I am in the middle of deciding whether or not to apply to Penn (Wharton) or Georgetown(McDonough) early. I have currently applied to Penn ED but Georgetown has given me till the 20th to pull that app and apply to them early instead. I don’t really know what exactly in business I want to pursue. I think it would be more along the lines of corporate law as I plan to go to law school after college. What say you? I am looking for a great overall experience in college as well.
I also have a 36 ACT, 1550 SAT, 800 Math level 2, and am in the top 3 of my grade with a lot of great extracurriculars.
I would stay with Penn unless you are strongly Catholic and have a real preference for Georgetown.
Wharton is an excellent business school and you will meet amazing peers. Also, Penn allows you to sub-matriculate into their law school, which is significantly higher ranked than Georgetown’s.
What if I like the community feel at Georgetown more? Its a centralized campus too.
Why did Georgetown give you the extra time? Are you recruited for some reason or another? Do you just basically prefer Georgetown to Penn? If you truly like Georgetown better than Penn, and would choose it over Penn were you accepted to both, than switch your ED to Georgetown.
Your ED application should go only your very first choice. The place you would absolutely drop any other for. Not merely to a place where you believe you will have an admissions edge for filing early. To be honest, it looks to me like you don’t have a real first choice over all others. Maybe you should apply everywhere RD instead.
I think you will get a great education at Georgetown. If you feel like it is a better fit, then you should apply there.
Fit matters. I am not sure what you mean by community feel, but Penn students are known for developing close relationships with one another. Those relationships are why they have such a strong alumni network. Penn social life tends to center around the campus. Also, Penn definitely has a centralized campus.
Having said that, if you are focused on law school, and are not really interested in working in business, then Georgetown may be better. Penn is challenging school for everyone. If you are not really interested in your classes, it can be especially difficult. The classes tend to balance book learning with more hands-on applied projects and be geared toward really smart doers who are invested in the thing that they are doing. If that isn’t the type of business program you are really interested in, then Georgetown would probably be better.
In the end, you have to decide what is a better fit for you.
@NeedInfo1244 Objectively Penn wins hand down both for business and law and also overall as an undergraduate choice. The law school submatriculation option for Penn undergrads and the penn in Washington program are great opportunities you should look into. Now that said, fit is also important. If you really love Gtown and you would hate it at penn, then it might make sense to go with Gtown.
Assuming you’ve already visited both schools, if you really liked Georgetown and definitely disliked Penn, then choose Georgetown. However, if you liked both schools and don’t feel you’d have any problem with attending either one, but just liked Georgetown a little better - then you should go with Penn.
As others have stated, Penn is simply the stronger, more highly regarded school in both business and law. Unless there’s something about Penn that you just flat out disliked, you should choose Penn.
“What if I like the community feel at Georgetown more? Its a centralized campus too.”
And Penn is lacking in those domains? Penn’s campus is centralized too…and has a great community feel. You are basing your preference on very limited exposure to either campus/community. How long have you spent on either campus? 10, maybe 20 hours? It takes years to discover a university. I fail to understand the difference between those two schools. Both are urban, both are private, both are elite.
As such, I recommend you not overthink this. If you do, you are bound to confuse yourself further. In your case, Penn makes better sense. If your interests lay in international relations, I would have recommend Georgetown. But for undergraduate business, Penn is best.
I do not agree with others when it comes to Law though. When it comes to law school placement, Penn and Georgetown are roughly equal (I don’t see how a degree from one of those two schools will be regarded better than that from the other), and both of them have T14 law school of their own that enroll many of their own alumni.
Still, in your case, Penn makes better sense.
@Alexandre “both of them have T14 law school.”
US News Ranking
Georgetown law school is #T15 with 75% employed 10 months after graduation.
Penn law school is #7 with 94% employed 10 months after graduation.
You will do well at either. Go with you gut.
Of course Wharton would be my #1 for business But … Georgetown is ranked #1 by LinkedIn as a Wall Street Feeder. Foreign Service and Government majors may be superior at Georgetown. Both campuses have too many bars … just speaking as a parent who knows these neighborhoods too well.
@NeedInfo1244 I agree with @Burgermeister…you can do well at both places. McDonough places well too. While Wharton has a few big name firms recruiting there, you also face a cutthroat competition of wall street jockeys. I also agree with you that Penn’s neighborhood is no Georgetown. If you like Georgetown, go to Georgetown.
OK, I know I’m starting to drift from the original question, but a few weeks ago I heard someone from Berkeley describe the school’s educational methodology as being geared toward self-motivated students. In other words, you’re on your own. I laughed out loud when I heard that.
@GeorgeN This is not correct. The Penn name does not carry the same lay prestige as HYP for sure, but in business and finance circles Penn is up there with Harvard in terms of prestige due to Wharton. The two strongest names on Wall Street are Harvard and Wharton. Lay prestige and prestige in business finance/circles are completely different things.
Anyway unless there is a financial issue at play, imo the only places that it could potentially make sense to turn down Wharton for is HYPSM. A decent number of people still choose Wharton even over HYPSM.
What’s up with the gratuitous swipe at Cornell (Cornell’s alumni network is non-existent???) in a discussion about Penn and Georgetown? In any case, Cornell has a huge alumni network in business and law (OP’s interests). Moreover, Cornell is comprised of multiple schools: engineering, hotel (now business) architecture, art and planning, arts and sciences, life sciences and agriculture, ILR, Human Ecology. Although alumni all are Cornell grads, each school has its own particular alumni network as well as the broader university network.
What did you decide to do?
If finance on Wall St becomes the goal, clearly Penn. Yes Georgetown places well too, but not nearly as well as Wharton. Check out Wall Street Oasis for many threads on this topic. Again, that’s for investment banking. If law is the goal, probably a tie.
Both are great schools, well within the top 1%. You can do well in both finance and law at both. Where would you prefer to spend the next four yrs, Philly or DC? Fit is really important as both can get you where you want to go. Happiness meter matters!
“Anyway unless there is a financial issue at play, imo the only places that it could potentially make sense to turn down Wharton for is HYPSM. A decent number of people still choose Wharton even over HYPSM.”
None of those schools have undergrad business which is what the OP is comparing.
In general ED is a bad idea for strong applicants like yourself, you’re locked in and you’ll be left wondering what if. Pull out of Penn ED, apply EA to Georgetown and see what happens. We all try to tell students to choose fit over prestige and here you’re getting all this advice to choose prestige (except for much2learn). If you got a 36/1550, you’ll do well on the LSAT and you can apply to other law schools as well, that are gasp! better than Penn. If you’re going to apply to law school look for a curriculum that emphasizes lots of research, analysis, writing, that’s what you’ll be doing in law school. Maybe a minor in history or political science, where shockingly Georgetown is better.
@Penn95 “…in business and finance circles Penn is up there with Harvard in terms of prestige due to Wharton. The two strongest names on Wall Street are Harvard and Wharton.”
Penn’s success on Wall Street is not all due to Wharton. Wall Street firms actively recruit students from CAS and SEAS too. Yes, the majority come from Wharton, but it is really the combination of grads from all three schools that puts Penn in a unique position relative to Wall Street.
Similarly, you will find that in the Technology industry, it is not only grads from SEAS, but also CAS and Wharton grads that are having an impact. Penn grads have a flexibility in choosing their careers that is very unusual.