Stanford vs Wharton Undergrad
Basically the title. I'm looking to pursue a career in Investment Banking and Private Equity in NY, I'd also like to have other opportunities in Tech later on. I'd also like your take on public perception between the two to the general public. Any feedback is much appreciated!
Edit: Thank you all so much for your responses. I understand prestige gets negligible when you get to this high of a level, but can anyone tell me about the prestige difference between the two. Not to employers, but to the layman rather.
Stanford and if anyone on here says otherwise its probably because they go to wharton
Accurate. Wharton is great but on the margins, some things tip Stanford’s way.
1. Wharton just doesn’t seem like a particularly comfortable environment from my various experiences with the place, from considering the MBA program to having many colleagues and friends from the undergrad. It’s a competitive culture and feels a little bit claustrophobic in terms of everyone being similar and pursuing the same interests.
2. At Stanford you’ll have exposure to a broader universe, not just tech but basically the smartest people in every area.
3. Campuses not even comparable.
4. Maybe this overlaps previous points but Stanford sounds a fair bit closer to the proper college experience where Wharton’s urban setup and professional atmosphere can rob you of that a bit.
Opportunities in tech later on -> Stanford. Also going there might open your eyes to VC and GE opportunities in tech
Wharton is a no brainer here, best undergrad business school... its H/W for a reason (i go to H/W so feel especially qualified to comment here)
Incredibly virgin hardo bait. Hope you're enjoying Moelis
Never heard of H/W and even if that is a thing, it’s only a thing at W.
i go to a sigma target (WYD) and Wharton is the clear winner here. it's WYD and not SYD for a reason. good luck.
Is Dartmouth the D?
I’ve never seen WYD, literally what are you doing dude
The fact that you fell for the bait so hard is hilarious. He literally prefaced his comment with "Sigma Target" yet you still fell for it hahaha
Dartmouth is based
Any shmuck on here telling you Wharton > Stanford is clearly trying to sabotage you and make you turn down a once in a lifetime acceptance for no good reason. Have a brain and think about this. Is Stanford going to preclude from ANY top finance opportunities post grad if you’re hungry enough? No. But there are plenty of opportunities in Tech/VC/GE where Stanford kids get a first look automatically. If you ever want to start your own business in tech, Stanford brand for undergrad is priceless (especially since more and more people are starting to hate MBAs generally lol)
Monkey shit me all you want. Turning down Stanford for Wharton is the dumbest move your teenage self can make.
Thank you for the feedback!!
Please go to Wharton - sincerely, a Stanford student. Unless you’re diversity, you will have to fight for your life to get ANY offer here.
It’s kind of strange that a lot of ppl comment both on this post and previous posts saying go to stanford over anything besides maybe Harvard, but thats because they didn’t go to Stanford. Stanford’s career center literally pushes banks away. At max, maybe 5 banks host info sessions at Stanford.
If you’re diversity, then yea MAYBE come to Stanford but if not please go to Wharton. feel free to ask more questions about stanford if you want but i’m letting u know now that ur gonna regret it so much when ur recruiting for junior summer if u go to stanford.
^^. Another Stanford student here and everything this commentator is saying is accurate. We basically aren’t a target school anymore in NY, banks rarely show up, and non-diversity kids get bent. Take Wharton, you’ll have a much better chance at success for recruiting.
Thanks for the feedback on recruiting! 10-15 years down the line, which degree would be most useful then?
Going through recruiting at Stanford now and agree with this, I would describe it as a "reverse target" or an "anti-target." Was told by alumni in IB that they'd give interviews to Stanford students who would then completely bomb it due to lack of preparation/interest, making them look bad, so most banks just stopped recruiting here entirely and now intentionally avoid giving first rounds to Stanford students.
Beyond irritating that we get blocked off from even having a chance to prove ourselves. Stanford really isn’t the school for IB unless you’re diversity/have a hook.
Met with HR for a very popular hedge fund on this forum (you can probably guess which one). They held info sessions at Stanford and the attendance was extremely underwhelming. In fact they were thinking of stopping campus visits there. The intern class has 4 from Berkeley though
Will add an anechdote on why some firms (or at least the ones I was at) may not be too fond of Stanford Students. I was at an UMM PE shop that had a SA program, and the investment professionals were making fun of Stanford Students for how poorly prepared some of them were. For the most part they had great resumes, netting them the interview, but once it came to the interview, they would bomb it.
One response that makes me laugh is a kid was asked "What are the three financial statements" and their first response was "the statement of EBITDA" after that I remember the analysts / associate running the process said they would much prefer IU kids or ND kids who know their stuff.
