<p>Both of these are my dream schools. The decision is so difficult.</p>
<p>ORFE at Princeton: Operations Research and Financial Engineering</p>
<p>Jerome Fisher at Penn: A dual-degree program in Management and Technology (BSE from Wharton and BAS from Penn Engineering) (I'm 1 of about 50 selected)</p>
<p>I feel that Princeton's quality of living is better than that of Penn, but the academic program at Penn is so selective and probably has the most opportunity for future success.</p>
<p>Can anyone offer advice on how to choose between the two? Any comments on QoL at Penn or job placement from Princeton?</p>
<p>Absolutely not. Go with Jerome Fisher. I actually know one of the kids in it right now and he turned down Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Brown for this. And he didn't think twice about it.</p>
<p>^yea, but it can't compare to the #1 business education in the country with an engineering degree (depending on what you pick it can be top 10 in the field). M+T grads are at the top of the recruiting list by major investment banks and have been known to earn 100k+ their first year out of school on a regular basis.</p>
<p>Yeah, but to be fair, Princeton is a more prestigious school and most graduates from ORFE can earn 100k+ following graduation with ease as well.</p>
<p>First, I'd say get real with yourself about your chances. These are 2 of the hardest admits on the planet and you better be truly exceptional.</p>
<p>In my mind, either will get you the pick of great jobs.</p>
<p>If you're not the second coming, I'd go with Penn and choose the engineering school as a backup. </p>
<p>It's unfortunate but in this bubble of huge numbers applying, everyone's best strategy may well be to pay more attention to reality than dreams. Just my opinion (and my excellent college counselor's)!</p>
<p>Theres a case to be made for the Huntsman program (even though I would still pick HYP over Huntsman) but in this case, I would pick Princeton ORFE. Penn Engineering is not a very well respected program and I don't think the engineering degree holds much weight. Wharton of course is an absolutely fantastic program but it places no better than Harvard or Princeton in finance so there is no point of arguing the difference there. And even as a Princeton alum, I'll acknowledge that there is no difference between post-graduation opportunities between these two programs and even if there is a difference, it isn't large enough to justify picking one over the other.</p>
<p>So why would I pick Princeton? The main reason would simply be flexibility and quality of life. Overall, the academic options are far stronger at Princeton than they are at Penn and switching majors at Princeton wouldn't mean taking a huge drop in quality (as it would at Penn since you would probably need to drop out of the joint program).</p>
<p>Additionally, when you say "probably has the most opportunity for future success," thats not really very true at all. Future success will be based entirely on how well you do at college and very little to do with how selective Jerome Fisher is. A 3.8 student from Huntsman will obviously have an edge over a 3.8 Penn Wharton student but a 3.1 Huntsman is just another kid with a bad gpa. Choose your school based on where you think you'll be happier, which campus you like better and in this case and whether you want to be in the heart of a city or in a suburban town.</p>
<p>You can't really make a bad decision and I hope you make the right one for yourself. :)</p>