barbara Craft, Director of Admissions

Optional Essay

Prompt: If necessary, you may use this optional essay to explain any extenuating circumstances of which the Admissions Committee should be aware. (300 words maximum)

Use to address:

choice of recommenders (in particular, if your current direct supervisor is not writing your recommendation - which is no big deal!)
gaps in work experience
low GPA or inconsistent or questionable academic performance
interruptions in academic career
difficult issues (i.e., Driving Under the Influence or other types of arrests)
areas of weakness (i.e., less than five years work experience)

Use this essay to turn a potential weakness into a strength. Tell the Admissions Committee what happened and why it happened. Be honest in your self-evaluation. Most importantly, tell them what you have learned from the negative experience, and how this learning has influenced future actions.