<p>Well, now that most college decisions are currently out, I am beginning to think about which school would be best to attend. So, given the info below, what school do you think would be best for me to spend my four UG years.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Currently, my goal is to become an Ibanker. However, I am not set on this. For most my life, I was hardset on medicine. However, after talking a chem and bio class at a local university, I found out I wasn't as naturally gifted in chem as I thought. I am not sure I could handle labs as my skillz there really suck. Yet, I LOVE econ and am fairly good at it. Nothing is really set in stone though.</p></li>
<li><p>I feel most comfortable in a small, safe (affluent?) town. However, Wharton was bearable when I visited. </p></li>
<li><p>I absolutely hate grade deflation. I dont wanna spend nights locked up in my room stressing about possibly dropping below a B in a class because of some messed up curve. I'm fine with some B's. However, if I spend every hour of the day studying and can't pull off mostly A's, I dont wanna go to that school.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>First, congratulations! You’ve been accepted to some of the world’s finest undergraduate institutions, so no matter where you enroll, you are likely to have an excellent four years. To answer your questions:</p>
<p>** I-Banking **</p>
<p>Wharton will obviously be the best for recruiting, but Dartmouth is not far behind by any measure. Dartmouth has a huge presence on the Street, and the D-Plan will help you secure a top-flight internship. If you want to be an I-Banker, Dartmouth will keep that door open.</p>
<p>Duke can also get you to the Street, but its recruiting is substantially weaker than that of Wharton and Dartmouth.</p>
<p>** Town **</p>
<p>As you know, Penn is located in West Philadelphia, a gritty part of Philly. It’s not small, nor is it affluent. Duke is located in Durham, which, frankly, is an armpit, as it’s an old, outdated industrial-age town. Dartmouth, however, is located in a “small, affluent” area: Hanover, NH. </p>
<p>** Grade Deflation **</p>
<p>Wharton is notorious for its grade deflation. Make no mistake that you * will * be competing for grades. Duke and Dartmouth, on the other hand, don’t deflate grades.</p>
<p>I have a bunch of friends that chose Dartmouth over Wharton. The truth is if you want banking both will get you there. The slight advantage Wharton has, in my opinion, isn’t worth the quality of life sacrifice.</p>
<p>Definitely Dmouth. I talked to their alums and their ibanking placement is AMAZING (if you look at their career statistics, the top employers are ibanks), and recruiting for Dartmouth is pretty intense, up there with Wharton. I would personally go there and actually have fun for four years (as compared to the cutthroat atmosphere of Wharton) and then land just as good of a job as Wharton graduate. Just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>While it may be against my school, I’d go Wharton. Its the best of the three without a doubt. If you are not sure about business 100%, then you have to chose between Duke and Dartmouth. In that case, I would go with Duke for the purposes of weather, community, and athletics. Duke and Dartmouth are on the same tier academically. Its a matter of preference. But I would still go Wharton.</p>
<p>Thanks for adding a different perspective to the discussion, Andy. I think the evidence supporting your claims, however, is lacking. </p>
<p>The WSJ study you cite has tons of methodological flaws in and of itself, but you exacerbate them by extrapolating from the study. The WSJ’s analysis does not include IB recruiting; rather, it includes top business school admissions. Therefore, it doesn’t apply to the OP at all, as top business schools usually accept applicants based on the quality of their work experience, not their undergraduate education. Not to mention, the WSJ also includes med and law school admissions, which makes it even more irrelevant to the OP.</p>
<p>OP, if you go to The Street and ask I-Bankers which school–Duke or Dartmouth–places better, I would say that it’s a safe bet to assume that the vast majority would respond, “Dartmouth.” I would encourage you to consult the I-Banking sub-forum on this website for more information.</p>
<p>I’m in the same situation without LSM but with Dartmouth, Duke, and Brown, and I’d pick Wharton.
Why? Sacrifice a bit of your “fun” and compete your heart out. Then see the rewards…
you’ll get an unparalleled business education at wharton. Unless, of course, you don’t want that…then, don’t go!</p>
<p>Considering that this is LSM, the difference in recruiting is actually significant. Dual degree students do get better placements. Not sure if this is the case with LSM too but I know M&T guarantees you two internships (the school hooks you up and they’re generally better than anything you could find yourself as an underclassman). Dual degree programs also have a much more dedicated alum base that you can tap for internships etc.</p>
<p>While you have said that asking people on Wall Street which is stronger, Duke or Dartmouth, would yield more D-mouth responses, from my own personal experience I have found that not to be true. My mother is involved in financial reporting and emailed a couple of her friends in the Wall Street sector to see how good is Duke, to which the obvious response was a positive. I then had her ask how Duke compares to Dartmouth, just to see what they thought, and the response was mostly split (I believe it was 6 Duke, 5 Dartmouth or something like that, but I remember Duke had 1 more). </p>
<p>So yes, D-mouth getting nearly as many as Duke despite the fact the school is half the size is impressive. However, I think Duke’s reputation is equally if not stronger than Dartmouth’s. Besides, the weather is phenomenal, sports incredible, and school spirit lively. Go with Duke</p>
<p>Haha thanks guys…I prbly will head off to Wharton just cuz that LSM program seems too hard 2 turn down. However, we’ll see what happens when I get all my final financial packages put together.</p>
<p>I got into Wharton and Dartmouth. Wasn’t sure about business, so I chose Dartmouth. Great choice, I might be doing engineering.</p>
<p>If you’re set on ibanking, go for Wharton…probably. I can’t say Wharton is better for ibanking because there are definitely a lot of people at Dartmouth who get ibanking jobs. Also, even though Dartmouth has a reputation of feeding out ibankers, most of the people here DON’T want to go into finance. If you’re sure about finance, you’ll have an edge here.</p>