Originally Published on September 21, 2018:

Every year, we at Ivy Coach help students at the University of Pennsylvania transfer into The Wharton School from another of Penn’s undergraduate schools, most often the School of Arts and Sciences. These students are what’s known as internal transfers.

Ivy Coach Helps Our Penn Admits Transfer Internally to Wharton

Some of these students are students we previously helped earn admission to Penn out of high school. Still, we discouraged them from applying to Wharton because we didn’t feel they could earn admission to Penn if they applied directly to Wharton (and they wisely chose to listen to Ivy Coach’s crystal ball!). After all, if a college applicant applies to Wharton and doesn’t get in, they don’t get into Penn. If, however, they apply to The Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business and don’t get into Huntsman, they can still get into UPenn. As such, applying to Wharton makes it significantly more challenging to get into Penn. 

Ivy Coach Helps Other Penn Admits Transfer Internally to Wharton

Other students we help internally transfer to Wharton are first-year UPenn students whom we never worked with during the college admissions process. Many of these students first come to us during the summer before their first year at Penn so they can ensure they’re doing everything right from the jump to optimize their case for admission to Wharton as internal transfer candidates.

Eligibility Update for Internal Wharton Transfers

And, yes, if you’re wondering about timing, our students apply as internal transfer candidates to Wharton at the end of their first year at Penn. You see, a few years back, Penn’s administration made a controversial policy change: students would no longer be able to transfer into Wharton mid-sophomore year or at the end of sophomore year. If they wanted to change schools within the broader university, they’d have to do so sooner rather than later.

As Deena Elul reported for The Daily Pennsylvanian in a piece about Wharton’s internal transfer change, “Penn students will no longer be able to transfer to Wharton or add a dual degree with the business school at the end of their sophomore year or later. Until this past spring, students in the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Nursing, and the School of Engineering and Applied Science were permitted to apply to transfer to or add a dual degree from the Wharton School at the end of freshman year, mid-sophomore year, or at the end of sophomore year. Now, however, students are only eligible to apply after completing two or three semesters at Penn — not four.”

The Latest Eligibility Requirements for Internal Wharton Transfer Admission

Overall Internal Wharton Transfer Eligibility Requirements

As per Wharton, the below are eligibility requirements for internal transfer admission to Wharton:

• Penn students who are at the end of their first year (after two semesters) or in the middle of the sophomore year (after the third semester) at Penn are eligible to apply.
• Students who transferred to Penn from another college or university (external transfers) are not eligible to apply for internal transfer.
• Students who previously internally transferred to any of Penn’s undergraduate schools or divisions are not eligible to transfer again within the University.
• Students in Penn’s College of Liberal and Professional Studies are not eligible to apply for internal transfer.

Additional Requirements for Wharton Internal Transfer Admission

But that’s not all. For students seeking to internally transfer within Penn to Wharton, the following are the latest requirements for admission, as per Wharton:

• Students applying for internal transfer must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.30.*
• Applicants must complete at least four (4) course units (CU) per semester at Penn (fall and spring semesters only).
• Students can take required courses over the summer as long as those courses are completed prior to applying for entry into Wharton.
• Classes taken at Penn during summer terms do not count towards the four-CU requirement.
• Only one course can be taken pass/fail during an academic year. Required courses cannot be taken pass/fail.*
• Students must earn a “C” (2.0) or better in required courses to be eligible to apply. Students cannot retake required courses.*
• All open grading issues (Incompletes, NRs, or GRs) should be resolved within two weeks after the official end of the term.
• External exam (e.g., AP, IB) scores (that count as waivers) or credits and transfer credits must appear on the student’s record before the application is submitted.

Course Requirements for Wharton Internal Transfer Admission

But wait, there’s more! We know — it sounds like an infomercial starring Lori Greiner from Shark Tank. Hey, Wharton has a ton of requirements to transfer to Wharton internally. After all, if they made it easy, too many students would do it!

As per Wharton, the below are the coursework requirements for internal transfer candidates to Wharton:

May – Rising Sophomore Applicants for August Entry

The following three (3) prerequisite courses must be completed by the end of the spring semester.

• MATH 1400 (MATH 104) or MATH 1070 
• ECON 0100 (ECON 001) 
• ECON 0200 (ECON 002)

December – Sophomore Applicants for January Entry

• MATH 1400 (MATH 104) or MATH 1070
• ECON 0100 (ECON 001)
• ECON 0200 (ECON 002) 

And two (2) from the following four options:

• ACCT 1010 
• BEPP 2500 or ECON 2100 (ECON 101) 
• STAT 1010 or STAT 1020 4 2
• LGST 1000, LGST 1010, MGMT 1010, or MKTG 1010

Deadlines for Internal Wharton Transfer Admission

The following are the application deadlines to internally transfer to Wharton, as per Wharton:

Spring Entry

• Application open: November 1
• Application Deadline: December 15, 11:59 PM
• Decisions: Before the first day of classes in January

Fall Entry

• Application open: April 1
• Application deadline: May 15, 11:59 PM
• Decisions: July

Ivy Coach’s Assistance Optimizing Cases for Internal Transfer Admission to Wharton

If you’re interested in giving your child the best opportunity of earning admission to Wharton as an internal transfer candidate, the sooner we at Ivy Coach can get started with your child, the better.

After all, we need to map out precisely which courses they’ll be taking from the start of their first year at UPenn. We’ll need to map out their extracurricular pursuits so they showcase a compelling narrative for admission that effectively dares Wharton admissions officers not to offer them admission. And we need to get started preparing the application, which, yes, has essays just like when students applied to UPenn out of high school.

It all starts with a Strategy Session with Ivy Coach’s Jayson Weingarten, a former University of Pennsylvania and Wharton admissions officer. To learn about Ivy Coach’s service, fill out our free consultation form, indicate your child is interested in internally transferring to Wharton, and we’ll be in touch.