In early January, Wharton offered its first ever course in India: “Innovation and the Indian Health Care Industry.”  This three-day mini-course, held at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, covered the full range of health care issues in India - hospital management, medical tourism, pharmaceuticals, and more.  Nine executive MBA students attended, joining 21 full-time MBA students, and three undergraduates.  The course was directed by Wharton health care professor Lawton Burns, but lectures were given by eleven executives and leaders in Indian healthcare, many of whom have ongoing ties to Wharton.

Dr. Prasad Kilaru was one of three medical doctors in the EMBA program to take the course.  “From a physician’s standpoint, there was really great information on hospitals, non-profits, pharmaceuticals, and more,” he said. “I also really enjoyed the lectures on medical tourism, including the presentation from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.”  

Rajani Veeramachaneni, a first-year MBA Exec student who runs her own strategy consulting firm claims it was “one of the best academic courses she has ever taken, as it approached the issue from so many angles.”  Veeramachaneni enjoyed not only the lectures on hospital management and medical tourism but the presentations on cutting-edge technologies, including e-Help, mobile health, and wireless medical technology.   “I was impressed by the low-cost structure of India’s healthcare system,” she said, “from which the U.S. can learn a lot.”

Robert Zwolinski, a second-year EMBA student in San Francisco, took the course with the aim of applying his findings to his current job.  As the Director of Operations of a small pharmaceutical company in the Bay Area, Zwolinski wanted to explore the possibility of outsourcing development work – including formulation development, clinical development, and clinical trials.  “The course provided me an excellent opportunity to find out what I need to send work over there,” he said.  “India is not just a low cost option.  India offers many advantages – the education, talent, and intellectual capacity for specific activities - all of these advantages combine to make India a high quality option that can facilitate speed to market for products in development.”

Aside from its academic insights, the trip provided an important cultural immersion experience for students.  “There is no way you can gain a full appreciation of what it’s like to live and to work and operate in India without going over there,” said Zwolinski, who traveled to India for this first time.

Even though Anastasia Pozdniakova wasn’t admitted the first time she applied to Wharton’s East Coast Executive MBA Program due to her of lack of work experience, she knew it would one day be the right program for her.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania as a Wharton undergraduate student in 2000, she had maintained close ties with the School.  So when she decided to pursue an MBA degree, she knew she wanted to return to Wharton. Pozdniakova also knew she wanted to attend the EMBA program rather than leave her job in New York for two years and move to Philadelphia to become a full-time student. However, the EMBA Admissions Committee didn’t feel she was ready to enter the program as a “Fellows” candidate  – someone with less than eight years of experience, but with outstanding promise for advancement in a managerial career.

“The feedback was that they were looking for something more in EMBA Fellows candidates and it was a tough applicant pool. I had to improve my GMAT score too,” she recalls.

She waited a year and reapplied. By then, she had been promoted from an associate at her firm, Fieldstone, to vice president. She also retook the GMAT and provided a list of the deals she worked on to show the type of experience and perspective she would bring to the classroom. “We advise companies who seek capital for opportunities in the power and infrastructure industries. I work with developers who have ideas to develop technologies or renewable power plants but don’t have the necessary capital, so they retain my firm to find the money so they can implement their ideas,” she says. “Some of the projects are very unique and will hopefully be the future of power generation in the U.S.”

It turned out that a year made a big difference and she was accepted in 2007 as a Fellow. The program was a “perfect fit,” says Pozdniakova. “I’ve learned a lot from my role models in my company, but I wanted another source of inspiration and knowledge. At Wharton, I met interesting students and faculty who inspired me to look at the world differently and apply new tools to my work without having to risk leaving my job for two years.”

Since graduating last May, she was promoted to managing director at her firm. “My MBA will be very valuable going forward because my firm is employee owned and we hope to grow, so what I learned at Wharton will help me not only in my work, but also to validate opportunities for my company in the future.”

