<p>How does this affect one’s future academic pursuits and interactions in the areas of work and such?</p>
<p>uhhhh why would you go to wharton then</p>
<p>More often than not, people change their minds as to what they want to do in college while they are actually there (someone interested in engineering upon applying may turn out to be a lawyer, etc). I am curious and want to know what people do when they change their minds in this same way at Wharton.</p>
<p>Because they grew less interested over their first 3 years and then decided to complete the degree.</p>
<p>This is just a guess Max but if the world of big money doesn't appeal to you I do believe that nonprofit and/or other areas where you might feel better about the whole money game would be very possible.</p>
<p>That was not the purpose behind my question, however. I meant that Wharton seems very preprofessional and geared towards certain fields of trade, but if someone suddenly decides that business is not for them after completing Wharton, what is their "status" so to speak compared to others who have graduated from schools that are not so "Trade-schoolesque"</p>
<p>That is the problem with vocational degrees isn't it?</p>
<p>But...</p>
<p>The Wharton undergrad curriculum doesn't look all that different than the College. You've got 7 L/A classes, a language, and 5 electives. So hopefully before you hit your senior year you'll have noticed you're losing interest in "business" and used some electives exploring other areas.</p>
<p>But if you get all the way to Franklin Field on some sunny May morning before it hits you.... just think of your shiny new BS Econ as just another bachelor's degree ,then open the Sunday paper and look for jobs that call for one. </p>
<p>More seriously, here's the list of what Econ majors have done recently:</p>
<p>If you're already thinking twice about Wharton, and you're not IN Wharton, why don't you just save yourself the trouble and stay in the College?</p>
<p>I am just planning ahead and keeping options open</p>
<p>lol then isn't staying the college more liberal/open?</p>
<p>Zant I swear if you keep questioning me I am going to lay down something unsavory in your breakfast</p>
<p>I buy my breakfast after I get to work, but you eat dinner at my house and I pack your lunch for you, so I think you should be the one to worry about your food, not me.</p>
<p>Don't you dare threaten me.</p>
<p>Chill out it was a joke, relax.</p>
<p>so was Zante's post, YOU relax ;)</p>
<p>To best answer your question, you would need to say what other types of options you considering besides business. If you want to go into law or politics or something in that general direction, Wharton would be pretty good as well with their Public Policy and Legal Studies majors. Heck, they even have Environmental Management and Healthcare Management, if that floats your boat. But if you want to go into academia or something less "professional", it would be more difficult to adapt.</p>
<p>Of course, I'm biased and I reccomend for you to stay in the College...FOREVER :p</p>
<p>Getting a Lib Arts degree leads to a few things:
1. Straight into the workplace aka business type jobs which then require you to get an MBA later on since you don't have any business knowledge.
2. Grad schools - JD/MD/MA/MS/PhD. These lead to either academia, other professional careers (lawyer, doctor, etc.) or business again. </p>
<p>Getting an UG business degree leads to a few things:
1. Straight into the business world; later on you might get an MBA
2. Grad schools - JD/MD/MA/MS/PhD. These lead to either academia, other professional careers (lawyer, doctor, etc.) or business again. </p>
<p>So essentially there isn't much difference in getting a libarts v. ug business degree. You end up in similar places...</p>
<p>legend: a good amount of people in wharton finish up and decide not to go into business. Many go to law school, med school, or grad programs and then get jobs in those fields...they fare well because they are smart people with good educations.</p>
<p>I think it's pretty simple. If you have any doubts at all that in the future you won't like business, I don't see why you would go to Wharton. If you don't know what you want or are unsure of what you want, you shouldn't throw yourself into something that you won't want to do.</p>
<p>Just do what you like and you'll be fine.</p>
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<p>Haha who in their right mind would ever do that? Certainly not me! Err...uhhhh...yeah <em>shifts eyes nervously</em></p>
<p>While bern's advice is essentially true, Wharton's curriculum is less flexible with less academic freedom than the College (professional school = more requirements). So if you decide later that you don't like business at all, then you might be overwhelmed with the finance/stat/accounting courses that are required or whatever. But it's still true that you'll have great options in many fields besides business with a wharton degree.</p>
<p>That is why folks in the professional world will tell you to get your undergrad degree in something like Economics or Liberal Arts. It gives you the freedom to pursue other interest if business is not for you, but you can also go into the business arena with a BA in something if you choose.</p>
<p>Good question. Its not that people who go to Wharton and end up doing other things didn't want to go into business/IB/consulting in the first place, its that they got to Wharton and then decided they liked something else better. Its absolutely possible to get a Wharton undergrad degree and then pursue something else and in fact, the undergrad degree will give you some advantages. I went to law school after Wharton, and I had friends who went on to get grad degrees in computer science, went to med school, PhDs in finance etc. I'm sure you realize though that Wharton is extremely pre-professional. Every year there are only about 5-10 people total [out of 400-450 graduates] that go onto anything besides IB or consulting. Thus, if you have an interest in other fields or grad programs, you're really going to have to be proactive and you can't expect your professors or advisors to know much about grad school, med school etc.</p>
<p>If you end up going to Wharton and deciding that you want to pursue something else, I'd encourage you to take every advantage of the opportunities that Wharton presents. I would still pursue the same type of internships and/or research positions that every Wharton student does because it will give you a highly developed resume for when you graduate at age 22. This way, if you go into another field or graduate program, when you start interviewing for the jobs that you ultimately want, you will have not only a big name undergrad degree but also a number of internships in business throughout college; many other people from your grad program will not have this or anything close to this so it will set you apart and you'll be able to cogently explained what drew you to your current field and what you learned from being a wharton undergrad/doing business internships. You'd be surprised how many people go to Ivy undergrads and major in a liberal arts area and go to great law/med/PhD programs, but when they are looking for attorney/resident-MD/or PhD type positions, their resumes still show that every summer in college, they worked at Barnes & Noble or life guarded. Hope this helps--feel free to post/PM other questions.</p>