I’m currently in a “legal studies” high school but I’m interested in applying to Wharton for my undergrad. Is it going to hurt me that I have shown focus in fields other than business?
No. People go to specialized high schools for all kinds of reasons.
Most students do not take business courses in HS.
If you want to show interest in business you can do it in other ways (ex. taking on treasurer roles in clubs, working part-time etc.)
In addition, if you look at the majors at Wharton one is Legal Studies and Business Ethics
No. There’s a few of us who are Wharton undergrad alums + law school grads 
The school likes a diversity of interests whether in HS or later on in college/after; it isn’t meant to solely be a pipeline for investment banking analysts.
@aj725 - Ironically, the reason I started looking at Wharton as one of my goal schools at all is because I’m starting to want to get into investment banking, but I’m really glad to hear that they do want more diverse interests. Thank you!
Definitely. Diverse interests are a plus. Imagine how many applicants they are getting saying – I want to go here because I want to end up at Goldman? And imagine how many are saying that not even really knowing what ibanking is? It just doesn’t come across believable. Discussing something like how you have an interest in law and feel that having a solid business education is a stepping stone to that – MUCH more believable esp. for a high school senior. Plus Legal Studies is a Wharton department, so it’s not like you’re trying to convince them that business is important for your art history career (though even there – you could pull a story together if you wanted to).
The track called “legal studies” in high school is not the same as the program at Wharton.
OP’s first issue is to ensure he has the right rigorous cores Wharton expects. (And grades, other stats.) 2nd is to ensure your activities are relevant to the college. “Diverse” doesn’t mean random.
Well yeah – one is at the high school level taught by social studies teachers and one is at Wharton taught by lawyers, how can they be the same? I have no idea what a legal studies track in HS entails, but I assumed you still do all the things required to get into Wharton – Calc at least AB; preferably BC; maybe some stat/computer science; hard sciences to prove analytical ability and that you can ace AP tests just like anyone else. Being on a legal studies track in HS or not means nothing, I’m just saying – wanting to be a lawyer isn’t disqualifying for admission to Wharton undergrad, you just have to play it the right way. There’s more than a few of us Wh undergrad alums who ARE lawyers.
No. One is generally about, eg, kids aiming toward paralegal, with or without some college. Just as “health occupations” tracks are often about the ancillary work, not MD. Lab tech, etc.
Before assuring OP, let’s see what his or her rigor is, what sorts of courses.
Are you the self appointed monitor here? Are you even a Penn grad? What years/what degrees?
All I am saying is – wanting to be a lawyer is not disqualifying for admissions to Wharton. Where you come out of a “legal studies” or “med studies” or whatever track in HS – as long as you have the right type of coursework, AP classes, top of HS rank, ECs etc – you are still in the running for Wharton undergrad.
You can take over though and tell this kid he has no shot.
?? He may indeed have a shot. But, “Before assuring OP, let’s see what his or her rigor is, what sorts of courses.” You seem to agree.
@lookingforward the program definitely isn’t for kids who don’t want to go to college. I don’t think I know anyone in the program who isn’t planning on going somewhere. All the program really entails is taking a law-related course every year (intro, crim, etc.) and emphasizing civics in other classes. It’s more of a way to spread demographics/classes more evenly throughout the district’s schools and give kids a chance to take classes that interest them than anything.
I totally understand I need to do everything else that would get me in. I just was curious if the “legal studies” part would make it seem like I didn’t have a clear enough focus on business for Wharton.
No issue then, with legal studies. Make sure you have the rest. Good luck.