Looking back, Pozdniakova says that it was definitely worth the time and effort it took to apply to Wharton’s EMBA Program twice. “It’s great that the Fellows program exists to allow those of us with fewer years of experience to have this incredible opportunity,” she says. “My life would have been very different without this program.”

Related Blogs about Fellows:

Wharton EMBA Fellows Mean Business

When You’re the First to Ask:  Fellows Student Kristin Burke’s Approach to Sponsorship

When first-year Wharton EMBA student Frank Edwards, a group manager of IT Infrastructure at PepsiCo in Dallas, heard about the workshop on the Development of Web-based Services (OPIM 654) offered at Wharton | San Francisco he knew it was an opportunity he didn’t want to miss. Not only would the workshop apply management science to a creative topic like innovation, but it also would provide a chance to interact with first- and second-year Wharton EMBA students from both the East and West Coast programs as well as full-time Wharton MBA students.

The intense four-day workshop, led by Prof. Karl Ulrich, was structured as a tournament in which all students submitted ideas for online products or services that were whittled down by votes each day until six finalists remained. Edwards’ idea for Appmyself.com, a site which creates custom mobile applications, not only made it to the final round, but Edwards and several Wharton Executive MBA students from both coasts are now developing a business plan around the idea.

“The workshop showed how there are a lot of really good ideas out there and after just some small tuning and development, you can make great improvements within a couple of days in terms of understanding the customers’ needs and what your product can and should do,” he says. “The amount of opportunities that exist that are within reach is somewhat surprising.”

Edwards, who attends Wharton’s EMBA program in Philadelphia, says he also was pleasantly surprised by how much he got out of interacting with such a diversity of Wharton Executive MBA and full-time MBA students. “It was a chance to hear their perspectives and see the differences and similarities between our classes. And it was nice to validate all that you hear about how the executive program is indeed the same as the full-time program. You see that we really mirror the work that they do.”

As for the Wharton | San Francisco facility, Edwards was “amazed” by how similar the East and West Coast classrooms are. “Being from Texas, I could have applied to the Wharton program on either coast because they are equidistant to me. At the workshop, I saw that it really is the same experience in San Francisco as in Philadelphia in terms of the same professors and classrooms even down to the details like the same lights and ceiling tiles! The learning experience was very consistent, and I’m now planning to do a semester at Wharton | San Francisco to broaden my network,” he says.

Second-year Wharton EMBA student, Christina Todasco, who attends the program at Wharton|San Francisco and is a finance director at Johnson & Johnson in San Jose, agrees that the opportunity to interact with so many other types of students was a highlight of the workshop. “My team in the workshop was well balanced with folks from every single class and that made it really enjoyable because we learned a lot about their experiences.  We’ve all been staying in touch,” she says.

Todasco, who signed up for the workshop to try something “really different,” adds that she learned a lot about the importance of coming up with a lot of ideas. “If it’s just you and two other people trying to come up with the next big thing, you are limited to the purview of just three people. So you need to start with as many ideas as possible and then vote to whittle them down, getting as much feedback along the way as possible. You may think you have an awesome idea, but when no one votes for your idea, it may not actually have been that awesome.”

Emilio Maldonado, a first-year EMBA student at Wharton | San Francisco and manager of software development at Cisco Systems in San Jose, says that he learned a lot about the importance of feedback as well. “Instead of jumping in and defining the product features, you need to step back and refine the thought process and get more input in order to get to something more refined with a better chance of success,” he says.

Second-year East Coast Executive MBA student Tanya Andrien, who is a director at Duff & Phelps in Austin, says that the workshop exceeded her expectations. “Many of our classes are theoretical, but this was all about practical information you would use in starting and running a business. Prof. Karl Ulrich has a lot of experience running businesses and was really frank about successes and failures,” she says. “There were a lot of things I learned in the workshop that I wish I had known when I was working in a start-up. It was fascinating!”

