<p>So i’ve thought i’ve wanted to go into business for the past 3 or 4 years. now that i have the chance to go to the best undergrad business school in the country, i’m beginning to wonder if i know what i’m doing.</p>
<p>any tips from people who have had doubts? where can i go to find out more about the business world and exactly what kind of jobs i’d be going into coming out of wharton?</p>
<p>i know i can transfer out to college if i really hate it, but if i’m going to be dropping out I want to go to Columbia instead for a liberal arts degree.</p>
<p>i’m concerned about my math level, too… i’ve taken calc but i really don’t think i’m that great at math in general nor do i enjoy it <em>that</em> much.</p>
<p>well, I don't think it will be difficult to transfer from wharton to college (since everyone seems to want to go the other way). Is there anyone in your family with whom you can talk?</p>
<p>oh, i know it's easier to drop out.
idk. i'll have to find someone. nobody in my immediate family, i don't think... actually maybe my cousin. still. that's only one pt of view</p>
<p>i guess you'd have to reassess what you want out of a college education and whether business is really what you want to pursue in the future (and why). </p>
<p>i know its a tough call - but its your call.</p>
<p>You never said what types of doubts you were having? Do you just not want to go to wharton period? Do you think wharton will pigeon-hole you into a certain career that you're unsure about. If you elaborate, perhaps a recent wharton alum could help [feel free to PM].</p>
<p>You can always transfer to SAS if you don't like wharton but again this depends on your concerns--are you only considering penn because of wharton?</p>
<p>As for math, wharton classes aren't that much math; sure finance has some derivatives but other than that you're not using advanced calc or anything; its absolutely possible to do well even if you don't like math.</p>
<p>Lol, I have (or should I say had?) the same problem. Applied to a couple schools early and got into them, but wide difference between them. On one spectrum was a top notch liberal arts and theory heavy university, and on the other...Wharton. It's definitely hard to limit yourself to one career, or even one major at this age, and it seemed like everyone I know at Wharton (or applied to Wharton) had wanted to do business for ten years, something that definitely didn't apply to me.<br>
But look at it this way: Penn has a VERY flexible curriculum. I've heard of people triple majoring while also pulling off great extracurriculars also. And double majors are quite common, I think? Currently, I'm thinking of doing another major in PPE (political science, philsophy, and econ interdisp. major) or English or Humanistic philsophy to round out my education. All of these majors (esp. bachelor of arts in econ) are broad enough that, when combined with the Wharton degree, I'll have the broadest (hopefully) career choices since I'm horribly indecisive. Law, business, graduate school, whatever. And though it seems eclipsed on this forum with all the Wharton and Wharton-transfer, Penn does have very excellent departments in the humanities and sciences in the college, so <em>shrugs</em> can't go wrong.</p>
<p>aj- yeah, i think the pigeon-hole.. ing.. is what got to me. My doubts are about whether or not I want to go into the field of business at all. I know it's quite common to go into "business" with a liberal arts degree, and I guess I feel like that would allow me to explore more areas of studies. I am considering Penn mostly because of Wharton (don't get me wrong, I've had my heart set on the school in general for three years and really like it). If i went the liberal arts route, I think I would rather be at Columbia.
Since you're an alum (you can PM me about this if you want, too), do you think it was much easier to get a job in whatever area you majored in than other people who had liberal arts majors? Do you feel that maybe you missed out on something? </p>
<p>Rhys- How much harder would it be to double major in something? i know it's just fulfilling some requirements, but is this a serious extra strain on workload, do you think? (Your reply is helping nudge me back to Wharton ;))</p>
<p>how are the people? I know it's pretty aggressive.. to what extent do people help each other out?</p>
<p>as someone said in another post
[quote]
A College education is more personally fulfilling than a Wharton education. My friend in the College transferred into Wharton, didn't like it, and is now transferring back.
