Wharton EMBA Blog

Angela Chen, a first-year student in the EMBA program at Wharton | San Francisco, works in corporate strategy and finance at Vantage Data Centers in Santa Clara, Calif. She recently shared her experiences bonding with classmates on a student-organized ski trip: 

Wharton’s EMBA program has been described as the ultimate challenge of time management. We have jobs, families and other obligations so it isn’t always easy to get together outside of class. However, bonding is such an important part of the Wharton experience that we seek out opportunities and make the effort to deepen our connections whenever possible.

Recently, we took advantage of having world-class skiing in our backyard and planned a trip to Lake Tahoe during an off-weekend. More than 20 people participated, including partners, kids and classmates from other classes. We rented cabins within walking distance from one another and spent the weekend skiing, snowboarding and, most importantly, connecting outside the classroom.

Wharton’s MBA Program for Executives was recently selected as an Apple Distinguished Program for its innovative use of iPads. Wharton CIO Dan Alig talks about this honor and explains how the iPad project began.

There are thousands of iPad pilot projects in schools across the country and we are honored to receive this distinguished honor. Apple recognized our program based on five criteria: visionary leadership, innovative learning and teaching, ongoing professional learning, compelling evidence of success, and a flexible learning environment. It’s exciting to be selected for having one of the more successful and innovative pilots using Apple technology.

Our iPad project began with the vision of literally lightening EMBA students’ loads. We were spending inordinate amounts of money and resources distributing paper materials to students that could be provided digitally on an iPad. And students, who commute to our executive MBA programs in Philadelphia and San Francisco from around the world, were lugging those materials to campus every other weekend. So starting with the incoming class in 2011, every EMBA student began to receive an iPad.

Professor Nihat Bulent Gultekin teaches finance at Wharton and is the academic director of the Wharton MENA Center@CERT in Abu Dhabi. Having recently returned from teaching a Global Modular Course for Wharton EMBA students in Abu Dhabi, we asked him to talk about delivering a high-impact educational experience in a three-day format, thousands of miles from campus.

The goal of the Global Modular Course in Abu Dhabi, “Finance in the Middle East & North Africa,” was to bring students, academics and industry experts together to study financial markets, practice and institutions in this region. The course focused on areas such as current challenges, the political economy, financial markets, sovereign wealth funds, Islamic finance and alternative investments.

As soon as I heard about Wharton’s Global Consulting Practicum (GCP), I knew I wanted to take this course. The GCP is an elective in which Wharton full-time MBA and EMBA students are teamed with business students at partner universities around the world to consult for a company or organization. Usually, the client is seeking to enter or expand its position in the U.S. or other world market, but the program also includes social impact projects with governments and nonprofits.

I was interested in the GCP because it would be an opportunity to gain experience working with an organization outside of the classroom and beyond the scope of my own job. Specifically, I wanted to work on a social impact project that could ultimately help millions of people in a developing country.

My team of five Wharton | San Francisco EMBA students was assigned to work for the Gates Foundation (our client) on a project in Kenya. The issue involved how to increase access to financial services for people who are living on below $2 a day. How do you create a better banking system? How do you provide better credit? How do you make things like health and life insurance available? How can you apply new technology to help streamline financial service processes?

Deika Morrison has a unique perspective about Wharton given that she earned a dual undergraduate degree in business and engineering from Wharton and Penn, and then earned a Wharton MBA through the executive program in Philadelphia. Now, the founder of several businesses and a charity in Jamaica, we asked her to talk about how her Wharton education has impacted her career. Here’s what she said:

“After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994, I went home to Jamaica where I worked for the government before deciding in 2001 to get an MBA in order to transition to the private sector. Based on how much I loved my four years as an undergraduate at Wharton, I knew I wanted to come back here for my MBA.

Asking your employer for sponsorship to an executive MBA program isn’t always easy to do.  Many companies don’t have a formal tuition reimbursement program in place, or the policy is limited. During a recent online chat, Wharton Prof. Peter Cappelli, director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources, shared a few tips for applicants about how to discuss this important topic with employers.

Here’s an overview of what he said:

Who do you ask?

How do you begin the process? First, think about who you will talk to. A common problem is that the person you plan to talk to isn’t high enough up in organization to make the decision about sponsorship. If that is the case, then ask if you think they are on your side. If they’re not an advocate for you, then try to talk to the person who can make the decision. However, if they are an advocate for you, then it might be better for them to make the case on your behalf.