Related blog:  Feb. 25, 2009, "Web-Based Servics Workshop at Wharton West an "Intense" Experience"

For attorney Thomas Kaufman, there were many benefits from attending Wharton’s MBA for Executives Program, but on his list he includes something a bit unusual – cheese steaks. He explains that when he began the Wharton program in 1999, his middle child was a sophomore in Wharton’s undergraduate program so his weekend trips to Philadelphia gave them opportunities to hang out and enjoy that local specialty.

Among the other benefits, he lists a “mature” class and a strong program in finance. A partner at Hunton & Williams in Washington, D.C. practicing in the area of finance, Kaufman says that the program not only boosted his credibility with clients, but also helped him understand his clients’ businesses better. “Sometimes clients hold lawyers askance and think we don’t understand their businesses, but if you are a lawyer who went to Wharton, clients believe you understand the numbers,” he says. “That was a huge benefit because I can now talk to them as a business person.”

Kaufman recalls that when he began the Executive MBA program, his fellow partners were very supportive, but questioned if he’d have the energy for such a rigorous program. Not only did he keep up his billable hours, but he also maintained a part-time teaching position at Georgetown Law School. “Of course there were times -- like the last month of exams -- when I didn’t get a lot of sleep,” he laughs.

But it was worth it because the curriculum was “immediately useful” in his practice and complemented his JD degree. “In fact, when people found out I was in the Wharton program, they would send me their corporate spreadsheets and business plans and ask for comments, which was very cool. I’ve been through a lot of academic programs and this was without a doubt the most rewarding educational experience I’ve had,” he says, noting that his favorite course was Mathematical Modeling of Securities.

Highlights of the program included a project on Cisco Systems related to post merger integration and a study with Booz Allen. “We got to talk to key people at Cisco at a time when they were acquiring a company a month and they really took time to talk to us. The other project allowed us to spend an hour with the CEO of Booz Allen, which was an outstanding opportunity.”

An unexpected bonus, says Kaufman, was how much he learned from his fellow students. He explains, “As a teacher, I always thought you get the most knowledge from the instructor, but because you have so many team projects in the EMBA program, you learn as much from your fellow students. The classes were excellent, but when you work with your fellow students you learn even more.”

His commute on the train from Washington, D.C. allowed him time to get to know those fellow classmates even better.  “There were 21 of us commuting in my class and we studied on the way up for class and on the way back we partied to celebrate the end of the week,” recalls Kaufman.

“For attorneys interested in the world of corporate finance or understanding business, I couldn’t recommend the Wharton EMBA program more. I got more practical applications out of that program than anything I’ve done in my career,” he says.

Chris Dickey had a Doctorate in Public Health, but his job as general manager of a health services company in Manhattan wasn’t fulfilling his goal of making a real impact on a large number of people’s lives. To change that, he enrolled in Wharton’s MBA for Executives Program in 2006 where he seized the opportunity to brainstorm with classmates whenever he could about possible business plans. Soon after he graduated, he and a partner had a plan in place to create Healthpoint Services, a market-based approach to meeting the health needs of consumers at the base of the economic pyramid. In addition to providing clean water, the business also provides medical clinics in remote villages that connect patients to doctors via videoconferencing technology and remote diagnostics.

It’s been about 18 months since he graduated so we asked Chris to share some of the highlights of his unique entrepreneurial experiences with us. In addition to sending us a video video from a recent trip to India, here’s what he had to say:

“Poor people in the developing world typically don’t have access to clean water and affordable, high-quality health care. We set out to change that through a village-based unit called a Healthpoint that combines a Reverse Osmosis plant attached to a raw water source with the latest in telemedicine technology, approved drugs, and 65 diagnostic tests (and counting) that cover a range of common illnesses.

