I’m an international student applying in the 2015/2016 cycle. If you’re curious about my stats, I would say that my overall portfolio would put me in decent stead to try for the ivy leagues but they will definitely still be “reaches” for me, especially considering the fact that I am an international student.
I intend to study major in Economics at university and hopefully go into finance/banking if possible. I recognize that in accordance with that Wharton should be the dream school. However, I really love New York City and going to Columbia would help me to taste a wider variety of subjects.
My questions are:
Which schools have lower admission rates for ED (i.e. which is harder to get into)? Although the ED rates for UPenn and Columbia are available online, they do not specify the admission rate of Wharton specifically. Could anyone comment on this please (I’m not from the US so I don’t have sufficient knowledge/exposure to infer).
However: I’m assuming Wharton should be HYSPM-level hard to get into, making it harder to ED into than Columbia?
Does Wharton really give you a lot more opportunities banking/finance wise than Columbia?
@jemster1996 Wharton admit rate is not available but i d guess(based on the respective size of the incoming class at each of the four Penn ugrad schools and the overall Penn ugrad rate) that it is prob around 8%. College and seas around around 9-10 and nursing is much higher. Penn is an amazing school and will give you great opportunities in banking. Penn has always been number 1 for finance. However you will have the same opportunities as an Economics major at Penn as you will have as a business major( wharton) at Penn since they are open to all ugrad students. Also the economics department at Penn has always been ranked higher than columbia’s. You can see the statistics on Penn’s career services website. http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/reports.php#CP
All Penn students do equally well. Also it is nit the case that you will experience more subjects at columbia. Columbia has a core curriculum which basically requires you to take many subjects unrelated to your interests you prob wont want to take. Penn doesn’t have that and you can take a class in any school/field you want, even grad school courses. Also look at these statistics in terms of employment outcomes http://www.thedp.com/article/2015/03/penn-seeking-employment-rate-one-of-lowest-in-country http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/05/30/50-college-diplomas-with-the-highest-pay/
Lastly most of the cross-admits choose Penn over Columbia http://www.parchment.com/c/college/college-rankings.php
Hello! I agree that Penn/Wharton should be your dream school if finance is your interest and you also want a well rounded education. This is for two reasons:
Elite firms are HEAVILY recruiting from Penn, Harvard, Yale and Princeton and recruiting far less from the other Ivies(Source: http://chronicle.com/blogs/percolator/brown-and-cornell-are-second-tier/27565). They've done studies that prove that these 4 schools are deeply (and sometimes, exclusively) favored during the hiring processes at these elite firms. Thus even if you were to major in economics (or another discipline) in the College, you would still benefit from Wharton's presence on campus because, as the best undergraduate business school in the world, it attracts every potential employer to campus and ALL Penn undergraduates are given the same opportunities to pursue jobs with them. So if elite employment is on your radar, Penn is the place to be, regardless of the specific undergraduate school within Penn you choose.
You can still have a wonderfully well rounded education! For example, if you major in Econ in the College, you can have the benefits of a liberal arts education and the career prospects more commonly associated with those of a Wharton student (for evidence, check out the links that @Penn95 posted which demonstrate that students from the College and Engineering are getting those same well paying, prestigious jobs as their peers in Wharton. Keep in mind, however that many fewer students from the College pursue those jobs as compared to Wharton students who are obviously more interested in these positions based on the nature of their educations). And Penn's one university policy allows you take classes in Wharton that can supplement your liberal arts education. Penn also allows you to pursue a dual degree between the two schools if you want to ensure that you have a liberal arts education alongside your business school edu. Or, if you choose to attend Wharton, about 41% of your classes will be taken outside of the Wharton School, ensuring that you have the breadth of a world class education regardless of whether or not you are a student in the liberal arts ( http://undergrad.wharton.upenn.edu/why-wharton/business/ ). Penn's seamless integration across disciplines makes it easy for students of every school to take advantage of all of the resources the university has to offer for each of its students, regardless of the individual part of the institution to which they have matriculated.
3, Finally, New York City is great! I live here now and absolutely love it. (And I was recruited at one of those elite firms along with a horde of other Penn College of Arts and Sciences grads- and 2 Columbia grads with whom I work very closely and admire greatly). However, 4 years in Philadelphia can be a much better option for undergrad. I’m sure upon graduating, based on your intended career path, you will end up in NYC or another comparably large city. This is your chance to get to know a smaller city that you may not have the opportunity to live in again. Plus, while Philly is definitely not NYC, it is still the 5th largest city in the US and you will never be able to take advantage of the vast array of resources made available to you both by the University and Philly alike. Finally, philly isn’t so big that it pulls students away from campus life. New York is enormous and has a magnetism that could potentially dilute the campus culture by drawing students off campus for socializing and more. Philly and Penn are equal forces that provide students with the perfect environment for undergraduate life and urban living. It is the perfect match for someone who wants their city to be an integral component of their education and private life without it distracting from campus life. And don’t forget that Penn is only a 15 minute walk from Center City while Columbia is a 20 minute subway ride from Midtown and even farther from Downtown. That means you are spending more time traveling to get to the action in NYC than you would be when traveling from Penn’s campus to the heart of the city.
In the end, you cannot go wrong with either school. Both are outstanding and will position you well for the jobs you desire. In terms of the specific type of recruiting in which you are interested, All of Penn's undergrad schools undoubtedly have Columbia beaten because of the presence of Wharton which indisputably brings the best firms to campus in a way that other schools do not. But in the end, a motivated student from any Ivy will do INCREDIBLY well during the career search.
