<p>For Business.
- columbia: financial economics
- upenn: economics+ actuarial science-minor
- brown: economics
- duke: economics w/finance concentration
- u of t: management</p>
<p>I want to go into business. Any advices would be great! :D</p>
<p>Bump Bump bump</p>
<p>I got my re-evaluated Financial Aid today. Both Upenn and Columbia will be the same price, and very affordable compared to the rest.</p>
<p>Can someone advise me between these two? I would like to work as Investment Banking analyst for two years out of college, before deciding what I want to do in the future. Thank you in advance!! 
:)</p>
<p>Columbia definitely. While UPenn may be the better Business school, finance doesn’t have much Business courses as far as I know. Besides, you’d be in NYC, one of the financial capitals of the world. And if you ever want to switch, Columbia is the better rounded of all the schools you listed!</p>
<p>The only real choice is between UPenn and Columbia though, and Columbia is much better IMO.</p>
<p>P.S Hafsa, I saw you around in the Pakistani thread. The Columbia ka “thappa” (Seal for all you English speakers) carries much more weight than any of the others. This helps a lot in the job market. And considering today’s job market, you need to gather as much help as you can. Also, NYC would be great for making contacts in the Finance industries too.</p>
<p>What do you mean by you want to go into business? Columbia and Duke would be the strongest for finance and management consulting, followed closely by Brown and Penn CAS. UofT is a few light years behind compared to those four.</p>
<p>if Penn and Columbia are most affordable, then it’s a no brainer to pick between them. Both are fun campuses and have improved tremendously in the last 10-20 years. If you can visit, that will be the best way to collect information and reach a decision.</p>
<p>At Penn, are you Wharton or CAS?</p>
<p>I will be in the College of Arts and Sciences at UPenn, and in Columbia College at Columbia. Yes, Columbia and UPenn are coming out to be the cheapest, while Brown will be the most expensive (by 18000!!!). It’s definitely between these two right now.</p>
<p>By business I mean High finance. At least for now, that’s my career goal.</p>
<p>The Financial Economics major seems like a better fit for you then, considering your plans.</p>
<p>Other than this, try looking at the little things about both the colleges. You might like Penn’s campus better, droms might be better at Columbia, you might like Penn’s sports facilities better. As the admissions officers do, take a “holistic” approach to the school now. They both fit the focused and narrow criteria pretty well now. :D</p>
<p>P.S If you’re not fond of literature and the core, stay away from Columbia :P</p>
<p>“By business I mean High finance. At least for now, that’s my career goal.”</p>
<p>Definitely Columbia then. You would always be in the shadows of Whartonites during recruiting at Penn.</p>
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</p>
<p>That’s not correct. While Wharton does attract more of these types of recruiters than probably any other school except maybe Harvard, once they get to Penn’s campus, they don’t just interview Wharton students. In fact, a review of any of the Career Plan Survey Reports for Penn’s College of Arts and Sciences will reveal that College students do very well in this regard, and benefit greatly from Wharton’s presence on campus:</p>
<p>[Career</a> Services, University of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/undergrad/reports.html]Career”>http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/undergrad/reports.html)</p>
<p>Additionally, a student in the College can take Wharton courses, including Finance courses, which also helps in the recruiting process.</p>
<p>If it’s really just Columbia or Penn now, I say, lucky you, you can’t go really wrong either way! I like NYC and that’s the main way I’d choose but that may be just me. Congrats :)</p>
<p>Read both course requirements beyond your major. Columbia’s are extensive and very tightly prescribed (CORE CURRICULUM). Penn’s offer much more latitude. Does this make a difference to you?</p>
<p>“That’s not correct. While Wharton does attract more of these types of recruiters than probably any other school except maybe Harvard, once they get to Penn’s campus, they don’t just interview Wharton students. In fact, a review of any of the Career Plan Survey Reports for Penn’s College of Arts and Sciences will reveal that College students do very well in this regard, and benefit greatly from Wharton’s presence on campus”</p>
<p>Yes, CAS students have done internships at Blackstone, Goldman, etc., but there’s no indication that they were in private equity, ibd, or s&t. They could well have been in operations, human resources, and other back offices. If you go to Penn CAS, you will also face a big problem during recruiting for finance positions. Recruiters like students who are very interested in finance; therefore, you pretty much have to say you are really set on finance (at least for a few years). However, you will then immediately face the question, why not Wharton? There’s no way to answer that satisfactorily without detracting from your interest in finance. That may explain why CAS students are not getting into pure finance firms (Bain Capital, Citadel, etc.).</p>