It sounds like a Stanford kid who wants to go into IB just needs to make sure the bank understands he’s not a joker.
Go to Stanford.
Thanks for the feedback! Why do you say that?
The reasons some people mentioned so far. Plus, you'll have the benefit of a student body with more diverse interests. You'll see people interested in tech, finance, startups, and also people who don't know what they want yet and are still exploring. You'll grow a lot more in a place like that, and I think it's valuable to understand the full breadth of opportunities that are out there.
I think at Wharton you'll see mostly finance hardos who've already narrowed in on going into banking. I think that's great if you're dead set on finance, but I don't think you should limit yourself while you're still this young. I started college 100% interested in IB/PE, but now I've made a total pivot to tech.
They're both great schools. I'm guessing based on other comments here that Wharton has a better IB/PE pipeline, but I like the more diverse scene at Stanford.
Stanford, is this even a question??? Turning down H/S/M is a dumb move, those are brands that open doors that you wouldnt anticipate just based on name alone i.e startups, vc, vc funding
Hope you're enjoying MIT/Caltech and your stint at PayPal
Wharton is the #1 undergrad business school in the world lmao. If you’re serious about finance there’s no better option.
.
Congrats on the options.
Questions for you rather than about schools....
Do you...
Love to code? Like new product development? Sit around on a Friday night talking about a new feature from some tech company? Have launched a new product? Like reading about tech companies? Follow tech people.....etc....if these are yes then Stanford.
or...
Do you
Like reading financial statements? Get excited about economic forecasts? Read about Goldman, Morgan Stanley? Want to live in NY...which you do? On a weekend night like to talk about companies versus products? Follow IB/Investment professionals....etc....if these are yes then Wharton.
Lastly...Public Perception doesn't really matter here, both are two top schools in the US and everyone knows them. Key here is what network you want to run in after graduation.
It's funny to see such strong opinions from people who never had a reasonable chance at getting into either.
….
Go to Wharton if you care more about PE in NY. Go to Stanford if you want west coast tech and VC.
If you're aware of the "deficiencies" of Stanford's recruiting coming in, you'll have enough time to network and will probably land a great gig. I wouldn't worry too much about that.
Ultimately you should go to the one you will enjoy the most.
Stanford vs Wharton is the GS/MS vs EVR/CVP of undergraduate institutions. Take of that what you will.
GS/MS is Stanford and EVR/CVP is Wharton. You take the latter if you’re a hardo who’s short sighted and interested in instant gratification (ie early recruiting and PE placement).
There are tons of people who have chosen EVR/CVP over GS/MS and been very pleased with their choice. Yes, EVR/CVP limit your options somewhat compared to GS/MS, but 99% of people in finance would agree they are at least as good if you are dead set on being a career banker or PE guy, and probably 60% would agree they are better.
I do agree with you in thinking that Stanford is the better choice, primarily because I think the value of optionality outweighs the value of Wharton's better positioning within finance, due to OP being so young and therefore (IMO) likely to change his mind. But if OP is 100% certain about his choice of career, then Wharton could quite easily be the better option. I definitely was not sure about my choice of career at that age, but then again I attended what was essentially a state school because I didn't have the smarts or the drive to get into either school OP mentioned, so who knows.
If you are interested in tech banking / tech PE / VC / Growth Equity / Startups - Stanford is the no brainer. If you just want to be in investment banking and have no preference for sector, take Wharton. Banks in general look down upon Stanford because they know that these students usually are not committed to working sweaty hours as this is the direct antithesis of what Stanford is about. Stanford is all about entrepreneurship, thinking outside the box, coming up with creative ideas, rather than grinding and sticking to a formulaic process.
Everyone here keeps saying wharton is the #1 undergrad biz school, so what??? Stanford has an argument for #1 undergrad. Also, you don’t want to work in banking. Kids who go to banking from HYPSM are middle of the pack. No one actually wants to do banking, it’s a stepping stone at best. The reason why the wharton kids dominate banking is bc they have to hardo and take classes on this stuff to compare with middle of the pack HYPSM students. And the question about which degree will serve me better in 20 years? Please bro, if you have to ask that idk how u got into Stanford.
Go to both, know some stanford-Wharton guy at axe cap, pretty sharp
Student at Wharton.
I would pick Stanford in your position.
Congrats on having a great problem!
This forum says pick Stanford because it’s a higher ranked school, which is true, but I think given your profile, I would pick Wharton.
Forum, OP is posting on WSO about which college will give him a better shot at NYC banking recruitment in hs. Point blank, that’s really odd behavior and to me shows they have an unusual fixation on business, NYC, and potentially making money. All those things scream maladjusted hardo and wharton undergrad.
