Penn CAS, overshadowed by Wharton? For Wall Street/IBanking

Career Opportunities & Internships Investment Banking
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<p>Put this post in the business major section but this forum would probably be better suited for my needs. </p>

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<p>Well I guess obviously CAS is overshadowed, but I want to know to what extent it is.</p>

<p>Let me preface this by saying that I will be a freshman at The Ohio State University, planning to double major in finance and accounting and might minor in political science. Right now I am planning on staying at OSU but I would like to consider all of my options and lets face it, going to OSU doesn't really put me at much of an advantage for finance/IBanking. But I like the school atmosphere and size, so who knows I probably won't want to leave. But I would have to completely kick ass, network my tail off and pester half of Wall Street to find a spot. I don't mind doing it, but I'd like to look at every option. </p>

<p>But anyways, I've made a couple of different threads/posted in a few talking about this, but wanted to go here and see what you had to say. </p>

<p>I've been advised to steer clear of Penn CAS for IBanking/Wall Street jobs because Wharton always overshadows CAS and makes it harder for a CAS Econ kid to break in.</p>

<p>Then someone else told me that Wharton helps CAS out because Wharton attracts a lot of recruiters, who will invariably look at CAS kids too while they are recruiting. </p>

<p>So I am not sure. Wharton is extremely hard to transfer into and CAS is pretty tough too but my chances are certainly better at CAS than they would be at Wharton.</p>

<p>^^^Basically that sums up my dilemma. I know Wharton would be better for my career goals, but it is extremely hard to transfer into. Penn CAS is different on the other hand. Pretty hard to transfer into, but at least somewhat possible and they do take quite a few transfers a year apparently. Still no sure thing. Career prospects should be good, but I am just an 18 year that used to live in NYC and wants to go back haha, so I don't really know what to do. I'm also interested in Poli sci, so I have other (admittedly small) reasons to like CAS and I am not solely doing it for IBanking.</p>

<p>I applied to Penn CAS out of high school and was rejected. 4.2something W GPA, 3.8ish UW, 2110 SAT, Eagle Scout, Student Government, worked 1/2 jobs throughout H.S., Eucharistic Minister, won a few awards, AP US History Co-Student of the year, High School's Community Service Award and a few other things. </p>

<p>Debt. Say I get into Penn and receive a FA package similar to the ones they put on their example page. I would only have to borrow $30k tops to attend, could be more like $20k since my sister will be a freshman in college when I am a senior. </p>

<p>So not too bad, but at OSU I would graduate debt free. Penn with $20-30k isn't that bad though and I am not fretting it. I go into USC Marshall and I loved the school when I visited but I would be atleast $80k in debt by the time I graduate. Would have been nice, but not worth it. </p>

<p>So, what do you think? How does CAS stack up? Assuming I will get involved in various business clubs, take Wharton classes when I can, actively seek internships, etc... Still would have to be easier breaking into Wall Street than Ohio State but I would be carrying a little bit of debt, but certainly not crushing debt. </p>

<p>For now I guess I plan on sticking at OSU, kick ass, network my rear off, etc... For now I am leaning towards applying to Wharton as a transfer not CAS. If I get in, Wharton undergrad would be very hard to pass up. Still toying around with applying to CAS since my chances appear to be better (albeit not great) there. </p>

<p>Thanks, any feedback?</p>

<p>Thread I put on the transfer forum
Want to work in Finance but need a lot of Financial Aid!</p>

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<p>One question, if you don’t mind me asking: why are you limiting yourself to Wharton?</p>

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<p>Oh, I didn’t really elaborate in my OP. </p>

<p>Penn was one of my top choices applying out of high school and I would really like to apply again. Like the school, location, vibe, opportunities, etc… But I am not sure which school I should try for, W or CAS. Obviously as a finance major who wants to work in NYC, Wharton would be awesome. But I’m trying to be realistic and know my chances aren’t great at W, albeit that aren’t really that much better at CAS. </p>

<p>But I am thinking about other schools. However, there is a catch. 'Rents have aggreed to fund a generous portion of my education, enough to cover in-state costs with me working and getting a scholarship or two in order to avoid taking out loans. </p>

<p>I got into a couple schools like USC, with pretty generous FA. But for USC my family EFC was nearly 2.5x what my parents said they would pay. Kinda mentioned that in my OP, but I talk more about it in my other thread on the transfer forum. </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/1148398-want-work-finance-but-need-lot-financial-aid.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/1148398-want-work-finance-but-need-lot-financial-aid.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>It is kind of complicated and a lot of things will certainly have to fall into place for me to be able to transfer since I need to transfer to a top top top top school with a big big big big endowment because I am going to need good money. (But I am still willing to take out loans, but not crushing $60-80k debt like I would a some schools). So no easy task. Plus it would kind of suck starting over socially and I’ll be behind since most people at the school will have been together for a year. </p>

<p>So for now I am content staying at OSU and rooting for the soon to be sanctioned and bowl banned Buckeyes!</p>

<p>But anyways, schools on my shortlist that I would like to apply to as a transfer are:</p>

<p>Penn (which school though haha)
Columbia
Dartmouth
Yale (about as good of a shot as Wharton haha)
Northwestern</p>

<p>so I could easily end up getting rejected by all four of those schools</p>

<p>Also thinking about applying for NROTC again and will apply for AROTC this time (didn’t finsh AROTC app in high school)
Though it is really tricky to transfer ROTC scholarships and could get hairy.
It would also solve my career dilemma, hahaha I’d either be a 2nd LT or Ensign depending on branch after graduation. End goal is going to a good MBA program and the GI Bill is sweet and some of Yellow Ribbon schools are just amazing (Dartmouth is really good to vets). </p>

