I understand that as an applicant, it is difficult to determine what makes a school unique. Now that I'm a first year at Wharton, and have had the opportunity to speak with my friends at other business schools, I can tell what makes Wharton unique.

I've said this before, but I'll say it again. I think the four week pre-term is very unique to Wharton. About 75% of the class showed up to campus on July 30 to begin pre-term. It's a month long program with classes designed to prepare you for first semester, but the reality is that it's a month long party. Grades in those classes don't count for anything. We have grade non-disclosure as it is, but we don't even receive grades for our pre-term classes. It's a relaxed time to settle in and meet your classmates. I'm not aware of any other school that has this. Some other schools might have a week long orientation, or perhaps a trip with a small group of your future classmates. But Wharton brings the entire class together in Philadelphia.

At Wharton, we have the opportunity to gain real world experience in the first year. Granted some other business schools also have this, but most of my friends at other business schools say that they don't have any projects with external companies until their second year. Wharton first year students are required to complete the FAP, a field application project. It's basically a consulting project for a company, and will give us the advantage of this experience before our summer internships. I'm fulfilling my FAP requirement with the Global Consulting Practicum (GCO). My team is working with a client in Israel that wants to launch their product in the US. Added bonus, the client covers our travel expenses for a meeting in Prague over Winter Break.
I think another unique part of Wharton is the student-driven culture. The MBA students practically run the school, and are involved in everything! We work on the admissions committee, organize amazing conferences (there seems to be one every week!), we coordinate treks to visit companies all over the country that might not necessarily recruit on campus, we volunteer to do consulting projects for Philadelphia nonprofit organizations, we provide feedback to our professors halfway through the term so they can modify the class based on student needs, and we organize amazing parties such as the Wharton Winter Ball, Walnut Walk, and the Halloween party.

Another great thing about Wharton is that 80% of us live in Center City. It makes for a very close community when we all live within blocks of each other. Center City is about a half hour walk from campus, so even though we all live near each other, we also have that separation from campus. I could go on, but I'll stop now. I'm sure there will be perspectives from other students as well.