Philadelphia deadline:   Wed., 2/1/12 at 11:59pm EST
San Francisco deadline:  Mon., 2/6/12 at 11:59 PST

Please call the office of the program to which you’re applying if you need to arrange an extension of the deadline.  Phila: 215-898-5887 / SF: 415-777-1000

Ins and Outs of Interviews for Wharton EMBA Candidates

If you are applying – or thinking of applying – to Wharton’s MBA for Executives program, call us soon to schedule an interview.  Don’t wait until you’ve finished your application to schedule an appointment because slots on class days are filling up fast.

Having recently overseen the move of Wharton’s West Coast facility into the Hills Brother Building on San Francisco’s Embarcadero, we asked COO of Wharton | San Francisco Bernadette Birt to tell us about the move and the new campus.

Q. Students experienced the new facility for the first time in early January. How have they reacted?

There have been a lot of ‘Wows!’ which are exactly what we want to hear.  They are thrilled with the quality of the classroom experience, the number of group study rooms, and having places to connect with each other during the day. For example, we have an incredible dining space with stunning views of the San Francisco Bay where our students love to gather with their laptops and iPads to collaborate and relax as the sun sets.

Get insights on the future of jobs from a top Wharton professor, learn more about our EMBA program from Philadelphia and San Francisco alumni, and see what our new campus looks like in San Francisco, then make sure to join us for a virtual reception on Mon., January 23 from 9:00pm-10:00pm EST / 6:00pm-7:00pm PST.

Hosted by Vice Dean Anjani Jain, the event will feature a presentation by renowned labor expert Prof. Peter Cappelli on how the global economy is impacting careers and what this means for the future of employee development. Prof. Cappelli, who teaches negotiations, also will share tips that may help you secure support for your MBA studies and career development.

Afterward, a panel of alumni from our Philadelphia and San Francisco EMBA programs will discuss how the Wharton MBA and network have shaped their careers.  You’ll have an opportunity to ask questions of both Prof. Cappelli and the panelists via your computer or mobile device.

In addition, West Coast COO Bernadette Birt will take participants on a virtual tour of our beautiful new San Francisco campus.  A 21st century learning environment, you’ll see how our technologically advanced facility was designed to provide the most cutting-edge and connected classrooms possible.

To register for this live webcast on Jan. 23, click here.

 University of Pennsylvania will be closing on Fri., Dec. 23rd at 12:00pm EST.  If you have any immediate admissions questions, please contact our offices before that time.  Our Philadelphia office will reopen on Tues., Jan. 3rd at 9:00am EST. Wharton | San Francisco will close at 12:00pm PST on Dec. 23rd and reopen on Jan. 3rd at 9:00am PST.

As you work on your application over winter break, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Wharton | San Francisco MBA Exec candidates who submit their application by December 1, 2011, will receive a decision by January 16, 2012. If you have any questions or need assistance, please don't hesitate to contact us. You can reach the admissions office at 415-777-1000 or via email at lilygren@wharton.upenn.edu. We look forward to reading your application. Good luck!

How much work experience is required to apply to Wharton’s MBA Exec Program? What are the requirements for sponsorship? Is the application procedure different for candidates under the age of 30? To learn the answers to these and many other questions, please join us on Sat. Oct. 1, 2011 from 9:00am-10:00am PDT/12:00-1:00pm EDT for a phone chat with members of our Admissions Committee from both our San Francisco and Philadelphia locations.

To listen to the phone chat, dial 1-270-400-2000/Access Code 433559#. To be online during the chat to post questions, register for this event here. If you’re unable to be online during the call, but would like to send us questions in advance, please email us at: mbaexec-myapp@wharton.upenn.edu.

