Ok so decision time is upon us and I am still undecided. I am choosing between Yale and Wharton @ Penn. Here is where I am at with the two schools. any input or things to think about would be awesome:
UPENN: I feel like penn offers me the best chance to pursue my business interests (I am pretty – like 95% – that I’m going to end up in business/start up/hedge fund or something like that) and to pursue my interests in entrepreneurship especially with the alumni network of business people at Penn and the more present entrepreneurial spirit at penn. I also went and visited and felt like the class was awesome and really liked the feel of being on campus. Also its Philly vs. New Haven which is hands down a win for Penn. lol. But in all seriousness, I’m very interested in business and I feel like Penn would help me launch myself down that path but I have heard from various people that boxing myself in now is not the thing to do. With Penn 40% of my classes will be outside of Wharton and I plan to double major or probably even just have a minor in something in the college of arts and sciences (History, african american studies, or even maybe comp sci). I’m worried that I’ll be too boxed in at Penn but i’ve also heard that isnt necessarily the case.
YALE: I liked a lot about Yale and they have a very good econ program there. The campus and residential colleges are amazing and i really like the idea of being in one of the tight knit communities provided by the residential colleges. I also like that I’ll be able to hone my skills as a learner/thinker and come out more “intellectual” (if that makes any sense) with the liberal arts education at Yale where there isnt a focus on the pre-professional education like Penn. I visited Yale as well and while I didn’t quite love it as much as Penn I know that 2-3 days on campus is not enough to make a very concrete judgement. Also the entrepreneurship programs at Yale seem to be more just starting up and not as developed as at Penn and im interested in working at a start up and I feel like Penn/Wharton has the connections in Silicon Valley to help me find internships and jobs I want with start ups that Yale might not have (of course I may be completely wrong but this is what it seemed to me after visiting both).
Also overall, it seems like for what I want to get into Wharton has this reputation for churning out great business people while Yale has a reputation for producing politicians and lawyers and historians, not necessarily business oriented people. However Yale is Yale and honestly I feel like there is a chance that I can end up where I want to be going through Yale as well, but obviously it seems like it would be a longer path if I went to Yale and not quite as direct.
Both outstanding schools and your analysis is correct. If you are absolutely certain business is your future - Wharton, if not or if you feel driven to pursue a liberal arts education before going on to a couple of years of work followed by business school - Yale. If you change direction after choosing Wharton, while UPenn is excellent, it is more a pre-professional school with a liberal arts appendage than a liberal arts college and it is not Yale. If you stay the course and you love business related studies with a dabble in the liberal arts on the side, a Wharton degree and the associated training will serve you well.
I recommend a coin toss, after all of the arguments are weighed. Seriously. It’s actually a good way to hear what your heart is telling you when your head is bursting with excellent points and equally strong counter-points and trivialities that you’ve mistakenly heaped importance upon. Have a best-of-eleven to make it a longer contest, so you can come to grips with how you feel about the score at any given time. How do you feel about the result? That gut feeling is not just a feeling, but a tally of all the rationalization that you’ve done over the past few weeks.
First, congratulations…you really have amazing choices.
You really have to dig down into your heart and decide which is your best fit. First think about if you want to study bushiness as an undergrad or pursue a strictly liberal arts course of study. I’d spend some time looking online at the classes you’d take in both schools – they will be pretty different because at Wharton you will need to take a business core (classes like intro to accounting, finance, marketing, IT, business law etc.) which may or may not appeal to you. With a liberal arts course of study you won’t have that. Secondly the vibe of the two schools is a bit different with Penn being more pre-professional and Yale being more liberal arts oriented. Again, only you can decide if one appeals to you more. Lastly, out of Wharton you should be able to get a job in business immediately , while out of Yale you would likely work for a couple of years and they apply to grad b-schools if that is still what you want to pursue. You may still choose to apply to grad b-school with a Wharton undergrad but it will be less necessary.
Both schools can take you anywhere you want to go in the business world. It becomes more of a question of how you want to take to get there. Certainly there is no wrong answer here. Whatever you decide, never look back!
PS For full disclosure I’m a Wharton alum and loved it there…but I if I had the choice of Wharton or Yale I wonder if I might be as stuck as you are.
If you’re really really sure you want to go into business, Wharton hands down. It’s an amazing business school and will solidly prepare you for the business world by starting you in Philly. Yale produces a wide variety of people. If you’re not sure if you want to go into business and you want to explore, say, politics, economics, business, law, etc., Yale and its liberal arts education will be more beneficial. You have to go with what fits your goals.
At Wharton i can still take classes in the college of arts and sciences. I plan on double majoring or at least having a minor in CAS to balance myself out. Anybody have any ideas as to the entrepreneurship opportunities at Penn/Wharton vs. Yale? I definitely have my own ideas but i want to hear from others and those who have first hand experience if possible at either school.
Wharton should be a no-brainer. We all know how prestigious Yale is but seriously Wharton is in a league of its own when it comes to undergrad business. You said that you didn’t like Yale as much as Penn during your visit and that means something (mind you Yale and Penn have very different vibes). You can pursue a liberal arts education at Penn’s CAS, which, although not on a par with Yale, is still a very solid school.
Is there a net cost difference that might be a factor for your family?
Following up on what @happy1 mentioned, what do you want to do after graduation, hit the workforce or head to grad school? If there’s a great chance you’ll end up with a grad degree, Yale starts to look better for a career in business or finance than it would with only a BA Econ. Plus, if you have the quantitative chops for something like the BA Econ & Math at Yale, or if you can add comp sci courses, your job prospects in finance look good out of undergrad. If you think you can attend grad school on top of a more quantitative program like that, even better.
For business/entrepreneurship opportunities right out of undergrad, Wharton has the edge with its curriculum focused more on practical business fundamentals. Plus, similar to the argument above, you can always head to grad school for an MA Econ if you feel you enjoy or need more of a theoretical background.
So maybe you could provide some feedback on:
–whether net cost is a factor;
–grad school plans;
–aptitude/willingness for adding quantitative courses;
–preference for an “academic” versus “real-world” course of study.
UPenn’s Wharton school is ranked 1st for undergraduate business studies. It teaches you what is practical, and it focuses a lot on being pre-professional. That’s probably one of the many reasons why UPenn has the most billionaire alumni among all universities in the USA. UPenn also focuses on being social and not just academically strong. You get the best of both worlds, and you learn to communicate with people to a greater degree, which helps in business. It’s multidisciplinary meaning that you get to take courses across its other undergraduate schools for an integrated experience. The students are incredibly friendly and everything is close knit. There are even professors that live among students and offer 10pm tutoring and home-baked cookies. There is less stress because of the less smug and competitive nature among the students.
