Wharton makes history, becomes the first B-School to welcome more women (52% now) than men!

Founded in 1881, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania became the first MBA school to record a sudden rise in the enrolment and percentage of women students for the MBA batch 2023. In its 140-year history, the university has not seen such a peak in the admissions of women students. It comprises 52% as compared to last year’s 41%. 

The new record comes live, leaving behind many peer schools, including Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, where 49% of the full-time MBA students are women, Stanford's Graduate School of Business (47%), Duke Fuqua (46%), Harvard (44%), Michigan Ross (43%), and NYU Stern (43%). In fact, the school experienced a drop of 6% in women students last year as compared to a year earlier. This not only raised doubts in the minds of the admission team but also gave them a chance to better their efforts. The incoming class will represent a hike of 10% in women students. 

Other records broken...

Besides attaining more than 50% women to their MBA Program, two other records were also broken: the LGBTQ+ representation of the class reached an all-time high of 7% and the class of 2023 saw the highest average of 733 GMAT score for the incoming class. There are a total of 897 students in the class, including 36% international students, 35% black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). 

These achievements today are the result of a years-long continuous effort to promote DEI, i.e. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion throughout the Wharton School. The School today is led by Deputy Dean Nancy Rothbard and Dean Erika James, who also happens to be the first woman ever appointed to lead the School. 

Trends at Wharton

The Wharton School witnessed a soaring rise in the admission of the new incoming batch (percentage of women/female students) of 2023 through GMAT. The average GMAT took a leap to a score of 733 and a median score of 740, ten points ahead of Harvard Business School’s median last year. Here is a detailed comparison of Wharton's intake in past years.

Let’s hear from the leaders 

Erika James, the leader and dean of Wharton school celebrates this achievement by expressing her personal and professional joy. “Reaching this milestone brings me both personal and professional joy. This landmark achievement demonstrates Wharton’s commitment to providing a diverse and representative community for our students,” she wrote in her LinkedIn essay. She shares more by expressing her thoughts towards women leading from the front. 

The Deputy Vice Dean and the business school admission officials of the Wharton MBA Program, Maryellen Reilly feel proud that they made a conscious effort to ensure female applicants felt wanted and welcomed at Wharton and showed them many resources and communities in their program where they can connect, collaborate and feel supported.

The manner in which Wharton builds and promotes gender representation in its MBA program is via a plethora of initiatives, including a partnership with the Forte Foundation, fellowships for outstanding women students, on-campus visit days for women, and conferences and networking opportunities via student clubs such as Wharton Women in Business. Students of any gender can also take courses like 'Leading Diversity in Organizations' and engage with faculty researching DEI topics. 

They have started the path towards an inclusive atmosphere, and other institutions must also strive to do the same for a conducive and healthy environment.

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