The deadlines for our EMBA programs are right around the corner:  Feb. 4 for the Philadelphia program and Feb. 6 for San Francisco.  If you feel that won’t be enough time to complete your application, it may not be too late.  Contact us to discuss your circumstances and see what is required for your application. Depending on your specific situation, we might be able to work with you to provide an accommodation or extension.

To check the status of your admissions materials, you can log on to your application to confirm when it’s complete.  Please be patient, as it usually takes a few weeks to manually sort through all of the transcripts, sponsorship letters and other credentials we receive and to update the status of each online.  Rest assured that we will contact you if anything is missing.

If you still need to take - or retake - the GMAT, we’ll accept GMAT scores until March 2.  A copy of your GMAT scores may be scanned and emailed or faxed to the East or West Coast office, but you also must have an official copy sent directly to Wharton.  The GMAT codes for the Wharton MBA Program for Executives are G56-97-36 for Philadelphia and G56-97-14 for San Francisco.

While interviews are required for Fellows applicants, they are strongly recommended for everyone.  If you haven’t already interviewed, please contact the office immediately -- the slots are quickly filling up.

Admissions decisions can be viewed by logging on to your application.  San Francisco program applicants will be notified by March 22.  Philadelphia program applicants will be notified by April 5.

If you have questions, please contact us as soon as possible. We are here to help you!

After graduating last May from Wharton | San Francisco’s EMBA program, Kate Gallego was focused on her role as a senior project manager at the Salt River Project in Phoenix, AZ. However, in December, she also began campaigning for a seat on Phoenix’s City Council. We asked her to tell us about how her Wharton education will be helpful if she wins the election. Here’s what she said:

“Being on the City Council would allow me to work on areas such as public safety, land use planning and basic city infrastructure, such as water and transportation. I also want to bring more jobs to our district, which has been hit hard by the Recession. We have a strong workforce with a lot of open space, especially near our airport, where businesses could really grow.

“I’m vice chair of Phoenix’s 10-year Plan, so I’ve had an opportunity to attend community meetings and hear what people want to see for our city. I was inspired that so many people share my passions for Phoenix, and I also saw that – because of my Wharton education -- I have the expertise and knowledge needed to run for office. There are currently no MBAs on the Council.

“In addition, I want to support our entrepreneurs in Phoenix. I majored in Entrepreneurial Management at Wharton, which helps me understand how young companies grow and how I can support that growth. I’ll also be able to use my real estate and finance education to make sure great projects can thrive in Phoenix.

“It was beneficial to go to school in San Francisco, which is so close to Silicon Valley and venture-backed startups. I’m excited to see if I can try to bring more of that to Phoenix.

“I’ll also be able to rely on my Wharton connections, which run broad and deep. It will be helpful to have so many resources available in so many different industries. And, of course, I’ve told all of my classmates that they should relocate their businesses to Phoenix!”

Kate says the election primary will be held in August of 2013 with the general election in November.

Wharton executive MBA students bond in many ways from shared meals to study groups to their International Seminar trip. However, there are a lot of social events outside of school that also strengthen their connections, such as Wharton| San Francisco students’ recent golf outing.

Second-year EMBA student Andrew Kohm, who organized the event, explains, “We had such good time together on our class trip to Brazil that I wanted to keep that momentum going. So I chose a golf course half-way between San Francisco and San Jose and made it open to all students at all skill levels as well as their families.”

He ended up with as many people (and kids) who had never played golf as those with experience so they played in a scramble style to make it fun for everyone. Andrew, director of research and development at DFine Inc. in San Jose, notes that he also assigned teams to encourage students to play with people they might not have known as well before.

After the game, he handed out humorous awards, such as the “brain over brawn award” for the longest drive, and the “I over-analyze everything award” before heading out as a group for pizza.

After teaching his popular elective course, Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, on Saturday morning, Prof. Peter Cappelli took the time to share his expertise with those navigating the process of securing sponsorship from their employer.

View “Negotiating Sponsorship” Recording 

Prof. Cappelli opened the webinar with tips on how to effectively build your case.  He was joined by four second-year executive MBA students who explained how they successfully gained the support of their companies to enroll in Wharton’s EMBA program. 

MBA Program for Executives Admissions Committee members, Catherine Molony and Bernadette Birt, also participated in the hour-long webinar.  Cathy and Bernie shared their insights into the variety of sponsorship scenarios that applicants have worked out to meet application requirements.

Check out our Admissions Chats page to view other video and audio recordings on topics such as Women and the MBA, Admissions Tips, Career Management and several industry-related sessions.