<p>I'm an international student with admissions both to Upenn engineering school and Swarthmore, but recently I found my passion for engineering with an economics minor is decreasing, however not reaching zero, as I am more fond of math with a minor in economics, and I realize that to change a school in Upenn requires me two years study in one, engineering school in my case. Therefore after 4 years a swarthmore math student will be compared with a Upenn engineer, both acquiring degrees of economics.
I'm now wondering if, as the future career (for me, wall street is my dreaming destination after university study) concerns, Upenn engineering will provide me better than Swarthmore college will?</p>
<p>recruiting wise, yes. Also, you can transfer after first year.</p>
<p>jimmycon, a quick clarification: I believe that you may change schools immediately (after just your first year of study).</p>
<p>Second of all, although I may be wrong about this, I believe that you may enter the engineering school taking any classes that you want. So, you can start off taking the math and econ classes that truly interest you, and then transfer successfully in the College after freshman year, none the lesser for it on your transcript.</p>
<p>An engineer should attest to this, but I’m pretty sure it’s true.</p>
<p>Swarthmore is a great school, but I feel as though Penn provides a more authentic college experience; and of course, simply due to its size and scope, Penn probably provides much more easily-accessible research opportunities and recruiting in whatever field you hope to enter.</p>
<p>Swarthmore is more rigorous than Penn, and thus carries much more weights than Penn in grad school admissions. The fact is reflected in PhD productivity data:</p>
<p>[REED</a> COLLEGE PHD PRODUCTIVITY](<a href=“http://www.reed.edu/ir/phd.html]REED”>Doctoral Degree Productivity - Institutional Research - Reed College)</p>
<p>Penn is somewhere in the 80th place in the nation in terms of PhD productivity</p>
<p>Umm…normally grad schools are pritty indifferent toward the prestige of one’s school. However, you can’t seriously believe that schools like Reed are academically on par with Penn (Wharton) as a whole. Look at job placement in both…</p>
<p>Reed is a grad-school prep college, so its job placement stats are lousy. Reed’s strength is academics; Wharton’s strength may indeed be job placement, but that’s very different from strong academics.</p>
<p>^even if I were willing to say Reed has better academics (which I don’t believe), Jimmycon’s question specifically asks which school will help him achieve his goal of a job on Wall Street; so, he was more interested in the business job placement than the “academics”</p>
<p>that list has nothing to do with academic strength, but merely the number of PhD students per capita each school produces. Notice that the California State system, Wabash, and other lower-ranked colleges and universities outclass the Ivy League in this regard. What does that mean? Only that a lot of students get crappy PhDs. Ivy League students, in general, want to make money. The minority that do pursue PhDs, however, often do so at the highest level.</p>
<p>Regardless, Y7ongjun is a shameless ■■■■■ with a poor grasp of grammar and a bone to pick with Penn in particular. I would never take any of his/her posts seriously. Even posters from other forums (meaning, without bias for Penn) recognize Y7ongjun’s posts as petty, uninformative and frankly irrelevant.</p>
<p>You can take classes at either school if you choose to attend one or the other. Along with Haverford & Bryn Mawr</p>
<p>“Only that a lot of students get crappy PhDs.”</p>
<p>Is this your opinion, or did you find evidence of it?</p>
<p>“Y7ongjun’s posts as petty, uninformative and frankly irrelevant”</p>
<p>Pots and kettles? ;)</p>
<p>^why is it that the stat about PhDs is relevant to academics but job placement isn’t? You seem to put an aweful lot of weight behind the number of PhDs Reed kids get, but let me assure you that UPenn could do the same if it’s students felt so inclined. Instead, they choose to go out, get jobs, and make money. Since we’re throwing random facts around and asserting that they indicate academic excellence, let me say that UPenn was ranked as the #4 best university in the country by US News and World Report and tied MIT and Stanford; but let me guess, Reed has better academics than either of those schools too? I’d also like to say that I agree 100% with everything muerteapablo said.</p>
<p>^ Yes, the self-selection component is significant. HS students who know they want a PhD (not very many, I think) will often choose schools known for providing the appropriate preparation that PhD programs value. These are usually not the kids whose goal is to make money.</p>
<p>^^ and those kids go to UChic, not Reed</p>
<p>^Reed is actually better than UChicago at churning out PhDs in most fields. Also, Reed is usually considered one of the most intellectual and academically rigorous colleges in America. Why is Reed even part of this thread though? Whoever posted Reed’s study on PhD origins meant to point out Swarthmore’s strengths versus UPenn’s, not Reed’s. Reed is happy in its little academic bubble, dissociated from Wharton-we don’t do business, basically.</p>
<p>One would imagine (or my case, hope) that a US economy facing more competition from the rest of the world will graduate fewer PhDs in sociology and gender studies and more scientists, engineers and businessmen…</p>
<p>As long as the internationals study science, engineering and business, and then stay (Obama should reverse the W policy, and “force” international grads to stay instead of leave), the US will be okay. :)</p>
<p>Both Upenn or Swarthmore are excellent schools with similar selectivity and similar academic reputation.</p>
<p>^he is ■■■■■■■■, dont listen to him.</p>
<p>greenexcess - gugupo may be a little nuts, but he’s right about the fact that swat and upenn have similar academic reps and student bodies. The most relevant question here is fit - does the OP prefer a LAC or very big research university? Academics, exit options, etc etc. don’t really matter a ton here - fit is the biggest concern.</p>
<p>he is not nuts, he is ■■■■■■■■ and his posts are not meant to help the OP but to bring down Penn with comments he has no idea about ( I bet he doesnt even know anything about Swarthmore). So yeah, he is ■■■■■■■■</p>