The Wharton School, the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, will open a branch in San Francisco next year, school officials announced Tuesday.

Wharton West, as the new school will be called, will offer an MBA program geared toward working professionals.

Classes will begin at Wharton West next fall. The Wharton School's new campus aims to attract students not only from California but also from other Western cities like Denver and Seattle.

Each year 100 people will be admitted to the two-year MBA program, which will be tailored to meet the needs of working executives. Students will attend courses for two consecutive days every other week, to allow students to continue work while in the program. Tuition for the two years will cost nearly $100,000.

The Wharton School plans to allow students at its Philadelphia campus to spend the last semester of their MBA program at Wharton West.

Robert E. Mittelstaedt, vice dean of the Wharton School and director of the Aresty Institute of Executive Education, said that there is currently no degree-granting program for professionals on the West Coast.

"It's a niche that's not being served right now," Mittelstaedt said.

Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley have MBA programs, but "neither one offers a program for working professionals," Mittelstaedt said.