<p>I'm considering a Finance and Management combination as of now. Are there any better options; for example, how's Statistics?</p>
<p>Finance with a college minor in math? it’s more about GPA and getting internships in the field.</p>
<p>finance for sure as your first concentration…your second one won’t really matter. As jadedwhartonguy said, it is more about GPA - if you can stay above a 3.5 then you can pretty much land internships and a full time job at most places.</p>
<p>is a concentration defined by the amount of classes you take in one subject??? and how is it different from a minor… i know there aren’t any minors out of the wharton building and there a limited amount of classes you can take outside the school you are in… so how do you get a so called concentration… and finance is definitely the route to go however alot alot alot of people want to do the same exact thing.</p>
<p>Every Wharton undergraduate is a business major, but they are all required to choose at least one concentration within the business discipline. These concentrations can be finance, management, accounting or marketing (the four most popular concentrations), as well as actuarial science, business & public policy, environmental policy & management, healthcare management, insurance & risk management, real estate, statistics or transportation. </p>
<p>It is extremely common for Wharton undergraduates to choose multiple concentrations, since it generally takes just six courses to earn a concentration. For example, the finance concentration requires six courses, but two of them are required in the Wharton Core sequence, so it is really like you only need four courses for the concentration.</p>
<p>Just a curious question, with a concentration in finance and say management or statistics, what other job opportunities are out there that are not traditional investment banking? Or is that pretty much the only road open</p>
<p>Um, i-banking is definitely not the only open road, although the general Wharton atmosphere does make it seem that way.</p>
<p>Consulting is a really popular first job for Wharton grads. Landing a job at McKinsey is just as prestigious as getting a job at Goldman. </p>
<p>Actually, just check this link out. It shows all the fields that Wharton grads go into.
<a href=“http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/undergrad/reports/WHA_2010cp.pdf[/url]”>http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/undergrad/reports/WHA_2010cp.pdf</a></p>
<p>What do job/internship opportunities look like for internationals? Do firms or companies usually avoid them because of the visa sponsorship issue/cost? Or will they take you if they want you regardless?</p>
<p>Thanks for the link, I have read that before but I gave it a more detailed look this time. I was just wondering if any current wharton students know any specific non-Ibanking jobs that they have seen their friends or themselves get.</p>
<p>Also as far as recruiting goes, the other day I did some reading on investment banking and one of the things that came up was the simple fact of getting a job offer, and networking and the whole process of actually landing a job. From what I read, entry into the field seemed a little more difficult than other professions. From a Wharton perspective is this still true, a previous poster on this thread itself said that the main criterion is a good GPA. Basically I guess my question is, with a solid GPA and involvement in other activities, will the Wharton name itself land job opportunities that others would struggle for, or will we still be fighting the same battles that every other person trying to enter ibanking is.</p>
<p>The Wharton name brings top investment banks to campus, but as long as you have a good GPA, you can get a first round coming out of any school and any major. </p>
<p>When it comes to jobs, think of it this way. Penn attracts companies that other schools would not, but the difference is that although you may be competing against fewer candidates, those candidates are coming from Penn, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, etc. It is very difficult to get a top job at a major investment bank, and GPA will only get your foot in the door. You then need to show them how you fit with the company, so basically once you get past the first round interview, where you go to school and what your GPA is loses all relevance.</p>
<p>With that said, banking and consulting are similar fields with regard to recruitment. Your process is going to include a first round (usually on campus) interview after an initial vetting period. If you make it to the next round, you have a superday at their world headquarters, where you interview three to five people. A few days to a few weeks later, you hear whether you got the job/internship. Before you get to that first round, though, you are going to go to career fairs to meet the recruiters initially; then you will work your own skills, getting their contact information and asking them questions. If you play your cards right, you should have a decent idea of which companies are going to preselect you for interviews before you even apply.</p>
