<p>My main problem is that I want to go to the best school possible but at the same time I also want to ensure that my chances for externally transferring into Wharton School at Penn. are leveraged. </p>
<p>My question is, if I want to go into investment-banking or hedge funds on Wall Street, how could I maximize my connections and respect as an entering employee?</p>
<p>I really want to go to Wharton, but was denied ED. I know that it will get me the connections and respect I need. So that's why Im in desperate need to transfer to it. </p>
<p>If I get an Econ major degree from RU, then it won't get me to the same place that an Econ degree from Wharton would get me. At the same time, at Northwestern, I might be pressed to study all the time and might not be able to get a high enough GPA and enough ECs to transfer out to a place like Wharton (that is assuming i GET off the waitlist at Northwestern).</p>
<p>your post tells me 1) you are afraid of study and 2) you are hedging all of your bets on Wharton being the gate to success. Hedge fund managers spent a lot of time studying companies and going over details. They don't just swing trades from Ivy towers over Manhattan. They visit sites and know key persons at organizations. And if you don't bring results you are fired, regardless of your educational credentials. There is no second chance when you are dealing with people's money.</p>
<p>Thanks Calif_dad for your response. I feel that what you ahve said is very true about me "hedging my bets" on the prospect of transferring to Wharton, but you see I feel that the connections and respect I would gain from graduating from Wharton would by far trump those that I would earn at Northwestern and most definitely Rutgers U. However, seeing as to how I need to leverage myself in a position favorable to get accepted into Wharton as an external transfer, I am asking for some suggestions as to a "risk-analysis" on what I should do.</p>
<p>Why is Wharton the only place you can get these intangible "connections and respect" you're looking for? Why not get them on the job, or in grad school? And how do you know you want to go into hedge funds in the first place? What if you change your mind in the next two years?</p>
<p>This is not as you describe a "huge predicament" because you have limited options that are real, and the rest are hopes and dreams....and somewhat misdirected ones at that</p>
<p>Your priorities are skewed. You are too hung up on the notion of "connections and respect." Respect in anything is EARNED not granted. This applies to all things in life. You won't be granted respect from a job title...it must be earned, nor will having a degree from any given school grant you respect......it just doesn't happen that way in the real world. As far as connections are concerned, they will flow to those with family ties and legacies and to the rest of the world are only there for the most deserving. If you are afraid of doing poorly at Northwestern, why would you think that mediocre performance at Wharton (or anywhere) would get you the "respect and connections" you so desire. I only ask because I have never heard that Northwestern is more rigorous than Wharton, in fact they are peers from that perspective I would think. You must also remember that Wharton grants preferential admission to those already at Penn enrolled at one of the other schools like the College before looking at transfers from outside.</p>
<p>You played the ED game at Wharton and lost. I know of numerous people who applied to the College instead of Wharton (since if you are rejected at Wharton, you aren't still eligible for admission to the College), did well and transferred into Wharton after freshman year. Perhaps this should have been your undergrad admission strategy but it is too late for that now.</p>
<p>Do well anywhere as an undergrad and, if you must, go to Wharton for grad school....though it is certainly not the only place with credibility on Wall Street. The rules of the game are changing and most top Wall Street IB houses are looking for work experience AND a post grad degree. They do hire out of undergrad with the great majority of hires coming from their intern pools from between junior and senior year. While they do recruit at Penn and other Ivies they also take interns from schools like UVA and UNC as well. What is happening more and more though is that in order to rise in the ranks of hedge fund firms or IB houses, people are leaving to pursue advanced degrees.</p>
<p>what is your huge predicament. you only have one school to go to now RU. you didn't get into penn and your waitlisted at Northwestern. work hard and transfer next year.</p>
<p>Thanks for your insightful response, eadad.</p>
<p>While I do realize that I "lost" at the ED game at Wharton, I was prescribed by many a strategy to apply to the school of engineering and applied sciences and backdoor my way through. After earning a good SAT score prior to decisions(1540/1600 or 2230/2400 [with writing section]) I became excited and suddenly wrote a letter to be considered for Wharton because I didn't think I wanted to endure an year of engineering just to transfer.</p>
<p>Right now, I am sitting here waiting of my decision to Northwestern (waitlisted). I have already received my decision from Rutgers, which is definitely closer to relatives of mine whom I could be near. Also, Rutgers is cheaper substantially for me. Northwestern, however, offers an education that definitely trumps Rutgers thanks to it's status and view in the eyes of others. Northwestern is also about 50K/yr, which is definitely very expensive. I have also not gotten the chance to visit northwestern's campus. </p>
<p>I feel that right now my heart is still set on getting into Wharton. Career wise I'm looking at hedge funds or maybe i-banking, although the hours seem too extreme for me. I also might veer off into medicine if none of this seems to work out for me. That's why I'm deeply considering Rutgers Econ, because 1) I'll have an easier time acing it and getting a very high GPA with a good extracurricular and social life than I would if I were at Northwestern, 2) It's cheaper, 3) location wise it's better, 4) BUT it doesnt command the same prestige that Northwestern does.</p>
<p>Think of it this way.</p>
