<p>I know it is most preferable to have both, but do any of you know which one Wharton prefers more? I’ve heard that Wharton values real-world experience a lot and is very focused on pre-professionalism (found in internships) but it also values leadership (found in clubs). Do any of you know which one it prefers? For example, would an applicant with few club leadership positions but strong interning experience be more likely to get in or an applicant with strong club officer positions but little or no internship experience?</p>
<p>Any Whartonites care to share how they got in with either weak clubs but strong internships or no internships but strong clubs?</p>
<p>seeing as how very few h.s. students have any valuable internships it's ok to just have strong leadership in your school, community, etc. As you'll find most people of wharton have this rather than internships. Although, a valuable internship (by valuable I mean an internship in which you actually do real world work and not just photocopying at a law firm - some places that offer good internships for h.s. students are brokerage houses...I did this in h.s. at UBS and it was a good experience i learned a lot about the market, forex, options, etc.).</p>
<p>So both is good but I think that for UG, at least, leadership is probably more important. However, a good internship can tip the scale if you're already a leader.</p>
<p>I know that no leadership is not acceptable, but I'm asking if I have SOME leadership and quite a bit of interning experience, would that be alright.</p>
<p>For example, I have been involved in speech and debate for 4 years and have held leadership positions (Captain my Junior year, President my Senior year). I also have a couple officer positions in some other clubs (VP in SPAL, a club students at our school started, and Position in JSA) but I feel they aren't as strong when compared to some of the student who are like president in 2-3 nationally recognized clubs.</p>
<p>However, I have had two incredible interning experiences. I interned at a startup company (trust me, there was a lot of work to be done lol) for 4 weeks, full 8 hour days and also at a politician's office for 2 months, a couple hours a week.</p>
<p>I have okay club leadership and a pretty focused group of ECs. I was just wondering if the internships are enough to "tip the scale" per se.</p>
<p>as i said earlier leadership is more important...but in your case some good leadership (like what you have already) coupled with decent internships (the politician one sounds so-so and the other one will sound great if you're able to explain it in depth) will probably look good and possibly tip the scales...</p>
<p>Btw, just for those of you that are wondering what types of internships/jobs will look amazing on a Wharton app here are a few:
-Hedge Fund
-Investment Bank
-Private Equity Fund
-LBO firm
-Trading company
-Venture Capital firm/fund
-Consulting firm
-Working in the finance/strategy&corporate planning/marketing dept. of a mid to large cap company
-Starting your own company, however not just like a website design site that makes like $200 a month...i mean like a real company with big revenues. Like a guy in my class ('08) started his own exotic snake breeding company and he makes like $300k a year.</p>
<p>Note: The vast majority of these internships would require hardcore connections but I know a bunch of people at Wharton who landed these things through family, friends, etc.</p>
<p>Connections are very nice to have however determination plays a key role. It is possible to get a top of the line internship without any connections what so ever. Go out there and tell em who you are. Not all people in business scoff at high schoolers.</p>
<p>very true...determination plays a big role. I know a few people (including you mahras :) ) that have gotten great internships from pure determination. I did this the summer b4 freshman year and i landed a pretty good internship.</p>
<p>Thanks bern. Yea you had a really nice internship at UBS asset management. They told me to call back when I am in college when I asked whether they had any possible position for me :mad: last year. </p>
<p>Is it just me or is the number of "chances at wharton" and "what looks good to Wharton" threads just growing exponentially here on CC? Interestingly ibanking related threads are also growing fast here on CC. Funny how only a year ago there was only around three/four threads regarding this.</p>
<p>yeah definitely mahras...I've noticed that since the last USNWR came out the number of threads on the Penn board has grown practically exponentially...especially wharton threads. I wouldn't doubt it that after the new USNWR comes out a week that more people will come on the Penn board. I've heard rumors of Penn going up to 3rd tied with Yale (I heard it from a friend whose mom works at USNWR), but who knows.</p>
<p>I'm guessing the rise in i-banking threads is due to the fact that more people are learning what it is as the industry has grown (especially with commercial banks starting to tread the line of investment banks) and they've learned that it is prestigious and well paying. Lots of people on CC are prestige whores so since more people are learning that it's prestigious they've started to look into it - this also probably led to a rise in wharton chances, etc. threads.</p>
<p>dooit:It depends on what kind of work they have you do there...if you're just photocopying and bringing people their coffee then it's probably not going to do much for you in terms of your app. If, however, you're say doing financial models for the non-profit that are going to leave a mark on the organization then definitely do it. </p>
<p>This is something a corporate recruiter at CSFB told me to do. Usually freshmen in college (no matter what college you go to) will have a tough time finding a good internship after their frosh year. It's just a fact...firms want students that they'll be able to extend an offer to. He told me to go get a job in the strategy & corporate planning/finance dept. of a mid size company in my home city. Here he said I might get good exposure and be allowed to complete more interesting projects which would give me a huge boost soph/jr year when trying to land ibanking/consulting internships. I'd suggest trying to land one of these the summer before freshman year & maybe even in h.s. Currently I'm doing what this guy told me. I went to a mid-large size (1.2 billion in revenue) company and am working in the strategy dept under the VP of Strategy...what's cool about this internship is that I've been able to do really cool analyses and I've gotten exposure to the corporate exec world. What's awesome is that I present most of my analyses, since they pertain to overall corporate strategy, to the CEO, CFO and other top execs at the firm. This will play a huge role next year in trying to land a consulting job (what I want to do, but it would help in ibanking) because I've gotten good exposure as to how a company runs. This is especially good to know in consulting & ibanking. </p>
<p>So my suggestion for all of your determined ones (sans connections) is to try to land a good corporate job because it'll give you a good advantage work experience-wise when applying for big ibanking/consulting internships.</p>
<p>Thats bad news. If Penn heads to #3 I am thinking this place is going to overload with chances threads. While the business subforum will be swamped with "can I get into ibanking" threads.</p>
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Lots of people on CC are prestige whores
<p>I would say that leadership is more important than having an "internship." Don't feel pressure to have an "internship" the way you think of them - if you work at McDonald's that will mean just as much because ppl know that when you are 16 or 17 you aren't gonna get any good jobs anyway. And if you do, it's probably through a parent or family friend and in those cases I think you're better off at McDonald's - at least you did that on your own.</p>