<p>The upside of attending Penn would be that you could try to transfer to Wharton after a year. If you are set on finance, attend Wharton. If you don’t think that is possible, then go to Columbia.</p>
<p>Columbia. Warren Buffet went there.</p>
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<p>You’re speculating about what happens at Penn CAS interviews. The same question could be asked of Columbia College students purporting to be interested in finance (“Why not Wharton?”). There’s simply no reason to believe that interviewers would favor, e.g., Columbia College students over comparable Penn CAS students (i.e., same majors, GPAs, interviewing skills, etc.). As I said, it’s pure speculation on your part (unless you have data to the contrary).</p>
<p>
For his masters. After graduating from the University of Nebraska for his bachelors.</p>
<p>Perspective of a graduating Columbia College senior that did finance internships for a few years (will also do IBD upon graduation at bulge-bracket firm):</p>
<p>If your goal is finance, Wharton >>> Columbia >>> Penn.</p>
<p>Columbia will get you into any of bulge-bracket investment banks, and most boutiques. Compared to Wharton, what Columbia loses out on (in the sense that only Wharton has these opportunities) is direct undergrad buy-side opportunities. But that makes sense - at Columbia 33% of your time is taken up reading the classics, and the Wharton guys over there are taking classes in M&A Accounting. With that said, I would still choose Columbia > Wharton anyday.</p>
<p>With respect to Wharton vs. Penn CAS, Penn CAS I have to say really loses out big here. I’ve interned at a couple bulge-brackets the last few years, and only once or twice have I met a CAS kid doing banking - and immediately, everyone assumes he’s inferior to the Whartonite. </p>
<p>Anyway bottom line, in terms of recruiting, Wharton > Columbia > Penn CAS.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help everyone! I really appreciate you all taking time out to help me. :)</p>
<p>Thing is, I visited Columbia in late February, and was slightly turned off by the atmosphere. I just don’t think it’s the college for me. I absolutely love Penn, however. The environment was fantastic. But, me not being in Wharton, the true claim to fame of Penn, and a better match for my interests is a turn-off too. I wasn’t aware that there was that much of a difference between CAS and Wharton. If I did, I would’ve applied… :(</p>
<p>Please if you guys have any more advice, I’d love to hear it. Thank you so much once again! :)</p>
<p>Bump! Please, any more opinions? :)</p>
<p>Just want to point out that Penn has a 90% rate of students graduate with an internship. The highest for a college in the nation, while columbia isn’t even in the top ten. </p>
<p>[10</a> Universities Producing the Most Interns - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2011/03/01/10-universities-producing-the-most-interns]10”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2011/03/01/10-universities-producing-the-most-interns)</p>
<p>HafsaRox,</p>
<p>You really need to go directly to the source for accurate data. What you’re getting here is some anecdotal and impressionistic advice from people with limited real-world experience.</p>
<p>If you love Penn, I think you should investigate the CAS placement data in more detail. My link in post #9, above, gives you access to the last 6 years of CAS career surveys. Also, you might want to contact Penn’s Career Services office ([Career</a> Services, University of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/]Career”>http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/)), and even the Admissions Office, to get more detailed–and FACT-BASED–answers to your questions. As an admitted applicant, you’re really in the driver’s seat right now, and I think you’ll find that the Penn Admissions Office will want you to get the answers that you seek.</p>
<p>Also, if you search in the Penn forum here on CC, you’ll find lots of threads discussing this very question of Wharton vs. CAS internship/career opportunities and placement, including posts by CAS students and alumni discussing their experiences and those of their classmates. You might also start your own thread in the Penn forum to get more feedback from current CAS students and recent CAS graduates.</p>
<p>Bottom line, though, is that the MOST important thing is to be at a school where you’ll be happy and thrive–academically and otherwise. While it may be difficult to see this as a high school senior, your long-term career success will be MOST dependent on that.</p>