<p>In terms of business opportunities, recruitment, and overall student life, would it be worth applying early decision to Wharton and possibly forgoing every applying to HYP?</p>
<p>I definitely don't think I can automatically get into Wharton, but I'm conflicted about whether if I do get in, I would be limiting myself from possibly better choices. I don't want to have a little voice nagging me in the back of my head.</p>
<p>There are things like Yale's residential colleges that are really making this such a difficult decision. Is Wharton truly the definitive best place to get a business education for an undergraduate student, or is HYP really a lot better and worthy of applying to as well?</p>
<p>In the end, I know these are all top schools, but I'd like to hear from some graduates and possibly students at these schools on weighing the options. How did those in a similar situation make a decision.</p>
<p>I don’t go to any of those schools, but I know a ton of people at each and from your post, I think what you need to do is identify what you really want from your college experience. </p>
<p>“Is Wharton truly the definitive best place to get a business education for an undergraduate student” </p>
<p>Yes, without a doubt. In terms of taking business courses, Wharton is without comparison at the undergraduate level. That’s a very different quality than being the best for recruiting, which I’m really not sure if it is or not (and it would definitely depend on what specifically you want to get into after graduation). In terms of “overall student life,” that’s a very subjective value that you have to judge for yourself, though I’m sure students from all four schools will help you with this.</p>
<p>Personally, I think if you can manage to be admitted to any of these colleges, I think it depends on what actions you take during your study at these universities that will truly impact your success. HYP and Wharton are the top universities in the world, and are extremely close in quality of education and prestige. From all the lists of IB placements and universities that I’ve seen, Wharton tends to do the best.</p>
<p>I agree, I’m just posting this on the appropriate forums because I want to get a feel of the pros/cons of each in relation to each other. I would be ecstatic to be accepted into any of them.</p>
<p>Opportunities/recruitment (in business, consulting, finance, etc.): Wharton and Harvard are probably the best, especially in ibanking</p>
<p>Overall student life: pretty different at each school. I don’t know enough about each school to say which is the “best,” but again…this is a very subjective question</p>
<p>How is the social atmosphere and student life? You like the campus in comparison to others? I know it’s subjective, but I’d like to hear everybody’s personal opinion.</p>
<p>I just want to compare the programs, student life, campuses and hear from different students before truly committing to Wharton ED.</p>
<p>If you are more pragmatic, or aren’t as into the whole “liberal arts education” thing, then I would say without a doubt shoot for Wharton. It’s more pre-professional and business-oriented, so you won’t be having very much of the rounded education that you would attending HYP. If you want a more generalized education I would say go for Harvard and get an economics degree or something. The quality of student life is pretty similar at all of them as far as I know, but Penn is known as the “social ivy” for what it’s worth, so there would tend to be a little more partying there as well. In all honesty though, the differences are probably not too significant other than that Wharton is far more pre-professional and down to business (no pun intended) than HYP will be. So if you KNOW you want business and you don’t want to take all sorts of classes that are NOT business, then Wharton is for you. If you’re not 100% sure yet or you want a more rounded out education, it’s HYP. I would recommend Harvard over Yale or Princeton though, but it sounds funny saying that.</p>
<p>If you like Wharton equally, applying ED there is a good strategy. There is a boost applying ED which makes it the mostly likely admit for anyone unhooked of the 4. With admit rates at about 3-5% at all of these schools for the unhooked, anything that can help is worth a try.</p>
<p>The advice on this thread has been excellent so far.</p>
<p>On the recruiting side - I think Wharton is a (small) notch above if you want to go directly into PE. It may has an (even smaller) edge over the rest for banking… but probably an imperceptible one. I think Harvard does a (small) bit better when it comes to consulting recruiting. I don’t really know who does best with hedge funds. </p>
<p>Wharton academics can be pretty intense + recruiting is known to be rather cutthroat. It wouldn’t be unfair for someone to say the same thing about Harvard - although the nice thing at a liberal arts school is that only <em>some</em> of your friends are doing on-campus recruiting, so there’s a bit more balance.</p>