<p>Hi!</p>
<p>I've been accepted both to Wharton and UVA and am clueless about what school to choose!</p>
<p>Wharton has undisputably remarkable reputation (along with entire Penn), but McIntire at UVA seems to be amazing too (having just taken over the top spot from Wharton in BusinessWeek's ranking of undergrad business schools).</p>
<p>Do you guys have any advice?</p>
<p>if money doesn’t matter you would be stupid not to pick wharton</p>
<p>wow how shallow. You chase top rankings? Go to UVA. It appears you don’t fully understand what Wharton means.</p>
<p>^^^ Harsh much?</p>
<p>But, it’s true. Those rankings aren’t very good and are entirely to reliant upon the polling data which has certain biases inherent with them (ie Wharton students expect more). But, even there you see Wharton is tops in academic quality.</p>
<p>If you want business, Wharton has no comparison on the undergraduate level and few at the graduate level. Also throw in the fact that another 11 schools at an Ivy League university are at your disposal, it would be damn hard to turn down Penn/Wharton. If money is not an issue and you can enjoy your time there, Wharton would be the pick. Nothing against UVA, because it’s a fantastic school and one of the best in the nation, but it is not Penn and McIntire is not Wharton.</p>
<p>wharton is wharton, end of story.</p>
<p>also, at UVA, you have to apply to McIntire once already in UVA…no insurance of being accepted.</p>
<p>well if you got into Wharton, you can be pretty sure that with continued effort you’ll get into McIntire. But still, I’m shocked that the question even arose if you’re serious about business.</p>
<p>I don’t think there is any dispute that wharton’s undergrad business program is still #1, regardless of what businessweek says.</p>
<p>One ranking is not going to change decades of reputation (or the opinion of recruiters)</p>
<p>Graham and Dodd put it nicely in Security Analysis: What is an appraisal? It’s a number next to which a person is paid to sign.</p>
<p>Similarly, what is a ranking? It’s a list someone was paid to compose.</p>
<p>And you have to remember, a large percentage of the people at UVA have to come from Virginia. Penn, not so…so just that much more diversity.</p>
<p>If we went with a compilation of rankings, HBS would barely remain in the top 5. Honestly, especially for business the reputation/networking matters alot. Unless you detest wharton, it’s a much better choice. Plus, its always easier to transfer to UVA from Wharton than vice versa if you don’t like it.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for your input.</p>
<p>I’m an internatioanl applicant so visiting either school will be difficult. Thus I have to base my decision on what I read and hear from others. Of course I am aware of that rankings far from give a complete picture. But I want to make sure that I do not jump to any unjustified conclusions on what university i choose.</p>
<p>I was already leaning towards Wharton (but I didn’t want this to influence your feedback), and what you’ve said seems to be pretty unanimous in favor of it (although a slight Wharton should be expected bias in this board). I’ll probably end up choosing it, but as I’ve said I want to be entirely sure that my decision is the right one.</p>
<p>I must say, I congratulate BusinessWeek, if their rankings can influence someone intelligent enough to get into Wharton that UVA would even be comparable… ;)</p>
<p>I am not a fan of Wharton or undergraduate business education in general, but Wharton is simply without peer. It is the Harvard of undergrad business schools. Rankings come and go, with varying degrees of arbitrariness, sensationalizing, and silliness, but Wharton/Harvard remains on top.</p>
<p>The only thing that changed as far as rankings go is how the public now ranks BusinessWeek! </p>
<p>They have clearly lost some of their credibility. No disrespect to UVA or Notre Dame, but Wharton not being number one is a massive blunder. It has always been Wharton on top…and then the rest of the bschools in terms of academics and global prestige. </p>
<p>“Ah yes he goes to Mendoza!” or “He went to McIntyre!” - haha does not have a ring to it at all. Wharton is more well-know, and for great reason. </p>
<p>Am I biased because I will be going there? Perhaps, but in addition to ranking Wharton lower than 1, ranking NYU and Emory as low as they are further diminishes their credibility. Nice work BusinessWeek!</p>