My partner, Allen Hammond, and I are convinced that we are among the pioneers of this new market-based approach to meeting the health needs of this vast group of consumers making and spending less than about $3 per day. We believe that a commercial venture focused on delivering high-quality care at an affordable price will create efficiencies, economies of scale, and a profitable, scalable company that will transform health outcomes for millions of people.

We officially launched the first three Healthpoints in India last October to some fanfare – both the Punjab Governor and Finance Minister were there as well as the national media. The politicians were so impressed with the operation that they asked us to build 600 more units in the next three years!

I recently returned from a visit to the Healthpoints, which are in Mallan, Doda, and Kotbhai, and also to our new call center based in Bathinda. I’m delighted to say that the units are all thriving, even after such a short time. The waiting rooms are full, people are lining up with 20 liter jugs to purchase clean water, and the staff is thrilled to be part of a revolutionary effort to provide access to health care for rural villagers.

During that trip, I watched a follow-up visit to the Healthpoint in Mallan by a woman who had been treated by us for joint pain a week before. She came to review her progress on the prescribed medicines and to get further instructions. She appeared to be very content with her treatment, which cost her 30 rupees (about $0.65) plus the cost of the medicines. Her doctor, too, was happy with the outcome. The fact that the doctor and patient were looking at one another through video screens seemed not to register to either of them.

The next morning, we drove to Doda, a village of about 1,500 families, nearly all of whom make a living from the vast farmland that surrounds it. When we arrived at the Healthpoint, several men were packing their 20 liter jugs full of water (which cost them 2 rupees) on the backs of their bicycles. One of the amazing aspects of this company is that getting the water has become a man’s job in these towns, replacing a traditional woman’s chore. We think it’s because the Healthpoints are also high tech gathering places and getting the water is now a cool thing to do for the men!

Inside the Healthpoint, I joined a consultation in progress. A farm worker was suffering from pains in his shoulder and side. He had been to the local government clinic where he was given vitamins and a pain killer without any real discussion. Our clinical assistant took the man’s blood pressure, temperature, pulse, and weight, carefully entering it into his electronic medical record. During the examination, our doctor was present via a large screen monitor and was asking lots of questions. It turns out that the patient had experienced several episodes during his life that appeared to be epileptic seizures. The doctor ruled out an immediate threat to the man’s health and then asked whether the patient could afford 500 rupees to get an EEG in Bathinda to check for epilepsy. The patient said yes, he had saved enough over the past year to cover the expense.

Absent a referral by our doctor, who is known in Bathinda, that EEG might have cost the worker several thousand rupees, a sum that he would have to borrow from a local loan shark, thereby ensuring that neither he nor his young family would ever escape the economic and health consequences of his illness.

I saw several other patient visits that day, not only in Doda, but also in Mallan and Kotbhai, and I was impressed by the warmth and care provided by our staff and also by patients’ ease in being seen by a doctor on TV. It’s incredible that most of these individuals have never seen a real doctor before and now they interact with one as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. The video and sound quality is so high, the lighting is so good, and the care with which the employees treat these poor patients is so genuine that the exchange of information is excellent. I’d gladly trade some of my experiences with the medical system in New York for ones like this.

When I think back on all those hours spent at Wharton discussing business ideas that would  make a difference, we owe a significant debt of gratitude to my Wharton EMBA colleagues, including Sarabjit Singh, Vikas Khurana, Mike Parker, and Rittik Chakrabarti.  I really believe that there is a tremendous demand for services like ours, not just in Punjab but in many other Indian states and other developing countries.”

Thanks to Chris for sharing those highlights and good luck to Healthpoint Services in its future growth!

To learn more about Healthpoint Services, contact Chris Dickey at: chris.dickey@e-healthpoint.net

In case you missed it, Wharton EMBA alumnus Anthony Noto was interviewed on CNBC a few weeks ago to talk about the business of football. A 1999 Wharton graduate, Noto formerly was a media and entertainment analyst at Goldman Sachs before becoming the CFO of the NFL in 2008.

