<p>If my goal, in the long-run, is to attend the Wharton graduate school and obtain an MBA, would having gone to the CAS with a degree in, say, economics make getting into Wharton grad school significantly more difficult than if I just went to Wharton?
Basically what I'm asking is if it's well worth the risk of applying to Wharton instead of the CAS if my final destination is Wharton grad school. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>i think you are looking too far in the future here...planning for something that's going to happen in 6-8 years, (given that you go out and get experience first before you apply to Wharton) especially when you don't know if you will get in or not is not necessary, and you don't even know if you would get into upenn undergrad in the first place! (i dont know your credentials, but im just saying based on penn's rate as a highly prestigious and competitive schoool)
i think you should just apply to the school that you want to study at the most. if your heart is set on getting an wharton experience, why wait 5-8 years?
i see where you are coming from, but i dont see how having an wharton degree can ever work against you.</p>
<p>I asked a Wharton professor about going to Wharton for an MBA. Thinking I was a Wharton student (I was CAS), he told me "don't bother. It's just re-learning the same curriculum you already did, and we actually dumb it down a bit for the MBAs"</p>
<p>So I went to CAS, and plan on applying to Wharton and HBS for an MBA (sadly I have a better chance at HBS than my own alma mater thanks to my company's connections with the former)</p>
<p>what your professor said is absolutely right. the MBA degree is largely a formality for companies that want their top employees to have an advanced education. If you did undergrad business, you'll get zero ACADEMIC value from the MBA. however, you will gain a lot of other skills from it... leadership development, interacting with other business professionals, learning best practices, etc. but, they will be re-teaching you accounting basics, financial valuation basics, etc. </p>
<p>in undergrad, just do what you love. if that's economics, do economics. Penn has a great department of that, and that will actually be a very good preparation for the real world: you'll have great analytical skills, great quant skills, and have a social sciences perspective. </p>
<p>don't worry about strategizing MBA admissions this early on. MBA schools look at your GPA, GMAT score, and work experience. undergrad major has little bearing, if any, on MBA admission.</p>
<p>Wharton undergrad + Harvard MBA</p>
<p>Thank guys. Yea, I'll admit I am probably looking too far ahead, and I've been hearing more and more that the undergraduate school you attend plays little role in your admission into a graduate school.</p>
<p>@desperate asian: Oh, believe me, I know Penn is going to be a reach. I just really want to be at Penn, and if my chances are better for the CAS, then I'm willing to take that route even if my interest is primarily in business (... but I do love science and economics, so I'm sure the CAS is still a great fit).</p>
<p>Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate it.</p>
<p>Metalpots,
Be careful, CAS applicants are up and Wharton applicants are down. CAS is getting much harder to get into because of the sheer volume of applicants. Both are truely a gamble.</p>
<p>Thanks for the heads up. It'll definitely be something I have to give a lot of thought to... and I'm aware it'll be a reach either way.</p>
<p>Does anyone know what the ED acceptance rates for Wharton and CAS were this year? (I know the overall was 32%)</p>
<p>Penn does not release separate admissions statistics for their undergraduate schools, in support of the One University ideal. Those of us who want to figure out are left to extrapolate from bits and pieces of data.</p>
<p>Too bad, because this year I'd actually like to see the CAS and Wharton rates... ;)</p>
<p>...., and we actually dumb it down a bit for the MBAs"</p>
<p>What crap! I go to Wharton and undergrads and mba's attend the same lectures, have the same syllabus and take the same exams. (and these are only for the courses that are offered to both undergrads and mba). I seriously doubt if any prof at Wharton or any other school would've said "don't bother .." .
Why do people send out the wrong message when they dont know stuff?</p>
<p>For what it's worth, here's what Wharton says about whether its undergrads typically go on to get MBAs:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Power of the degree.
An undergraduate education from Wharton is impressive, no matter who you ask. So much so that only one-third of our alumni go back for an MBA even up to 15 years after graduation.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>
[quote]
What crap! I go to Wharton and undergrads and mba's attend the same lectures, have the same syllabus and take the same exams. (and these are only for the courses that are offered to both undergrads and mba). I seriously doubt if any prof at Wharton or any other school would've said "don't bother .." .
Why do people send out the wrong message when they dont know stuff?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>He did. I'm not in the business of libel.</p>
<p>@metalpots
I know this was a while ago now, but I am finding myself facing your exact same dilemma, right down to the possible majors. If you’re still even on cc, I would really appreciate it if you could let me know what you ended up doing?</p>