What does UPenn Wharton School of Business value most in undergraduate applicants?

Answered

@maplecreamcookies a CV expert summarized this best 6 months ago.

The Wharton website says this:

"While there is no magic formula, we are looking for students who have:

- An interest in business to fuel positive change to advance the world’s economic and social well-being

- Demonstrated leadership

- Strong preparation in mathematics, particularly calculus"

You don't necessarily need direct business experience, but you should have enough exposure that you can write about your intended major meaningfully in the application essays: https://blog.collegevine.com/how-to-write-the-upenn-supplemental-essays-2020-2021/

This blog post has some EC options, but most of them are more formal: https://blog.collegevine.com/extracurriculars-for-high-schoolers-interested-in-studying-business/

If you can't do anything business-related, try to be involved in social organizations, leadership positions (maybe student council), and STEM-related activities.

Hope this helps!

(I would personally add that if the Wharton School is your top choice, I would apply to ED because about 55% of the total incoming class is filled through ED. Also, the Wharton school is much more competitive than say Arts and Sciences, so if the UPENN ED rate is like 15% then the Wharton school is probably like 10-11%. The same goes for RD, if the RD overall rate was 5.7% the overall Wharton rate was 4% or less).