I am a prospective varsity athlete and am looking to go into business as a career (investment banking, consulting, technical sales, etc). If given the choice between getting a Northwestern undergrad economics degree or an undergrad degree at Wharton, which is better? Are they close enough for me to just base my decision on where I fee I’ll fit in better with my future team and as an athlete? Basically I’m wondering how big of a difference the academics will make when I’m looking for a career, and am wondering if I should just choose the school I think will make me happiest?
@collegediver If you are interested in business there no question that Wharton is definitely better. No for elite undergrad business recruiting and course offerings the schools are not that close. Penn is definitely more targeted by top firms, and Wharton especially even more so. The only school truly comparable to Wharton for business opportunities/recruiting etc is Harvard. Also the rest of the ivies have an edge for elite business recruiting over NU. Plus at Wharton you have access to business courses and concentrations that are not available in other top schools.
NU is definitely better for pure econ than Penn so for people interested in doing econ PhD it would make sense, but definitely not for business.
All that said if you will be really happy at NU and unhappy at Penn then go with NU. You will still have great opportunities to break into business.
A few comments:
—Nobody here can determine what will make you happiest.
–It is important to understand that economics and finance are very different majors. Economics is a liberal arts course of study and gets very theoretical at the upper levels. In contrast if you go to an undergraduate business school you will take a business core with introductory classes in subjects such as accounting, finance, IT, marketing etc. and then you will major in one of those disciplines. I’m not saying that one path is better than the other, but they are different. I would take the time to look at the coursework (can be found online) for both a finance and an economics major and see if one path is preferable to you.
–You have to decide if you want to be a Big10 athlete or an Ivy League athlete. Consider if they have different time commitments, what level you want to play at, the coach, your teammates etc.
– For a business career, I’d opt for Wharton (but for full disclosure I’m a Wharton alum) but there is no bad or wrong choice here.
–Don’t discount gut feeling as part of the process. Do you have a preference?