Do you want to learn more about Wharton’s executive MBA program? If so, then we encourage you to attend one of our MBA for Executives information receptions where you can ask questions as well as talk to students and alumni about the program. Please check our listing of events because we’ll likely be coming to a city near you. Upcoming receptions include:

Mon. Sept. 12, 2011, 6:00-8:00pm in Santa Clara, CA

Wed. Sept. 28, 2011, 6:00-8:00pm in Portland, OR

Mon. Oct. 3, 2011, 6:00-8:00pm in Las Vegas, NV

Tues. Oct. 4, 2011, 11:30am-1:00pm in Salt Lake City, UT

Tues. Oct. 4, 2011, 6:00-8:00pm in Scottsdale, AZ

Admissions chats also are a great source of information. To watch recent Webcasts and listen to audio recordings on a wide range of topics, please click here.

We hope to hear from you soon!

If you’re considering applying to Wharton’s executive MBA program this year, this is a good time to create an account to access our online application. Once you begin, you’ll be able to save your work and keep track of your progress until you’re ready to submit your information.

We also invite you to attend one of our many upcoming MBA for Executives information receptions where you can learn more about the admissions process from our staff as well as talk to alumni and students about their experiences in the program. We’ll be hosting receptions around the world, but a few events coming up include:

Mon. Sept. 21, 2011, 6:00–8:00pm at Wharton | San Francisco

Tues. Sept. 27, 2011, 6:00–8:00pm in Bellevue, WA

Tues. Oct. 4, 2011, 5:30–7:30pm at the Wharton School, Philadelphia, PA

Tues., Oct. 11, 2011, 6:00–8:00pm in Los Angeles, CA

Tues. Oct. 11, 2011, 5:30-7:30pm in New York, NY

Wed. Oct. 19, 2011, 6:00–8:00pm in Denver, CO

Tues. Oct. 25, 2011, 5:30–7:30pm in Washington, DC

Tues. Nov. 1, 2011, 5:30pm – 7:30pm in Boston, MA

For the full listing of information receptions or to register for a specific event, please click here. You also can visit our Admissions Receptions and Chats site to watch recent Webcasts and listen to audio recordings about a diversity of topics such as women and the MBA, career management, full-time vs. executive formats, and many more.

And it's not too late to attend tonight's event at Wharton | San Francisco, Wed., August 17, 2011, 6:00-8:00pm, tomorrow night's event in Seattle, Thurs., August 18, 2011, 6:00-8:00pm or next week's event in Palo Alto, Thurs., August 25, 2011, 6:00-8:00pm.

We’re looking forward to meeting you at an upcoming event!

If you’re interested in learning more about Wharton’s MBA for Executives Program in San Francisco, we invite you to attend one of our West Coast events this summer. At these First-Person Perspectives, alumni and students will share their experiences in the program as well as participate in interactive Q&A sessions. Wharton staff also will provide an overview of the program and the admissions process.

Upcoming events include:

Sat., July 23, 2011, 11:30am -1:00pm in Manhattan Beach, CA

Mon., July 25, 2011, 11:30am – 1:00pm in downtown Los Angeles, CA

Tues., July 26, 2011, 11:30am – 1:00pm in West Los Angeles, CA

Wed., Aug. 17, 2011, 6:00pm – 8:00pm at Wharton | San Francisco

Thurs., Aug. 25, 2011, 6:00pm – 8:00pm in Palo Alto, CA

Stay tuned for more information about additional locations and dates throughout the North America!

The Wharton MBA for Executives is one of the most competitive EMBA programs in the world and applicants usually have about a one in three chance of being admitted.  Not only do our executive MBA applicants need to meet the same high standards that are required for Wharton’s full-time MBA program, they also must show more work and managerial leadership experience.

In Wharton’s MBA for Executives Offices, it’s application processing time! Right now, we’re diligently processing each application to make sure that we’ve received all of the required documents.  If you’re wondering whether we’ve gotten to your documents yet, you can logon to your application to confirm when everything is complete.  If we find anything is missing, we’ll contact you immediately.

Registrants from 30 states and 14 countries joined us last week for our first-ever Webcast event.  During the interactive presentation, streamed live from Philadelphia and San Francisco, participants heard from administrators, faculty, students, and alumni.  It was a great opportunity to learn more about Wharton’s MBA Program for Executives.  If you missed it, it’s not too late. You can watch the replay.

