In this guide, we’ll be covering everything you need to know about how to write the Wharton MBA essays.

This year, there are a few updates to the questions. Director of Admissions Blair Mannix writes in the following:

“We made slight revisions to Essay 1 to ensure that the question remained applicant-centered while still requiring applicants to think carefully and specifically about how they can maximize two years at Wharton to prepare for their future career goals. Essay 2 has not changed.

It is our hope that the Letters of Recommendation prompts will be collectively easier and more fulfilling for recommenders to respond thoughtfully, regardless of which stage of your life they know you as a candidate. The updated Prompt 1 now asks recommenders to illustrate ways they believe an applicant can make meaningful contributions to the Wharton community. These answers will help us learn more about the instances they’ve found you make impacts on teams, organizations, and processes around you. Prompt 2 has not changed.”

Blair Mannix, Director of Admissions; Wharton MBA Updates 2021-22

So, let’s think about what Wharton is expecting out of us with their MBA Essay Question 1. Focus on this part of Director Blair Mannix’s statement: “The updated Prompt 1 now asks recommenders to illustrate ways they believe an applicant can make meaningful contributions to the Wharton community.“

Thus, don’t approach your Wharton MBA essays with the idea that you need only to answer the question below. You also need to weave into your essay reasons why the admissions officers may believe you would be a net positive to the Wharton community. A good way to do this is to think of yourself as an asset. From an ROI (Return of Investment) perspective, how does Wharton benefit most from having you compared to the rest?

Also, note that you are in no way trying to “slide into” your acceptance with sneaky writing. The admissions officers are your friends here. It is up to you to use the Wharton MBA essays as a tool to help the admissions office better determine how you are a net positive for the school.

With that said, let’s cover everything you need to know about how to answer the Wharton MBA essay prompts.

Table of Contents

1. Tips From the Official Wharton Website
2. How to Write the Wharton MBA Essay Prompt 1
3. How to Write the Wharton MBA Essay Prompt 2
4. Wharton Reapplicant Required Essay
5. Wharton Optional Essay

Tips From the Official Wharton Website

Before you begin writing your essays, consider taking a look at the official website and its tips.

To save you time, we’ve listed their three primary tips below and summarized them.

1. Write Out Everything Before You Worry About Word Count: Wharton isn’t expecting you to write out your entire life story in 500 words. They understand that you can’t fit everything into one essay. Instead, your answers should be thorough and specific enough without detracting into territory that isn’t relevant. So, try to map out everything you think would possibly be relevant to answering the prompts. Simply write them down and “word vomit” your ideas onto paper. Then, you’ve had enough content, start shaving off the parts that you deem unecessary. Rephrase the parts you keep and ensure they are clear and concise. Nothing says “unsure” as much as someone who has too wordy of an explanation!
2. Connect the “Three Career Dots”: Here are the three career dots. Put simply, Wharton simply wants to know how your past experiences connect properly with what you will do in the present and future. This is a timeline that should demonstrate a well-thought plan for the future that isn’t delusional or uninformed.
   • What have you done to date, what unique things do you already know, and what do you have still to learn?
   • How can Wharton help you and how can you help the Wharton community?
   • How does that all connect to your goals post-MBA?
3. Be Yourself: Remember: the admissions office understands that there are people who want to get accepted for their merits and their achievements. This is not wrong. However, many times the admissions officers also want to know who you are as a person. It is often the case that applicants to all MBA programs, not just for Wharton’s MBA program, will try to find a way to censor themselves in their application essays in fear of appearing weak or weird. If you don’t know how to incorporate the right amount of feedback without completely censoring your personality, consider scheduling a consultation with an admissions expert. With PenningPapers, we can help you with balancing that exact problem; plus, we answer within 24 hours.

How to Write the Wharton MBA Essay Prompt 1

Essay 1: How do you plan to use the Wharton MBA program to help you achieve your future professional goals? You might consider your past experience, short and long-term goals, and resources available at Wharton. (500 words)

Wharton MBA Application Website

Like the other Wharton MBA essays, we want to deconstruct this question into its most simple forms. Notice how the question gives multiple considerations. Let’s list these all out.

Wharton MBA essay prompt 1 deconstructed

1. How to use the MBA program to achieve future goals.
   • past expereince.
   • short-term goals.
   • long-term goals.
   • Wharton’s resources.

So, what do these aspects test for? Well, the admissions officers at Wharton are not just testing how well you’ve planned out your future goals, but also how prepared you are. Are you someone who doesn’t have very clear goals of what they want to do? Do you only have a surface-level understanding of the school? Is your decision to attend Wharton’s MBA program actually informed and wise, or is it unfitting?

Writing about how the courses at Wharton and the reputation the school holds is not good enough. You need to have a very thoroughly fleshed-out plan on how your past experiences will lead you to Wharton. Then, you need to also have a plan on how Wharton’s resources will help construct your short and long-term goals. The admissions officers would like to see that you are hyper-specific with this.

