<p>In terms of the intelligence of the students, the rankings should be</p>
<p>nursing, cas, seas, wharton, nursing+wharton, vagellos (or however you spell it), huntsman, M&T</p>
<p>Intelligence with regard to what? Engineers might be a little bit better at computer science (although even this I doubt, since CAS gets some highly skilled programmers), but I would hardly place them above CAS in anything that isn't strictly engineering related, including math and physics.</p>
<p>you cant gauge the intelligence of the applicants like that...</p>
<p>
[quote]
In terms of the intelligence of the students, the rankings should be</p>
<p>nursing, cas, seas, wharton, nursing+wharton, vagellos (or however you spell it), huntsman, M&T
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Pretty ridiculous. All engineers I know are smarter than Whartonites. In contrast to muerteapablo, I also think Engineers are better at math than CAS students. If you don't believe me, just go into an Econ class and see how the kids just don't get the rigorous math.</p>
<p>how about the idea of multiple intelligences? intrapersonal, interpersonal, visual, musical, etc?
i.e. wharton kids are street smart, nursing kids are caring smart, SEAS kids are math smart, CAS kids are everything else that wasn't covered smart
<-- except even this is a huuuuge generalization</p>
<p>yea i agree with crystal above......everyone is good at something different.....a person who get straight A's in Wharton doesn't mean they will get straight A's in nursing.....</p>
<p>The stereotypes and labels are really too broadly applied on this thread, but since it's fun to stereotype anyway, here is my $.02 worth:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>CAS is probably the best for freshmen who don't know exactly what they want to study. CAS is what you make of it- a math major or Vagelos student would probably have the most difficult curriculum at the undergrad level university-wide... then again, there are a bunch of small humanities majors which are probably the easiest way to get a bachelor's degree at Penn.</p></li>
<li><p>SEAS is hard whatever major you choose. CSE110 for non-majors and the Chem/Physics/Calc for Natural sciences sequence freshman year are brutal- the material flies by and the curve sucks (hardly any unintelligent peers to bring down the averages in SEAS). They don't say this anywhere in the admissions materials, but the students who get A's in the 101-102 classes already have AP Physics C Mech and E&M and AP Chem. It's a huge advantage. </p></li>
<li><p>The Wharton core is a lot easier than SEAS conceptually but Accounting 101-102 are surprisingly tough and the curves are harsh. Wharton students, though maybe not as intellectual as CAS students or quantitative as SEAS, are plenty smart and competitive. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>In terms of securing a high-paying job on Wall Street immediately after graduation, Wharton is the way to go (though in the current environment, all the conventional thinking is pretty much out the window...). Most Penn engineers unfortunately don't stay in engineering but work in finance and consulting- that's the case at Columbia SEAS and Princeton SEAS also (i.e. IEOR and ORFE are the most popular engineering majors, respectively). </p>
<p>Interestingly, CAS alumni who work in financial services actually earn more than Wharton graduates in financial services. A 2001 university survey found CAS alumni in finance 10+ years averaged north of $400,000 a year (significantly smaller sample size than Wharton alums in finance though). </p>
<p>In terms of % attaining PhD's, CAS alumni lead the other Penn schools by quite a large margin, though this percentage is fairly low relative to top liberal arts programs, e.g. the College at UChicago, Reed and Swarthmore.</p>
<p>Can you apply to more than one school at UPenn? Likewise, can you apply to just UPenn and not a specific school?</p>
<p>If you're applying to one of the dual degree programs, you can select a single-degree school on your application; otherwise, no. You cannot apply "just to Penn;" you have to apply to a specific school (although the College is the closest you'd get to "just Penn").</p>
<p>If you read the thread at the top of the Penn page, you'd know that :P.
There's more info there.</p>