No. Students receive course credit, 1.5 cu's in Marketing or OPIM. Other departmental credit may be arranged on an individual basis. For example, you may be able to meet the Healthcare FAP requirement if it's a medical project and prior permission is received from Healthcare.
The GCP is expanding to satisfy students demand, but the expansion must be slow in order to ensure quality. Typically 1 team is accepted for every 2 - 3 teams that apply (varies year-to-year based on applicant and project pool).
Projects will be announced in September.
Please see our application page for details but the process is 3 part: each team should submit an email to wgcp@wharton.upenn.edu with their resumes, a cover letter and their project preferences; then each individual team member submits their information via the online application system; then the team signs-up for a team interview.
No. Student evaluations agree that GCP is a challenging course that requires more work than many courses. Furthermore, this is a practicum course - which means that students have the opportunity to learn through confronting and overcoming challenges under the guidance of faculty. Faculty and teaching assistants will encourage teams to struggle with difficult challenges and to overcome them. The best learning experiences come from meeting and overcoming challenges.
Students should expect challenges in framing projects, in designing their work, in relating strategic, operational, financial and marketing issues, in learning to make feasible recommendations, in marketing research, in inter-cultural communication, in working in languages and cultures in which one is not fluent. Most students are able to meet these challenges with the collaboration of their teammates and the support of their TA and faculty. Many students arrange their classes and activities to be relatively light during the semester when they participate in GCP.
No. However students who do not speak the client's native language should be prepared for the challenges of working in a multi-lingual environment.
Most GCP participants find the intense cultural experience of participating in a global team in GCP to be one of the most rewarding aspects of their experience. We believe that global managers are effective internationally when they are interested and responsible for learning about other cultures. The GCP provides some international and inter-cultural background for students and more extensive resources for students as they explore other cultures at their own initiative.
Yes, typically this is the case. Full-time students travel in late December and/or early January (winter break) and WEMBA students often travel in early to mid January in order to accomodate their class schedules.
No. Any student who feels uncomfortable about their safety traveling to the GCP client destination will not be required to travel.
Client fees cover the cost of 5-student teams to travel to the host country including airfare, a shared hotel room, a per diem for meals and approved ground transportation.
