Yale vs Wharton Undergrad

Would take Yale. Better parent university, more friendly atmosphere, easy grading, and similar opps for banking / MBB

SA24 placements for Yale’s top finance club are 3 x GS Classic, MS Menlo, PJT RSSG, Evercore, Centerview, Moelis, P72 Academy, Apax Consumer, Bracebridge, Bain Cap Credit. Obviously not reflective of Yale overall, but it seems like many members of that group self-selected early on for finance (like you have), and the group apparently has some established framework that has contributed to the lights out placement of recent classes.

If you have a 3.8+, study technicals, and actually network, it’s not hard at all to get a BB/EB from Yale. I know people who aren’t in “top” clubs here who’re going to top groups/programs. Most people I knew who networked with EBs got interviews/offers and BBs come to campus so it’s not hard at all to network your way into a superday. Even top buyside (Bridgewater/Citadel/KKR/Vista/BX/Bain/etc) give a few offers each year. You’re not gonna be at a disadvantage if you come to Yale if you’re proactive about recruiting. Congrats and good luck!

Both are incredible institutions that can get you anywhere.

Pick whichever you like more. Could see Yale being more collegial and fun which is a unique experience. Wharton you may get sucked into the extreme finance hardo stream and feel obligated to join all these clubs.

Obviously finance placement is not the only thing to consider when choosing a college, but from purely a finance placement perspective I still think that Wharton is the best. Almost all of the top groups commonly mentioned on this site will take kids (often several) from Wharton every year.

Yes there more people pursuing finance and competition for some spots is tough, but the smartest kids are gunning straight for the MFPE/PJT RSSG/Evercore RX/GS TMT type groups, all of which you will have a shot at but there are also a ton of spots at other BB/EBs. The culture is very finance oriented and preprofessional but I wouldn't describe it as cutthroat at all. Can't speak for the college experience at Yale but I can see how it could be more collegial and fun.

Congrats on both though, you truly can't go wrong with either.

Does it even matter? It’s Yale and UPenn both outstanding universities that are one of the best in the world.

If you get into IB at either of them, you’d have most likely gotten into IB in the other one. It’s all about what you want in a college, where you want to be, and what suits you more.

Go to the offer day and decide then. Deciding for IB is probably one of the most questionable things I’ve heard especially because the difference between the two is practically 0. Both will take you to amazing places. No recruiter will say “this one goes to UPenn so we’ll obviously take them over someone going to Yale” lmao.

It’s all about what works for you. Do you want a collegiate system, do you like the people going to UPenn more, do you want to be in Connecticut or Philadelphia? Both take the same amount of time to get to New York. How much does each college cost? Do you need to take out loans because I’d take the one with the least amount of loans?

If we’re talking about prestige, there’s no difference other than the “HYPMS”. Both are amazing and cannot go wrong with either. You’ll get into IB from both colleges if you’re good enough.

I went to Yale and been in banking for the past 3 years now. Like others have said, my advice to you is to not make your choice based on recruiting. You'll place well at either. Think through culture, etc. I don't know much about Wharton but Yale is pretty easy for maintaining a high GPA.

I was in the same position and chose Wharton undergrad, albeit a dual degree program. I go back and forth as to whether it was actually the right decision for me, but at the end of the day you'll be looking at very similar, if not the exact same, career outcomes. I suggest visiting both places, speaking to current students, reflecting on what you want out of your college experience, and going with what makes sense for you. 

Flip a coin or your a pussy

I was Wharton undergrad class of 2015. I had also heard that the school was competitive and cut throat and all that. Never actually experienced that at all. Granted I was high school valedictorian, took AP business courses and accounting and all that while already in high school so kinda had a head start potentially
 

but anyway, undergrad at Wharton is no where near as competitive and intense as actually working in IB and finance. If Wharton scares you then maybe Ib/finance isn’t for you. Or maybe it’s a big world in IB but generally the most “Wharton-y” kids I met (Chief Monkey Patrick here included) like the business and competitive and money and networking aspects of it. They go into like big money making / leadership roles whether it be HF/PE or hot tech founder/ceo roles (i.e the wealthiest people on paper in this country are mainly tech founders)

that said, I like Yale. It’s different. I have plenty of friends who went there and considered it myself but I was more into practical learning and doing business I guess. Hard to go wrong but in my experience if you do want to go to Wall Street / finance, Wharton or Penn in general may be among the top network’s / breeding ground for that. Maybe you’d like this anecdote - while in undergrad one of my friend’s brother came to visit from Dartmouth. He said that he never saw a school where everything, even the social hierarchy was just driven by how much money people had 😂😂😂. lol maybe Yalies care more about Nobel Prizes :)

