<p>Hey, I recently got into the College at Penn as a Ben Franklin Scholar (offers research opportunities/money, advising, and special seminar classes), Virginia as an Echols Scholar, and Duke. I'll be visiting all three schools next week, but I don't really know where UVA should fit into the mix. I used to live in Harrisonburg (30-45 min away from Charlottesville) and always dreamed of going to UVA. </p>
<p>I really love math, and will probably end up doing something mathematical in business, so Wharton would be a plus. I don't know much about any of the math departments, though. Also, I would like to know the networking benefits of a UVA compared to a Duke or a Penn.</p>
<p>Am I crazy to think about turning down BFS at Penn or Duke for UVA? Penn's still my top choice now, but I think my estimation of UVA is a bit biased and would be interested to hear yours. Thanks</p>
<p>if cost is not an issue and your looking for an undergrad in business id go for Wharton. I dream of studying there, great classrooms and are ranked in the top 3 in basically every business category grad or undergrad.</p>
<p>Brekels, if you do choose to go to UVa, you should get to know the Brown's (unless you know them already). They're a huge UVa alumni family from Louisville, and they own Jack Daniels, Southern Comfort, and Finlandia Vodka. Incidentally, they're also the family who gave Brown College (at UVa) its name.</p>
<p>I went to middle school with someone who is related to Owsley Brown Frazier, who is insanely rich and has his name on just about everything. haha, might have to break out the old directories! Thanks for the heads up.</p>
<p>Yeah, one of the Brown girls recently got married in the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville, and the bishop was like, "And I want to thank the Brown family for their generous donation that made the renovation of this cathedral possible."</p>
<p>Incidentally, William Farrish, the former president of Churchill Downs and former ambassador to Great Britain is a UVa alum too, and he may still live in Louisville.</p>
<p>i'd say go to penn. yeah, i'm going to uva but penn was tied with uva as my top choice and i didn't get into penn. but honestly, penn is a pretty spectacular place; i went to the precollege program there this past summer and thoroughly enjoyed phily as a city and penn's campus. needless to say, the academics are top notch and if you're paying full tuition everywhere, i'd say go to penn. echols is an amazing distinction, but to get the ben franklin distinction at the #4 ranked school in the nation (and an ivy league) is just honestly better. the networking at wharton is by far the best in the world; there really is no comparison. however, the regular college has mixed reviews. depending on your major and how well you do, penn's networking can be anywhere from unbelievable to mediocre. uva and duke are definitely among the best, so don't think that you're without options here haha and honestly doing very well at uva or duke will put you at a better position than doing just ok at penn.</p>
<p>if you do decide on penn, i will warn you about the food. it's ABSOUTELY TERRIBLE. and they don't have too many dining options. my girlfriend is going there this fall and she's pretty p!ssed about the food haha</p>
<p>"at the #4 ranked school in the nation (and an ivy league)"</p>
<p>I'm not going to take issue with anything else you said, but that line is quite irrelevant.</p>
<p>Brekels, you might want to consider life on campus at each school. At UVA and Duke, it's fairly good. Penn, on the other hand, is an urban school that isn't in a great location. When I visited, I didn't even get out of the car - just driving through the area was enough for me to know that I didn't want to go there.</p>
<p>im going to UVA but Whartons a top notch business program which I'd love to do my MBA there. but i hate when people battle for prestige among undergrad schools, remember youre competing against these people..post-graduate institutions highly value your class rank and even if your a genious a 50% class rank at Wharton vs. a top 20% rank at UVA. i mean seriously i hate when people think ivy league undergrads are soo much better than a "joe-schmoe" public univeristy. I can get just about the same opportunity for jobs and an education out of McIntire than i can out of Wharton, just with a heavier wallet. This is not to undermine Wharton in ANY way i love the school and dream to do my post grad there just consider if you desperately need to go to an ivy league school for undergrad, personally i dont believe in it.</p>
<p>cav: i don't think that line is irrelevent. there's a big difference between receiving the biggest honor at uva and receiving the biggest honor at penn.</p>
<p>At #4 in USNews, Penn is overranked. The fact that it is IVYOMG is irrelevant as well. Who cares that they compete in a crappy athletic conference? There are at least 10 other private schools as good or better than Penn in the US that aren't IVYOMG.</p>
<p>penn still has an excellent reputation and i'm not just saying that because it's an ivy league. i'm in no way bashing uva (especially since i'm going to be a first year and i'm more than happy to have been accepted). but to say that penn isn't overall a better school than uva would just be ridiculous. i understand there's a great deal of pride here but i think that's just plain denial to claim uva is as good if not better than penn.</p>