In fact, due to the time-based structure of the Wharton essay prompt 1, we would recommend drawing your answers out in a chart rather than just writing them in a rough draft format.

We would also suggest dedicating most of your word count to how Wharton’s resources will help your short-term and long-term goals. In this essay, it would be more advantageous to get right to answering the meat of the question instead of just past experiences.

A good example format would be something like an 80/20 rule.

1. First 20% of the essay: Write about your background experience using a strong hook and introduction with strong imagery
2. Next 40% of the essay: Funnel into Wharton’s resources and how that will help you with your short-term goals
3. Last 40% of the essay: Funnel into Wharton’s resources and how that will help you with your long-term goals

How to Write the Wharton MBA Essay Prompt 2

Essay 2: Taking into consideration your background – personal, professional, and/or academic – how do you plan to make specific, meaningful contributions to the Wharton community? (400 words)

Wharton MBA Application Website

From a realistic perspective, this question may seem rather absurd. After all, how can one person make a meaningful contribution to such a prestigious MBA program as Wharton? We’re only one person!

Here’s what you need to remember: the admissions officers are not trying to see how you can revolutionize something as influential as an entire MBA program. You don’t need to be perfect here.

What the admissions officers are checking for, however, is the personality trait that will make you a great fit for their school: being a giver.

The “giver” is, in broad brush strokes, someone who isn’t just a consumer. They have a proclivity to “give” back to the community from which they benefit, and even serve to revitalize the community they reside in. So, for instance, let’s take the average university student. They apply for a prestigious school in the hopes of riding their coattails and benefiting off of the reputation it holds. There is nothing inherently wrong with this strategy, but it is definitely not as impressive to admissions officers. However, someone applying for an MBA program who has experience with cross disciplining their computer science experience with the world of business would be much more useful to the school: their experience in business can help other students looking to do the same, especially when the school, in particular, has clubs and activities related to their field of study. The background experiences of the student should help contribute in some way to the university the student is applying for to result in a net positive.

Wharton Reapplicant Required Essay

Required Essay for all Reapplicants: Please use this space to share with the Admissions Committee how you have reflected and grown since your previous application and discuss any relevant updates to your candidacy (e.g., changes in your professional life, additional coursework, and extracurricular/volunteer engagements). (250 words)

Wharton MBA Application Website

Many MBA programs ask the same question of their reapplicants as Wharton.

In short, the admissions officers made the decision to reject your application to the Wharton MBA program. Because you are applying again, they want to know why you are now a more suitable candidate. Perhaps you’ve made career changes that better suit your path. Maybe you’ve taken more courses and increased the amount of knowledge needed to break into your desired industry. We’ve found that career experience, especially experience that requires intense active thinking and focus, tends to sway the admissions officers better.

For instance, let’s take these two reapplicants to Wharton’s MBA program. Which person do you think sounds more impressive?

The most important takeaway here is that not only does Lily Chua’s background experience sound more impressive, but she also has a more fitting background that makes sense with where she’s applying for.

If you are applying for Wharton’s MBA program and your current experiences don’t make sense with your future goals, it is hard for you to make a case about how you’ll contribute well to Wharton’s community. The last thing you want to look like is someone who is trying to get away with just riding the school’s reputation. You want to demonstrate that you have relevant experiences that can help contribute to the program that you are getting into.

Does your internship experience correlate well with the program you want to apply for? Maybe you learned things in your internship or startup that will be very useful for your peers in the Master’s program. If that were the case, then write it!

Wharton Optional Essay

Optional Essay: Please use this space to share any additional information about yourself that cannot be found elsewhere in your application and that you would like to share with the Admissions Committee. This space can also be used to address any extenuating circumstances (e.g., unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, areas of weakness, etc.) that you would like the Admissions Committee to consider. (500 words)

Wharton MBA Application Website

One of the things we get asked all the time is whether someone should answer the Wharton optional essay. Here’s the general rule: if you have any of the following, you should write the optional essay.

1. Low GPA or poor academic performance
2. Resume gaps
3. Low test scores
4. Strange or unusual circumstances that hindered any academic performance

Weirdly enough, it is rare for us to come across applicants who do not have at least one of the four listed items above. There are certainly cases when students have everything perfect in their application: perfect grades, marks, scores, etc. However, we’ve found that students often have at least one unusual circumstance whether in their personal lives or academic situations that were both beyond their control and a hindrance to their performance.

Should any of the four apply to you, we would highly recommend writing about it in the Wharton optional essay. If you do not write about them, the admissions officers will have no further context concerning the insufficiencies in your application. We would actually recommend scheduling a free consultation with multiple MBA application editors (including us!) for the free revisions advising. You can get the opinions of multiple people, and fill up any holes in your application essays.

If you have any further questions about how to write the Wharton MBA essays, don’t be afraid to speak with an advisor. Contact us for a free MBA essay advising consultation. We will work with you on your essays to ensure you maximize your chance of acceptance. Plus: it’s free!