<p>I made a promise to my son when he was 12 that if he did the best he could in school, I would allow him to apply to any school of his choice. He was accepted to Wharton and his fall back was the University of Chicago. Are there any Wharton grads who can give me an idea of what to expect for jobs, assuming he maintains quality work in all his classes. Just wondering as I put off retirement for some time to pay for this. We are a very lower end middle class family, so I have no idea of the real business world. Any replies would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Hi, my brother graduated from Wharton last year magna cum laude. I can tell you that Wharton kids get the best jobs. The average starting salary after a Wharton undergrad degree is ~70,000. Currently, my brother works on Wall Street and makes $150,000/yr. Your son should definitely matriculate to Penn, Wharton is the best undergraduate business program in the US. Your son can expect to work anywhere in New York, California, Philadelphia, or any other major city. Businesses from all over the US recruit Wharton kids because they are the best.</p>
<p>Check out the last 6 years of Wharton Undergraduate Career Plans Survey Reports:</p>
<p>[Career</a> Services, University of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/undergrad/reports.html]Career”>http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/undergrad/reports.html)</p>
<p>It’s hard to beat Wharton for undergraduate job placement in the business world.</p>
<p>And congratulations to him–and to you! You must be very proud of him!</p>
<p>Thank you very much. My wife and I are very pleased for him, and he will be competing for PENN in athletics too. He earned his way in though, #1 out of 403 and 2310 SAT’s. He liked PENN so much, he wouldn’t even bother applying to Stanford which is only 1.5 hours away.</p>
<p>Of course there are no guarantees, but Wharton does have an excellent track record of placing its graduates with top tier companies at both the undergraduate and graduate level. I would add a little color to the data provided you by 45 Percenter. The career track is biased towards certain (generally high-paying) industries such as management consulting, investment banking, financial services. But if those industries don’t interest him, many other Wharton grads go into a variety of different careers which, although they may pay less than the three I cited, are still rewarding in their own right. Wharton also has an excellent entrepreneurship department. Who knows, your son may decide to start his own business one day!</p>
<p>BTW, Penn is great for athletics, too. I’m sure you know that the annual Penn Relays are one of the top running events in the nation.</p>
<p>Congrats to your son. Wharton and U Chicago are both amazing schools, so he really can’t go wrong whichever path he choses.</p>
<p>This is an interesting question. I hope my kid comes out as a decent human being, with a strong sense of humility and confidence and competence first and foremost.</p>
<p>After that, I hope she charts her own path and doesn’t get caught up living up to others expectations.</p>
<p>I say that because almost anyone that hears she is at Wharton says “she’s going to be a millionaire” or something like that.</p>
<p>I’ve always taught my kids to pursue their passions and to make sure that money works for them and not the other way around.</p>
<p>But it’s nice to know they can take care of themselves.</p>
<p>My son has graduated from Wharton quite a few years ago so I can give some insight as to how things have worked him for him and his friends. As you know, all Whartonites are the top students at their high schools so your son is competing with the best students nationally. Almost all of the core classes are curved, so the competition is rather stiff.
My son was a starter on his HS varsity sport team and his team won the CCS title when he was a jr. (Yes we are from the Bay Area). However, he decided NOT to play his sports at Penn because it required substantial time commitment. He chose to participate in sprint football, a sport at Penn that has a no-cut policy and the season is short and ends around Thanksgiving. Since he was a good athlete but never played football in his life, he was able to be a starter in his sophomore year and they won a national championship.</p>
<p>As far as salaries are concerned, only consulting and finance (investments and banking) pay the kind of salaries that are so tempting to students. GPAs are extremely important in the selection process. As for jobs, Wharton will open many doors but success is dependent on the student himself. In investment banking and high level finance, there is a weeding out process at every turn. You are being ranked against your peers and your bonus is dependent on your performance. My son said a lot of his classmates did well early and some just faded away, at school and at the professional level.Among his closest friends, they are all doing very well and able to repay their school loans if they had any.</p>
<p>Wharton is not just about finance, the school offers 20 concentrations and of course the pay levels differ. Encourage your son to follow his passion because you can only be successful and happy in something you like to do.</p>
<p>Yeah – this is definitely a no-brainer. Career placement for Wharton is amazing and unmatched by any school in the U.S. (Harvard is a close second).</p>