The Wharton MBA Essay 2: How do you plan to make specific, meaningful contributions to the Wharton community?

Many business schools ask applicants to write application essays about how they’ll contribute to the school. If you’re applying to Wharton, this is one of two core application essays. This is their prompt: 

Taking into consideration your background—personal, professional, and/or academic—how do you plan to make specific, meaningful contributions to the Wharton community? (400 words; Required)

In this blog, we’ll analyze the prompt in detail, understand what Wharton’s admissions readers are looking for, what contributions applicants should choose, and how to write a compelling Meaningful Contributions essay. 

What Wharton Looks For

You may have seen and heard business schools talk about “school fit” at events and on their websites. The “school fit” is one metric on which MBA AdComs evaluate their applicants. It basically means how well you match up to the school’s values and personality. But what does that mean, and as an aspiring candidate, how can you show you fit with the school?

In general, MBA programs look for candidates who can give back to their community just as much as they learn from the MBA. They want people who can improve the quality of their program for their peers and add value to the class. Wharton is no different.

When Wharton announced this prompt in the 2020-2021 admissions cycle, the Wharton Director of Admissions, Blair Mannix, said, “We hope to give applicants room to reflect on their unique backgrounds and think about what their value-add will be to the Wharton community. Applicants should remember that the Admissions Committee is looking for candidates who will contribute to all aspects of Wharton life.”

Five cycles later, the advice stays consistent: “Our hope is for the essays to remain centered around you as the applicant, while still expressing thoughtful consideration of how the Wharton experience can best prepare you for your career goals.”

When you write your Wharton Essay 2, keep this advice in mind. You’ll also want to pay attention to the “Wharton Way”, a set of three core values that form the cornerstones of the school’s culture: Elevate, Innovate, Collaborate. 

Wharton’s strengths lie in its research impact, innovative pedagogy, and deeply collaborative culture. So when you reflect on your background to think about what your value-add will be to the Wharton community, highlight unique aspects of your profile that show innovation, creativity, initiative, and collaboration. 

Here's how our client honed her narrative and got admitted to the Wharton MBA with a $160,000 scholarship.

What to Write About

Wharton’s essay prompt asks you to connect your background and experiences with your future contributions at Wharton. So when you write your essay, think about how you can translate your experiences or use your transferable skills in clear, specific opportunities on campus. These could be from your professional, extracurricular, or academic life. What’s important here is to show the impact you’ve had in these areas, which will serve as evidence for the impact you’ll have as an MBA student and alum.

Dig into your history to find impactful stories around professional and personal achievements, international exposure, diverse life experiences, community involvement, targeted skills, entrepreneurial initiatives, or your passions and interests. 

Next, do your research. Look for clubs, societies, and treks you can contribute to, and reach out to current students/alumni to get a better sense of opportunities you can contribute to while on campus. Wharton’s handy extracurriculars page is a good place to start. Look at opportunities from different angles: how you can contribute to an already existing opportunity/community on campus, how you can create a new opportunity/community, and how you can continue to contribute to the Wharton community after your MBA. 

Wherever possible, quantify your results. Business schools appreciate applicants who are comfortable using numbers in their stories and in their resume. That’s because businesses are increasingly using data to make decisions, so you should show that you will survive and thrive in a data-driven environment.

For more advice on which contributions to choose for business school, read our full Contributions Essay guide.

Structuring your essay

We suggest a simple structure:

• Story

• Wharton contribution

Story: Leaders tell stories, and in MBA applications you should use stories too. Choose a story that demonstrates a time you made a significant impact on a community. Remember to cover the key aspects of the story using the SCAR framework: Situation, Challenge, Action, and Result.

If it’s not already obvious, you might also want to analyze the story to highlight a particular core value or trait. Then, consider expanding on this story by using other examples where you have made a significant impact using the same trait, for example in college and in work.

Another technique we’ve used successfully in the past is to open your essay by describing a conversation you had with a Wharton current student/alum/staff member. This has the added benefit of allowing you to demonstrate your research. 

Wharton Contributions: Explain how you plan to continue these contributions at Wharton by drawing parallels with your past experiences. Your contribution can be academic, like using your industry experience to contribute to classroom discussions and team projects, or mentoring your peers in an area you specialize in. Other contributions include specific clubs and programs you will be part of and explain the role you plan to undertake. For example, if you did community work at a soccer club back home, link that to Wharton. If you mentored youngsters at your undergrad, you can continue that at Wharton also.

When you're applying, it's important to show how your past experiences connect to your goals to present a consistent and clear picture of your candidacy. The more information you provide about specific ways you’ll enrich the Wharton community, the better your chances of standing out to the AdCom.

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