<p>An employer sees an A-Student from Northwestern and an A-Student from Rutgers. Northwestern obviously get's the advantage just based on that statistic of GPA. Nothing else considered. In the same way, Wharton just has that appeal about it's name alone. It's just like owning a Mercedes Benz.</p>
<p>Getting into Wharton as a transfer is one of the hardest transfers out there. If you end up at RU (is that Rochester?) I think you'll probably be aiming at some less competitive schools for transfer. Wall Street.hedge fund jobs are extremely hard if you don't go to one of a handful of schools undergrad, but you have another opportunity for grad schools. Do great undergrad, get the best job possible and work like a dog and then try Wharton for grad school.</p>
<p>Actually, it's not at all obvious to me that the Northwestern student would get the advantage.</p>
<p>OP, you seem to have what I would regard as a very strange set of priorities when it comes to choosing a school. You're looking for a place whose name alone "commands prestige", where you can get a good GPA easily so that hedge funds will hire you when you graduate. But have you considered where you will learn better? From what I've heard, if you cruise through college getting easy A's while not getting the best education you can, you won't survive hedge fund interviews. Furthermore, you're setting yourself up to hate your college years. You don't seem concerned at all about where you will fit in well, or where you will have an enjoyable four years. You only get a chance to go through college once, so I suggest you make the most of it. Worry about your hedge fund career later.</p>
<p>And speaking of which, let me reiterate that you may decide in the next two years that the financial world is not for you. IMHO, it's never good to lock yourself into a career track right out of high school. So in making your choices, please consider what will happen if you change your mind.</p>
<p>rutgers is alot closer to nyc and the alum network there is very strong...i don't see what the problem is with just going there. You'll get all the connections you'll need if yer good enough to get into Wharton as a transfer.</p>
<p>Why are you SO caught up with status? I mean you are so desperate to look good in the eyes of others that you might make a bad decision for your own welfare. Please go where you desire, not where others desire.</p>
<p>Understand also that you have to LIVE somewhere for 3 or 4 years, and if you are miserable, no amount of prestige can bail you out (as evidenced by the near annual suicides at almost any top school you could name...an extreme example, but not an unimportant one). Way back in the day, my mother went for the prestige grab (at UPenn, coincidentally, although at the College), mostly because she didn't know any better and didn't have anyone to tell her otherwise. It was an Ivy, it was the most prestigious school that she got into, and so she went. And HATED it, so, so much that she spent only a year there and transferred away. The prestige didn't do anything for her when there were no activities to get involved with, no ways to meet people, and a scary city that she hadn't anticipated all around the campus. The classes were top-notch, and the name was certainly pretty, but that didn't do anything for her misery at being there, and she was desperate to transfer away. Now, you could laugh and say that she transferred to if anything a MORE prestigious school (Princeton, which of course no longer accepts transfers--from what other posters are saying, it seems like Wharton might as well not accept them), but she didn't transfer because of the prestige; she transferred because it offered her a much more palatable college experience. </p>
<p>Plus, life is rarely a straight line, and even if you decide that you do want to continue in the financial world, having an extremely prestigious undergrad degree is unnecessary since in all likelihood you will eventually get an MBA. Make the prestige grab there, if you like, but don't become obsessed with it now.</p>
<p>going to a well known school with a good program won't insure you the connections and respect that you're looking for. like eadad mentioned, you have to "earn" respect. having connections won't help you a bit unless you can prove yourself to the employers. just because you know someone doesn't mean they have the obligation to hire you over someone else if you're not as qualified.</p>
<p>Recently I had the chance to speak to a hedge fund manager worth over $100 million who was an economics major at the top ivy league school he went to, worked for two years in investment banking and then went to Harvard Business school. I asked him about the benefits today of getting an undergraduate business degree versus just majoring in economics at a top tier school and the importance of an MBA. He has a great deal of experience in the field. He told me that today the MBA is really only preferred in certain fields like investment banking, and some areas of commercial banking. He did tell me however that his experience has been that when competing for similar jobs, an applicant with an undergraduate degree at Wharton is not considered superior to an applicant who did not go to an undergraduate business school, but rather was an economics major at a top tier school. Basically what he said is that if two candidates walked in the door, one with an undergraduate business degree from Wharton, and the other with a B.A. in economics from some other top school, the one who went to Wharton will not have an advantage over the other. Those who go to Wharton will say otherwise.. Wharton is very highly regarded, but getting an undergraduate degree from Wharton does not make someone more competitive than an applicant who for that matter has a B.A. in economics from Duke or Princeton or University of Pennsylvania arts and sciences.
I would go to the best school you get into where you will be happy and where you can pursue your interest in business. Realize it is very difficult to transfer to Wharton, but not going to Wharton will not prevent you from being successful</p>
<p>There is no question that lots of Wharton undergrads get a great starting position and never go back for the MBA. The ivy art history major who wants a top job in business will have to get the MBA more often than not. Wharton isn't better but it's a head start for many jobs that are sought after.</p>