The interactive presentation began with Vice Dean Anjani Jain providing an overview of our program.  He was joined by Wharton Professors David Bell, Peggy Bishop Lane, and Witold Henisz who shared their experiences teaching in our program.  Students and alumni on both coasts then discussed the benefits of the Wharton MBA degree and how they handled the challenge of working while they earned it.

Although we covered a lot of topics during the Webcast, you still might have questions. If so, please contact us at either our San Francisco or Philadelphia Office. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

The Philadelphia area is expecting a dangerous winter storm, which means there will be a skeleton crew in the office on both Tues., 2/1 and Wed., 2/2.  We’d like to reassure you that if you are having trouble contacting us regarding an application issue, you can hold off on submitting your app until your question or concern has been addressed.

We encourage you to email the office to make us aware of any issues and we will do our best to respond in a timely manner, mbaexec-myapp@wharton.upenn.edu.  If the issue is of a technical nature, please contact AY Tech Support using the link provided within the application.

For those who wonder what the difference between the Philadelphia and San Francisco campuses is, the answer is...the weather!

The Wharton MBA Exec Admissions Team would like to share a few reminders as you spend this weekend finalizing your application before the February 1st deadline:

  - You have until 11:59pm Tues., February 1, 2011 (midnight of your time zone) to submit your online application.  But don’t panic - the system will accept applications after midnight.  We encourage you to let us know if you run into issues that prevent you from meeting this deadline.

  - If you still need to take - or retake - the GMAT, we’ll accept GMAT scores until the first week of March.  A copy of your preliminary GMAT score 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 Wharton's Executive MBA program are Philadelphia: G56-97-36 and San Francisco: G56-97-14.

  - Have you scheduled your interview?

  - Transcripts, sponsorship letters, and other credentials are arriving in droves at the Philadelphia and San Francisco MBA Exec offices.  We ask for your patience as we sort through them and match them up with each application.

Please note:  It is only after your application is submitted that the processing can begin.  Please give us 2-3 weeks after you submit before calling the office to see if we’ve received your credentials.  This allows us to keep the momentum going without stopping to answer individual calls.  Check your online status where you can confirm when your application is complete.

Rest assured that we will not let your application sit incomplete!  We will reach out to you if something is missing. 

Once applications are complete, they go to the Admissions Committee where they will be evaluated by Committee members from both the West and East Coast programs.  You don’t need to update us during this time unless something significant happens that may affect our evaluation such as a promotion or a new GMAT score.

San Francisco program admissions decisions will be released no later than March 25 and Philadelphia decisions will be released by April 8.

Wed., 1/26/11, 12:00-1:00pm EST / 9:00-10:00am PST

Cathy Molony, Director of Admissions, and Lakeisha Bishop, Sr. Assoc. Director of Financial Aid, will be on the call to answer your questions about the application process and your financial aid options. 

Dial-up information to hear the discussion:  1-270-400-2000   Code: 433559#

If you'd like to post questions during the chat, REGISTER: Wed., 1/26/11, 12noon EST / 9am PST

If you won’t be in front of a computer during the discussion, you can email your questions ahead of time to: dsharp@wharton.upenn.edu

We look forward to answering your questions!

Meet and interact with Wharton MBA for Executives professors, alumni, students and admissions staff during our first-ever webcast event, streaming live from both Philadelphia & San Francisco.

Thursday, January 20, 2011
7:00-8:00pm EST / 4:00-5:00pm PST
REGSITER FOR THE WEBCAST

Get a Taste of the Classroom Experience
Live from Philadelphia: Vice Dean Anjani Jain asks faculty about their experience teaching in the program, including current topics from recent classes. 

David Bell, Professor of Marketing
Peggy Bishop Lane, Professor of Accounting
Witold Henisz, Professor of Management 

Meet Admissions Staff
Live from San Francisco:  Vice Dean Anjani Jain introduces members of the Admissions Committee, including Bernadette Birt, COO of Wharton | San Francisco and Cathy Molony, Director of Admissions, Wharton MBA Program for Executives.

