Benefits and Advantages of an Executive MBA Program

Getting a Wharton MBA can help you learn about business, fill in knowledge gaps, and enhance your leadership skills. Joining an Executive MBA (EMBA) program will bolster your business skills by teaching you a curriculum taught by faculty who represent today’s best minds in business, connect you with a supportive student cohort of accomplished professionals from a variety of industries, and provide you with key career insights from personalized professional coaching sessions.

Why You Should Get Your MBA With Wharton’s Executive Program

You Continue Working

The structure of Wharton’s Executive MBA (EMBA) program is designed for experienced working professionals, so you don’t have to interrupt your career or give up your salary. 

When Kasper Kowalewski, WG’19, graduated from college as a petroleum engineer, he wanted to get an MBA. However, it didn’t make sense to interrupt his growing career in Alaska to attend school full-time. As he moved up in his company’s organization and took on more non-operational roles, he decided that the time was right. He wanted an MBA to better understand financial decisions at his company and help address challenges in the oil and gas industry. Read Kasper’s story here and see how his Wharton degree moved him into a business leadership role. 

Building Connections in Wharton’s EMBA Program

Immediately Apply Learnings to Your Job

After each EMBA class session or remote experience, you return to your job and apply what you learn. For example, you might create a new data model, implement a management technique, or try a new negotiation tactic. Whenever you are learning, you’re also sharing your experiences with your fellow students, helping each other grow into the best of your future selves.

Grows your Personal and Professional Network

Wharton’s Executive MBA program allows students to connect with classmates and alumni, all of whom are experienced professionals in a wide range of industries around the world.

A month after starting the Wharton program, Denise Carter, WG’19, discovered the benefit of the Wharton network when she had a business question. “It was remarkable how quickly I was then put in contact with several alumni who had experience building the same types of companies as well as experience on the VC side. They gave feedback on how they would view our company structure and the overall investment opportunity. One alumna invited me to her office, she carved out more than 1.5 hours of her time to hear my story, review my pitch deck and give me feedback. She also passed on legal and financial contacts. It was resource after resource!”

When you get a Wharton MBA, you aren’t just getting the best MBA in the world. You’re also getting instant connections to anyone you could ever want to work with in your entire life through the Wharton network. “This is a big investment, but the payoff is huge. The knowledge and network will benefit you for the rest of your life,” says Laura Rivera, WG’18.

Choosing Wharton for Its Bicoastal Campus

Accelerates Your Career

In addition to the credential of an MBA, you’ll gain a broader perspective, enabling you to approach your current role with new energy and fresh ideas.

While she already had a lot of experience, Denise Carter, WG’19, came to Wharton’s MBA Program for Executives for the credentials and to fill in knowledge gaps. She explained: “When we took [a] company public, I sat at a table with over 30 people and I realized that I was one of three women and the only one there without an advanced degree. I don’t know if it mattered to anyone else, but it mattered to me. I am confident that my participation in meetings would sometimes take a backseat because I felt less qualified than others in the room. I also feel it’s important to my future shareholders, board of directors, and employees that I’ve made the commitment to get the formal MBA degree.”

Facilitates an Immersive Environment

Whether you’re meeting residential requirements in Philadelphia or San Francisco, or are logging into a remote learning session as a member of the Global cohort, Wharton ensures that EMBA students are fully immersed — both in and out of the classroom.

“The content we teach matters, but you can find lectures on most of the topics we cover for free on YouTube. An EMBA program is about everything beyond the content: the dynamic interactions with the faculty and other students, and the ways the classroom is only the starting point,” said Wharton’s Kevin Werbach, Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics.

Increases Leadership Skills

Wharton’s EMBA program provides key resources to help you become a better leader in the workplace. Wharton’s Leadership Department pairs every EMBA student with a professional leadership coach. Over the course of six one-on-one private sessions, the leadership coach works with each student to conduct a professional assessment and provide specific feedback to help them improve their skills in communicating with and managing a team.

Making a Global Impact with an Executive MBA

Growing a Business Using Wharton’s Network

What Sets Wharton’s EMBA Program Apart