Hi! I’m a junior trying to figure out my life. I have a lot of legacy at Penn, including some at Wharton, so it’s sort of a no-brainer to apply. I have the stats to get in (whether I will get in is a different story). I definitely want whatever job I end up getting after college to have some international perspective, and I would like to live abroad. I would be applying to Penn ED, and I’m not sure if it makes more sense for me to apply to Wharton or CAS. I could see myself majoring in International Relations, but I’m not sure what you would do with a degree in that. With Wharton, I could see it getting me a good job somewhere, but I don’t know how happy I would be studying there. I’m aware of Huntsman, but I don’t want to get too fixated on that because it’s pretty much impossible to get in.
Basically my heart is saying CAS but my head is saying Wharton. Any advice? I’ll be available to answer any questions. If you could also tell me how useful an IR degree is, that would be nice.
Thank you so much! And good luck to everyone in the RD round this year 
Hi There-- Penn is an outstanding school and it’s great that you intend to apply. A few points:
- Having legacy at Penn (regardless of which school your parent(s) graduated from within Penn) is considered a positive in the application cycle (regardless of which undergrad school you choose to apply to), so you are right to consider applying ED to derive the benefits if you think Penn is a good fit.
- A degree from the College will definitely put you in an outstanding position to find the job you want. To get a better understanding of what IR majors from Penn end up doing, you should check out the career services data on the most recent graduating classes (http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/files/CASFinalReport14.pdf). IR majors from the class of 2014 took jobs at Bain, Barclays, Goldman, JP Morgan, top law firms like Cravath and Skaddan, The New York Times, The United Nations, Google, a variety of non-profits and many other companies and organizations. A liberal arts degree (especially from a university like Penn) prepares you for any career you can imagine by giving you the intellectual tools necessary to adapt to any set of professional demands under which you might find yourself. If finding a job is your concern, don't let it be! You'll definitely be able to find employment with a liberal arts degree if you take advantage of all that Penn has to offer from the comprehensive career services and career fairs to the network it will make available to you. Put simply, an IR degree from Penn will be VERY useful if you use it correctly.
- I'm curious to know what you mean by how "happy" you would be studying at Wharton. People have a lot of preconceived notions about what Wharton is like but even your relatives who have attended Penn may not have an accurate understanding of what it's like to be a student there today if they graduated before 2000 (really 2010...), since the campus and University have changed SO MUCH. To counter a few common misconceptions, Wharton offers a very friendly and supportive academic program that is deeply integrated with the entire University as whole. Wharton students will actually take around 40% of their classes within other schools at the university ensuring that you are taking classes with a variety of students from a multitude of different disciplines. Students from all 4 undergraduate schools also take a lot of classes at Wharton as well, contributing to a constant exchange between students with many, many, many, many, many different interests. So a Wharton education will really be more defined by what you make of it than what you might have been led to believe. Students from all four undergraduate schools share the same dorms, dining halls, career services, on campus recruitment sessions, class rooms, professors, etc. So your Penn experience or your specific experience in the College of Wharton will depend most on how you situate yourself within the various communities you join.
- If you heart is saying the College then you already have your answer. All of Penn's undergraduate schools place their students in their desired careers and grad programs. You will have the best opportunity to achieve your goals, however, if you are in an environment that is conducive to your individual success; if you are in an environment in which you are happy and intellectually satisfied.
Good luck! Feel free to private message me with any questions you might have- always happy to help 
Hello, great question to ask as I feel a lot of people who want to apply have a similar question.
As PennCAS2014 said above, it is very much dependent on what you make of the education. Let me preface this all by saying that transferring between the schools or even dual degreeing after your freshman year are all very real possibilities. I think in my year, just about everyone I know who applied for an uncoordinated dual degree got it. This likely means you will need more courses per semester, but you could also figure out what you want to do in two separate schools.
In terms of an international job, Penn’s recruiting system (infamously called “OCR”) makes it really easy to find a job. Personally, I think both degrees are very valuable and will find you a job anywhere in the world easily. I do think, however, that if you are interested in any business related field, the Wharton practical experience helps a lot during a job search.
In terms of liking what you study, there are some classes at Wharton that everyone hates, but for the most part, everyone finds classes they do enjoy. Most of your experience will be defined outside of just classes (clubs, organizations, internships, etc.), so I would also keep in mind that having specific coursework is just a small part.
Good luck with applications!
Thank you so much to both of you who replied. PennCAS2014, I messaged you with some questions. InsertCatchyName, the uncoordinated dual degree and OCR are both great to know about-- much appreciated.
Going to bump this to get some new voices in. I was also wondering how common/feasible it is to do two minors if anyone has any information on that.
It can be a bit tough to do two minors, since each minor is around 6-8 credits each depending on how related they are. It can definitely be done with a lot of coordination and a heavy course load, but it is a bit tough. What major and double minor were you thinking?
I’m interested in majoring in IR and then studying some combination of Latin American Studies, East Asian Area Studies, and Economics.
I think this is definitely feasible given the overlap of the majors. I think having 2 minors is not too common, but I do see people with a double degree and a minor, which is a bit more coursework than your goal.
I believe you are allowed to count 2 credits from your major to each minor, and since the Latin American/East Asia Studies minors require you to take language classes, you can use those to fulfill your language requirement. The minors you listed are also all 6 credit minors so with some good scheduling and class selection, you should be able to pull it off fairly easily. If you have AP/SAT Credits, that makes your life a lot easier. Unfortunately, I’m in Wharton and not the College, so I’m not 100% sure what the College general requirements are, but I’m sure it can accommodate your plan!
Good luck with everything!