<p>So that would open up my list again, to the likes of USC, UVa, Georgetown, and maybe a few more. But this wouldn’t really matter as much since…well my career is mapped out for me for at least five years haha.</p>

<p>so there it is. kind of complicated so I am happy and content staying at Ohio State. Not impossible to break into Wall Street from there but I definitely have my work cut out for me.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>Have you considered NYU Stern, Cornell, Georgetown, Duke, Williams, or Amherst? These are targets but I’m not familiar with their aid (aside from NYU which is notorious for giving poor aid). Some semi-targets you can consider are UVA, Rice, Vandy, IU-Kelley, UNC, UT-McCombs. There are obviously more targets and semi-targets but these are the only ones I can think of at the moment.</p>

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<p>Thanks for replying. </p>

<p>Yes I have thought about most of those schools at one point or another, out of HS and now. </p>

<p>NYU. Too urban. Columbia barely makes the cut, it’s in Manhattan but when I was there at least it somewhat felt like a campus. And terrible aid scared me away from applying out of HS. </p>

<p>Cornell applied and was rejected. Thought about applying as a transfer, and might but not sure if aid will be there. </p>

<p>Waitlisted and later denied at Georgetown. Would love to go there and was definitely in my top 3 applying out of high school. Can be hit or miss with aid thought, but I might apply with ROTC in mind. </p>

<p>Duke, didn’t really think about too much. Would probably be a decent fit, nerdier/frattier version of OSU haha and places well given its distant proximity from NYC. Love North Carolina (the state, not UNC haha) too .</p>

<p>Didn’t really give any thought to Williams or Amherst, too small. </p>

<p>Rejected from UVa. Would have loved to go there (Jefferson is even one of my political idols!) but I’m afraid the aid wouldn’t have matched up had I gotten in. Used to live in NOVA though and still have relatives there. I could swing IS tuition rates, maybe I could move in with them? …hahaha naw</p>

<p>Rice thought about a little bit. Might have to give it a little more thought. Little on the small side but I think I would be ok. Is it really that good of an IB school?</p>

<p>Vandy was ok when I visited, could see myself going there, but again, aid will be an issue. Location is ideal, Nashville is cool and TN is a beautiful state. </p>

<p>IU…eh no. Don’t like the state of Indiana haha (jk, no big reason, would not impede me from going to school there) and I know they have that IB workshop thing (but so does OSU mind you) but I don’t think it is that much better at OSU, only marginally better. Top it off I’m not paying OOS fees for that. Though I guess I am starting to develop scarlet and gray glasses so call me out if you think I am wrong. </p>

<p>UNC. Would love going to school there but too expensive. Doubt they give transfer scholarships. However, tuition is only $24k OOS. Hmmmm. I would only need to borrow $15k a year and I could RA jr year and work on scholarships and cut that down hmmmmm. Could be a possibility but honestly I think I’d rather graduate debt free from OSU than borrow $30k for UNC. Could make it fly to fit it under $20k, which would make me think long and hard.</p>

<p>UT-Austin sounds like an awesome school, but pretty expensive OOS (though not as bad as UMich or UCLA, etc… I suppose). Probably not going to fly and I wonder if that top 8% rule applies to transfers? Probably not but who knows. </p>

<p>hmmmmm, you got me thinking with UNC. Love the vibe and I like NC a lot. Wouldn’t want to borrow a ton of money to go there though. It’s a good school don’t get me wrong, but it’s not like the Wall Street recruiters are crawling all over them. But only carrying ~$20k in debt from there would not be that bad. </p>

<p>thanks for the reply.</p>

<p>edit: Penn’s FA brochure and example packages</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/paying/PennFinancialAid.pdf[/url]”>http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/paying/PennFinancialAid.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Example that is very close to my situation:</p>

<p>My family situation is a lot like “Eric’s” (even the little sister part is true haha) with about ~$150,000 parent income, $200,000 home equity, $25,000 in savings.
Penn expects the parents to pay $27,900 and “Eric” to pay $2,350 for an EFC of $30,250. It also talks about the drop when his sister goes to college. </p>

<p>My dad makes slightly less than that a year and we have a lot less home equity. But my parents inherited a lot of farmland that is apparently very valuable so assets and home equity could be easily be around $200,000 like Eric’s family. </p>

<p>I could definitely swing Penn or a school like that with a package like that. I would have to borrow a little but nothing crushing.</p>

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<p>Once you start college, you will learn there are other great jobs other than IB. Just enjoy OSU, get good grades and I think you will forget Penn soon.</p>

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<p>If you go to UNC, maintain a high GPA in kenan-flagler and network a lot, you’ll break into IB. No doubt about that. UNC gives you a much better opportunity than OSU.</p>

<p>Also Vandy gives very generous aid. I’d know because I might be transferring there :P</p>

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<p>Didn’t you ask this once before? I guess you didn’t like the answers…</p>

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<p>Thanks for replying. </p>

<p>Yes I did ask this before, albeit in the transfer section and I believe you were one of the people cautioning me about CAS, and your advice made sense, competing with Wharton kids. </p>

<p>But then on the Penn forum people acknowledged that there was obviously an advantage being in W as opposed to CAS, but CAS Econ kids were still able to land good jobs if they took the initiative. </p>

<p>So, I still don’t know…</p>

<p>Probably going to come to the same conclusion I did last time. Kick ass at OSU, planning on staying there for four years. Will probably apply as a transfer to a couple of places, including Wharton, and then seeing what happens. But I don’t think I am going to want to transfer, although Wharton would hard to turn down. But I doubt I’ll have that decision to make but we’ll see.</p>

<p>Thank you.</p>