<p>“sabotage your career dreams at the tender age of 18”? really? where are we, some bad stereotype of Japan? I’m going to suggest that there’s some hyperbole in that statement. It’s an undergraduate education, nothing more.</p>
<p>^Agreed. The advice on here of focusing on the bottom 11% at Penn is dubious. Who on earth goes into college expecting to fail? </p>
<p>With that attitude in Cincinnati honors, the OP’s child would stand no chance. And yes, good luck getting investment banking out of Cincinnati. She would have to work that much harder to garner the connections prevalent at wharton. It’s completely apples to oranges. McKinsey gets resume drops from summa cum laude graduates from large state schools all the time (we hire an absolute small minority of these candidates). Rightly or wrongfully, we’ve always picked the cum laude elite private school grad over these summa state school graduates - as the latter fits a prototypical successful candidate mold.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, this is a completely moot discussion. Get into Wharton first. </p>
<p>I haven’t heard anything from the OP about being fixated on a certain career path or a certain company. This is all speculation by other posters. </p>
<p>My point about the bottom of the class at Wharton was simply to remind people that there are no sure things in life and the best-laid plans don’t always work out. Of course everyone expects and wants their kid to be among the rock stars. There’s no question that Wharton is widely regarded as the best business school in the country, both for undergrad and MBA programs and especially for those who aim to work on Wall Street. But for students who might want to go into CPG, marketing, research or other business careers, there are numerous options, and Cincinnati–especially with that package–might be a very wise choice.</p>
<p>The OP actually provided the important information in his post. He asked about Cincinnati honors vs Wharton finance. If she wants to pursue finance and she gets in go to Wharton. The careers doors in finance will open up from Wharton but probalby will not from Cincinnati, especially if she wants to go to Wallstreet, or go into investment banking, private equity or hedge funds. If she chose Cincinnati and wanted to pursue thiose career options she will have to get an MBA from a top program. As one poster said earlier you would then have to spend the money you saved later for grand school.</p>
<p>OP we faced a similar issue last year and my son chose Wharton. </p>
<p>The OP will have difficulty getting admitted to an elite MBA program like Wharton from the job opportunities that a schoo like Cincinnati will offer out of undergrad. 2 years ago Wharton didn’t admit a single graduate of 3 of the largest state school systems in the country: Penn State, Arizona State, Ohio State, and Michigan State. All of these schools have a better reputation than Cincinnati to boot.</p>
<p><a href=“http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/08/08/wharton-admissions-as-elitist-as-youd-expect/”>http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/08/08/wharton-admissions-as-elitist-as-youd-expect/</a></p>
<p>I am the original poster. D was waitlisted for Penn/Wharton. Letter said they have taken 50-200 each of the past 4 years from a waitlist of 2000. Not holding our breath, but was pleased with results. Thanks for all who offered insight. Obviously, UC’s Lindner Honors PLUS program needs to blow its own horn more as it is a fantastic program. (Check it out). Highly talented students will succeed no matter where they go. When God closes a door, He opens a window.</p>