Essay 1 – (750-1000 words)
As a leader in global business, Wharton is committed to sustaining “a truly global presence through its engagement in the world”.  What goals are you committed to and why?  How do you envision the Wharton MBA contributing to the attainment of those goals?

Wharton has made an interesting adjustment to its career goal prompt this year.  The questions  about a candidate’s goals and interest in the Wharton MBA plays remains the same, with a new twist focused on global perspective and engagement in the world.  The introduction of the “engagement” element broadens the scope of the topic a bit, and suggests a curiosity about the potential impact of a candidate’s goals on the local community and perhaps global business.   One might discuss how he or she intends to engage individuals or firms when doing business in the future, and how his or her stated goals might fit into the big picture of Wharton’s “truly global presence.”

As before, the thousand-word limit provides applicants with a good deal of room to work with in describing their professional progress and aspirations and their motivation for pursuing an MBA.  However, as Wharton has removed the “comment on your career to date” component of the prompt, candidates might need to cut down a bit on this section in order to cover the global engagement element in full.

As is the case with most schools, demonstrating an understanding of the unique merits of Wharton’s program is crucial to an effective response to this question.  Taking the time to learn about the school’s curriculum, special programs and extracurricular activities – whether through a visit to campus, conversation with alumni – will pay dividends here.

Essay 2 – (750-1000 words)
Tell us about a time when you had to adapt by accepting/understanding the perspective of people different from yourself.

This prompt is new to Wharton’s application this year and signals the adcom’s interest in how candidates may thrive not only within the diversity of Wharton’s MBA class but also within increasingly global business interactions.  When answering this prompt, candidates should highlight their adaptability, empathy or their open-mindedness.  The adcom will want to see how candidates worked with others to find common ground and effectively move forward.

The scope of this prompt is such that a wide range of situations might be quite fitting – from an experience traveling to a foreign country to a team project that involved working with people from different disciplines or backgrounds.  Regardless of the subject of the ane**ote one chooses, it will be important to highlight interpersonal skills and the process of arriving at understanding and finding common ground.

With the 1000 word limit, candidates have a good deal of room for reflection in addressing the process of adapting to differences in perspective, approaches or methods, as well as the positive outcome of their efforts.

Essay 3 – (500 words)
Describe a failure that you have experienced.  What role did you play, and what did you learn about yourself?

As a rule of thumb, one wants to highlight the most positive elements of one’s candidacy, but schools occasionally do ask directly about a failure one has experienced.  The adcom acknowledges that no one is perfect and seeks a perspective on each prospective student beyond his or her success, wondering about an applicant’s maturity (as evidenced by an ability to take responsibility for his/her actions, learn from mistakes and handle disappointment) in addition to his or her achievements.

As is always the case, it’s important to focus on the positive elements of this scenario. A sound approach to any essay that explicitly asks applicants to recount a time when things went less than well is to summarize the failure itself as briefly as possible, spending the bulk of the essay relating one’s response and lessons learned. Also along these lines, rather than commenting that he or she learned about a weakness as a result of the failure, it would be ideal for an applicant to select a situation in which something positive was discovered in the process. This is not to say that your essay should fall into the trap of merely being a ‘veiled success’ (a failure that isn’t really a failure at all); however, it is important to demonstrate positive growth and the learning experience that can come from missing the mark.

Essay 4 – (500 words)
Choose one of the following:
a. Give us a specific example of a time when you solved a complex problem.
b. Tell us about something significant that you have done to improve yourself, in either your professional and/or personal endeavors.

Though Wharton still gives candidates a choice for Essay 4, the prompts have changed from those of the last several years.  In Essay 4a, candidates should address their thought process, discussing how they broke down the problem and devised a course of action.  Candidates answering this question will want to tease out the complexity while also making the central issue easy to understand, avoiding overly-technical details or industry-specific jargon.  Even more than the nature of the situation, the admissions committee will be interested in the course of action a candidate took, as well as the thought process behind it.  Naturally, it would make sense to conclude with a brief discussion of what was achieved through solving the problem, touching on the meaning, effect, or impact of the solution.

Meanwhile, candidates responding to essay 4b should consider ane**otes in which they worked to develop or hone a particular skill or effect some change with an eye to improvement in their professional or personal lives.  This new question might indicate that the admissions committee has adopted an interest in candidates who are proactive in bettering themselves and thereby, to look back to the new focus of Essay 1, having a greater impact on those around them.  In conjunction with the improvement itself, then, it would make sense to discuss the reasons and the process, along with some mention of the broader significance or impact.

Essay 5 (Optional) – (250 words)
If you feel there are extenuating circumstances of which the Committee should be aware, please explain them here (e.g., unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, significant weaknesses in your application).

Remember that in responding to an optional question, you are creating more work for the person reviewing your file. This question should be used only to address serious weaknesses or issues in your profile, and you should cover these topics as briefly and in as straightforward a manner as possible.