Wharton of Penn vs Stanford vs Yale

College Search & Selection
1

I was hoping the decision would be made for me, but I was recently admitted to my top three schools! I am excited to be in this position, but, still, I’m overwhelmed! I have yet to visit any of the campuses as I live a pretty good distance from all three, but I will be attending the admitted students days at Penn, Stanford, and Yale. But because Yale and Stanford’s admitted student days are very close to May 1st (Stanford’s is April 27-29), I’m afraid I won’t have enough time to ponder my experience on campus.

SO, about what I want to find in college and what I want to do in the future:
I have always wanted to go into business. I love the allure of being in a corporate environment, but recently I thought I would like computer science because I like the sort of laid back atmosphere that Google has. I’m taking a computer science course right now, and I don’t love it. I’m not sure if it is because of the content or the way the class is structured.
I see myself on the east coast in the future, but I know that no matter where I go, I can end up wherever I want.

WHARTON
I am very much career-oriented, but I still want to have a great college experience without being overwhelmed with all the pre-professionalism on campus. Wharton really prepares its students for a career, and it really helps its students with recruiting and stuff. What I love about Penn is their focus on an interdisciplinary and practical education, and Wharton has truly been my TOP school for the longest time because I always thought I wanted to go into finance, but I’ve been hearing about the stress and the cutthroat atmosphere at Penn, especially Wharton. While I love competition, I can’t imagine not being able to get a break or ask others for notes. I recently read an article on the Daily Pennsylvania about how Penn students have the shortest reading period (of the Ivies) before exams, which I think only proves the stressful atmosphere. The curve is a little intimidating, but I think that it will only encourage me to do better. Along the lines of finance, I realize that I don’t really know what an investment banking job entails. But with my recent interest in computer science, Penn’s “One University” policy will allow me to explore computer science at a top notch program (but not better than Stanford) while still pursuing an amazing business degree. One thing that is a real bummer about Penn is the small campus (compared to Stanford and Yale) because I want a sprawling campus. After all, the campus will be my home for four years. I’ve read some bad things about the dorms on campus, but I really won’t say anything until after Quaker Days.
I’ve read some stuff about Wharton undergrads not needing to get an MBA because Wharton teaches you all that already, how true is that?

STANFORD
One thing that’s really attracting me to Stanford is that unreal feeling I felt when I saw that “Congratulations!” on screen. When I think about how euphoric I felt, I think maybe Stanford has always been the school I wanted to go to. But also part of the reason may be because I was Stanford was my only decision of the three where I didn’t know what to expect. I received a likely letter from Yale and a financial aid letter from Penn. Anyway, I love love Stanford’s campus. It’s huge, and it’s beautiful. I’m definitely one for very modern architecture, but Stanford’s buildings make me think twice. As far as student life goes, I get the feeling that students at Stanford are happy, friendly, and collaborative. I think college essay prompts speak volumes for the campus atmosphere is like, and I had so much fun writing Stanford’s essays. With my logic, this translates to an atmosphere that I will really love. What’s holding me back from Stanford is the fact that they aren’t an undergrad business school. I know they don’t offer the same opportunities for business as Wharton does, but I know they will offer more opportunities in Silicon Valley and Google (which is my dream, to be honest. BUT Wharton can also get me a job at Google). I’m also thinking that if I really do end up loving computer science, Stanford is the place to be. They foster entrepreneurship, which would be cool to be part of and be around, but it’s a heavily computer science deal. If I end up officially deciding that I don’t like computer science, I’ll end up with a great economics degree (but not better than Wharton) Weather isn’t a deciding factor here, because I’d rather gloomy weather than sunny weather, but I can imagine myself in both (partly because where I live is sunny and annoyingly hot).

YALE
I received a likely letter from Yale and have just received so much attention from Yale and its students. They are all very friendly and eager to help. It’s making it very difficult to say no. I love the residential college system and how I can get a built in community inside a community. From what I’ve heard from my contacts with Yale students, is that professors are understanding and eager to work with students. While that may be true for Stanford and Penn, the fact that I’ve heard that about Yale specifically makes it all the more appealing. In short, I love how much Yale seems to care.

As I mentioned before, I am career-oriented, so salary is very much a consideration for me. My guess is that Wharton’s recognition in the business world and recruitment will land me the highest starting salary. Plus, I’ve seen a couple places that Wharton has the highest number of millionaires.

