While you’re waiting for the return of favorite TV shows or taking a break from studying for the GMAT, you can check out Wharton’s new video about the executive MBA program. The video features “behind the scenes” commentary from current students, alumni and professors about the Wharton EMBA experience.
In addition to footage of Wharton’s Philadelphia and San Francisco campuses, early segments feature students discussing why they applied for the program. An EMBA student shares with viewers: “I just hit a point in midcareer where it was time to think about the next big transition, but it is hard to think about stepping away from your career when it’s hitting its stride.”
MBA Exec Program Director and Vice Deputy Dean Howard Kaufold doesn’t pull any punches when he talks about how challenging it is for students who are holding down full-time jobs to be enrolled in a full-time MBA program.
The video also focuses on what classes — and classmates — are really like. Wharton EMBA student Glen Kruse, director of business development and strategy at Lutron Electronics Co., Inc., says, “There is probably one person in every class that knows as much as the professor on any given topic. I never know who will come in with the next amazing insight.”
Wharton Management Professor Michael Useem agrees: “They have seen collectively just about everything. Thus, to take up almost any topic like trading on Wall Street, hiking in the Himalayas or thinking about drug discovery in a pharmaceutical company, someone in the room has been there and done that.”
EMBA student Rangesh Ranghavan, director of marketing at KLA-Tencor Corp., says, “We’re all super achievers in our careers and we tend to think that what we know is good, but to be able to listen and learn from others … is very valuable.”
Wharton Professor Witold Henisz describes the energy that moves from student to student in his classes. “It’s like a series of bubbles and all of a sudden there is this collective learning that occurs where a group of people are on the same page.”
Students also share with viewers some additional benefits of joining the Wharton EMBA community. Alumnus Alex Gorsky, worldwide chairman of the surgical care group at Ethicon, Inc., says, “To this day, I remain close friends with my study group. We worked hard and played hard and still get together.”