Just Got Into UPenn CAS! What do I do from here?
Hello everyone,
I'm a high school senior who was extremely fortunate to get into the University of Pennsylvania as an economics major last Thursday.
Knowing my strengths, weaknesses, and the bloodbath that is Ivy League admissions, I bet that my normal profile couldn't get me into Wharton, but the College of Arts and Sciences was in reach.
I got into CAS, and I'm wondering if there would be a best course of action now? I'm fully interested in whatever path would help me find a career in investment banking / MBB consulting. (Incoming Hardo Accusations)
I heard it's relatively easy to transfer into UPenn SEAS from CAS, but nearly impossible to transfer to Wharton. Should I even think about attempting to transfer to a different college within Penn, or is the College of Arts and Sciences completely fine for recruiting?
I would appreciate all of your thoughts. Thanks!
Bump
I had friends move from CAS to Wharton. It happens but it’s not too many names. Maybe more common or just as common may be CAS people who do another degree in Wharton (and then maybe later on end up even dropping the CAS degree sometimes) just from my own personal experience there. CAS people still took Wharton classes and can even have a minor or something from there
that said there are still plenty of Econ cas people in banking or consulting from what I saw. The super Hardo types who end up going straight to HF/PE or the highest paid finance jobs may not have been cas kids.
beyond that cas is generally fine for recruiting as it’s still penn/Ivy League, just might not be as competitive as the other super Hardo Wharton kids. I am about 10 years out of penn now and have a good amount of cas friends who went into banking / stayed in the space. Some went on to get MBAs and the such later on but it prob doesn’t make too much of a difference. The main difference is probably just the coursework in business subjects as opposed to liberal arts. If you really want, you can just read/study those subjects on your own.
if you really want to go into business then yea maybe you have a good chance at an internal transfer, but long term if that’s what you want, not sure how much of a difference cas/Wharton would make
I hope this helps. Good luck
Thank you so much for your reply. Do you think it's worth my time and energy to transfer to Wharton, or are the prospects about the same either way? As in, do you see a significant difference in outcomes?
You mentioned that many CAS kids go on to do MBAs. Wouldn't an MBA be unnecessary with a Wharton degree?
Just trying to wrap my head around what's in store for me.
If you rather take Wharton classes and be in that circle, then yea maybe try to transfer. If you want to take liberal arts and be in cas then don’t. If you want to do IB then I think Wharton helps because you will have learned more upfront that is more applicable (Wharton is kinda like a trade school for investment banking from when I was there). Consulting I have less clarity on but figure Wharton may still help with management / business classes
I’ll say this which may help, when I was there it was fairly normal for a Wharton kid to go into ibd. For a cas kid it was normal, but less normal/maybe more of an uphill battle for them as they may not have gotten all the top looks from top banks/groups right away. But just my humble opinion/memory
Really helpful, thank you
Im in cas Econ and study engineering as well. Recruiting wise, I got interviews from MBBs and HFs and I'm going to a BB for the summer. All recruiting is open to everybody. I think it depends on what u like. if you are the nerdy type like im then double majoring in something in engineering/STEM or whatever is pretty good and I recommend it. Ppl with this combo tend to do more quant trading/prop trading/s&t jobs.
Some CAS Econ alums in finance in include John Grayken of Lonestar, Greg Lippmann from the Big Short (founder of Libremax Capital), and Steve Eisman from the Big Short as well, and Doug Ostrover of Blue Owl.
If you like to rely on schmooze and excel and fundamental investing then Wharton undergrad is good. I personally think the Econ curriculum modified with some cs and stuff is pretty well suited to trading and more macro/top down investing jobs. That being said, I think Wharton is just an easier degree on average and prolly more fun to most people. People in the college on average just tend to be not very preprofessional and not care about networking as much. I remember going to an info session once and like 90% of kids there where in Wharton. Banking jobs are there if you want it.
I know I am a bit late here, but as a student in CAS studying Economics and Math, IB is not out of reach. I know this year alone kids in CAS have landed some crazy 2024 SA positions already. I have seen Econ/Math Econ/PPE kids land BX, Lazard, GS, MS, JPM, BofA, Barclays, Citi, Liontree, HL, Jefferies, etc.
I was pretty easily able to get several BB interviews and a few reputable MM interviews as well. EBs were a bit of an uphill battle; not impossible as some of my friends managed, but you definitely have to network more. EBs like CVP, Lazard, Evercore, etc. tend to prefer the top Wharton and Dual-Degree kids. For context, I ended up with several BB/MM offers.
From my experience, CAS recruiting is just a bit of leg work. You go to the same info sessions, you meet the same analysts at the networking sessions, etc. The opportunities are there, you just might have to send a few more emails to get people on the phone and submit a few more applications. But if you dedicate some time to it you should have no issues landing a solid offer.
Could i Dm??
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