<p>best advice anyone can give you is don’t be influenced by anyone else. go with your heart - a few thousand dollars is important, but not a lot over a lifetime. you pick the school that works for you and remember that location is important, not only in terms of internships and jobs, but also if you want to be near your family or friends - wherever that may be. also, rankings are not the end all. just because penn has shot up does not make it the right place. If it was me and I lived near Philly, I would go to Penn. Otherwise, I would consider cornell, but like I said before - do what you want - that is what will bring you success. good luck</p>
<p>Here’s the thing: I’m from Atlanta. So both huge distances, but Penn is a little closer. And more manageable to get to. Getting to Cornell would consist of flying to Syracuse and driving for an hour EVERY time I wanted to go back and forth.</p>
<p>That adds up to about $20,000 assuming I get the same aid every year. But the internship thing seems so big to me. I literally have no way of getting valuable experience during the school year at Cornell. At Philly would getting a during-the-year internship or job be not that hard to do?</p>
<p>If your heart is set on Penn, fax your Cornell financial aid award letter to Penn and explain that you will attend Penn if they match Cornell’s award. Actually, you should probably do this anyway, even if you weren’t so set. It’s not guaranteed, but there’ve been many stories of awards getting adjusted to match that of peer institutions. Even if they don’t match Cornell’s award, you can still attend Penn.</p>
<p>But before you commit so soon (hey it’s only April 4!), can you spend a weekend visiting both campuses? I’ve heard many stories of love-at-first-sight (and hate-at-first-sight as well lol) when students step foot onto campus for the first time. Perhaps a visit to Penn will reinforce for you that it’s the school for you, and perhaps a visit to Cornell would do the same.</p>
<p>At any rate, you have a couple of more weeks to decide. Although you can’t go wrong choosing either school, it definitely helps if you know that at the end of the day, you did all the vetting that you could in reaching your decision.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I’m visiting Penn next week. I don’t think I’ll be able to make Cornell unfortunately. So just scan the Cornell award letter and email it to Penn? Any other steps I should take?</p>
<p>2 things:</p>
<p>1) I advise you to put in your e-mail that Penn is your top choice. Financial aid counselors are humans too. If they have limited matching funds and need to choose between 2 students, they’re likely to go with the student who expresses particular interest in their school.</p>
<p>2) Visit Cornell. If you’re travelling the distance to Philly, you’re 3 quarters of the way to Ithaca. Just invest the one extra day, even (or maybe especially) if it results in Penn becoming your undisputed top choice. It’s only an extra 500 miles in total, and it can potentially impact your future.</p>
<p>I would deff visit Cornell… you’re missing out if you don’t</p>
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<p>During the school year you should be focused on academics and extra-curriculars. No matter if you’re in a big city or a collegetown.</p>
<p>I had the same exact decision to make 4 years ago except for Cornell Engineering VS. Penn Engineering, and I chose Cornell.</p>
<p>However, knowing what I know now from my four years at Cornell, I would choose Penn if I were in your position.</p>
<p>First, you mention that you’re interested in banking/finance/consulting. Penn is hands down better than Cornell in recruiting in these areas. Although I was able to secure a front-office job at a major Wall Street institution, PLENTY of my peers at Cornell who wanted to were not able to do so. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Credit Suisse, and UBS did not come to Cornell this fall to recruit for front-office full-time positions (though they came for internships). Morgan Stanley came for very limited positions (only Sales and Trading).</p>
<p>Top tier consulting firms such as Bain, McKinsey, or BCG do not even come to Cornell, but go to Penn, so unless you want to work for mediocre consulting firms such as Deloitte or Accenture, consulting isn’t even an option for you at Cornell.</p>
<p>Basically, Cornell is terrible for consulting recruiting and okay for finance recruiting – Penn is much better for both. Also, for non-science/Engineering fields, Penn is a better school overall. Go to Penn.</p>
<p>My question would be, based on the comments above, can you actually get an interview with those top firms at Penn if you are not a Wharton student? And would you be a viable candidate, coming out of liberal arts, and competing with the Wharton students, many of whom have Bain and Goldman Sachs tattooed on their foreheads…?
