I am planning to apply to the arts and sciences school in Upenn for RD. My #1 extracurricular involvement is a business related club in that it is about entrepreneurship and i have one or two other business related activities. Furthermore, in my Upenn essay, i discussed how my passion for economics was kickstarted by a business endeavor i undertook though I did discuss how subjects offered in the Arts and Sciences school would help me get a more complete understanding of economics. Will admissions counselors in Arts and sciences think I am a better fit for Wharton or that I am just trying to get into Upenn to transfer to Wharton? I have no intention of doing this because i can just take wharton courses thanks to the open agreement between all the schools…
you’re worrying too much
@chocoberries1 i think you are worrying too much for no reason. you seem pretty articulate about your interest in economics and lib arts so the admissions office will not have a hard time understanding why you want to be in CAS. Also you are correct, you can take as many wharton classes as you can fit in ur schedule and be a member in any of the wharton clubs, so you can have the best of both worlds. this is one of the unique things about penn.
Lastly, i doubt they will even suspect that ur trying to game the system because it is well known that applying to CAS in order to transfer to Wharton later is a rather stupid idea nowadays because
- your chances are not significantly better (difference in difficulty of admission is quite small nowadays, and chances are a person interested in business will write pretty unconvincing essays about why he wants a lib arts education)
- internal tranfer to wharton is by no means guaranteed.
People interested in wharton should apply to wharton from the beginning, that is the best strategy.
If you like economics so much, why not apply to Wharton? It is true that you can take courses from Wharton even if you’re a CAS student, but you might not be able to schedule all the classes you want. I can’t say if the admission officers will think you’re trying to cheat the system because I never read your essays, but judging from what you said, “subjects offered in the Arts and Sciences school would help me get a more complete understanding of economics” it does look like you’re more interested in Wharton than CAS… Because it makes more sense for Wharton to give you a better understanding of economics, not CAS. Again, I don’t have enough information to make a sound judgement, but perhaps you should apply to Wharton or give a better reason why you want to be in CAS.
What is your intended major?
@SylvRsr , I am planning to major in economics or international relations. Wharton does not offer international relations btw
@SylvRsr @chocoberries1 this is not true. Wharton will not give you a more complete understanding of economics, it will teach you business. If you want to learn economics then an Econ degree rather than a business degree is the better choice. you could also do a double major with international relations or a minor in international relations.
@chocoberries1 I guess you could always write about your passion for economics in your Penn supplement and talk about how CAS would be the best fit! Also, I’m not sure if you know this, Penn offers a dual degree program called “Huntsman” which combines international relations in CAS and business in Wharton. Be sure to take a look at it if you’re interested!
^Agree; Huntsman seems like a perfect fit for your interests.
Penn’s specific schools are looking for a fit. So in my opinion perhaps the officers may question why you didn’t apply to Wharton, but if you articulate in your “why penn essay” that it’s not just about taking Econ and add in the international relations and other potential things, I think you should be fine.
When I said different schools look for different things, here is what I mean: http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/apply/whatpennlooksfor/hsprep