<p>Double majoring is obviously harder than a single major, but it won't be that much of a strain on courseload. A majority of students at Penn do double majors, and their social/extracurricular lives don't seem to suffer at all. This is partly because double-counting courses (ie. History 107 can count as a requirement course for both College and Wharton) allows for more efficiency. If you plan your courses well, adding a triple major might just mean taking 3 or 2 more semester classes.<br>
So, your options regardless of what you decide to do in 1,2,3 years are wide. If you're really not sure about business, think of the wharton degree as what you would think of an english or philosophy major. You don't need to go into a business career for it to benefit you. Ie: many students who want to go into law or medicine are taking undergrad business/econ as a second major or getting an MBA because the knowledge benefits their career advancements. As for liberal arts vs. business, it's personal preference on which you'd find more appealing. But who's to say you can't do both? :P
So, you can view the Wharton degree as your primary major or a secondary major, but either way, it can only help. Well, unless you decide that you want a cut from business in general in undergrad years, and want to do only liberal arts, in which case, it would come down to what major you want to do, school atmosphere, the usual stuff...</p>
<p>Will PM you re: careers when I can find a little more time.</p>
<p>As for the people being aggressive, wharton is competitive due to the curve [~25% As, ~35% Bs]. People realize that if you help someone get an A, it may cost you an A. That being said, people do help each other; you'll make friends and certainly you will help your friends/they'll help you out with class notes, studying together etc. You don't even need to have good friends in every single class. What ends up happening esp. soph yr is you end up with a lot of the same people in every class and you get to be friendly with them, chat with them before/after class, work with them on group projects etc; thus, you get to know those classmates and help them out/get help from them. As for me and most others, the only people I wouldn't help would be the type who would try to take advantage--i.e. never go to class, show up for 2 classes before the midterm, try to make nice and then ask to borrow all your class notes for the semester. Wharton people are deemed 'aggressive' because they won't help people like that and possibly harm their own grades--my opinion was always 'if you were too slick or too busy to go to class, it isn't my job to help you by giving you all my work.'</p>
<p>that sounds reasonable. Nothing too bad, where someone might teach you wrong on purpose or something. or sabotage stuff. that being said, i'll wait for a PM. thanks a lot, aj!</p>
<p>that curve looks kind of scary, actually. here, in hs, that would be absolutely no problem, but when you're with a group of people who are as smart to tons smarter than you.. mmm. o well, that's expected</p>
<p>The curve is waayy overhyped.. yes, it's harder to get an A in a class at Penn than in your highschool, but what can you expect whn you put 2400 of the smartest people in the world together? And the curve in wharton is nicer than the curve in engineering (not to scare any SEAS people away..)</p>
<p>huh. what's considered a "low" GPA? like.. what GPA would you have to reach before it starts to be considered not very good and employers will think twice before considering you?</p>
<p>Couple things..by talking about the Wharton curve, I'm not taking anything away from SEAS, those students work HARD for their A's.</p>
<p>The curve looks scary but it isn't. You figure out a routine that works for you and then it all works out; you'll figure out whether you're the type of person that needs to read every single page of assigned reading, or whether you do better by doing problems in finance and accounting and working on practice exams. You'll figure out whether you can cram in 2 days or whether you're the type of person who'll learn the material well by studying a few hrs per day for 2 weeks before the exam etc. </p>
<p>The curve looks scary now because you're thinking everyone is super smart how will I get As. Everyone is smart, thats how they got in, but the reality is that some people will get to wharton and not work very hard, for a number of reasons. Some are burned out from HS and want a fun college experience. Some carry over their confidence from HS saying 'if i could get A's in HS with no studying, I'll get A's here with minimal studying.' Some will say 'i go to wharton, of course i'll get a great job even if i get B's so i'm not going to struggle for A's'. The reality is that in a class of 100, not 100 are really competing for the 25 A's.</p>
<p>In terms of a low GPA, it depends on your own perception. There were many in my class who wouldn't have been able to live with anything less than a 3.7-3.8 and thought those getting 3.5s weren't trying hard enough. I'd say, if you have no connections/networks that can get you a job and you rely solely on on campus recruiting, below a 3.4 gets to be problematic. I can give tons of examples of people with 3.2s and 3.0s who got good IB and consulting jobs, but all those people had a connection--whether it was knowing someone directly or indirectly who was really high up in the company; sending resumes thru alums of their frats, their sports teams etc. </p>
<p>thanks so much, guys. i heard somewhere else that 3.4 is cutting it close, too. Is 3.2-3.3 REALLY the avg GPA? That seems rather low, and means that quite a few people have 3.0s and even lower</p>
<p>3.3 average GPA isn't that bad.. that means average is a B+! Considering the people you're being compared with, a B+ average is very very nice.. in comparision the college usually has around a 3.6 average GPA (most humanities don't really curve..) and engineering has a 2.8 (not to scare anyone or anything.. I swear, it's really not <em>that</em> difficult, lol) because of all the harshly curved math and science classes. </p>
<p>Anyway, employeers know what the average GPA is at penn for various subjects and schools so they will definitely take that into consideration when looking for employes. </p>
<p>And don't stress about jobs so much!!! You'll all scaring me, lol.. come to college and have a great time.. you have hte rest of your life to think about working, but only 4 years to have the time of your life! :-D (wow.. I sound like some motivational book.. guess that's what happens at 2am.. yay for procrastination!)</p>