Please Advise Future Wharton Undergrad

Just my 2c:

1) False 2) Mostly true 3) True 4) True, unless you get into HYP and prefer one of those 5) False, for the most part

Look, the thing about Wharton is that if you know you want to go into business and actually want to study it -- along with the bullshit MGMT, MKTG and BPUB courses that come with it -- nothing else comes close. But if you don't want to study business or aren't 100% sure you want to go into finance, no, you wouldn't be stupid to pass it up and go to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, or several other schools.

It's a good school. It has a great reputation in finance. The kids that attend are largely douche-bags with chips on their shoulders over not getting into Harvard. It's no more 'cut-throat' than any other Ivy. If you get into H/Y/P, I would go there. If not, go to Wharton or Columbia.

If money is an issue, and you're looking for guidance, what is your next best alternative?

Definitely false Wharton is on the same level as H/Y/P/S True False. What are your other choices? There are number of schools I'd pick over Wharton. Idk, but kids I saw from similar undergrad b-programs were complete d-bags and tools.

You will be surrounded by same people with same goals. Just keep that in mind.

High school senior already thinking bout consulting and IB? Anyways, for the most part, business school kids are all the same. big d-bags.

if you want to pursue finance, Wharton will take you farther than HYPS. Small IBs and small shop PEs do hire from Wharton and maybe other undergraduate business schools, but since they do not provide any formal training, they need people who can start right away. So they prefer business school kids.

Hmm, I doubt that there are significant differences between the kids at the top target schools. It all depends on how good the individual is.

Look its business school-type personalities not just Wharton. We compete on a curve for grades in every class, there is participation in almost every class, and we compete in clubs to get on board, and especially recruiting for jobs, we need to compete for those job offers.

its all a competition and thats how we view it from the beginning because once we entered our first class of management, we compete with our peers on the team to get the best grade.
we also don't get that interesting liberal arts education so we aren't that "intellectual".

look up silverlake private equity, and you'll see that they only hire from wharton undegrad. as for MBB consulting, wharton doesn't have a big advantage because the business acumen isn't necessary.

I understand that if you are at the very top of your class at Wharton (top 50) then it is, without a doubt, the best school on earth. According to the last VPUL survey, 3 went to Silver Lake, 9 to Blackstone, and a few to Carlyle and Citadel and such firms. I know that almost no one from Yale and Princeton went to these same firms I assume the same is true of Hedge Funds. For high finance, Wharton dominates.

But for the more human among us, would the average Harvard Joe be better off than the average Whartonite? Why doesn't Wharton just get rid of the curve if it is making tools out of its students. When you describe douche-baggery -if that is a word- are you just referencing their work ethic and competitive spirit? Or do they just not know how to hold a proper conversation and are insufferably arrogant? Also, I've been reading a lot of journals online and the general consensus seems to be that Wharton's MBA program, though very elite, is below those of Harvard and Stanford. Is that accurate? And for, "intellectualism" are Wharton kids generally as smart (using basic metrics like SAT scores and IQ scores) as your average HYP guy? What is the value-added of a Wharton degree in comparison to a degree from HYP?

I realize that I'm probably fitting the Wharton d-bag stereotype to the tee: by being on this site as a high-school student, by managing a portfolio for a year, and by reading deal breaker, K@W, and the FT as if they were Penthouse. But hey, I'm crazy about finance which is why I want to go to Wharton. I'm sure that we would have described Warren Buffett and Steven A. Cohen as Douche-bags back in the day, right?

I know I am being annoying so I will just shut up now. Do feel free to answer some of my queries though. Really, I am curious to know what you guys think since you have actually been in the industry.

monyet: Average joe at HYPS is probably smarter than the Average joe at Wharton. Aren't they more selective? Just based on that fact.

Next point: average joe at Harvard vs. average joe at Wharton to get a finance job? The average Harvard guy has to take classes at MIT and really have to reach out to get the finance education, when at Wharton its right in front of you and you learn it all. So basically, Wharton is the easier path to a finance career.

monyet people are d-bags are the ones who talk too much in class to devour the participation points and the ones who ask the recruiters too many questions at information sessions to kiss ass and also are very secretive about grades but want to know your grade and they dont share their notes.

there you go.

Please tell me people at ivy schools don't call themselves "whartonites", "harvardians", and "yalies".

Well, I doubt all this talk about Wharton being any more cut-throat than any other highly selective institution is fair.

From a practical perspective, it may be better to shine at a lesser school. I had a friend graduate from wharton undergrad two years ago and couldn't land a single finance job, ended up working for the government. IT is super-competitive and BB/PE will not hire their entire analyst class from Wharton, so they set aside a couple of seats, so everyone at your school is competing for a limited number of spots. So although you are open to more opportunities by being at Wharton, you are competing with the best.

HYP have a prestige that goes beyond finance/business which is where wharton's claim to fame lie. HYP will always be top tier target schools and wharton is considered up there with them. Perhaps, you will shine more with your passion of finance at HYP.

