<p>There is a major difference between being an economics major and being in a business school. An economics major is a liberal arts degree and if you go the business school route you will take a business core curriculum (typically some management, b-law, accounting, finance classes) in addition to classes in your major. I’m not saying one is better than the other, but they are different. If you want a business school I’d skip ED and apply to UM and possibly IU - Kelly as early as possible. If you are certain that you want to study economics, virtually every school has that an an undergraduate option so you have tons of choices.</p>
<p>It sounds like you want to go with business, with that in mind I would not recommend you do ED anywhere for economics; especially for any school that your chances of getting in are slim. </p>
<p>The problem with applying with ED at Wharton is you won’t be able to apply to Umich t EA. If you don’t get into Wharton in ED (or any other highly selective school ED for that matter) than you’re going to have to apply to Michigan RD. </p>
<p>Admissions for OOS students can be fairly challenging, especially for a student apply RD with a relatively low GPA. Michigan puts quite a bit of weight on GPA. </p>
<p>I’m sure that you can get into Michigan if you apply EA. I’m not so sure about your chances for Ross pre-admit; you have a decent shot, but that GPA is going to hold you back. If you do well your first year, you’ll get into Ross. </p>
<p>I recommend you apply EA to Michigan, EA to other schools, and then RD at additional schools.</p>
<p>
But doesn’t Michigan have nonrestrictive, i.e., not single-choice, EA? If so, OP can apply EA to Michigan and ED to Wharton.</p>
<p>^^^ You are correct about that. And I had one more thought – maybe look into Cornell (Dyson). The school is highly selective, but not quite as selective than Wharton. But again, I would not apply ED anywhere unless you clearly prefer that school/program over UM.</p>
<p>Opps. I guess they can do both ED at Wharton and EA at Michigan; that’s probably their best bet if Upenn is their dream school.</p>
<p>I think there’s a fundamental misunderstanding about what the OP’s goals are. The OP wants to work in Investment Banking and there are only about 10 universities and 5 undergraduate business schools that are considered “core recruiting grounds” for this field.</p>
<p>The distinction between Economics and Undergraduate Business doesn’t and shouldn’t matter as much to the OP as job prospects on Wall Street.</p>
<p>I would also recommend Cornell, whether it is AEM or A&S. A lot of Cornell graduates do go into IB/consulting/finance. The plus side of Cornell is it has 7 colleges where you can take classes from. A lot of firms recruit on campus because of its size and caliber of students. Cornell has very strong alumni network in NYC and many major cities around the globe. It is also not hard to transfer from one school to another. My older daughter did go into IB with math/econ degrees from Cornell. Your chance of getting into Cornell ED is significantly higher than RD. I have said this before - ED is your one free option, use it wisely.</p>
<p>Wow thanks for all the feedback everyone! Seems like I might be making more sense now lol (phew). So I am definitely applying to Michigan EA; that’s for sure, as it is in fact non-restrictive. ED is up in the air. I’ve been looking into Cornell AEM for a while because I have legacy there, but I concluded that it is no more prestigious than UM Ross (feel free to correct me on that if you think I am mistaking). So since the two are roughly (if not completely) equal, I think I’d rather be at UM because it is a better fit for me. </p>
<p>Also AEM has the same acceptance rate as Wharton because AEM is so tiny and gets pretty filled by athletes and NY state residents. And since I prefer Wharton to AEM anyway, I’ve pretty much discounted AEM ED. Looks like I might be going with Wharton after all lol… yikes!</p>
<p>I could be wrong, but I personally think you would be throwing your ED away at Wharton. I hate doing chance threads, but in this case I feel like I should say something with a 3.7. Not sure why you wouldn’t use your legacy status and ED at Cornell. I am not sure how well UM Ross translates in NYC. My kid applied to UM EA as a safety, but she was a Sal with 4.0. She applied to Cornell ED because she didn’t want to take her chance at RD. But she knew Cornell was her #1 choice, not just for the prestige factor.</p>
<p>Start doing your research and see if any onf the programs jump out at you. As others have said, don’t apply ED just because it’s an available option. I’ve known kids who have done that and upon acceptance realized that they did not know much about the school. Just applying for the prestige factor and then finding out the school doesn’t even have what they want. </p>
<p>If you don’t want econ, they you need to look at schools that do. But ED is when you know you want that school, because you really have to move on the acceptance and it’s game over if you are accepted. None of my kids applied ED because they were not at a place where they could commit to a school. It took them a whlle, like the whole process to get into the mindset as to what the best places were for them.</p>
<p>@oldfort I completely agree that I would be throwing away my ED at Wharton which is why I’m hesitant to use it and am looking to hear other options. But what I think it really comes down to is that there’s nothing else I’d prefer over UM Ross than Wharton so what do I have to lose? I’m going to look into Duke and Northwestern but I still don’t know enough about being an econ major to know if I will be okay with that. I have multiple cousins that came out of Ross and are all on Wall Street right now. Ross has great placement and possibly better than Cornell AEM (if not damn close) because of the massive alumni network. I’m sure I couldn’t go wrong with either, but I like Michigan better so I will just apply to AEM RD. </p>
<p>@cptofthehouse I am positive that I love Wharton, not just for the prestige. I visited, my brother attended it, and it would be perfect (if only I could get in lol). But I don’t really stand a chance there so I feel like it would be a waste to use it there; however, it doesn’t seem like there are better options.</p>
<p>Apply ED to Wharton. Apply EA to Michagan. </p>
<p>Studies show that your future income is more correlated to the highest rank school that rejected you than it is to the school you actually attend. </p>
<p>Successful people tend to go for it. </p>
<p>It’s a win-win.</p>