The following email went out yesterday to all accepted applicants at Wharton. While it’s merely a restatement of the faculty resolutions about academics at Wharton, it would appear from this note that the administration is working to influence the sentiment of incoming students before they are exposed to the current student body (which has been consistently in favor of keeping grades undisclosed).
Here’s the email:
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Vice Dean’s Office – Graduate Division
Date: Mar 30, 2006 11:54 AM
Subject: A new faculty resolution at Wharton
To: Students Admitted to Wharton’s MBA Class of 2008
Congratulations on your admission to Wharton’s MBA Program! I look forward to welcoming you on campus.
My greetings to you would ordinarily be in person upon your arrival on campus, but I have opted to write this memo now to communicate a resolution recently adopted by faculty to enhance the academic learning environment in Wharton’s MBA Program. For most of you this memo will lack the context of discussion that has preceded it, but we thought it important nonetheless to share the details of the resolution even before your arrival on campus. I hope that in the weeks ahead, especially at Wharton Welcome Weekend, you will have the chance to learn more about its context and implications.
The resolution, approved by faculty on February 14, 2006, has four components: shaping a culture of teaching and learning; reforming the MBA recruiting process to improve its efficiency; a policy on grade disclosure; and a new MBA grading system. We view these measures to be strongly interconnected, and reflective of our commitment to Wharton’s academic mission. The full text of the faculty resolution is available here , and I encourage you to read it.
While it is but one element of the four-point plan, the Wharton policy on grade disclosure, and a subsequent Wharton Graduate Association (WGA) referendum, has attracted some attention among our stakeholders. We are communicating the relevant aspects of the four-point plan to all our stakeholders including alumni and prospective employers. It is important to point out in this context that the statement contained in the four-point plan is the first time Wharton has articulated an institutional policy on grade disclosure *. It is also worth noting that the new WGA policy, while urging nondisclosure, makes the individual student’s compliance with it explicitly voluntary. The voluntary nature of the new WGA policy is in contrast to previous versions that have existed for 10 years.
There has been over the last several years a vigorous and wide-ranging discussion of how we should continually improve the students’ learning experience at Wharton. This discussion has actively engaged faculty and students alike, and even when opinions have diverged on specific ideas, our shared commitment to academic excellence has never been in doubt. The faculty resolution of February 14 is a reaffirmation of the centrality and primacy of the academic program in the two-year Wharton experience, but you may wonder how the changes, especially with respect to the current status of grade nondisclosure, will affect the broader community experience for students. The candid answer is that we don’t know. I am confident, however, that our culture of deep engagement and collaboration will continue unabated, as it has for decades. This culture is rooted in our commitment to collective learning, personal integrity, and mutual respect; and is nourished by the rich educational opportunities we offer for professional development, leadership, and teamwork.
I look forward to welcoming all of you as the newest members of this special community.
Sincerely,
Anjani Jain
Anjani Jain Vice Dean and Director Graduate Division, The Wharton School University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104-6340
v : 215.898.4663 f: 215.898.0425
* The Wharton Policy on Grade Disclosure states: “Wharton students are free to disclose any aspect of their own academic transcripts to prospective employers or any other interested parties, and are encouraged to do so. Such disclosure is a legal right and it is Wharton policy to protect this right. Prospective employers are free to request from students any aspect of their academic transcripts.”
