HI there, I’m a high school senior who has recently been accepted into some amazing schools, but I am having a difficult time deciding. My goal in life is to become a career politician, and I plan on studying law as well. That being said, I have been accepted and narrowed my choices down to Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, Duke, and the Wharton Business School. I am unsure of which school to attend, and whether I should weigh the social scene and atmosphere of Duke over the prestige of Wharton and the political opportunities of Georgetown. Any thoughts?
bump
Guessing you will fit right in at Duke.
Guessing you will fit right in at Duke.
Wharton will give you an edge for business but it may actually make getting into a top law school more difficult (competition can be intense). Duke has always had a reputation for being an excellent feeder to the nation’s best law schools.
Georgetown. Why not start where you want to end up?
This is a no-brainer if you are a very strong student.
Penn is ranked higher than the other two for undergrad, business, law, medicine, engineering, education. Whatever you decide to do, Penn does it well.
@jenniferclint is right. The reason to choose the other two would be to find a lower level of competition.
Penn is one spot higher than Duke on US News and Forbes and 3 spots lower on the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education list. Duke is marginally more selective (as of 2018).
I really don’t think people should be making decisions based on such minor differences. Saying that it’s a “no brainer” is the definition of hyperbole.
Probably worth mentioning that the last definitive ranking of “feeder schools” had Duke at 6 and Penn at 16.
http://www.inside-higher-ed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/wsj_college_092503.pdf
Two family members will agree with the me. The third will not. Georgetown for government. Wharton for business. Duke for pretty uniforms.
If your goal is law and politics, Wharton doesn’t make much sense.
Why take up a valuable spot at Wharton from someone who will really benefit from a Wharton education and degree?
@JenniferClint "Probably worth mentioning that the last definitive ranking of “feeder schools” had Duke at 6 and Penn at 16.
http://www.inside-higher-ed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/wsj_college_092503.pdf"
The word definitive is an epic fail, or at least badly misleading. In at least two cases, Penn and Chicago, they appear to “feed” fewer students to top programs because many of their best candidates sub-mat and dual-enroll right there. Sometimes top students can do this as early as the end of sophomore year. The schools are quietly self-dealing for mutual benefit. These students are grad students who aren’t alums of anywhere, so if the list maker compares the enrolled grad students to alumni, they can’t find them and they are undercounted. In reality, both schools take care of their own students and offer them opportunities that other students do not have access to. You would have to add their sub-mat percentages to the feeder percentages to get a true picture.
All great schools so there is no right or wrong choice. Personally, I’d go Wharton. It will give you a great background for anything you decide to do and Penn is known to have a good balance of academics and social life. Also keep in mind that the majority of applicants at many of the top law schools have a couple of years of work experience and a Wharton degree could help you to get a great job right after undergrad if you decide to go that route.
That WSJ “feeder” study is about 15 years old, I think.
AFAIK, it was never repeated by WSJ or corroborated by any other study.
I applied to Wharton due to my passion for Economics and Public Policy, which is a concentration that they offer and I intend on pursuing if I go. I’m just wondering which school is most worth the money and gives the best experience for what I want to do.
Congrats to getting into all of these amazing schools!!! Just curious… How did you decide
@kmancool Georgetown matches best with your future ambitions, not only for education but for internships and networking as well.
Is there a difference in cost? Which one did you pick?
Wharton bad for politics. God forbid our politicians know how to balance a budget. Also current president went there. Like him or not it was a pretty good place for politics. CC can be absurd.
Congratulations and anxious to hear what you decided? My son had the same final decision and choose Duke based purely on personal fit. Wharton felt too intense while Gtown seemed like a continuation of his HS. I suspect everyone would be unique in this regard.
I hope you followed your heart. My advice was pretty simple; don’t listen to anyone, you have earned the ability to be left alone and go where you see yourself mos happy. Great options all around!
what do you mean by continuation of hs? could you please elaborate?