Sorry for the long post. I’m just putting down my pros and cons for each school because I really don’t know what to do. Please let me know some other pros/cons of each school and what school you think would be the best fit for me and offer the most opportunities!

2

Your concern is chiefly how much money can you expect to make. Go on Payscale. That should answer your question. I suspect it will be Wharton.

3

@Lindagaf while salary is a consideration for me, it is not the decision making factor. I want to be able to enjoy my entire college experience. Right now, I don’t know which school I will have the best experience

4

Forget “computer science” as part of the decision equation. You said yourself you don’t love it. That field is so competitive – and has so much outsourcing – that the only hope of success is to love it and live and breathe it.

Focus on your business and finance interests, and you can always wind up working on the business side of Google or another large tech company, or help out with a tech startup. You don’t need a degree in computer science to work at a tech company. People with many other skills are needed to start and run a business. So evaluate these universities with a view toward studying business, finance and/or entrepreneurship, or possibly something like management information systems.

Have you looked up the student organizations and clubs available at each university? They can give a lot of insight into the campus culture. Have you looked at the calendar of events at each university, to see what is going on on campus? Have you considered the cities where each one is located, and what you can do directly off campus? What about transportation issues and options – how do people get around on campus and in the surrounding city? You mentioned weather as a factor. Have you looked up the actual data on average temperatures etc. at each location? Have you thought about the alumni network of each university, and how that can help you, with strengths in various career fields?

Looking back a few years from now, is there one university that would make you more proud than the others to have attended? These are all incredible universities. Congratulations on having such great options!

5

@agooddilemma After reading your post, I feel your choice will intimately come down to Stanford vs Penn given your preferences in terms of school vibe, culture and your interest in tech, silicon valley. There are many points to be made in favor of both schools and in fact i think both schools are quite similar in terms of there social vibe, atmosphere and their focus on combining practical/pre-professional and liberal arts education.

Stanford: amazing strength across the board (top in virtually every discipline) , the name recognition, prestige is rivaled only by Harvard really. Great campus atmosphere, unique quirky culture, great weather. The top feeder for silicon valley jobs. In short it is the new IT school.

Penn: Great strength in many fields, Wharton is the best undergrad business school, you will get both a strong business education and a well rounded liberal arts one (40% of your classes as a Wharton undergrad are outside Wharton). Great focus on interdisciplinary education, flexible curriculum, you can take classes in any undergrad school and most grad schools of the university under the One University policy. Great social life. Has great tradition in sending students to Silicon Valley.

Btw I don’t know where you heard that Penn has a small campus. It doesn’t, certainly not compared to Yale. Yale campus: 1.1km^2, penn campus 1.13 km^2. The Stanford campus is definitely much more expansive than both of the other two.

I think you will have a better idea after visiting during admitted days.

6

@mommyrocks thank you for the suggestions, especially the one about looking at the calendar of events! And I really needed to hear what you said about computer science.

@Penn95 After writing that post and talking to some people today, I agree that my choice is between Penn and Stanford.
Do you really think Stanford and Penn have similar a social vibe and atmosphere? I haven’t been to either campus, so my knowledge is limited to what I’ve read. I’ve gotten the impression that Penn students are much more competitive than Stanford students. From your username I’m assuming that you went to Penn. How was your experience with competitiveness at Penn? Does it exist?
While Silicon Valley would be a great place to work, I can also picture myself in a city like NYC, so I’m giving that point to Penn. Penn has connections on Wall Street and everything. While I can get those jobs if I go to Penn, my network would be smaller.

7

The cutthroat nature of Penn, and especially Wharton, is vastly overstated. It’s a competitive but extremely collaborative atmosphere. The vast majority of upper level business courses are heavily team-based. For the top finance courses you’re actually judged entirely on team performance. Everyone wants to do well, but no one ever sabotages each other in any way. In my experience the short reading days are not really an issue at all. Also, Penn is a lot of fun socially.

8

You mentioned that the Penn “network would be smaller.” Actually, going to an Ivy would allow you to network with many Ivy alumni groups that contain graduates of all the Ivies, not just U Penn. You can find Ivy alumni groups on LinkedIn, Meetup, Facebook, etc.

