In Spring 2021, a team of Division-sponsored student organizations surveyed the student body and conducted focus groups to identify six values that are most important to Wharton undergraduates. These values are meant to be specific, yet open to personal expression, and to articulate both where students are now and where they want to go as a community. Students should take the time to see how these values connect to their personal life.
Below are the community values, listed alphabetically, along with comments from the initial surveys. The values will be renewed or modified every three years starting in 2024. For questions, please contact whartonvalues@wharton.upenn.edu.
Community Values
Ambition
We devote our all to each endeavor we undertake, as we push through challenges to reach our goals, both academically and beyond. We stay true to our intentions and follow through with passion. Not only do we verbalize our intentions, but we also pursue them head on, challenging the status quo and striving to do more.
Community
We foster a community of collaboration and mentorship. We are not afraid to ask our peers for help and lend a helping hand ourselves. In classes and clubs, we exchange ideas with each other to spark new, more creative ideas that bring us one step closer to our shared goals.
Diversity & Inclusion
We actively embrace other students, faculty, and staff from all backgrounds and perspectives by treating them with respect, care, and fairness. In every interaction, we seek to make our peers feel included in classrooms, clubs, and social life regardless of race, class, nationality, gender, sexuality, ability, religion, or political affiliation.
Exploration
We embrace exploration at every level of our education, careers, and interactions. We constantly seek new information from our peers and professors to guide us for future decisions and into new experiences.
Integrity
We act and lead with integrity, bringing a sense of humility and honor to our academic, extracurricular, and professional lives. Acting with integrity means sticking to a moral code and remaining true to our values throughout our time at Wharton and beyond.
Positive Impact
We strive to be at the forefront of social change by working collaboratively and compassionately. By considering multiple perspectives, we seek to understand, prioritize, and act in partnership with the communities around us, ranging from small acts of kindness to larger-scale initiatives.
Community Values Survey Comments
Ambition
“Students spend a lot of time on certain clubs or activities for no other reason than they want to be there. People are passionate about what they do.” – Class of 2022
“Ambition to me means taking responsibility in oneself, to make sure that future me in a year, or 10 years, is someone that I would not regret being.” – Class of 2024
“When I was a sophomore, I saw the investment that club leaders made into the groups and it motivated me, not only to learn but it also drove me to maintain that same community as a senior. Seeing good, intelligent, well-intentioned people drives me.” – Class of 2021
Community
“I realized that if you ask for help, people won’t say no. They’re always generous with their time and resources. When you let people know what your goals are, they will help.” – Class of 2022
“When we get here as freshmen, the people here are just good people. They want to help you think. They’re smart and brilliant. It’s one of the most incredible places.” – Class of 2022
“I came in thinking Wharton would be a hyper-competitive academic environment, but people have provided help when I’ve asked. In extracurriculars, I’ve had people talk to me about shared career interests, especially older students in Wharton.” – Class of 2024
Diversity & Inclusion
“Diversity and Inclusion mean fostering an inclusive space where all people, no matter what their backgrounds are, what they look like, or where they come from, can come to the table and have a voice.” – Class of 2022.
“I’ve noticed that FGLI students have to prioritize work-study and other opportunities that take away from the ability to participate in as many clubs and social activities as others, especially when they require discretionary income to participate. True inclusion would find ways to actively include these students.” – Class of 2021
“For me, Diversity and Inclusion means making historically exclusive areas more representative of the world we live in. I think a key indicator of success in DEI is when students from different backgrounds can collaborate on class projects or in clubs, but they’re not just tolerating each other. They’re respecting each other’s differences.” – Class of 2023
Exploration
“I think about exploration at Wharton in the curriculum. There is room for students to really take classes for the sake of learning as opposed to taking the classes they think will result in the biggest pay-out.” – Class of 2021
“Currently, we have too much conformity in the student culture. Professors encourage people to follow their own paths but students emphasize the IB/Consulting paths. We should be more industrious and risk-taking.” – Class of 2022
“I would love to see opportunities to be more creative in how we approach assignments or opportunities to make assignments more applicable to our interests.” – Class of 2024
Integrity
“I think of integrity as sticking true to your values throughout your time at Wharton. Integrity means remaining true and committed to yourself and your passions.” – Class of 2022
“When I think about integrity, I think about a moral code people stick to in social and extracurricular realms. These are things as simple as not ostracizing others. It is about sticking to a moral code despite any external pressures you may face.” – Class of 2023
“I think about integrity as a value that’s being stressed in professional lives. It is about how professors or pre-professional clubs go about promoting integrity as a value that we will carry with us beyond our time at Wharton.” – Class of 2021
Positive Impact
“Positive impact means looking beyond things you want to put on your resume or ways to make more money, but broadens to focus on actually making an impact on others.” – Class of 2021
“To make a social difference, Wharton students need to shift the mindset from following a path that everyone expects us to do, to following the right path that positively impacts our communities.” – Class of 2022
“One of the things that inspires me the most is when I see other students making the goal of working on causes that are important to them and the world outside of our bubbles.” – Class of 2024