<p>I'm having a lot of trouble deciding between Penn (for Wharton) and Princeton. May 1st is coming up, and your opinion is welcome :)</p>
<p>I've outlined a few key things that talk a little about me. </p>
<p>Academics/Career
At Wharton, looking at the course list, I seem to like the business and public policy concentration. At Princeton I would be very open with all the courses and ultimately choose whatever I'm most interested in. If I had to choose right now I guess I'd major in economics and get a certificate in political economy. A job on Wall Street does not appeal to me.</p>
<p>Social Life
I like to get out but not excessively. Often I'm more of a chill person than a party person. But I am decently outgoing and enjoy an intelligent conversation or two. I come from really humble backgrounds, too, so I'd try to stay away from very conceded people. I will probably try to work a lot since I have no FA anywhere.</p>
<p>My biggest thing is that I am not 100% sure I want to go into business. If I do, though, I want to avoid having to get a master's if possible. I do like international politics a lot and how that influences business or economies. Right now, I'd have to say a dream job would require this knowledge for decision-making: reading any political article about some foreign country from The Economist and mix business and/or economics with it. </p>
<p>Thanks in advance to everyone for helping me. I'd especially appreciate the opinions of current undergrads or graduates of these schools who can give very unique and insightful advice.</p>
<p>Especially if you’re not 100% about doing finance, go Princeton. If you end up deciding to do finance, Princeton places just as well as Wharton does so there’s no real downside imo. </p>
<p>Thank you! Just hearing opinions always does help.</p>
<p>I feel like I will end up in doing something business or economics related, maybe a job based on applied economics. But (almost) definitely not a typical i-banking finance back.</p>
<p>Well, I’m taking the opposite side of this. Wharton all the way. Outside the U.S., everyone who is anyone knows Wharton because the MBA program is #1 in the world. If you want to become involved in politics, this is a big deal. </p>
<p>Business training is not, and was never meant to be, for Wall St. Wall St. trains their own anyway. Business and management is about using tools to make the most of any situation. That kind of training will benefit you regardless of your ultimate pursuit in life.</p>
<p>OSU, where did you get the idea OP want to get involved in “the highest levels of academia”? I did not see any mention of graduate school. In fact he/she stated the opposite… that if business were the path, and MBA is not desirable… thus the Wharton undergrad MBA-lite would suffice and make it possible to advance in a career without going back for the MBA></p>
<p>@DunninLA… And outside the US, (assuming that foreigner’s perception even matters to the OP) they wouldn’t know Princeton? It’s a safe bet that more people would know about Princeton than Wharton. And if the OP wants to get a good education in econ/finance, you can still do so at P… I don’t see why the OP should limit him/herself by going to Wharton.</p>
<p>“Right now, I’d have to say a dream job would require this knowledge for decision-making: reading any political article about some foreign country from The Economist and mix business and/or economics with it.”</p>
<p>That’s where I assume he’s proposing something in the higher rungs of academia for himself. I have no clue what most of that means because of how it’s worded, but anyone who shapes public policy and has much to do with a respected journal like The Economist has a pretty decent grounding in academia. Not much room for George Bush types, if you know what I mean, no offense to Dubya.</p>
<p>pnb2002 – I do NOT think more people outside the US know Princeton compared to Wharton. Princeton doesn’t have a Law School, MBA school or Medical School.</p>
<p>^Dunnin, that doesn’t mean that people don’t know about it. Most of the people I’ve talked to who have family in other countries state that HYP are the only colleges people care about.</p>
<p>Think about it, on your resume you will have to type out University of Pennsylvania Wharton School OR just Princeton University. I think the latter looks much better don’t you?</p>
<p>lol, I actually didn’t know that Wharton had the #1 MBA program in America… I might have had a slight bias towards HBS and Sloan since I lived in Cambridge all my life…I actually really never heard much about Wharton…until I researched about it.</p>
<p>You would think that I would have heard of Wharton before I applied to colleges… but no </p>
<p>I bet more average joes and foreigners alike know more about Cornell’s Hotel school than UPenn’s Wharton… let’s be honest lol.</p>
<p>Dunnin, internationally, Wharton does indeed have a great reputation…as does Princeton. But in terms of academic programs, I think Princeton suits the OP better than Wharton.</p>
<p>Wharton was as obscure to me as WashU to be honest. Ok. fail lol. I wasn’t into business schools anyway back when I applied to colleges which is the problem. I <em>was</em> premed. </p>
<p>Somehow I didn’t get that WashU had an awesome premed program… lol</p>
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lol. I wasn’t into business schools anyway back when I applied to colleges which is the problem. I <em>was</em> premed.