Wharton Reception

It’s all about “passion” – so after all it’s not a myth anymore it’s true – Wharton loves to use this word “passion” all the time – I have heard that Wharton dinged applicants saying that they lacked passion. So, what’s “passion”? – Hypersensitivity, overtly enthusiastic, drive? – I couldn’t figure it out from today’s Wharton session.

As I entered the building I saw a few applicants standing outside doing the usual “chit-chat” – “ohh!! I applied to Harvard, Stanford? What about you?”, “Did you attend the last MIT session?” – the usual “I-am-the-smart-know-all-applicant”. I entered the building after Wharton alum took the job of giving the security badges (or else I was thinking that I had to wait there forever). I took a seat in one corner of the room while I had a bunch of fellow Indians around me – they seem to follow me everywhere :)

The session started with the usual “Wharton innovates” – the first business school in the country – the first entrepreneurship program – a brief on curriculum – Individualized Major – 198 faculty members (a 1:4 faculty to student ratio which is pretty impressive). The adcomm member was pretty funny and I hope that she is a reflection of the Wharton society. She stressed on the fact that you don’t have to play violin with one leg to get into Wharton – just be yourself. She also said that they look for a 75-75 split in GMAT score (I had the impression they look for 80-80).

Anyway I was pretty disappointed with the section of alums representing the Wharton community because I had the feeling that they are actually not what Wharton is all about. Most of them were from the EMBA program – baby boomers whereas I was interested to talk to some of the current students or actual full-time MBA alums working in the Silicon Valley. I think Wharton would do justice if next time they mention that the session would be more geared towards EMBA or Lauder program or Full time MBA.

I walked out of the session quite early because I have a Michigan interview scheduled tomorrow. Additionally, I felt that I wouldn’t get much from the EMBA alums/students.