<p>Cue7, that’s really not surprising given that about 25% of Penn’s graduating class is in Wharton. That means that the other 27% of finance/consulting jobs are spread out among the 75% of the graduates who are in the College, SEAS, and Nursing.</p>
<p>Doesn’t 27% from a remaining 75% that includes a nursing school, engineering school, significant communications school/major seem high to you? </p>
<p>What’s interesting is Penn has a variety of undergrad schools/majors that, on first blush, have nothing to do with finance and consulting (as I mentioned above, nursing, communications, etc.), but 27% of this employed population goes into finance/consulting, a percentage that is noticeably higher than, say, Brown (20%) and Yale (17%). </p>
<p>I’m just curious because this number appears higher than I expected.</p>
<p>When you think about it, it’s not too terribly surprising. Finance to a certain extent but consulting to a GREAT extent requires no specific undergraduate course of study; you can become a consultant as a communication major just as easily as you can as a management concentration. Penn attracts the largest and most recognizable companies in the world, and recruitment is open for all undergraduates. And, of course, finance and consulting offer the highest salaries for non-engineers and non-nurses coming out of college; it isn’t surprising that since companies are happy to recruit from Penn, students are happy to be recruited.</p>
<p>As for why that number is higher than peer schools… I dunno. Magic?</p>
<p>Right, chrisw - I’m not surprised that finance/consulting (especially consulting) are appealing fields from graduates across many majors. I’m sure there are Yale art history majors and Brown anthropology majors that go into consulting.</p>
<p>What surprises me is the number - especially because Penn has expansive on-campus recruiting for non-finance/consulting firms. Yes communications majors, nursing school grads, and engineers could all go into consulting. At the same time, Penn provides more specific training and broader on-campus recruiting for these folks (nurses certainly can go look for jobs in nursing, Penn has a strong engineering program so its grads can be engineers, marketing firms recruit significantly at the communications school), but the finance/consulting % is still 27% of the employed grads.</p>
<p>It’s surprising because I’d think at schools like Yale and Brown, where there aren’t as many specialized schools and majors, finance/consulting would be even more popular than it is at Penn, where students are specifically trained for a wider range of professions.</p>
<p>Despite this, Yale has 17% in finance/consulting, Brown is at 20%, and Penn - including its engineering, nursing, communications, etc. schools/fields - is at 27%. Again, that number just seems a bit high to me, but maybe I’m missing something.</p>
<p>It’s the Wharton halo effect. :)</p>
<p>See? Here’s an example of the unique synergy between Wharton and the other undergraduate schools at Penn. Its presence is truly a net positive for all undergrads, despite attempts by some Penn detractors (not including Cue7 in this, of course ;)) to cast its “preprofessional” influence in a negative light. The future PhDs and professors are well represented in Penn’s undergraduate student body (I personally know several from my time at Penn who are currently on the faculties of such schools as Stanford, MIT, and Johns Hopkins), but thanks to Wharton, the peerless on-campus recruiting at Penn is also available to liberal arts undergrads who want to make use of it. Because of Wharton, there are many firms that participate in on-campus recruiting of undergrads at Penn, but that do NOT recruit on-campus at Yale or Brown. And as chrisw has pointed out in the past, participation in that robust on-campus recruiting is not limited to Wharton undergrads, but is available to all Penn undergrads.</p>
<p>45percenter - certainly, Wharton has a “halo effect” on campus, and provides a net benefit for all undergrads on campus. Your comments, and chrisw’s, overall, have been illuminating. </p>
<p>I’ve spoken before about certain “disproportionately loud” voices on campus, and whether that plays out at different schools. For example, at UChicago, I’ve spoken about the future PhDs (and they only make up about 15% of the class) enjoying a disproportionately loud voice on campus, and muting some other groups at U of C.</p>
<p>I wonder if, in a way, Wharton has a disproportionately loud voice on Penn’s campus. I don’t mean this in a derogatory way. Rather, 25% of the school is Wharton, but 52% of grads go into finance/consulting. In a similar vein, while Penn has a great communications major/school, I’m not sure if this school sways a good number of folks to look at careers that are open to more than just communications majors. It seems as if folks in other departments completely unrelated to Wharton feel swayed, in some way or another, by the opportunities open to Wharton grads. </p>
<p>As another example, Penn actually has an awesome accelerated BA/MCP program, but I’m not sure if it’s a huge draw on campus. The Wharton halo effect, in some ways, may translate to tangible influence and allure on campus. Again, I don’t mean this badly, just like I don’t necessarily feel that the focus on finance at Princeton or the past focus on phds at UChicago was necessarily bad - it just speaks to schools having particular cultures, which is totally fine.</p>