Robert Van Winkle to Join Wharton MBA Class of '01

In a sea of Wharton MBA applicants, consider the file of Robert Van Winkle. A musician when he was in his 20s, Robert has founded a thriving e-commerce Internet site in Coral Gables, Florida. Next, he helped launch a new digital music service that enables music fans to download music off the Web. Seasoned entrepreneur, 30 years old, high-tech savvy, and success on both coasts sound good? The admissions office thought so. Van Winkle received a much-sought after acceptance to the best business school in America. So what's so special about Van Winkle? "Nothing outside of his strong record, so we thought," noted Bob Alig, head of the admissions office. But Amy Burke, Wharton undergrad working part-time in the admissions office, thought otherwise. "I was stuffing acceptance envelopes and the last name struck me. Van Winkle in Florida. I asked an admissions officer about his file: a former musician. Then it hit me, Vanilla Ice is coming to Wharton." A little research proved the improbable was true. A short-lived teen icon with an embarrassing media story touting his "street" background had secured the rights to wander the hallowed halls of Wharton. What the heck happened? While Van Winkle's 15 minutes of fame ran out many years ago, he hasn't been sulking, reminiscing about the good ol' days. Instead, he used his mega-star earnings (it doesn't take long to build big bucks when you hit it big) to open a couple of businesses in Miami and in Santa Monica, California, and suddenly finds himself a seasoned, successful entrepreneur. Now he wants a business school degree. So what does the admissions off ice think about admitting the Ice? "I can't really say I even heard of him. I guess it'll be a big deal to students, but in our eyes, he's a promising business person, like everyone else we admitted. It's up to him what experience he makes at Wharton. He definitely won't receive any special treatment because of his status." Student reaction suggested otherwise. "Ice on campus unbelievable," noted first-year Mark Pearson, former music industry insider at Sony Music. "Even though he was a one-and-done star, he was still the man." Whatever your opinion is, get ready for Robert Van Winkle's Wharton tour, playing only in Philadelphia from 1999-2001. Copyright 1998, The Wharton Journal. All Rights Reserved.