STANFORD vs PENN for economics

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
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<p>Hey so I'd like to know what all you cc-ers think about this, title says it all... for undergraduate, will be studying economics but havent entirely made up my mind, so other things im considering include business or economics WITH political science... so I want to know the advantages and disadvantages... Im an international student and things like location, student life, how well is their economics program and dorms and stuff are the aspects that Im considering to base my decision on... so I need your help, and im also doing this on the Stanford discussion just to get a fair deal out of it since ppl on the penn room tend to pick penn and vice versa, alright thanks</p>

<p>and i also have a week to decide, so this is urgent lol!</p>

2

<p>In terms of undergraduate business/economics, you can’t get much better than Penn. Of course, this all depends on whether or not you’ve applied to Penn economics under CAS or Wharton. (All Wharton graduates possess a degree in economics, regardless of concentration, anyways.) If you’re a prospective Whartonite, then I’d definitely suggest Penn.</p>

<p>I’ll tackle two of your other concerns as well: Penn has an amazing PoliSci program, and its Washington Semester/close proximity to the nation’s capital and eastern seaboard megalopolis are nothing to sniff at. In terms of location, you can’t get much better than Philly. The town of Palo Alto, in which Stanford is located, is not very student-friendly and is very costly; although I suppose San Francisco has its draws (I’m an SF man myself).</p>

<p>In addition, Penn is known as the “Social Ivy” for its unparalleled quality of student life. The campus is beautiful and it’s really easy to find your niche.</p>

<p>GO QUAKERS</p>

3

<p>There’s no difference between the two schools when it comes to an Economics degree (not counting Wharton’s “economics” degree), but if you’re thinking about business than Wharton can’t be touched by Stanford–I don’t think Stanford has an undergrad B-school. Stanford has a really unique campus plus nice weather while Penn is much more city-slicked. If you’re looking for a Wall Street feeder, pick Penn. I don’t know much about political science between the two schools, but I’m willing to bet they’re very similar.</p>

<p>Stanford does have more name recognition and prestige than Penn though, but when it comes down to business, Penn is usually ranked #1.</p>

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<p>I got into Stanford off the wait list too which was weird because I just stayed on for the heck of it and wasn’t really that interested. My dream school was Harvard (I was wait listed) because it’s urban and it’s Harvard but then I fell in love with Penn (CAS).</p>

<p>Well, since I wanted urban, pre-professional and somewhat social, I rejected Brown, Princeton and Wellesley for Penn but there’s something about California- even though it’s not an urban campus. </p>

<p>I think I’m still going with Penn because fit matters more to me than rank, but am I making a mistake?</p>

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<p>SusieBra: You’re not making a mistake. When it comes down to the top schools, it should be based on fit. Penn has so many advantages in that respect-- urban/social/dc/ny opps. which just aren’t there at Stanford… go with your heart. You’ll love Penn. What do you want to study>?</p>

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<p>Oh, and Penn’s econ dpt. (CAS) is ranked higher/far stronger than that of Stanford. Penn’s econ (CAS) is top 3/top 5 depending on differing rankings</p>

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<p>i definitely agree with apatel. at this stage, it depends on fit and how comfortable you feel on campus. you wont go wrong with either choice</p>

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<p>In terms of academics it doesn’t really matter where you go for econ. Both are very strong and there are many differences in terms of location and atmosphere that should go into making your decision. The thing about going to Penn is that you’ll probably see some internal pressure from yourself as an econ major to switch into Wharton. As an econ major, I can tell you that most people i know in my major have thought about transferring and it was just a matter of having very good grades. I would recommend you do some research about Penn and Stanford to see which is better for you. </p>

<p>Out of curiosity, where are you from?</p>

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<p>If you are looking to integrate your interests in Poli Sci and Econ, Penn does have the Philosophy, Politics & Economics program within CAS–in some ways more compelling then a dual major or major/minor.</p>

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<p>I’m looking to major in Romance languages- I think Penn is top for that- and then do something towards law, which will probably be my profession.</p>

<p>The only problem: I was ready to follow my heart and forget about Stanford, and then I got their financial aid award. It was better than any of my other schools, including Penn. I would have to take no outside loans and it’s actually possible to afford it. I want Penn with Stanford’s financial aid. What do I do???</p>

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<p>^If for some reason you really want to go to Penn, show them the money you’re getting from Stanford. There is a fair chance that they’ll try to match the money because they want to keep as many cross admits as possible.</p>

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<p>just want to clear up some misinformation:</p>

