Desperately need advice about transferring…
I am considering transferring from a large state school to the University of Pennsylvania’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (I know it seems like a no-brainer, but I have some concerns).
I am applying for IB SA positions this fall and I am wondering how bad it will make me look if I am pursuing a degree in Economics at Penn but I am not in Wharton (which doesn’t accepted junior level external transfer students).
I would love answers to the following questions:
1) I know that BB banks heavily target Wharton – will I be excluded from the IB recruitment process because I am in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences?
2) Would I be better off pursuing a different degree instead of Econ so it doesn’t look like I tried to get into Wharton and failed? I know that it is possible to break into IB without a background in finance/econ if you can demonstrate your analytical/quantitative skills…is this a safer route?
3) Any other pros/cons about Penn that I should know before I make my decision?
I need to accept/decline Penn’s offer in less than a week, so I am stressing out - any advice would be greatly appreciated!
(Sorry that this topic isn’t relevant to a lot of people…I have been lurking on WSO for months and members have given great advice on personal dilemmas, so I couldn’t help but take advantage of all your expertise)
It largely matters what state school you attend. I mean I would rather be a finance or accounting major at UVA or UTexas, than a Econ major at Penn in terms of recruiting. In most cases i would say yes, transfer.
Hey,
I'm actually a rising sophmore who actually got admitted into Wharton(from ND with 4.0 GPA) for this upcoming year so of course I accepted. When I applied last december, i remembered Wharton still accepted rising juniors? they just needed an accounting class w/ some other class? i think u might have missed that. Either way, I think you should take it, and major in Econ if u wanna do banking. Personally, I'm hoping to do S&T. Anyway, Congrats on gettin into Penn, they only accep about 175 students/over 2000 so consider yourself lucky. Guess I got in myself but it's definitely hard to let go of the GPA. If you can, can u PM me your stats? like SAT,college GPA, anything u thought that stood out when applying to Penn? I think my scores avg. but my GPA def. stood out along w/ my activities.
Bottom Line: Transfer!! It's an Ivy and it's way better than a state school unless its UVA, or Michigan :)
PM me!!
I would expand the list of public schools to Michigan, UVA, Texas, UCLA, UCBerkeley, Those all have good business programs and recruiting for public schools.
In addition, MOST Ivys don't have a undergrad business school, yet many kids are recruited from these with Econ majors
My university is definitely not one of the aforementioned...it ranks between 100 to 150 on national rankings and is best known as a party school
If you really want IBD, get the fuck out. Your chances are improved exponentially by going to Penn.
as you can see from the link (http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/college/2007cpsurvey.pdf), although they don't have as many undergrads going into finance as wharton (http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/wharton/surveys/Wharton2007Rep…), Penn UG still places a good number of the graduating class into finance (~31%).
all the big firms recruit at Penn and you can most likely take classes at Wharton and build a great network with Wharton UG's. I know guys that went to Penn UG years ago and made lot's of friends with the Wharton guys and ended up starting HF's/firms with them years after graduating.
best of luck.
as you can see from the link (http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/college/2007cpsurvey.pdf), although they don't have as many undergrads going into finance as wharton (http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/wharton/surveys/Wharton2007Rep…), Penn UG still places a good number of the graduating class into finance (~31%).
all the big firms recruit at Penn and you can most likely take classes at Wharton and build a great network with Wharton UG's. I know guys that went to Penn UG years ago and made lot's of friends with the Wharton guys and ended up starting HF's/firms with them years after graduating.
best of luck.
take the opportunity at Penn. You can always change your major if not doing econ bothers you, and heck, you can show some gumption by sneaking into IBD job fairs, etc. and showing them how dedicated you are. It's like you said, they take plenty of non-business ugrads, but you've gotta prove the analytics will come easy to you. Have you considered majoring in something quantitative, like math? That'd put you up there, too, I believe.
Bottom line, if you're a bright kid, the accounting, finance etc. you can learn on your own or during the summers, etc. What matters is your network, and I'm guessing Penn's is decent.
If your school is 100-150 on the US News list, you should have considered one (or more) of the better recruited publics giocatoredoro just mentioned. They would clearly be a step up, you could major specifically in finance (if that's what you're interested in), and it would probably be cheaper and more fun than going to Penn.
But obviously if you're already accepted at Penn, take it. You'll have the shot you wouldn't have at your current school.
Also, you should major in philosophy.
I would agree with everyone here. Penn is a damn good school, and kids in SAS still place well in IB. I know a couple of kids personally who were in SAS and got a handful of offers from banks. The people at Penn all seem very bright and from what I've seen in the time I spent there, its a very diverse, international community. Not sure if this is a plus for you, but I would definitely go with Penn here.
ya wow, you're making the right decision going to Penn, just consider it sans the Wharton inferiority complex and think of it as a mid-tier Ivy (ridiculous statement in itself) with a top ten economics program.
definitely transfer to penn. having the penn degree will open up many more doors, and you'll be living with it for the rest of your life. also, i'm not sure what it means to be in a "top 100-150 school" -- i wasn't even aware that college rankings even mattered much outside of the top 10 (because they don't), so transferring to penn seems like a pretty easy call
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