<p>What's the difference between these two programs? I know that CAS offers a BA and Wharton offers a BS but when it comes to job placement in say investment banking, equity trading, or similar, how much does it matter?</p>
<p>Also, if i were to major in econ at CAS, would i be able to take some Wharton courses?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>Even though the Wharton degree is called a B.S. in Economics, that’s for historical reasons (going back over 100 years), and to distinguish it from the usual BBA. You can’t really major in Economics in Wharton–only in CAS. The Wharton program is a more practically focussed business program (finance, accounting, management, marketing, etc.) with a large liberal arts component (up to almost 50%), whereas CAS offers a pure liberal-arts curriculum.</p>
<p>And anyone in CAS can take Wharton courses. Penn encourages such flexibility in all 4 of its undergrad schools through its vaunted “One University” policy, so that undergrads can take courses in the 3 other undergad schools AND in most of the grad and professional schools (Law School, Annenberg School for Communications, School of Design, School of Social Policy and Practice, Graduate School of Education, etc.).</p>
<p>In terms of job placement prospects between CAS and Wharton, you can look through the last 5 or 6 years worth of career surveys for CAS here:</p>
<p>[College</a> of Arts and Sciences Career Surveys](<a href=“http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/college/careersurveys.html]College”>http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/college/careersurveys.html)</p>
<p>and for Wharton, here:</p>
<p>[Wharton</a> Undergraduate Career Surveys](<a href=“http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/wharton/surveys.html]Wharton”>http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/wharton/surveys.html)</p>
<p>Many of the firms that come to Penn to recruit in the fields you mentioned, do so because of the presence of Wharton, but CAS students are not barred from also interviewing with those firms, and many of them do. However, it is the strength and preeminence of Wharton that attracts the most selective firms in those fields. Nevertheless, as you’ll see in the CAS career surveys, CAS economics majors also do fairly well in getting jobs in those fields.</p>
<p>coursework varies as well, BA Econ you are taking a broad liberal arts curriculum with many courses in many fields, also Econ is theoretical discipline</p>
<p>wharton is more for people who want to focus on applied business courses: accounting, ethics, marketing, finance, management etc</p>
<p>If you want to be asked all day in interviews why you didn’t go to Wharton, go do Economics in CAS.</p>
<p>If you want to be considered (silently) a second-class citizen when you do take Wharton classes, go do Economics in CAS.</p>
<p>^^ That’s a bit harsh.</p>
<p>Ya…but what crescent said is very sad…but its equally true.</p>
<p>I feel like there’s this view that Wharton students look at CAS students as second class citizens…and I really don’t understand it. Seriously, CAS people have sooo much more work than Wharton students (unless you’re dual which is excluded here). I do like no work for my Wharton classes…I’ll have problem sets due here and there but honestly…not a big deal. Maybe some do…but I don’t.</p>
<p>This thread is silly. A Wharton degree and an CAS econ degree are two different beasts with little in common beyond that they BOTH help you find a great job or grad school.</p>
<p>It’s still true the biggest determinant of life success is the person himself/herself, not whether his economics degree is from College or Wharton. </p>
<p>Economics is a decent College program- I have a friend who got that degree, then went Harvard Law and just made partner at a top Phila. law firm, but that’s a different track than the typical person contemplating college vs. wharton.</p>
<p>As someone who did plenty of OCR interviews I was never asked once why I was an Econ major in the college instead of in Wharton. Granted I didn’t have any ibd interviews, that was more a factor of me not having finance internships. I have college friends in numerous majors who have had offers in ibd at many of the big name banks. Recruiting is more about your grades, experiences, and networking than your major. Wharton students tend to hit the ground running more than college students because they tend to be more preprofessional and gear their freshman summers towards future jobs.</p>