<p>Here's another conundrum for everyone. ANY insight you have to offer is greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Academically, I have a decent shot at both. My scores fall above the 75th percentile, I am Salutatorian of an extremely high ranked high school, and I am an accomplished writer (publications, awards, etc.) I know that none of this is any sort of guarantee because both Brown and Wharton have very low acceptance percentages and have small student bodies. Brown, especially, I feel like is looking for a very driven, individual thinker, which in some ways I fit into, but in others, I feel that I can come off as a Plain Jane academic.</p>
<p>Ok, so here is the REAL situation: I had my heart set on Penn (Wharton) for months now and was planning to go ED there. But I recently visited Brown and fell in love with the campus, the life, and the freedom I have to explore majors. You see, while I think I'd be fine as a Marketing or Finance major at Wharton and have a very clear and successful future there, I kind of feel like majoring with Economics and PoliSci at Brown I can decide if business is really my thing or if I should pursue law, another area I am very interested in.</p>
<p>I feel like this is a terrible case of head vs. heart. My head tells me Penn, because Wharton has tremendous international prestige and would prepare me for the real world in ways unrivaled. My heart tells me Brown, because I fell for the campus and the people. But I will probably end up majoring in economics and pursue my MBA, and would be in a position markedly worse than I would have had I graduated from Wharton since Brown has a lot of extreme misconceptions surrounding its progressive and liberal education.</p>
<p>Anything you can offer from experience or logistics would make you A-rate in my book. And any other questions you have to ask I will be happy to answer in the post.</p>
<p>the_prestige - yeah, i realize now that i may have come off to confident in this post, but my state of mind is still that my chances are still very slim because there are thousands of kids just like me across the globe with many more factors working in their favor. my dad always tells me that i'm a little too hard on myself, so i was trying confidence on for size, heh. but, yeah, there's a thin line between confidence and cockiness and i definitely understand how conditions today are making it harder than ever to get into institutions of that caliber.</p>
<p>and thanks to both of you for the mba advice! it's true, i could pursue an mba at wharton, but wharton undergrad is also phenomenal and would help me get into a variety of great mba programs.</p>
<p>Go with your heart and fit. You certainly seem to be more of a fit for Brown. You can always go to Wharton for grad school which will make more sense. A Bachelor's degree in Finance is practically useless (even from Wharton) when most people now have MBAs and especially if you really want to be successful in that field.</p>
<p>demersal - Wow, your post hit very close to home for me. My daughter is likely facing the same decision as you have written about, and struggling with the exact same feelings. If I didn't know better I would have thought she had written your post. </p>
<p>She is an athlete, being recruited by both Brown & Penn (Wharton). She will be going to both schools for official visits in the next couple of weeks. While their is no guarantee that both coaches will offer her a position on their team, it is looking promising. She will need to apply ED. She has the grades, test scores & EC's to make her an strong candidate even without athletics. With that being said, she agonizes daily which way she will go if given the choice. </p>
<p>She is absolutely is facing the same case of "head vs heart".<br>
She hopes that by visiting both Brown & PENN while school is in session (we were there in the summer) & meeting the team, she will get a better feel which is the best choice for her. She can see herself at being happy at both schools. She has had her heart set on Brown for several years, and feels she's a great fit, but when we visited PENN she really liked the campus and coaches and definetly could see herself there as well. One day she is leaning towards Brown, the next day it is Wharton. </p>
<p>As poster Prestige said, it is really a no-lose situation. I just hope she comes home after her official visits with a decision that she is confident with.</p>
<p>hey since u wre takin abt penn(wharton) i wanted2 kn hw much is the possibility of gettin into there for undergrad... and is it worth cause i heard u will not get much financial aid</p>
<p>demersal, you may be interested in the COE (commerce, organizations, and entrepreneurship) program at brown. it trains students to be innovators and leaders in a variety of careers, funds students for international business internships, and sets up mentorship opportunities for students with top executives at firms like morgan stanley.
<a href="http://www.coe.brown.edu%5B/url%5D">www.coe.brown.edu</a></p>
<p>You're not really comparing schools, you are comparing entirely different programs, almost at polar opposites...</p>
<p>Wharton has a lengthy list of requirements. Moreover, they are requirements in such inspiring fields as accounting, marketing, operations & information management (be still, my heart!).</p>
<p>I view it as a difference between getting trained (business school) and getting educated (liberal arts).</p>
<p>I feel like you should decide between business or liberal arts, and THEN look at schools. It makes much more sense to compare Brown with Penn's College of Arts & Science than with Wharton.</p>