Wharton sees bright future in potential of Chinese students
INCREASING visibility in the Chinese market and recovering US employment prospects resulted in a strong demand for entry to the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Business School in China last year.
Admission officials at Wharton, a perennial among the world's best, revealed that 458 Chinese students applied for its Master of Business Administration program last year, about 200 more than the 2004 figure.
The number of Chinese admitted doubled from about 20 on average in previous years to 42 students last year. The figure included those from China's mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau.
Overall, Chinese students accounted for about five percent of Wharton's 800 MBA students who represent 70 countries and regions.
"One of the things that I'm really happy to see is the jump in student numbers from the China market," said Thomas R. Caleel, Wharton's admissions and financial aid director who was in Shanghai last week for an information session.
"I personally came to conduct interviews here last year because of the importance of China to our school. It has the diversity of applicants that we are looking at."
In addition to applicants from large multinational corporations, he added that Wharton also came to meet candidates from the Chinese government and successful entrepreneurs.
Admission officials said that heavier investment in the China market contributed greatly to the jump in Chinese applicants.
"We have invested twice as much money in China as in previous years," Caleel said, adding that the school conducted several information sessions and interviews in major Chinese cities last year.
Yong Wei, an analyst with BeBeyond, a workshop specializing in preparing applicants for foreign business schools, said the application number rise at Wharton could also be attributed to the favorable mega environment of the US job market.
"Compared with the low application ebb in 2004, students have noticed the recovering US economy last year. Many employers, especially investment banks and consulting firms, came back to give good offers to MBA graduates," Yong said.
Easier visa access to the United States also prompted more MBA-interested Chinese to apply. Other top business schools, such as Stanford, also experienced an applicant and admission rise last year, according to Yong.
Starting last year, Wharton opened its admission process to younger applicants. Traditionally, renowned business schools didn't admit students with less than four years of work experience. Wharton's new policy actively encourages candidates with zero to two years of working experience to apply.
While the lower working requirements, to some extent, have stimulated more younger people to apply, they have also stirred debate on whether relative greenhorns can manage to fully digest the MBA courses where rich practical business experience is considered a must for profound understanding.
Admitting that the school was confronted with such argument before the policy's launch, Wharton concluded that it needed young people to bring a unique perspective to the class.
"Young people nowadays are much better prepared and involved than 10 years ago. Many are truly exceptional people who can create much stronger ideas and freshness of thought," Caleel said.
He added that many young students nowadays already boast resumes filled with work experience in organizations, multinationals and even their own business ventures.
Thanks to the new policy, students with less than four years' work experience went up three percentage points to account for five percent of Wharton's total number of MBA students. Their ages ranged from 21 to 41.
To date, no Chinese students without experience have been enrolled. Wharton officials, however, said that the policy change was sure to work in China but it would take several years for young Chinese applicants to react.
Admission officials at Wharton, a perennial among the world's best, revealed that 458 Chinese students applied for its Master of Business Administration program last year, about 200 more than the 2004 figure.
The number of Chinese admitted doubled from about 20 on average in previous years to 42 students last year. The figure included those from China's mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau.
Overall, Chinese students accounted for about five percent of Wharton's 800 MBA students who represent 70 countries and regions.
"One of the things that I'm really happy to see is the jump in student numbers from the China market," said Thomas R. Caleel, Wharton's admissions and financial aid director who was in Shanghai last week for an information session.
"I personally came to conduct interviews here last year because of the importance of China to our school. It has the diversity of applicants that we are looking at."
In addition to applicants from large multinational corporations, he added that Wharton also came to meet candidates from the Chinese government and successful entrepreneurs.
Admission officials said that heavier investment in the China market contributed greatly to the jump in Chinese applicants.
"We have invested twice as much money in China as in previous years," Caleel said, adding that the school conducted several information sessions and interviews in major Chinese cities last year.
Yong Wei, an analyst with BeBeyond, a workshop specializing in preparing applicants for foreign business schools, said the application number rise at Wharton could also be attributed to the favorable mega environment of the US job market.
"Compared with the low application ebb in 2004, students have noticed the recovering US economy last year. Many employers, especially investment banks and consulting firms, came back to give good offers to MBA graduates," Yong said.
Easier visa access to the United States also prompted more MBA-interested Chinese to apply. Other top business schools, such as Stanford, also experienced an applicant and admission rise last year, according to Yong.
Starting last year, Wharton opened its admission process to younger applicants. Traditionally, renowned business schools didn't admit students with less than four years of work experience. Wharton's new policy actively encourages candidates with zero to two years of working experience to apply.
While the lower working requirements, to some extent, have stimulated more younger people to apply, they have also stirred debate on whether relative greenhorns can manage to fully digest the MBA courses where rich practical business experience is considered a must for profound understanding.
Admitting that the school was confronted with such argument before the policy's launch, Wharton concluded that it needed young people to bring a unique perspective to the class.
"Young people nowadays are much better prepared and involved than 10 years ago. Many are truly exceptional people who can create much stronger ideas and freshness of thought," Caleel said.
He added that many young students nowadays already boast resumes filled with work experience in organizations, multinationals and even their own business ventures.
Thanks to the new policy, students with less than four years' work experience went up three percentage points to account for five percent of Wharton's total number of MBA students. Their ages ranged from 21 to 41.
To date, no Chinese students without experience have been enrolled. Wharton officials, however, said that the policy change was sure to work in China but it would take several years for young Chinese applicants to react.