In his first television appearance since joining the NFL, Noto talked with Darren Rovell about the state of the NFL as the season was opening in Pittsburgh. When asked about the growth of the game, Noto said, “We’re continuing to see strong year over year growth in all key fan engagement methods building on the strong success of the Super Bowl in 2008, which had a record audience of 152 million viewers. We’re continuing to see that growth strongly in audience ratings as it relates to preseason games that are up over 20%. The NFL Network’s ratings on a year-to-date basis are also up in the double-digit range.”

As for revenues, Noto explained that the economic environment has clearly hurt discretionary spending, having a negative impact on ticket sales, sponsorship, and advertising. As a result, the revenue forecast is lower than expected a year ago.

When asked about the difference between working at the NFL and on Wall Street, he replied “that would be comparing apples to oranges.”

Read the full interview with Noto.

While needing to fly every other weekend to get to school may sound like a significant challenge, second-year Wharton | San Francisco Executive MBA student Dan Paik says that his commute from Redondo Beach, California to San Francisco hasn’t been that bad.

In fact, he says most EMBA students who live in southern California don’t have all that different of a schedule from students who live in the Bay Area. The biggest difference, he says, is that the southern California students probably wake up a few hours earlier to catch a 7:00am flight on Friday mornings in order to arrive at Wharton | San Francisco by 9:30am and get home a few hours later on Saturday evenings.

For Paik, his schedule is a little bit different from most commuters in his area because instead of catching Friday morning flights, he usually flies from LAX on Thursday evenings into Oakland where he spends the night at his brother’s home and then takes a train on Friday mornings into San Francisco.

But regardless of when they arrive, “the majority of people I talk to who are based near Los Angeles don’t mind the travel because they spend their flights to school catching up on reading,” he says. “And in this day and age, we are constantly connected to the office so those brief couple of hours in transit is a welcome respite because we can turn off our phones – we actually like the travel time.”

Paik notes that the flight home provides time to bond with classmates. When classes end at 4:00pm on Saturday, the commuters share taxis to the airport. Those going to Los Angeles usually catch a 5:00pm flight out of SFO airport and those headed to San Diego usually catch a 4:50pm flight out of Oakland. “It’s pretty much a given that it’s not study time because we are done with classes and can hang out and listen to music or watch part of a movie together on the flight. It’s our time to kick back and relax after a weekend of classes.”

He adds that because Wharton students need flights at nonpeak times, getting tickets hasn’t been an issue.  “We are flying in on Thursday nights or Friday mornings when flights are never full and then we leave on Saturday afternoons which is also a good time to find flights. Southwest tickets usually cost about $50 each way from LAX, but we earn a lot of frequent flier miles and free flights,” he says.

As for the impact on his job, Paik explains that for the first year of the program he was running his own business, Juice Wireless, so setting a schedule amenable to commuting wasn’t an issue. Now, as VP of Technology at ThisNext.com, he says it’s still not a big deal. “I leave the office on Thursdays at the usual time I would leave work for the day anyway. In two years, I’ve never had an instance where I had an important meeting that had to happen that night,” he says.

Paik says that most people in southern California probably do consider more local schools – at least at first -- when thinking about EMBA programs. However, one of Wharton’s advantages is its national and international reputation.  He explains, “If you were to move to another part of the country or expand internationally at some point in your career, which a lot of us might do at some point, it’s good to have those networks open. That is a big reason why I'm getting a Wharton MBA as opposed to one from a local school.”

Paik adds, “To get to go to a school like Wharton is definitely worth the commute!”

Read more about other students’ commutes.

While many students might measure the value of an MBA in financial terms, Cesar Bocanegra prefers to measure the ROI on his EMBA degree a bit differently. “I like to think about it in terms of quality of life and the connections that began in school,” says the 2008 graduate of Wharton’s Executive MBA Program. “I talk to at least one Wharton friend every day whether it’s chatting, email, or on the phone and you can’t put a dollar sign on that!”

