From youth investing to master’s degrees, The Wharton School offers a variety of programs for students at different educational levels. The Daily Pennsylvanian compiled three programs focused on the global economy, entrepreneurship, and quantitative finance.
Online Entrepreneurship Certificate
Wharton’s digital learning platform announced the Entrepreneurship Certificate, consisting of multiple six-week courses, on Jan. 21. In a statement to the DP, Wharton Online Managing Director Eric Hamberger wrote that the new program will make it “easier for professionals to access practical, research-backed tools that help turn entrepreneurial ambition into real progress.”
Each of the program’s three courses focuses on a different step of the entrepreneurial process and requires approximately 12-18 hours of work. The courses combine self-guided activities, reflections, and short lectures in an asynchronous format.
Vice Dean of Entrepreneurship Lori Rosenkopf, who leads the program, wrote that it is “about creating value through innovation” and “meets learners where they are” in a press release.
Global Youth Program
Wharton hosts a youth program to “educate and inspire” high school students worldwide. In January, the program held its first learning sprint in Dubai, where participants engaged in a three-day academic experience focused on modern finance and private equity.
“Learning sprints give students an opportunity to really understand what it feels like to be in a Wharton classroom and to learn from Wharton faculty,” Senior Director of Wharton Global Youth and Academy Programs Lena Elguindi wrote in a press release.
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The global program also runs an investment competition where teams of high school students use Wharton’s online stock market simulator to develop a team strategy and create a final report. Fifty teams were set to compete in the 2026 semifinal rounds during the week of March 9, and 10 will be selected to advance to the final round.
Quantitative Finance Master of Science
Wharton announced the Dr. Bruce I. Jacobs Master of Science in Quantitative Finance program in September 2025. The program curriculum — consisting of six required courses, four electives, and an applied research component — explores corporate finance and risk management. Admitted students complete the course requirements in their fourth and fifth years at Penn and earn a master’s degree one year after receiving their undergraduate degree.
In an interview with the DP, Finance professor Nikolai Roussanov explained that the department had been working on the program “for quite a long time” due to a “growing trend in the industry of relying on both analytical finance skills and heavily on data.”
The initiative followed a $60 million donation — the single largest in Wharton history — from Bruce Jacobs, a 1979 Wharton master’s graduate, 1986 Wharton Ph.D. graduate, and former Wharton faculty member.
