According to the latest MBA rankings from popular publications, The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania has improved its ranking. Wharton took the first spot in Financial Times Ranking 2011 while US News saw Wharton Business School improve its rank from 5th to 3rd place. According to Businessweek and The Economist, Wharton improved its ranking by one position from 4th to 3rd and 9th to 8th respectively.
The ranking factors used by US News, Businessweek, Financial Times and The Economist include Selectivity, Rating by Deans and MBA Programs Director, Ratings by recruiters, Career Progression, Diversity of Recruiters, Diversity of Faculty, Diversity of Students, International Experience of Students, Assessment of career services, Jobs found through Career Services, Placement Statistics, Student Assessment, Faculty Quality, Student Quality, Education Experience, Increase in Salary, Diversity and Reach of Alumni network.
Wharton MBA Ranking
Average Rank: 3.75
Wharton MBA Acceptance Rate (Class 2012)
Total 6819
Accepted 1145
Enrolled 817
Acceptance Rate: 16.79%
Wharton MBA Budget (Academic Year 2011-12)
Wharton MBA Salary
Average Base Salary: $113,888
Wharton MBA GMAT
GMAT Range :540-790
Middle 50% GMAT Range :650-770
Median GMAT :720
Wharton MBA Class Profile
Wharton MBA Undergraduate Major
Wharton MBA Pre-MBA Experience
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Please Note
1. US News MBA Ranking is published in March (Current Ranking is from 2011 and Previous Ranking from 2010)
2. Businessweek Full-time MBA Ranking is published in late October or early November in even-numbered years(Current Ranking is from 2010 and Previous Ranking from 2008)
3. Financial Times MBA Ranking is published in February(Current Ranking is from 2011 and Previous Ranking from 2010)
4. The Economist MBA Ranking is published in September(Current Ranking is from 2010 and Previous ranking from 2009)
P.S: F1GMAT has taken great care in ensuring that the information is accurate. If you have found errors or inconsistencies in data, please report to us using Issue with the Article link.
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Essay 1: Two short-form questions
What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (50 words)
What are your career goals for the first three to five years after completing your MBA, and how will those build towards your long-term professional goals? (150 words)
Essay 2: Long-form essay: Taking into consideration your background – personal, professional, and/or academic – how do you plan to add meaningful value to the Wharton community? (350 words)
About the Author
I am Atul Jose, Founding Consultant of F1GMAT, an MBA admissions consultancy that has worked with applicants since 2009.
For the past 15 years I have edited the application files of admits to the M7 programs: Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Wharton School, MIT Sloan, Chicago Booth, Kellogg School of Management, and Columbia Business School, together with admits to Berkeley Haas, Yale School of Management, NYU Stern, Michigan Ross, Duke Fuqua, Darden, Tuck, IMD, London Business School, INSEAD, SDA Bocconi, IESE Business School, HEC Paris, McCombs, and Tepper, plus other programs inside the global top 30.
My work covers the full MBA application deliverable: career planning and profile evaluation, application essay editing, recommendation letter editing, mock interviews and interview preparation, scholarship and fellowship essay editing, and cover letter editing for funding applications. Full bio with credentials and admit history is here.
I am the author of the Winning MBA Essay Guide, the best-selling essay guide covering M7 MBA programs. I have written and updated the guide annually since 2013, which makes the 2026 edition the thirteenth.
The reason I still write and edit essays every cycle: a good MBA essay carries a real applicant's voice. Writing essays for F1GMAT's Books and Editing essays weekly is how I stay calibrated to what current admissions committees respond to.
Contact me for school selection, career planning, essay strategy, narrative development, essay editing, interview preparation, scholarship essay editing, or guidance documents for recommendation letters.