I have seen Yale people in Wall Street though a good amount of them have been SOM grads and my network is obviously skewed. Hey - even this forum is probably skewed given that Patrick is also a Wharton grad…

on the recruiting front and this is like 10 years outdated but I did not know what IB was or was that knowledgeable of how to recruit or whatever. I barely knew this forum / didn’t have an account and basically just kinda gleaned things here and there from upperclassman, my coursework and google searches on the internet. That said it did kinda feel like among the kids at Wharton who concentrated in finance and had 3.8+ gpas or whatever, they had good odds of falling into an IB job then. Basically on campus recruiting made it easy to submit my resume for like 100 different jobs. Apparently because I had a good GPA and good internship experience, it got me a lot of inteverviews since a lot of banks came to campus to recruit. Basically the law of large numbers helped me get an IB job at what were then banks I didn’t even know they existed before interviewing basically lol. I recall even canceling an internship interview with Moelis because I just wasn’t sure it was worth it given all the other things I was trying to juggle / manage during that time…. lol. I remember speaking to a friend at a party or whatever after recruiting season that I got a job at some bank called Houlihan Lokey and he was like wow that’s amazing, top bank and im like what is this bank I’m going to and what is restructuring 😂😂 I am laughing about it now still 

either way I hope this helps. Can try to provide more color or whatever if helpful. 
 

good luck!!!!!!!!

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Choosing between two schools with essentially identical placement….based on placement differences and not overall college environment is stupid as fuck.

Wharton if: you are in one of their special programs (Huntsman/Fisher/Vagelos), you like big cities, you are politically center- or right-leaning, you want to maximize your shot at a private equity job right out of undergrad.

Yale if: you like towns/smaller cities, you are politically left-leaning, you may want to explore career paths other than finance.

Just my 2 cents from someone who knows alumni and has interviewed people at both places.
But, as most of the comments here acknowledge, both places are very much sufficient to launch a good long-term career trajectory from. 

I'd be very surprised if Yale's placement was any worse than Wharton's if you had the opportunity to properly adjust the denominator for the # of students that really want to do IB.  A Yale kid who wants IB can get it just as easily as a Wharton kid can.

The big question is which environment will be better for you to be the best version of yourself.  Just using myself as an example, I would do better at Yale.  The hustle & bustle of being surrounded by finance gunners day in and day out is something that would annoy me and detract from my experience.  I'd also learn more in an environment where people around me have a variety of educational goals.

As for Wharton's cutthroat culture . . I wouldn't be intimidated by that, but is it maybe a bit of a tell?  We assume it's cutthroat just because that's the culture . . but maybe part of the cutthroat nature of it is the fact that it could be a bit harder to get the role you want there, vs. another top school where maybe people are maybe having an easier time getting what they want.

Had the same choice and went to Yale - have been in banking for 5 years and am at a "good firm" (CVP / PJT / EVR). Many of my peers from my college class went to top groups at top banks / consulting firms and had no issues getting internships, interviews, etc. Yale will open every door that Wharton opens for you in terms of getting a banking job out of school. 

Hey i'm a current Wharton sophomore and my best friend goes to Yale. feel free to pm me!

I graduated from wharton last year.
If I were you stop looking at comparing placement dates between these two schools. You can easily get to wherever you want to go from either school, go where you be happiest. I would take yale, it’s certainly much less cutthroat than wharton was and you can literally go anywhere from Yale. and honestly, you may change your mind about what you want to do and it’s much easier to switch btwn schools and majors (you can do so instantly) than penn was. Many freshmen who come in change their minds about what they want to do. I came in 100% set on engineering and ended up switching to Wharton and know many people who did vice versa or other switches.

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Can’t wait for this kid to post in two years about whether he should take his GS or MS offer.

I’d consider the following:

•  Would you rather spend 4 years in New Haven or Philadelphia?
•  Do you prefer Yale’s culture or Wharton’s?

Placements are strong out of both, so happiness should be the primary consideration.

yale is cutthroat but in a different way. wharton kids are super up front about being snakes, but yale kids will pretend to be nice and be your friend, and they lie and stab you in the back. this goes for all of yale and not just the finance community. if you value honor among thieves, take wharton. if you think you’d thrive in an environment that’s nice and kind on the surface level but nowhere beyond that, take yale. Yale is more prestigious internationally and in less educated areas of the US though, if you care about that.

Source: went to Yale, and that shit sucked.