Bocanegra, executive VP of Operations for DonorsChoose.org, recently shared his enthusiasm for Wharton’s EMBA Program with thousands of participants at the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA) Conference in Minneapolis. He’s been attending the conference for years, first as a representative of his former employer, AT&T, and then as a Wharton student. However, this year he represented Wharton as an academic sponsor.

The three-day event, which is the largest Hispanic MBA conference in the country, provided plenty of time for networking with professional development sessions as well as career expos where attendees could talk with corporate and academic sponsors.

Bocanegra says that many of the questions he was asked at the expos pertained to how the Wharton EMBA program is structured and how it differs from the full-time MBA program. “I explained how in the Executive MBA program you keep your day job and build relationships over the course of every other weekend when you stay on campus whereas in the full-time program you are there the entire time, but don’t apply the skills you learn immediately in your day job,” says Bocanegra.

Another common topic of conversation, he says, related to the curriculum. “There is an impression that Wharton is heavily finance focused. I explained that while Wharton offers a diverse set of classes, students do have a significant finance course load.  Wharton emphasizes core skills and finance is big a part of that core – it’s something you need knowledge of in any area of business,” he says.

Bocanegra notes that some people he talked to were surprised to hear how rigorous the EMBA program is. “The reality is that you are giving up a lot more than every other weekend because of the homework and assignments that need to be done between classes. I talked about how the Wharton Executive MBA program has the same requirements as the full-time MBA and lasts the full 24 months.”

He adds that all the hard work is definitely worthwhile. “There are many benefits of a Wharton education from opening doors to all of the connections that are made through the program all the way to the knowledge that you learn,” he says. “It’s almost an expectation that when people hear you went to Wharton that you really know what you are talking about. At the conference, I highly recommended the Wharton EMBA program to anyone interested in applying!”

Learn more about Cesar.

When Yu-Ling Cheng told her parents that she wanted to change her college major from pre-med to music, they weren’t thrilled with the idea.  After all, how many people really make it in the music world playing the violin? So they made a deal and Cheng changed her major to music as well as the more “stable degree” of economics, which would provide something to fall back on if music didn’t work out.

Fortunately, it was a good choice and she found economics “fascinating.” After college, Cheng earned her Master’s Degree in violin performance, but continued to pursue her interest in business by interning in development with the Boston Symphony. That internship led to a League of American Orchestras Fellowship, which places people who excel in arts management at major music organizations. “That’s where I really fell in love with business,” recalls Cheng.

After her fellowship ended, she became the director of marketing for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, but felt she still needed a better overall understanding of business. “A long-term goal is to be the president of a major orchestra and to do that you need strong business skills, preferably an MBA, and the ability to raise money. I knew I would need to invest in my future and get an MBA so I started applying to several programs,” she says.

Cheng considered schools closer to her home in Pittsburgh, but found they didn’t measure up to her personal standards. And since she wasn’t sponsored, she wanted to get the best education possible for her money. “It’s a huge investment, especially not being in a field like finance where every other year your salary doubles. It’s a long-term picture for me, but I felt like every penny – and the commute -- would be worth it,” she says.

The commute to Philadelphia turned out to be the easiest part of the program. The hardest part, she says, was all of the studying. However, her learning team was a huge help in that area. “Our team of seven people was great because we all had strengths in different areas and were there to support each other. Being part of that team allowed me to know that I would be fine at Wharton,” she says, noting that although they all graduated last May, the group is already planning a reunion dinner in Philadelphia.

Cheng says that the diversity of her fellow students turned out to be one of her favorite things about the program. She explains, “When you work in the arts, you tend to work with passionate people who are also from an arts background so to be exposed to a whole different group of people was great! And my classmates were curious about the arts too. It was interesting to hear their opinions about our world.”

