The Embedded Pre-baccalaureate Program

The Embedded Pre-baccalaureate Program provides a unique delivery model for our dual-enrollment pre-baccalaureate program. Instead of individual students applying and enrolling in courses, an entire class of high school students is admitted and takes the course together directly from their high school. Courses maintain the same academic policies and standards as our typical pre- baccalaureate offerings.

Current Embedded Pre-baccalaureate Program Partners

The Wharton Global Youth Program is collaborating with the National Education Equity Lab and Heights Philadelphia, to educate and inspire high school students in historically underserved communities. We currently offer two courses: Essentials of Personal Finance and Grit Lab 101.

The Essentials of Personal Finance course is led by Professor David Musto and supported by Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance. It is designed to teach personal finance concepts and financial decision making to high school students. Across 10 weeks, students learn everything from defining and calculating simple and compound interest, to how the U.S. tax system works, to exploring ways to fund higher education and negotiate the best available financial aid packages.

Grit Lab 101, a collaboration with the School of Arts and Sciences, is led by Professor Angela Duckworth. Grit Lab has two main objectives: 1) to equip students with generalizable knowledge about the science of passion and perseverance, and (2) to help students apply these insights to their own lives — including applying to college. At the heart of this course are cutting-edge scientific discoveries about how to foster passion and perseverance for long-term goals. As in any college undergraduate course, students will have an opportunity to learn from current research. But unlike most courses, Grit Lab encourages students to apply these ideas to their own lives and reflect on their experiences.

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Embedded Pre-baccalaureate | Wharton Stories

David Musto, the Ronald O. Perelman Professor in Finance at Wharton, worked closely with the various stakeholders and MBA students to develop and execute the course. Musto, also faculty director of Wharton’s Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance, says he especially recognized the value of teaching high-school students personal finance concepts such as the compounding of interest, and addressing their important life decisions, such as the financing of college.

“Financial literacy is such an important skill that is not taught enough,” Musto says. “I was proud of the impact that the course had on talented students from financially stressed communities around the country. They realized what they were capable of achieving when they mastered the elements of a Wharton course in high school.”