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@NashSaddle that’s great to hear. What about the curve? Does that make it to where people are not as open to collaborating?

@mommyrocks I meant Stanford! I’m starting to get the two mixed up lol

10

People always study together. The curve is pretty generous, even for core classes.

@agooddilemma If you have more questions I’d be happy to give more thorough answers through personal messages.

11

What about class size? Contact with professors?
Housing situation, not just as a freshman but in later years?
Companies that recruit on campus?

12

@agooddilemma Penn is not really cutthroat. I was a SEAS + Wharton student while at Penn and I can tell you that the culture is more collaborative than you think. i collaborated in most of my classes for homework and exam study groups. People are competitive first and foremost with themselves not against others and are in fact willing to help others (prep for job interviews, recruiting tips, give you referrals, connections etc). I can’t imagine that the over-achievers at Stanford are less driven and competitive with themselves than the students at Penn.
The only thing where there is a slight difference is probably grading. Stanford does have more grade inflation compared to Penn, but still Penn is not really grade-deflated. Also not all classes are curved and even if they are the curve is not terrible (with the exception of intro level science and engineering classes). Wharton classes are usually curved to a B+ (3.3) or even A- (3.7) which is not bad at all.

Also you can break into both Wall St and Sillicon valley from either school.

I feel you will have a clear idea when you visit both. The most important consideration here is fit I think.

13

I keep seeing you mention Google. Then you should go for Stanford. It will put you right in the middle of Silicon Valley, and there are several other tech companies there you can check out. Founders of start ups come to the school regularly. You’d also get to speak to alumni and hear from their experiences. Stanford is going to give you the opportunities you are looking for in tech. But if business is your main interest then maybe Wharton can offer that. But can’t beat Stanford’s sunny weather! But whichever you choose, you’re going to do great! Hope this helps!

14

I’m going to say that in the long run, career-wise it really won’t matter which one you choose. Wharton/Penn and Stanford are both elite universities and both in the same realm of colleges with excellent connections and post-graduation placements. You can end up at Google or in Silicon Valley from Penn or Stanford - I work at a large tech company and I know several new grads who went to Penn. Stanford may give you a little boost in that area because of location and deeper connections, but this place (and the Valley) is overflowing with elite university grads of all stripes.

That said, though, I think you are psyching yourself out a little bit with respect to Penn. The atmosphere is competitive - but any elite school is going to be somewhat competitive. That’s what elite students do; they’ve been trained to do it practically since kindergarten. But “competitive” doesn’t mean cutthroat, necessarily. A short reading period isn’t necessarily indicative of anything; that’s just the way the calendar works out.

The chief question, I think, is whether it is really important to you to formally study business (in which case Wharton is probably the best place in the country to do that as an undergrad) or whether you simply want to explore the liberal arts in general with an eye towards going into business, which you could do at either college. Again, at the level of elite school you’re contemplating it kind of doesn’t matter what you major in if you want to go into business. One of the Penn grads I know here at Microsoft was a nursing major at Penn. The school’s connections are going to be what helps you there.

Here’s the thing, though: If you go to Wharton, you can make a choice. You can study finance and explore the liberal arts and sciences through One University; if you change your mind, you still have a truly excellent computer science department (Penn’s doctoral program is ranked in the top 5-10) and lots of excellent departments in other fields.

If you go to Stanford, you can still go into business and benefit from connections and all that, but it doesn’t have the undergrad business atmosphere it sounds like you crave.

15

You might like Stanford’s Management Science and Engineering program. It’s a techy business degree that includes some CS.

16

Hey everyone, thanks for all the help! You all have given me wonderful insight

I got back from Penn’s Quaker Days a few days ago, and I loved it! But I’m still holding off for Stanford’s Admit Weekend because the part of me that knows I’m easily impressed is almost positive I will love Stanford too lol

For some reason, I keep thinking Stanford students are a bit more pleasant/relaxing to be around than Penn students. I may only be thinking this because Stanford’s in California. Speaking from my limited experience at Quaker Days, I found a couple Penn students to be condescending. Am I way off base? Can anyone speak from experience?

And another thing I love about Stanford is that a majority of all its students live on campus. I just think that adds more community to the atmosphere. A lot of upperclassmen at Penn live off campus, and I’m just kind of put off by that.