During her last two semesters at Wharton, she did an independent study with another student to create a dynamic pricing model for the performing arts industry. The project gained so much momentum that they’ve continued with their efforts, inviting their faculty advisor Prof. Senthil Veeraraghavan to visit the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and involving a Wharton PhD student in ongoing work. “That is what really gets me excited about Wharton – the relationship didn’t just end at graduation but continues,” says Cheng.

She adds that she “absolutely recommends” Wharton’s EMBA program to others in the arts. “It made me more business savvy and helped me develop a framework for thinking through problems that I couldn’t necessarily have gotten on the job because we all see problems similarly. The more diversity at the workplace, the better the company will do.”

She continues, “A lot of people in the arts may not consider an MBA because there might not be the payoff in the end with the salary, but that is short-sighted. I know I will be moving into a VP role at some point and this degree has helped expedite that natural progression. I also started teaching arts marketing as an adjunct at a university in Pittsburgh and recently invested with my fiancé in a winery where I was voted onto one of the five board seats. The ROI may not be the traditional ROI, but it has already started for me in a lot of different ways!” she says.

When Barry Self thought about applying to Executive MBA programs, he had been running his business, Southeast Dental Research, in Baton Rouge for seven years. Having successfully made the move from working for a large corporation to entrepreneur, he was committed to growing his firm, but lacked the business knowledge and contacts needed to take it to the next level.

“I knew I could learn about business anywhere, but if I wanted my MBA to work for me then I needed to go to a school like Wharton. Also, I already had a PhD in chemistry and wasn’t looking to just pick up another degree. If I was going to go back to school, I wanted to go to the best school possible and leave nothing to chance,” recalls Self. “Wharton fit all of those criteria.”

Another “perfect fit” was Wharton’s schedule. With four kids and a business, becoming a full-time student for two years wasn’t an option nor was moving away from Baton Rouge. Being able to fly to Wharton’s Philadelphia campus every other weekend worked well for his needs.

Of course, says Self, it was challenging to keep all of those balls in the air. “It took some adjusting of expectations. I thought I could graduate with honors and still do everything that I was previously doing with my family and business, but there were times when one of those areas had to come first and the others had to give a bit,” he says.

While the commute from Louisiana to Philadelphia may sound like an added challenge, Self says it actually alleviated some of the stress on his schedule. With limited flight options to Philadelphia, he flew in on Thursday evenings in order to arrive in time for Friday morning classes. “Arriving on Thursdays -- in addition to the three hours spent on the plane each way --gave me time to refocus and do work,” he says. (Wharton | San Francisco has students from Western states making similar commutes.)

Self, who graduated last May, says that the Wharton EMBA was definitely worth it. “Right now, a classmate and I are working on a proposal to potentially buy a company that is up for sale. Before coming to Wharton, I wouldn’t have had a clue about how to begin a process like that, but after Wharton, I had the knowledge base as well as a list of people I could call to put a process and team in place,” he says. “Whether this deal goes through or not, when the right opportunity presents itself, I’ll be ready to act on it.”

Despite his distance from Philadelphia, he is staying connected to Wharton. Recently, he attended the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) Conference in New Orleans as a representative of Wharton to share his experience with other prospective students.

He says that a common topic of conversation at the conference was Wharton’s admissions requirements. “A big hindrance for a lot of people who have never had any exposure to an Ivy League school is that they think there is no way they could possibly be accepted. I probably wouldn’t have applied myself had I not gone to a Wharton information session because I thought it was such a long shot.  I didn’t have the greatest grades, but Wharton is looking at your potential, what you will bring to the table as well as your GMAT scores, which is a good way of giving you a second chance if you are 15 or 20 years removed from your undergraduate school.  And they look for people from diverse backgrounds. If everyone in class came from the same industry with the same experiences, there wouldn’t be as much learning shared between students,” he says.

Self adds that he is already looking forward to attending next year’s conference. “I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had that will be invaluable for my future career and want to encourage others to consider Wharton as well.”