Editor's note: After publication of this article, a Wharton spokesperson told The Daily Pennsylvanian that the school had identified inconsistencies between the methodologies it used to calculate the percentage of students of color and students from underrepresented groups in the Class of 2027 and Class of 2028, allowing for an inaccurate year-over-year comparison. Read more.
The Wharton School’s undergraduate and MBA admits saw apparent decreases in the percentage of students from historically underrepresented groups this year.
The percentage of admits from races and ethnicities historically underrepresented in higher education dropped from 31% for the Class of 2027 to 22% for the Class of 2028, according to figures posted in the updated Wharton undergraduate class profiles and website archives. The percentage of students of color decreased from 68% to 55%. The Class of 2028 data notes that it is limited to undergraduates pursuing single degrees through Wharton, while the Class of 2027 data does not include this notation.
The Wharton MBA Class of 2026 also experienced a decline in the percentage of students from underrepresented groups, with a 4% decrease in Black students, from 10% to 6%. Meanwhile, the percentage of white students increased by seven percentage points, from 32% to 39%.
A Wharton spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
The Wharton Undergraduate Division matriculant demographic data for the Class of 2028 reveals a larger shift in demographics compared to the Penn undergraduate Class of 2028 as a whole. Across all four schools, the newly admitted class had a 2% decrease in the percentage of matriculants who come from historically underrepresented races and ethnicities in education.
While Penn has not clarified the criteria used to define historically underrepresented groups this year, it used the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System for the Wharton Class of 2027.
The IPEDS is a system of 12 interrelated survey components used to gather data from participating colleges and institutions, which are conducted annually by the National Center for Education Statistics of the United States Department of Education. According to the IPEDS, a Domestic Underrepresented Minority is based on ethnicity categories that include Black, Hispanic, Native American Indian, Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and Two or More Races.
Similarly to Wharton, other MBA programs at other universities experienced decreases in the percentages of students from underrepresented groups. At the Yale School of Management — while the proportion of students of color rose from 48% to 56% for the MBA Class of 2026 — the percentage of underrepresented minorities dipped slightly from 18% to 16%.
Harvard Business School followed similar trends — the percentage of students of color decreased slightly from 49% to 47%, and the proportion of underrepresented minorities decreased from 27% to 22%.
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management, the change was more pronounced: The percentage of underrepresented minorities nearly halved, dropping from 28% for the Class of 2025 to 15% for this year. Additionally, overall minority representation decreased from 56% to 50%.
In June 2023, The United States Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action, the race-conscious admissions practices used by many universities. Penn reaffirmed that it would stay committed to diversity and inclusion in a statement released after the ruling, and it would continue seeking ways to admit individuals with wide-ranging experiences to contribute to Penn’s community.
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