被譽為現代MBA發源地的華頓商學院(The Wharton School)創立於1881年，是美國第一所大學商學院，也是世界上歷史最悠久、學術聲譽首屈一指的商學院。華頓在各個主要的經濟專業領域之研究，以及管理教育的水平都有極高的聲譽，在美國商學院各種排名中一直名列前茅。華頓一直被認為是全美最具有開拓精神、創新意識和國際化視野的商學院。　　

In 1881, Joseph Wharton, one of the founders of the Bethlehem Steel Company, approached the University of Pennsylvania with a somewhat rad-ical request: to create the world's first collegiate business school. He had a notion to elevate the study of business from a trade into a rigorous profession, to start a school that would produce graduates who would become "pillars of the state, whether in private or in public life". Wharton has come along way since then. To-day, it is one of the most competitive business schools in the world and stands at the pinnacle of business education. "The thing I like about Wharton and Penn is that it's not self-satisfied," says Patrick Harker, who has been dean of Wharton since 2000 and a long-time faculty member. "We're at the top of our game, but there is no sense here of people letting up. It's a culture and an attitude." In addition to a standard MBA, Wharton offers an undergraduate programme as well as executive and doctoral programmers. With 215 full-time professors–and another 200 part-time professors–it boasts the largest faculty of any of the leading international business schools. Like most other business schools, core classes in finance, marketing, management, and opera-tions take up the first year of Wharton's MBA programme. In the second year, students have a choice of 18 majors including healthcare manage-ment, real estate and multi-national management.

1881年，伯利恆鋼鐵公司的創始人之一約瑟夫．華頓向賓州大學提出了一個頗為激進的請求︰建立全球第一所學院式商業學校。他的想法是將商業研究從一種行業提升到一個嚴謹的專業層次，並創辦一所學院，以培養「在公私領域都能成為棟樑」的畢業生。華頓商學院就此展開發展歷程。今天，它已成為世界上最具競爭力的商學院之一，站在商業教育的顛峰。 「我最喜歡華頓和賓州大學的地方就是，它們從不滿足於已取得的成就。」長期執教於華頓，並從2000年起擔任院長的派屈克‧哈克說道。「雖然我們是這一行的佼佼者，但是我們從不懈怠。這是一種文化，一種態度。」在標準的MBA課程之外，華頓也開設了本科生課程以及高階主 管和 博士生課程。讓該校引以為傲的是，該校在所有國際一流商學院中擁有規模最大的師資團隊，共有215名 全職 教授和200名兼職教授。