what is the wharton school 
the wharton school of the university of pennsylvania often referred to simply as wharton is one of the most prestigious business schools in the world wharton s master of business administration mba program placed first in front of the university of chicago booth school of business in a 2023 global survey of the best business finance schools by u s news world report 1the school is best known for its rigorous finance program it is a top choice for those seeking careers in investment banking private equity pe investment management or venture capital vc admission and programs at the wharton schoolas is understandable given its prized ivy league brand value the admissions process at wharton is highly competitive for example its mba class of 2024 received over 6 300 applications and only 877 were enrolled 2on average the accepted applicants boasted an average gmat score of 733 and an average undergraduate gpa of 3 6 on a 4 0 scale although these applicants hailed from a wide variety of industries the most common fields were consulting technology government nonprofit private equity and venture capital which collectively represented about 59 of the total 2in addition to its well known mba program wharton also offers a variety of undergraduate business degrees along with a ph d program examples of specific specializations that the school offers include accounting finance marketing real estate statistics and entrepreneurship 3in 1975 wharton launched an executive mba emba program which students can pursue out of its philadelphia or san francisco campus the latter of which is strategically located near the hub of california s technology sector 45in a similar move wharton also established the penn wharton china center in 2015 a new campus based in beijing which is supported by over 20 additional partnerships with chinese organizations 67wharton s main campus is located at the heart of the university of pennsylvania some of the notable figures who have attended wharton are donald trump warren buffett ceo of berkshire hathaway brk b sundar pichai ceo of both alphabet goog and google and elon musk founder of tesla tsla and spacex and co founder of paypal pypl the wharton school s reputation and standingwharton claims the largest alumni network of any business school in the united states with a total membership of nearly 100 000 strong 8historically wharton s reputation has been especially strong with regard to finance the school produces a steady stream of top candidates for wall street firms and other finance related institutions however with the recent growth of the american technology sector wharton has been making greater efforts to bolster its programs outside of its core strength of finance in order to better prepare its students for the workforce of the future the school s recent investments in china are also oriented in a similar direction the penn wharton china center already has over 15 000 alumni in the greater china region 7costs to attend whartonwharton is one of the more expensive business schools in the u s total expenses including room and board books supplies and tuition for its two year mba program are 246 952 for the 2023 2024 school year first year costs include 9second year costs include 9