Do I and most people perceive Stanford as a harder school to get into than wharton? Yes. But if you are a hardo business individual who is a bit unusual, you will be happier at wharton and find more clubs and students that fit your profile and are aligned with your interests.
There is an argument that a place like Stanford might make you more well rounded by introducing you to smart students who aren’t narrowly focused on private equity, but I think OP might just get frustrated and find the lack of pre-professionalism of Stanford to be “lightweight” and “not-hardcore” enough. Stanford is going to have more athletes, frat boys, comp sci, and other diverse interest students, Wharton is going to be almost all business gunners and will be way more keyed into the finance scene.
School/ bank ranking isn’t everything, chose a worse ranked bank and school and their cultures were way better and I don’t regret the decisions at all. Wharton seems more aligned with his/ her interests, so the choice seems obvious to me. Wharton is very obviously more pre-professional than Stanford is—that’s something worth considering when picking a school.
Stanford hands down, it feels way more versatile if you want to transition to tech later on (not necessarily now as the market for tech isn’t too hot). Wharton is really strong in finance but you might not want to do that for your whole career and leveraging your alumni base will become increasingly important imho
I go to Wharton so I'm biased, but will try my best to be objective here as I had a similar choice to you between tech/finance focused schools. I think people make it sound like Penn doesn't have a tech/startup pipeline: It's one of the most active universities for startup founders with great resources for students like Tangen Hall and free university funding for startup development, and VCs scout here all the time: https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/pitchbook-university-rankings
That said, is Stanford stronger in tech/VC? Of course. Point is though, don't think you're not going to get any exposure to that coming to Wharton/Penn. I know (a lot) of people at Wharton that don't want to go into finance and want to go VC/tech instead. Contrary to popular perception, not everyone at Wharton does finance.
If you want to go IB/PE though, I genuinely don't think there is a better school objectively in the US than Wharton for that. Not just talking about recruiting pipelines, but the student environment really brings out the best in you if that's what you're interested in, and the courses are great. I have friends at Stanford interested in finance and they echo the above comments on the difficulty recruiting given the lack of alumni base and technical preparation. If you know for sure you want to do finance, I don't think there's a better option than Wharton. On your question of prestige, it depends: Finance prestige Wharton is better, tech prestige Stanford is better, so it depends entirely on what you want to focus on. In general though, basing anything off prestige is not smart and in this case you're looking at two great schools where there is basically no marginal difference either way in that respect.
Last note is if you're a truly great programmer, Penn offers a ton of flexibility in being able to do 2 degrees. I know of no other school that makes it this easy, and a lot of the top Wharton students do a Masters in CS/data science, which is something pretty unique (normally you have to study something similar to get a Masters in it). If you think you're good enough to do this, I think it's a no brainer to get the finance exposure at Wharton while also maintaining a technical background through a second degree. This would be way harder to do at any other school (including Stanford) from what I hear through friends.
Haha this is a hilarious thread, pretty strong opinions on both sides of the aisle. I didn't attend either for undergrad, but have some experience under my belt, have met people from both schools, all of whom have been very successful and if I were a 18 year old trying to make my decision, here's how I'd think about it:
Wharton: I can see the appeal of Wharton, it's the top undergrad business school, strong pipeline to wall street, etc. If you're trying to get prepped for those types of jobs, the focus on the school is very targeted towards those use cases. I've heard that the feel of the school is very pre-professional in that, everyone is basically there to get a job in finance, consulting, business. Kids wear suits to class, are thinking about internships and jobs from the moment they et there and so on. That's a double edged sword. While it's great to be focused on a business education as that is ultimately what you want to do, I don't think it leaves a ton of time for educational exploration. Yes, will learning accounting early on be better for banking recruiting and thus banking? Yes. Is accounting really that tough to learn on your own or on the job? No. You've got your whole life to do business, why not broaden the aperture on your educational experience a bit? Couple other points to make, Wharton is more urban of an environment, Philly is a great city, there will be tons to do out and about, you'll only live loosely on campus, etc. Is this the right fit for you? Up to you to decide.
Stanford: Stanford will be more liberal arts-y. Stanford is a premier academic institution and in my opinion, carries a little more prestige than Wharton, to the extent that it matters. I would bet that the cross admit stats tell a similar story. Will Stanford give you quite as strong of a business education out of the gate, of course not, will the general education quality be the same or better than Wharton? Probably yes. The network and types of people you interact with are likely to be broader and more diverse and the opportunities you'll have will be the same. At Wharton, all the kids will look and feel similar, with similar ambitions. At Stanford, you'll have folks aspiring to be doctors, entrepreneurs, lawyers, diplomats, etc all of whom are some of the brightest and highest performing kids. More of a Suburban environment, Palo Alto is chill and very nice, but less of a city feel than Wharton. It's a beautiful setting for a university though, much more traditional college, you'll get some sports/tailgating action as well. Probably more fun of a college experience than Wharton. Actually, probably definitely more fun.
