Alternative Career Paths for Whartonites?

<p>Just curious-</p>

<p>Wharton undoubtedly holds the best route if you want to get your foot into I-Banking/finance in general. But let’s say I’m a high school student who thinks finance is what I wanna do (cuz it seems like “easy” cash). But then later on I realize I’d rather do something more along the lines of liberal arts such as … Law or Medicine (rather than working 80+ hour weeks and having 0 social life besides drugs and alcohol). Are these students at a disadvantage in terms of applying to top Law/Medical schools compared to more traditional liberal art schools (like the rest of the Ivies)?</p>

<p>lol no...you can definitely get into top Law and Med schools coming out of Wharton.</p>

<p>How exactly would you apply to top medical schools without having taken certain courses in biology/chemistry? That is, unless you decide to take up your extra course spots with those courses...</p>

<p>i counted about 9 wharton grads goin to a law school in 2006, but keep in mind that about half of them were dual-degrees with engineering or the College.</p>

<p>med school+wharton probably isnt the best combination unless you wanna use many electives to take the required premed courses. with med school admissions you want a high GPA, and youre better off with a liberal arts major in the College</p>

<p>ah i see... heh guess wharton kids better be pretty damned prepared for what they want by the time they apply~</p>

<p>you can transfer from Wharton to the College if you've decided Wharton isn't really for you.</p>

<p>Wharton -> Law school shouldn't be that rare (well maybe for people to go straight through, but not for people who take a few years to work). There is no such thing as pre law anyway and I feel if your LSAT scores are up to par, law schools will forgive a slighly low Wharton GPA because it is WHARTON. Going from Wharton to med school is kind of strange though. You're pretty much taking a pay cut till you are in your mid 30s.</p>

<p>You can definitely go to law school or med school after Wharton. After an MBA, a JD is the next most popular degree. But like venkater said, you don't see many Wharton students going straight to law school. Most will work 2-3 years and then go back. It's becoming increasingly more common to do this (though still not as common as other majors/programs). I'd recommend looking at the alumni surveys to get a better sense, though their response rates are lower. Career Services will be doing another alumni survey this year (of my class no less) and I anticipate that there will be higher numbers of grads with JDs than in previous 5-year out surveys. </p>

<p>You can complete the pre-med requirements the same way any other student at Penn completes pre-med requirements. Wharton students who do this end up picking up a minor in something like Chem/Bio/Bibb. It's not a hugely popular thing to do Wharton and pre-med but I'd say that about 5 max will go on to med school from Wharton each year.</p>