UPENN - SEAS vs. CAS Economics

<p>If someone was looking for the best business, consulting, or banking job POSSIBLE out of UPenn without going to Wharton ugrad (literally impossible admissions it seems)...what's their best bet?</p>

<p>I was thinking either getting one out of SEAS with a strong technical background, or an Econ degree (which Penn apparently is great for). Is there anything else that is better?</p>

<p>What would you overall rate the quality of these two programs versus each other? Is SEAS harder to gain admission into or CAS (econ)? I know SEAS has a larger acceptance rate, but I have learned that this is only because of the self-selectivity involved with engineering?</p>

<p>Thanks CC!</p>

<p>Maybe apply to the Management and Technology program. This program is a dual degree between Wharton and SEAS. If you do not get into this program, as for all dual degree programs, you can select a backup choice. In this case it would be either SEAS or Wharton. However as you may know, if you choose to apply to Wharton (not in a dual degree program) and get rejected, you cannot apply to any of the other undergraduate schools.
I would think you should apply to the school where you think you will belong so that you can show passion in your area of interest. If you are really interested in technology, M and T sounds like a great program. But if you really want to go to Wharton, maybe you should apply to Wharton. Just go with what you are interested in and what you enjoy. Good luck!</p>

<p>Go for Econ at the college. It’s a great program.</p>

<p>i’d wager engineering on a pure basis, given the preference for quantitative backgrounds lately</p>

<p>i know my consulting firm is very interested in targeting penn engineers in particular, for example</p>

<p>though of course penn students in general are well positioned to get attractive jobs</p>

<p>why don’t u just apply to wharton if yr interested in business? i think it’s really important that u apply to the place where u best belong so u can make the most out of yr 4 yrs. one of the best things about penn is that u have the option of specializing…why give that up??</p>

<p>I’d say SEAS>Econ for looking good to businesses. Probably little difference between math and physics and SEAS for business recruiting though.</p>

<p>Yeah, engineering followed by an MBA (after some work experience) is a pretty good path to take. I know quite a few people who did that and made themselves very valuable for the simple reason that they had strong quantitative reasoning and problem-solving abilities. Combine that with business and you can go places. You should also know that you can dual degree between SEAS and CAS econ. I believe the econ degree requires 10 courses, most (if not all) of which can be squeezed into the engineering curriculum. Also, as others have mentioned, there are ways to get into the dual degree program with SEAS/Wharton. The worst case scenario (if it can even be called that) is doing a major at SEAS and taking Wharton courses on the side. Penn’s flexibility is part of what makes it so attractive and I assume it contributes significantly to the success of its students in getting top placements post-grad.</p>

<p>haha the seas major / wharton side courses is what i did, and it has served me very well so far</p>

<p>Or you can do physics and Econ at the college. You’ll get the quantitative skills you need no problem.</p>

<p>Hah I know M&T and even the Fisher program are GREAT, but those are even more difficult than Wharton to get into. I don’t think I can apply to these because although I am very interested in business and such, i don’t have particular business EC’s and admission to these programs/schools is near impossible. I’d rather just get into Penn considering I’m well balanced, not exceptional at MATH or LANGUAGE for example…</p>

<p>I would apply to one of the dual degree programs but aren’t they harder than even Wharton alone to get into? And I would do ED to maybe make up the difficulty and just hope for the alternate college acceptance, but it seems like those dual- programs are ENTIRELY based on fit (50 admits are you serious?), and i am more of a balanced student who wants to explore and learn (with business as top priority most likely).</p>

<p>Is CAS Econ or SEAS harder to get into? MY original question asked this but no one answered lol…</p>

<p>And I’m also worried that SEAS students are overloaded like most engineering schools. Is this true? Or are there grades inflated? I don’t want to be spending all of my time doing math and science work for four years as opposed to taking different courses, getting involved, networking, and just building my credibility and balanced talent in general…</p>

<p>Still, I’m a sucker for PENN and can’t wait to apply…Thanks for all this help!!</p>

<p>SEAS has less competition for admission that CAS. They’re both tough to get into, but if you are competitive for CAS physics and SEAS mechanical, it’s less of a crap shoot to apply for SEAS mechanical. If you don’t have the math/science background though (BC Calc, 750+ SAT Math, 750+ Math and Science SATII) then CAS will be easier to get into than SEAS.</p>

<p>You should check out the Systems Engineering degree in SEAS. It’s engineering, but you can add more of a business slant to it. You can also have a lot of room to explore and take a broad liberal arts background in SEAS, especially if you come in with AP credit in BC Calc, both Physics C exams, and CS.</p>

<p>Or, you could do a dual degree between SEAS and CAS Econ.</p>

<p>well can someone please inform me of admission into one of the dual degrees? Everyone keeps recommending them and I know they’re great, but I’ve been scared off by the fit and the speak of insane Harvard-like difficulty of admissions…</p>

<p>Enlighten me?</p>

<p>search the forum, it’s been discussed hundreds of times by now…</p>