<p>I am a rising senior who is deciding whether to apply to Penn or Cornell early decision. I am a legacy at both and am 75-80% sure that I could get into either school. I am leaning slightly towards Penn but I have a few concerns:
1. There is a stereotype that Penn is all rich and preppy/jappy kids who are pretentious and not down to earth. I know that I will hear the cliche that there is no "typical Penn kid", but I don't buy it.
2. I took a summer business course at Cornell and the course gave me a very poor view of undergraduate business. So I ask what makes wharton any different from other undergrad business schools?
3. I see nothing that makes Penn unique compared to other top schools.</p>
<p>You’re nuts, and I will say that upfront because I don’t want to come off as someone here to market to a potential student.</p>
<p>If you don’t understand how well Wharton prepares you for the business/finance world right away simply with the atmosphere of achievement and competition not to mention the applied nature of the curriculum, then fine, go to liberal arts and apply like the other thousands of students who figure it out in senior year they want a business job or Wall St. You’ll be fine, but you’ll be extra fine going to Wharton.</p>
<p>As the largest Ivy and by definition the school with the most activities, I don’t see how you could allege the school has a defined personality. There’s a significant Greek community; there’s a significant international student presence; there’s a tremendous performing arts coalition; in short, plenty of scale to fit whatever personality your desires want to join on campus.</p>
<p>Good luck at Cornell. In the corner of finance I ended up in, there were plenty of Harvard, Princeton, Wharton, Berkeley, and Michigan graduates, but no Cornell. Without knowing the Cornell curriculum, I speculate it is significantly different than Wharton’s. Personally, I think Penn has much less of a inheritance, preppy feel than other top schools because it didn’t reach the top echelon until 10 years ago and retains much of its optimistic, future-is-bright feel of any improving university.</p>
<p>Cornell is just as Jappy as Penn. It’s just more concentrated at Penn because it lacks all the kids from upstate NY who go to Cornell ILR, Ag, and Human Ecology for instate tuition.</p>
<p>The only thing really separating Wharton from other undergraduate business schools is name recognition. It is the undisputed #1 undergrad business school. Other than that I would assume most other business schools would teach you very similar stuff.</p>
<p>Penn is very different from other top schools. If you cannot see why it is different form say Dartmouth or MIT, you really havn’t done much research on colleges.</p>
<p>Anybody else? This has been helpful, but I also want more opinions. With regards to the 75-80%, I am confident because I am a legacy at both schools and in comparison to kids who have applied to the schools in the past, I am more qualified than every kid who did not get in and the majority of kids who did get in.</p>
<p>Cornell and Penn are pretty similar, but also very different. They are probably the two most social Ivies. Also, they are the two biggest Ivies, and the only two Ivies with actual undergrad business majors. While Wharton is the best business school in the country, don’t discount Cornell AEM - it’s not far behind. </p>
<p>But since you are asking specifically about Penn … I live very close to Penn, and drive through it all the time. Just from driving through (and from all the people I know that go there), I can tell there’s no typical student. And everyone I know there loves it.</p>
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<li><p>There are 10,000 kids. If you can’t find your niche, then you have some serious social problems and should probably be looking at MIT.</p></li>
<li><p>when it comes to undergraduate business, Wharton is without peer. That being said, I personally don’t like the very idea of undergraduate business. I feel it is much better to go to CAS (or another school), major in something fulfilling to your development as a soul and a citizen, and then if you want business, go back and get an MBA</p></li>
<li><p>Ho boy I don’t even know where to begin. Then again, if you can’t answer what is essentially the “Why Penn?” question, then the admissions committee will make sure you won’t really need to worry about having to pick between Penn and Cornell (you’ll be going to Cornell).</p></li>
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<p>People seem like such ******bags on this thread. I have never spoken to any of you and u are already making judgments about me. FYI, I am actually leaning towards Penn.</p>
<p>You seem to have a sense of entitlement. And I get the feeling Penn students do not take kindly to high school seniors who’ve yet to get into college but already talk about it like they’re in a place to choose. Yeah, the frequent posters on this board are sarcastic (see other threads where people complain about this and no one cares), but you’re kind of asking for it with a post that ends “PROVE ME WRONG.”</p>
<p>PS I remember you from the Michigan boards, asking people to tell you it was going to be easy for you to get into Ross PA. When will you learn some humility?</p>
<p>I guess that I am asking for it with “PROVE ME WRONG” but that was to get people to post. I do not think that I am being overly cocky. I understand it but I think I am being realistic about my chances given that I am a legacy at both schools and my school got 19 kids into cornell last year and kids with low 2000s got into penn when i have scores in the 2300s. In terms of ross, i am not as knowledgable about its admissions but I was hoping that it could be a good backup if i didnt get into penn or cornell. Also I know a kid who got into ross with inferior qualifications to me.</p>
<p>You seem like one of those bastards that goes and posts their stats online to simply feed off the nice comments you think people will give you, about your awesome SATs and how lucky you are to have legacies.
Well guess what - Get over yourself.
I don’t have a legacy but I already decided UPenn was my choice - it’s a personal choice that nobody can coerce you into, so if you can’t decide between the two, THEN DON’T CHOOSE THEM or flip freaking heads or tails and live with it.
Gosh, why do I need to compete with people like this in the ED round >_></p>
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<li> Zester- I’m glad that you’re so cool and have already made your ED choice. You don’t need to be an ******* to me cuz i haven’t</li>
<li> By saying that I am a legacy is not bragging. It has nothing to do with my own intelligence. It just means that my parents went to good colleges.</li>
<li> I am not asking people to coerce me into a decision. I am simply looking to students who have experienced Penn firsthand to tell me what their experience has been like.</li>
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<p>^ College admissions are really a crapshoot…sometimes kids with “inferior qualifications” get in, and others don’t.</p>
<p>You seem to uhh…love Wharton, so you should probably go there. But maybe you should just wait until you get into both Cornell and Penn before you choose - it’s possible you may only get into one or the other, and the decision will be made for you.</p>