Hey thanks so much for your input.

Honestly here's where I am at right now:

• I have a strong interest in business; however, I am very opening to exploring different fields. (I haven't even ruled medicine completely out yet).

• I would never attend Harvard or Princeton solely based on the reputation the kids have for being arrogant (which is worse than at Penn imo). Too many of them are there to toss around the brand name, and many feel that it's all they need in life. Could this stereotype be wrong? Yes, but nevertheless I have no interest. Yale, well, the chance of getting into Yale is 1% for my background. I could go to OSU for next to nothing.

• I will be in debt coming out of Wharton. This for me has been my greatest concern. However, as you have all confirmed, many biz people have told me not to worry. Agreed?

Whartonite: harvard kids are not as arrogant compared to princeton. They know they are the best, while princeton kids have a chip on their shoulder for not getting to harvard.

if you think humanities and science is boring, you'll like Wharton.

This is flame. The only way you could be accepted at this point is if you applied early decision, in which case you have no choice but to go and these questions are meaningless

Pussinboots, your use of Linkedin does not prove jack. Some may simply have wrote, "University of Pennsylvania" instead of, "Wharton;" whereas every single Harvard name you typed in would have come up whether that is Harvard college, law school, or whatever. I used the exact same site as you but came up with totally different results. This is the methodology I used: I typed in University of Pennsylvania (All of Penn is included) and Harvard (all of Harvard is included) and I searched for current employees. If you typed in Wharton vs Harvard you would get just Wharton versus ALL of Harvard, that means the law school, the business school, all other graduate schools, and the college all in one versus Wharton alone, which is obviously an unfair comparison.

Would I now say, "Stop smoking. Wharton > Harvard." No, because I know that the results you get out of a biased LinkedIn search do not mean shit. There is selection bias in terms of what you type in (as I just proved), what the people on LinkedIn type in and a million other variables. Using LinkedIn to prove one college has better job placement than the other is retarded. I would rather get my info from the incoming analyst class who can tell us how many people from each school are represented using their booklets. Or from people who actually work in the firms. But are you fucking serious? LinkedIn? That's like writing a research paper for the UN and using Wikipedia as you source. Furthermore, considering you are not in the industry I am very skeptical on whether you know jack shit about job placement.

SAT/IQ scores aren't perfect, but it is what we have so we must make do with it.

FTPIER: As for Wharton's selectivity, last year the admit rate was 8%, 2 percent lower than Princeton and one percent higher than Harvard and Yale. This year, thanks to the huge jump in apps the acceptance rate is likely to go under 6% or so. SAT scores are comparable between the two groups. Conclusion: they are equally selective.

Wharton Goldman Sachs:448 Harvard Goldman Sachs: 311

Wharton Morgan Stanley: 595 Harvard Morgan Stanley: 296

Wharton SAC Capital: 18 Harvard SAC Capital: 13

Wharton KKR: 19 Harvard KKR: 16

Wharton Carlyle: 33 Harvard Carlyle: 42

Wharton Blackstone: 70 Harvard Blackstone: 49

Wharton Citadel: 58 Harvard Citadel: 21

monyet, you are certainly ahead of your future classmates in terms of douchiness. Keep up the good work.

Sorry if I hurt your feelings. Just get your facts right next time :) I've removed any Ad Hominem attacks I made against you, it's not worth it.

"Ad Hominem attacks"

I am a non-target, stop using fancy words with me

Wow - what a terrible thread. Go to Wharton, work hard, get good grades, you'll get a good job. People drastically underestimate the luck factor in life so in a sense, you're getting a ridiculous degree of false precision.

Pussinboots - aren't you always moaning about being a non-target senior? Why are you giving advice on "School X > school Y"? There are a number of schools you'd pick over Wharton? Based on what? Listening to other kids jerking off to brand names on WSO?

the bottom line is this. If you want to work in Finance and don't care about a liberal arts education, go to Wharton.

If not, go to HYP.

Why would anyone want a liberal arts education?

^^

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

And thanks everyone so much for your comments!

My comments about the perceived arrogance of Harvard and Princeton students is my opinion based off of several traders I've personally talked to, along with conversations I've held with others regarding the schools in general.

By no means do I believe that everyone at the school is arrogant; however, I hold to my stance that my impressions have prevented me from wanting to attend. Whether they are right or wrong, it doesn't matter much. At the end of the day we all have to follow our gut.

The main negative i my mind about Wharton is that it is extremely competitive to get good jobs.

While at HYPS, students want to be lawyers, doctors, professors, business, etc, everyone at Wharton wants to get into business. Yet the number of spots for BB is limited (probably around 10 into each IBD per year). This leaves quite a few students with less desirable jobs.

So you had better get an extremely high GPA and solid internships.

Also, you are going to find that there are plenty of highly connected "arrogant" kids at all of these schools. Wharton is no exception,

Agreed with CashCow. Right on the mark.