Interact with Students and Alumni
Live from both Philadelphia & San Francisco:  Alumni and students share their stories about the benefits, both personal and professional, of the Wharton MBA degree.

The webcast will include forums for posting questions as you watch.

We hope you'll join us!

Meet and interact with Wharton MBA for Executives professors, alumni, students and admissions staff during our first-ever webcast event, streaming live from both Philadelphia & San Francisco.

Thursday, January 20, 2011
7:00-8:00pm EST / 4:00-5:00pm PST
REGISTER FOR THE WEBCAST

Get a Taste of the Classroom Experience
Live from Philadelphia: Vice Dean Anjani Jain asks faculty about their experience teaching in the program, including current topics from recent classes. 

David Bell, Professor of Marketing
Peggy Bishop Lane, Professor of Accounting
Witold Henisz, Professor of Management 

Meet Admissions Staff
Live from San Francisco:  Vice Dean Anjani Jain introduces members of the Admissions Committee, including Bernadette Birt, COO of Wharton | San Francisco and Cathy Molony, Director of Admissions, Wharton MBA Program for Executives.

Interact with Students and Alumni
Live from both Philadelphia & San Francisco:  Alumni and students share their stories about the benefits, both personal and professional, of the Wharton MBA degree.

The webcast will include forums for posting questions as you watch.  We hope you'll join us!

If you’re interested in applying to Wharton’s MBA for Executives Program for the May 2011 entering class, this is a great time to start an application.  Our online application system walks you through the required steps, including how to electronically submit your essays and recommendations and what documents need to be sent in hard copy.  It also allows you to save your work until you’re ready to submit the application and keep track of your progress.

The instructions within our online application explains all of this in far greater detail, but here’s the quick list of required components:

* Background Information
* Two Letters of Recommendation
* Three Essays
* Transcripts
* GMAT
* Letter of Endorsement (sponsorship)
* Interviews
* Application Fee

Whether you are applying to our San Francisco or Philadelphia program, the application deadline is February 1, 2011.  However, sometimes pulling together all of the required application materials can take longer than expected.  If you need flexibility regarding the deadline, please contact the office of the program to which you’re applying to see if there’s anything we can do to help.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Sat., 12/18/10, 12:30-1:30pm EST / 9:30-10:30am PST 

Diane Sharp, Director of Marketing & Assoc. Director, Admissions and John Lyon, Director of Admissions, Wharton | San Francisco, will discuss the Wharton MBA Exec program and the application process. 

Dial-up information to hear the discussion: 1-270-400-2000 Code: 18180#

If you'd like to post questions during the chat: REGISTER: Sat., 12/18/10, 12:30pm EST / 9:30am PST

If you're not able to be in front of a computer during the hour, you can email your questions ahead of time to dsharp@wharton.upenn.edu.

We look forward to answering your questions!

If you are considering applying to Wharton's MBA Program for Executives, call us soon to schedule an interview. You don’t need to wait until you’ve finished – or even started – your application. Make the interview part of your research on our program to see if we’re a good fit for you.

Although interviews are only required for Fellows EMBA candidates, we strongly recommend them for traditional applicants as well. In other words, everyone should schedule an interview!

During an interview:

- You get one-on-one time with a member of the Admissions Committee so that you can present yourself in “3D.”

- You’ll discuss how your career has evolved, with examples of leadership within or outside of your work, and why getting an MBA is important to you.

- You can ask questions about the program as well as address any specific issues you might have.

Since interviews are scheduled on days when Executive MBA classes are in session, you also can sit in on a class, meet current students, and even join them for a meal.

Interviews should be scheduled before the deadline of Feb. 1 and must be completed by March 1. To schedule a time, contact either the Philadelphia or San Francisco EMBA office.  Our January schedules are starting to fill up so please call soon to see which dates are still available.

Read about "Interview Dos and Don’ts" from the Admissions Committee.