I can see if you were comparing CAS at Cornell with Wharton at Penn, but I’d try to get some numbers out of the career office at Penn before making that decision.</p>
<p>^I concur with redshoes… I think all of this high level recruiting you are describing for Penn is related to the Wharton school – which considers itself almost indepedent from UPenn… </p>
<p>The purpose of this thread was to compare Cornell CAS with Penn CAS, not Cornell CAS with Wharton. Wharton should do a lot better than Cornell CAS in terms of recruiting, considering Wharton is the only undergrad business program in the Ivy league.</p>
<p>I think Penn economics may be slightly better than Cornell economics, but the programs are not different enough for it to be a major part of the decision to attend Cornell/Penn.</p>
<p>Gee, I thought that Cornell’s AEM program was an accredited undergrad business school. Meaning that there are two accredited business schools in the Ivies.</p>
<p>And I’d like to note that a bunch of my son’s friends from Cornell Class of 2010 are working in NYC in the financial services industry. Not all of them graduated from AEM. Some were CAS. One was a sociology major. </p>
<p>Really folks, you work hard at either school, get a good GPA, and you can interview with the big boys.</p>
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<p>Unless you’re interested in architecture. Or human development. Or labor relations. Or English. Or government. Or international development. Or philosophy. Or evolutionary theory.</p>
<p>Or a bunch of other academic areas that Cornell is stronger than Penn in…</p>
<p>Redshoes and I V are mistaken about recruiting at Penn being restricted to Wharton students. I can’t speak to Cornell at all, but S is an Econ major at Penn (not Wharton) and had many interviews and a variety of offers for front office internship positions through Penn’s recruiting services. Penn CAS students benefit tremendously from the fact that the presence of Wharton brings so many high end companies to campus</p>
<p>I had this very choice. Both are outstanding schools with much to offer. I chose Cornell because I preferred being on a gorgeous campus in a wonderful college town rather than West Philly.</p>
<p>@runners:</p>
<p>I did not say recruiting was “restricted” to Wharton; I said the majority of the high end recruiting (e.g. Goldman Sachs, etc.) happened at Wharton. I am sure CAS also has some high end recruiting as well – but not as much as Wharton.</p>
<p>I V - there is no distinction made between Wharton and CAS - recruiters don’t come “to Wharton” or “to CAS” - they simply come to Penn. Any Penn students can send in a resume to any recruiter coming to campus and recruiters then choose who they want to interview. I’m sure there are some recruiters who want Wharton students specifically, but among my S and his friends who are in CAS and interested in banking and consulting, they were successful in getting interviews with high end companies in both sectors. There’s no doubt that they benefited from the fact that Wharton attracts many companies to Penn. The same may be true for Cornell - I’m not making a comparison, just explaining how it works at Penn.</p>
<p>clearly this is an area OP should investigate specifically during visits, suggest seek out CAS seniors to talk to, at both schools. There are some old CC threads also one can find, eg
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/991189-recruiting-cas-vs-wharton.html?[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/991189-recruiting-cas-vs-wharton.html?</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/907207-economics-cas-vs-economics-wharton.html?[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/907207-economics-cas-vs-economics-wharton.html?</a></p>
<p>Bear in mind that, if it turns out you do not fit what they are looking for you will not wind up in front office investment banking anyway, whether you want to or not, and most people don’t. Having access is important if you are thinking you want to go that route, but I hate to see people make college matriculation decisions on that one basis only, because I have seen the process from the other side and most people don’t get in.</p>
<p>Unfortunately I won’t be able to visit either. I cannot afford the cost of flying from Atlanta to Philly and ESPECIALLY Cornell.</p>
<p>Its not just on this one basis, monydad. I have researched both schools extensively and am much much more satisfied with the overall experience Penn has to offer. Plus, I’m not very into the sciences or engineering, making Penn an even more logical choice.</p>
<p>What you say worries me just a little bit. If I go in determined to do something related to banking/finance/consulting, and I get a good GPA, I can still not make it? My parents want me to become doctors and I am choosing to pass all that up (despite Penn’s amazing medical connections) to go into what I am interested in. </p>
<p>Can I be let down that badly? What would I do then…any other options?</p>
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<p>Yes, if you get a good GPA you are most certainly NOT guaranteed a job in finance/consulting. It will only get you interviews (assuming you have other notable things on your resume to highlight), and after you get the interview, whether or not you get the job depends on your personality and your ability to answer technical questions. </p>
<p>Plenty of people have a good GPA, esp. considering that Penn and Cornell CAS both have an average GPA of at least 3.3/3.4 (I don’t remember the source, but you can search the forums, avg. gpa at cornell has been discussed before). You are by no means guaranteed a job in these areas.</p>
<p>However, I do think more high-end finance/consulting companies recruit at Penn… So you would have a better shot getting into one of these companies from Penn than from Cornell. For instance, McKinsey doesn’t even come to Cornell to do interviews – you have a very low chance at getting into McKinsey from Cornell (you won’t even be able to get an on-campus interview!). At least at Penn, you can do a resume drop and POSSIBLY get an interview.</p>
<p>My personality skills are pretty decent I would say. As for answering technical questions…if I am majoring in econ in CAS, which is theoretical, how would I know the answer to finance-related questions? Study on my own? And from where?</p>
<p>Are there any stories of people determined to go into banking from high school, getting into an Ivy, and not being able to—and just ending up jobless?</p>