The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania asks applicants to answer two shorter essays about their career goals. For the required longer essay, the focus is on how an applicant’s background can enable them to contribute to the Wharton community. By discussing your professional aspirations as well as your experiences and values, you have the opportunity to provide the admissions committee with a well-rounded impression of yourself, in addition to illustrating your fit with the school.
In our analysis that follows, we provide more in-depth guidance on each of Wharton’s 2025–2026 questions. You should also note a major change to its general application this year: Wharton now asks for only one recommendation and will send the form, which includes two standard recommendation questions, to the recommender whose name you enter. This will surely be good news for your recommenders, who no longer need to answer Wharton-specific questions!
Wharton 2025–2026 Essay Tips
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)
In this first prompt with just a 50-word limit, the Wharton admissions committee wants you to spell out the role you have in mind upon graduation. Therefore, in just two or three sentence, sharing “just the facts” will suffice. In the “Tips from the Admissions Committee” for this question, Wharton mentions “title, function, industry, etc.” However, you might want to take things a step further and mention your target company (or companies) as well. Ideally, the role and company you cite will be one for which recruiters regularly hire Wharton MBAs. This is information you can obtain through the school’s information sessions, conversations with students, or Wharton’s employment report.
In response to the second prompt, which asks about your medium- and long-term aspirations, Wharton wants to understand how you see your career trajectory. The short-term goal that you presented in response to the first question should be very specific, but the admissions committee will not need that level of specificity in this essay. They will, however, want to be confident that you have given serious thought to what your next potential steps are after a few years in your post-MBA position. But as mentioned in its “Tips,” the admissions committee is more interested in hearing about what you hope to achieve than the specific role you envision. You should therefore paint a picture that describes the impact you plan to make in the medium term and how that connects to your long-term goal—which should be even more ambitious.
You might also want to explain your rationale behind your motivations. Despite the mere 150 words available to you in this essay, adding some context to your aspirations might be helpful. What have you done in the past—in either your personal or your professional life—that illustrates your desire to make your chosen impact? You should clearly illustrate this, in addition to potentially providing context that you have the professional skills and experience to achieve your future goals.
In many ways, this prompt is asking for a traditional MBA personal statement. We therefore encourage you to download a free copy of the mbaMission Personal Statement Guide, in which we offer detailed advice on approaching and framing these kinds of topics, along with multiple illustrative examples.
Essay 2: Taking into consideration your background—personal, professional, and/or academic—how do you plan to add meaningful value to the Wharton community? (350 words)
The breadth of this essay question allows you to provide a broad picture of yourself for the admissions committee. You can discuss multiple aspects of stories from your life and draw from any area (personal, professional, community related, and/or academic), which allows you to highlight your strongest and most relevant options. However, the word count is fairly restrictive, so you must be concise in doing so without sacrificing effectiveness or thoroughness.
We recommend using approximately one-half of your allowed word count to describe your chosen experience/experiences or quality/qualities, so you have sufficient space in which to then explain how it/they will enable you to contribute to the Wharton community in a meaningful way. Do your best to “show,” or really spell out, your story—rather than just flatly presenting or stating it—to give the admissions reader some perspective and context.
You then need to demonstrate both self-awareness and, again, a thorough understanding of the Wharton MBA experience by drawing connections between what you have shared about yourself and what you subsequently can bring to the school as a member of its community. For example, a past project might have given you some critical insights and skills that you could now pass on to your classmates in a related class or club. Or maybe a personal challenge gave you an interesting new perspective on commitment, determination, or another beneficial quality. What is most important in this essay is conveying both who you are and how you envision applying your experiences and values as a student in the Wharton program.
To effectively do this, we suggest that you first familiarize yourself with Wharton’s various offerings, events, and extracurriculars and pinpoint those that truly pertain to you. Go the extra mile in learning about the school: connect with multiple students and alumni, attend admissions events in your area, participate in the school’s webinars and other online/virtual offerings, read recent press releases from the program and any news stories about it published elsewhere, check out the Wharton School YouTube channel, and—especially—visit the campus if at all possible. Doing so will provide the kind of in-depth insight you can use to show the admissions committee that you are really serious about Wharton and are confident you will add value there.
In addition to these resources, be sure to download a free copy of the mbaMission Insider’s Guide to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, which provides an in-depth look at the school’s academic program, unique offerings, social life, and other key characteristics.
Reapplicant Essay (required for all reapplicants): Please use this space to share with the Admissions Committee how you have reflected [on] 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)
Thankfully, this essay is pretty straightforward. Whether you have improved your academic record, received a promotion, begun a new and exciting project, increased your community involvement, or taken on some sort of personal challenge, the key to success with this essay is conveying a very deliberate path of achievement. Wharton wants to know that you have been actively striving to improve yourself and your profile, and that you have seized opportunities during the time since you last applied to do so, because a Wharton MBA is vital to you.
The responses to this essay question will vary greatly from one candidate to the next, because each person’s needs and experiences differ. We are more than happy to provide one-on-one assistance with this highly personal essay to ensure that your efforts are presented in the best light possible.
Additional Information Essay [optional]: 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)
With this prompt, Wharton is acknowledging that some candidates have aspects of their profiles that might need a little clarification. This essay is therefore your opportunity—if needed—to address any lingering questions that an admissions officer might have about your candidacy, such as a low GRE or GMAT score, a legal or disciplinary incident, or, of course, one of the extenuating circumstances the school suggests.
However, keep in mind that by submitting an optional essay, you are requiring the already overtaxed admissions readers to do additional work on your application. Therefore, do not rush to fill this space just because you fear that not doing so will somehow count against you (it will not), and also avoid being overly verbose or sharing more information than is truly necessary just because you technically can. You must ensure that the admissions committee’s extra time and effort are truly warranted. If you feel you might have a valid reason for submitting this additional essay or are not sure if the issue you are considering would warrant doing so, we encourage you to download a free copy of our mbaMission Optional Essays Guide, in which we offer detailed advice on when and how to take advantage of the optional essay, along with multiple sample essays.
The Next Step: Mastering Your Wharton Interview
Many MBA candidates find admissions interviews stressful and intimidating, but mastering this important element of the application process is definitely possible—the key is informed preparation. To help you attain this high level of preparedness, we offer our free Interview Guides. In addition, download a complimentary copy of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania Interview Guide today.
To learn more about the essays for other top business schools, visit our MBA Essay Tips and Examples resources page.
