The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania has been a perennial power of our undergraduate ranking, topping the list of the Best Undergraduate Business Schools more than any other school. In 2025, Wharton took the No. 1 spot again for the second straight year. Their secret? Enroll top students, give them a top-notch undergraduate business education, and place them into coveted jobs.
Of the three methodological categories, Wharton placed No. 1 in both Admissions and Career Outcomes in 2025. At 4.5%, Wharton had the most selective acceptance rate of all undergraduate programs in Fall 2024. That incoming class also posted the third highest average SAT score at 1532 up five points from the previous class average of 1528.
Wharton also posted the best career outcomes. Some 96.8% of its Class of 2024 job-seeking graduates reporting finding a job within three months, down slightly from 98.5% reported by the previous class. Wharton’s graduates also posted the highest salaries in the 2025 ranking, with 2024 graduates earning a whopping $109,479 before signing bonuses. That’s up from the $107,215 average reported by the Class of 2023.
SENIOR CAPSTONE PROJECT MOST POPULAR ‘SIGNATURE EXPERIENCE’ AMONG RECENT GRADS
Alumni surveyed for our ranking rated their first jobs after graduation at 8.8 out of 10. The school’s top employers for Class of 2024 graduates include bulge bracket banks and investment firms such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Blackstone, as well as the biggest consulting firms such as McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, and Bain & Company.
Among the respondents to our survey, 74.32%, reported having at least one “signature experience.” Alumni mentioned launching startups and working on research projects as some of those signature experiences.
“I wrote an empirical article on the effect of COVID-19 stimulus on stock market volatility and investment in stock gimmicks (GameStop, DOGE Coin, etc.). It was extremely rewarding as an exercise of my empirical skills built at Wharton,” one alum told us.
Another worked on a research project in behavioral finance that shifted their understanding of finance. “Our preconceived notions about the rationality of the market came into sharp conflict with empirical data in a way that drove home the influence of individual behavior in relative valuations, given that no valuation exists within a vacuum. It influenced my approach to activism defense, as companies are typically targeted in a manner that highlights certain features while obfuscating the larger picture. By bringing that larger picture into open view, we have emphasized to shareholders the unsurfaced value in companies and potential to increase in valuation without drastic, leadership-altering measures being taken.”
NEARLY TWO-DOZEN CONCENTRATIONS AND 39 STUDENT-RUN ORGANIZATIONS AND CLUBS
Wharton boasts a flexible curriculum. Students are required to complete 22 business courses, 10 electives based in liberal arts and sciences, and five more unrestricted electives anywhere in the Penn community. Wharton offers nearly two dozen concentrations including traditional business fundamentals like accounting, finance, and marketing as well as relatively new areas like social impact and responsibility, managing electronic commerce, and business analytics.
In Fall 2021, Wharton launched its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) concentration. It also launched a Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factor for Business Concentration, with specializations in Business, Energy, Environment and Sustainability (BEES); and Social and Governance (SOGO)
Wharton business students have 34 business-specific study abroad opportunities to choose from, and about a quarter of its undergrads end up leaving with an international experience lasting at least four weeks. All students are required to take at least one globally focused course.
For out of the classroom experience, Wharton also has 39 business-specific student-run organizations and clubs including the Black Wharton Undergraduate Association, Social Impact Consulting, and Wharton Women.
Wharton became the first top-ranked business school in 2020 to appoint a black woman as dean when it announced the hiring of Erika James. A former dean of Emory’s Goizueta Business School, James boosted faculty diversity while increasing programs and fundraising during her time at Emory. She has already made national headlines for the potential she has to put diversity and inclusion at the forefront of the Wharton experience.
Alumni say:
“Penns Global internship program allowed me to intern at a startup in Medellin, Colombia. This not only helped me hone my Spanish speaking skills but also introduced me to the startup ecosystem in Latin America and helped me understand the challenges of growing a company in a developing country.”
“I went on a Wharton trip to Patagonia and have never experienced such a deep level of trust and teamwork before or since. We spent a week up in the mountains in the Andes – tents, sleeping bags, cooking only the food we hiked up the mountain, etc. When the risks are real – from falling on sharp rocks during a gusty wind to staving off frostbite and hypothermia in below-freezing temperatures, mother nature forced us to look out for each other and anticipate the needs of the team. I’ve looked back on that experience many times and now relish teams that I’m part of being put through an acutely difficult time – it helps the team figure out how to row together and make it happen.”
“The Wharton School taught me how to compete like nothing else I have ever done. It has allowed me to thrive in the classroom, and on the athletic fields. I am eager to see how these skills will now transfer to the workforce.”
“Wharton was a transformative experience. When I got to campus freshman year I didn’t know the difference between a balance sheet and an income statement, and by the time I left I felt ready to launch a company of my own, buy a business to run myself, or work for most any company in the world. The caliber of the academics and talent of my classmates was simply extraordinary, and my only regret is that my time there couldn’t have lasted longer. Even going back to campus now for homecomings and alumni weekends, every time I step into Huntsman, I feel re-energized and re-inspired because of all the memories I made and skills I learned there.”