<p>Stanford econ is ranked higher than Penn. In academia, the economics department has much higher prestige than being on the faculty at a business school, even Wharton.
Abel, Khilstrom and Winter are the only three Fellows of the Econometric Society who teach in all of Wharton. Except for Steele in OPIM and maybe a handful of others, there are not many senior faculty at Wharton who are as impressive as tenured profs in Penn CAS econ.</p>

<p>It parallels the top math people going into pure areas- </p>

<p>i.e. pure > applied in the math hierarchy and econ department in A&S > finance/econ at a business school </p>

<p>even though b-school professors tend to earn a lot more.</p>

<p>In terms of a rigorous education, there is no question that a CAS major in econ is much stronger than a peer at Wharton. However, a rigorous education is not the same as best job placement/feeder for Wall Street, for which Wharton is traditionally much better.</p>

<p>Penn CAS has quite a number of superstars- Diebold, Schorfeide, Randy Wright, Mailath, Merlo, Matthews, Postlewaite, Rios-Roll come to mind. Not to mention Larry Summer’s dad, Robert Summers, and Nobel winner Klein (both emeritus). Excellent department in macro, micro, international and econometrics.</p>

<p>Stanford of course has its own set of superstars- Arrow, Bagwell (recent senior hire from Columbia), Bernheim, Greif, Hoxby, Hong, Krueger, Taylor, Piazzesi, Milgrom and there are probably several glaring omissions)</p>

<p>All in all, Stanford vs. Penn in econ is tough.</p>

<p>1) Stanford econ > Penn CAS econ > Wharton econ </p>

<p>^first inequality is weak</p>

<p>but</p>

<p>2) for Wall Street recruiting: Wharton econ >> Stanford econ = Penn CAS econ</p>

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<p>Writing about Wharton econ basically ruins your argument.
But I had always that that Stanford’s econ was a little better than Penn’s.</p>

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<p>Stanford seems a lot more stressful. The only things I liked were the grade inflation and the great financial aid. At least it’s kind of like a city, but there just aren’t the same opportunities that there are at Penn. </p>

<p>How can I find out if Penn is better for romance languages?</p>

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<p>^ Susie, check out the National Research Council (NRC) rankings (from the 1990s and a bit dated, but among the most well respected):</p>

<p>[NRC</a> Rankings in Each of 41 Areas](<a href=“http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html]NRC”>http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html)</p>

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<p>At this level, there really isn’t too much of a difference in terms of which school is better compared to the other. The best thing to do is look through the course registrars and see which school offers more romance languages and which one offers more interesting courses in the languages you’re interested in. You’ll get a great education at either school and probably be very happy at either school.</p>

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<p>Thanks. Those rankings don’t mean a lot to me anyway because I hated Duke, Brown and Princeton’s Italian departments.</p>

<p>I absolutely LOVE Penn but the only things that Stanford has going for it: 1. FINANCIAL AID 2. grade inflation. Other than that, they have tons of useless required courses. It’s so different from Penn’s idea of practicalness. </p>

<p>I’m really afraid to show Penn my financial aid from Stanford because my Penn aid is already really good. I had to argue it at first and then it became my best package. Nonetheless, with Penn, I’ll still take a $3500 outside loan for my parents every year except the first, and with Stanford I don’t need to do that. I’m worried to show Penn my Stanford aid because maybe they would be upset because I already appealed and had them top my best offer at that point (princeton at first and then wellesley). Should I try to appeal again?</p>

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<ol>
<li>Penn has a ton of grade inflation in the romance language departments. Unless you take a math course in the calculus sequence or a premed science course, there is a ton of grade inflation in the college.</li>
<li>Just show them the aid from Standford. Wost case is they won’t match the aid from Stanford. They won’t take away aid they already gave you. If you really want to go to Penn try to get as much aid out of them as possible. Be warned, they might decrease your aid package as the years go on. They might give you a ton of money now to match all these other schools and slowly ratchet it back as you go on. I don’t receive financial aid so I havn’t experienced that, but I’ve heard from friends that they get less money as they go on.</li>
</ol>

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<p>As much as I love Penn, I don’t think that the only things going for Stanford are fin. aid and the grade thing. Venkat already addressed those.</p>

<p>They may not factor into your consideration but:
Stanford weather is superior.
People are more chill at Stanford.
Sports are better at Stanford.
Stanford has more name recognition/prestige perception.
Recognizing the difference in relative accessibility, San Francisco has at least as much, if not more to offer, than Philly.</p>

<p>You might dismiss all of the above as inconsequential, but most people I know would choose Stanford with the $ difference over Penn in a heartbeat.</p>

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<p>Wharton > Stanford > CAS</p>