<p>Earlier I made a post about Wharton's link with bulge brackets, primarily in career opportunities offered after graduation. In that thread it was noted that only 35% of students are offered interviews in BB and based off that fact you can assume that they are most likely those with the highest GPAs.</p>
<p>But Wharton is an extremely competitive environment where the lowest ranked member of the class could still be more capable than many of the higher percentile students at schools such as UMich Ross and NYU Stern. </p>
<p>Ultimately the point is, why do NYU Stern and UMich Ross get similar BB interview rates (Business week noted Stern was around 45% including boutiques) with Wharton when students clearly covet Wharton over all other competitors? </p>
<p>If one seeks a finance job such as IBanking is it preferable to go to a lower school like Stern and get an amazing GPA instead of going to Wharton and having a 3.2-3.3ish?</p>
<p>This is a very good question and one my D is conflicted about as well. She has about 10 days left to pick a school (Wharton being one of the choices) and she doesn’t know what to do. Anyone who can render some help would be very much appreciated as she is looking to me and I don’t have the answer.</p>
<p>It all depends on what kind of person you are. Personally I think it is a shame to turn down a great opportunity to stretch yourself to overcome challenges so you can learn from success and failures. If you want to attend a college to protect your GPA rather to test your mettle, then I doubt you will be successful in IB because firms rate their employees in their yearly reviews. Would you turn down a job at GS because you are afraid you may be rated bottom of the barrel?</p>
<p>I don’t know where you got your BB interview rates. Last I looked at employment figures at Wharton, they sent about 50% of their graduates into finance. And of course, due to the Wharton curve, most of those 50% don’t have 3.8-4.0 averages so that means most firms hire more deeply down the GPA scale at Wharton. However, the finance landscapes have changed dramatically, and there are just a handful of BB left.</p>
<p>Cbreeze,
I agree with you but if one is planning on going onto graduate school and the only thing that really matters is your GPA and GMAT or LSAT or GRE then it is a factor one must consider.</p>
<p>My concern is that I will go to Wharton, end up with a 3.2/3.3 GPA and not get interview offers. I am sure if I went to NYU Stern I would be in the upper end of students, this comes from the fact that most of the NYU stern students I know are Wharton rejects with lower GPAs, SATs, etc. </p>
<p>Why are they getting offers over Wharton kids who got in over them?</p>
<p>Whats the point of the Wharton distinction if BBs are going to select the same number of kids for interviews from lower schools?</p>
<p>ArmoMom, the only thing that may be worrisome is that your D may want law school. I think they are more numbers (GPA) driven, though I am sure if your D is admitted into Wharton, she will do fine in LSAT and GRE and GMAT.</p>
<p>If she is a serious and diligent student and tries her best, a 3.3+ can easily be attained. There were students who received offers in IB with a 3.3.</p>
<p>just a thought - don’t have personal recruiting experience with banking, but i am told of friends who, upon entering, were already in supervisory roles over kids from other schools</p>
<p>and offers may be different, too - when i told my ibm global business services friends about my offer, they were surprised at how big it was compared to even current employees’ salaries - there may be school variation to attract better students</p>
<p>Business week also ranks Stern well below Wharton</p>
<p>I interned at Merrill last summer and I guarantee you there were not nearly as many analysts from Stern as there were from Wharton (or other top schools like Harvard or Princeton). I suspect that a large part of the 50% from Stern are either in middle office, asset management, or boutiques. </p>
<p>Also, the 35% statistic is incorrect. 35% of Wharton students accepted JOBS with BB, not interviews.</p>
<p>Rferns, it wouldn’t really make sense if the same person could get an ibanking job from Stern but not Wharton. That would defeat the purpose of going to the top undergraduate business school.</p>
<p>Also, keep in mind that many of the students at Stern also have the advantage of proximity to Wall St and access to internships over the school year. However, these advantages (still not enough to offset Wharton’s) don’t matter down the road when they try to change jobs. In other words, having a Wharton degree can open more doors and make it easier to switch jobs (since many people leave BBs after 3 or 4 years)</p>
<p>Haha IBanking always sucked and was always meant for the craziest people (who like to work 80+ hrs a week and endure a high-stress environment). Yes the rewards are (well…were) good, but the system requires people to almost give up part of their humanity and still doesn’t guarantee mobility. In order to get up in the ranks and make the exorbitant salaries…well, sometimes the lottery is easier. There are easier ways to make that kind of money, while also remaining sane.</p>
<p>Actually I gave up on my medical ambitions because medicine finds a way to suck even more than iBanking (malpractice sucks, insane stress, 80+ hr work week, 13+ yrs of post-secondary education, huge debts, 70% of doctors are depressed, medicine might be socialized soon, physician’s salaries have been steadily decreasing, respect/appreciation for doctors is diminishing, doctors don’t actually apply much science or any math in their careers (a negative imo :)), etc). Maybe I should change my username…</p>
<p>You won’t graduate in bottom of Wharton’s class. Consider the following demographics within Wharton:</p>
<p>URM who have never seen any academic environment like this before (and thus struggle)
Kids who aren’t bright but made it up with parents’ endowments + connections –> internships
Kids who had parents do everything in their lives (Make sure they study, stay on top of grades, force attendance to activities, etc) --these will not survive solo in rigorous environment.
Kids who chose business out of the blue and have no leaning towards it as a field of interest. Did it for a chance at get-rich-fast. After a certain point, passion +interest > natural ability</p>
<p>If that doesn’t constitute 50%, I would be greatly surprised. Now you are in top 50% of Wharton class. Grades centered on 3.0 GPA. Your chances at solid GPA don’t look all that bad…</p>