<p>As for not I-Banking jobs for Wharton students… you are qualified for whatever. One of my friends works in management for Hillstone Restaurant Group now. Another several work for major consulting firms (BCG, Bain, McKinsey). One is going into trading, another is going into real estate. Several are going to be accountants and eventually CPAs. Investment banking is very popular, but it is far from the only or even the best option. If you get a job at a consulting firm and are good at what you do, you can be in the mid six figure range by age 25 without having to put in the 120 hour weeks that investment bankers have to.</p>
<p>^ 120 hour weeks? Is that an exaggeration, cause that’s a 24 hours a day for 5 days.</p>
<p>No, from what I have read, that might be true, apparently investment banking in the beginning involves some crazy hours, but I mean if you land a good job, I think with bonuses you earn more than 100k, your first year, so they really do make you work for it.</p>
<p>A couple friends of mine have worked 120+ hours per week for several weeks at a time. When you’re working on a major acquisition, you could realistically go to the office at 8AM on Monday, work 20 hours a day until Saturday (sleep at the office) and repeat it until the deal is done. Is that necessarily common? No. But does it happen? Yes… to almost anyone who is both young and good at what they do.</p>
<p>Seriously though, don’t be surprised to work 8AM to 10PM or midnight relatively routinely, depending on the company.</p>
<p>@chrisw, in your previous post you said one of your friends is in trading, could you explain that a little more. Is he an independent trader on wall street or does he just trade stocks from home or something. Thanks for any information</p>
<p>Oh yeah and could you elaborate on what consulting is as well, thanks.</p>
<p>You’re applying to wharton and you don’t know what consulting is? Or maybe you’re asking what would be done by an analyst? </p>
<p>For the most part people mean management consulting, and you advise companies on how to multiple issues to improve there their business. The advice can be on pretty much anything that they come to the firm with, you will work in teams and come up with your “solution” or w.e. That’s a simplified explanation.</p>
<p>An analyst for the most part will do what their told and compile data for the team…Market research and stuff.</p>
<p>This is my basic understanding of consulting through research.</p>
<p>
…? Exactly what compelled you to apply to Wharton?</p>
<p>Sorry for my lack of knowledge of the field, but I figured that is something I would pick up, once I actually went to Wharton. I have a strong interest in business but maybe not all of the knowledge just yet.</p>
<p>Oh and this maybe shocking or whatever, but not only did I apply to Wharton, I was accepted.</p>
<p>Lol who said you have to know about the post-college fields that Whartonites commonly enter as a HS senior? Get real.</p>
<p>The word “consultant” is kind of self-explanitory though. Thats not knowledge about post-college fields, that’s vocabulary. Didn’t mean to offend, just was a little confused.</p>
<p>TheWorldIsYours: Whartons a pre-proffesional school, I think that’s why a little post-college knowledge is necessary going in. At least if you ever want to hold a conversation with the majority of the kids there.</p>
<p>@Cardinal16, that is a very simplified explanation, but it pretty much covers it. As a consultant, companies come to your firm to get a third party look at how to improve. Often consulting firms use proprietary software to develop solutions for specific companies; the need for these third party firms is that if it costs, say, $10MM to develop this software, one company rarely has the resources to dedicate to developing that software. Instead, they hire a firm who has already developed it, paying them, say, $1MM to evaluate the company and make recommendations. That $1MM investment results in advice allowing the company to increase margins by $8MM in a calendar year. </p>
<p>Everybody wins (from the corporate side).</p>
<p>Also, seriously, don’t ridicule people for not knowing things about post-graduate career paths. I had no effing clue what “consulting” meant until I was a junior in college. When I tell my family that the industry I am entering is consulting, their first question is “consulting for what?” And explaining strategy/management consulting is just not easy.</p>
<p>If you know everything there is to know about business, why bother applying to Wharton undergrad? You go to school to learn, and if you don’t know all that much to begin with, that means it hasn’t been taught to you yet.</p>