Personally, I'd argue that if you sound/feel like you're a Wharton type as in, you love business, know you already want to do banking/PE, don't care about much else besides getting onto the hamster wheel that is recruiting, financial modeling, etc, and want to be surrounded by those types of kids who are similar, then Wharton might be a good fit for you. As much as there's a stigma around Finance hardos, if you are one and want to be one, just admit it, haha, Wharton will be a good place to become one. If you're a little more uncertain, think you want to do business/banking/PE in some capacity, but aren't quite sure what that means yet, I'd think that Stanford will give you all the options you need to enter that world if you want, but also might broaden you perspective a little bit on some other paths your life could take.
Anyways, just some food for thought. I can't comment on some of the things above around recruiting and how Stanford is actually terrible for non diversity and while it might not be as strong as it used to be, I can't imagine that if you were a good student at Stanford, prepped for interviews and hit the alumni network pretty hard, that you can't end up in 95% of the same interview processes as Wharton kids if not 100%. All of these top schools will have a handful of opportunities that are closed off to others, I'm sure there are a couple of funds that only look at Wharton undergrads for the 2 PE analyst seats they open up each year, at the same time, the case is probably the same for Stanford at certain places as well.
I'm not going to pound the table for either as you really can't go wrong here. Pick whichever you think you'll fit better at. I will say that life is long and becoming well rounded, interesting, and able to learn a variety of things will probably serve you better than becoming a specialist early on. I would lightly lean Stanford if I were in your shoes with the knowledge I have, but as I said, I don't think you can really go wrong.
Go to Stanford. If your goal is IB/PE, you can easily get into IB from Stanford. Anyone who is telling you otherwise is misleading you. You will also be surrounded by a much higher degree of intellect. Your peers will not only be future bankers and PE investors but also tech entrepreneurs, astrophysicists, VCs, human rights lawyers, engineers, etc. There will be people at Penn who have similar interests — but Stanford is in a completely different league. This will give you a much more interesting college experience. You have 50+ years to be surrounded by finance people in NYC. Palo Alto is also gorgeous, Philly less so. And everyone knows that Stanford > Wharton.
Stanford is an incredible once in a lifetime opportunity you don’t want to pass up.
stop the cap lmfao. did you go to stanford as a non-diversity? did you recruit within the last 2 years?
his other comment on a different post says he's starting at Stanford next year lol
Go to Stanford and do CS or MS&E and you'll have plenty of looks at joining top startups / tech PE+VC / tech IB. Can easily leverage that for a NY offer for full time.
Also does anyone actually want to live in Philadelphia?
I realize this is for undergrad but Wharton now has a fully online MBA. They are diluting the brand like crazy and with the new dean I’m not surprised at all. Anyone can have the Wharton cache now.
With that said, Stanford has gone absolutely off the deep end with their woke agenda. It is to the point where you need to take that into consideration and if you will be comfortable on a campus like that - it’s quite sickening. I attended Stanford for graduate school and the student body always had its fair share of weirdos, but now it’s full on tranny alphabet/integer woke mob worship etc. They openly bash companies that donated to the school and have gone hyper liberal crazy to the point where I’m wouldn’t be surprised if Wall Street is unilaterally shunned by students and faculty in the next 5 years. It sounds like it’s already happened per some of the undergrad posters
This is a great point that hasn’t been talked about on this thread. Let me add disclaimers, I didn’t go to Stanford and I despise wokeness (95% of it is crap, 5% probably good and right to be talked about)
now if you love wokeness then sure you’ll like a campus like Stanford (strangely enough two of my closest friends are woke and I probably have another two that are woke as well but aside from that everyone’s pretty mid — which is where I feel things should be). But if you don’t, it WILL suck. The reason I say this is because I know friends who moved to SF and really didn’t like the woke bubble. College near SF would be this wokeness multiplied by 2x. So give some serious thought to this, it’ll dictate a big part of your college experience
Second this. The number of people I know who have “Wharton leadership certificates” and other BS like that is getting high. I’m sure every school is doing this to some degree but Wharton sounds like one of the bigger offenders.
Yes and it’s well beyond certificates now, it’s a fully online mba, a real degree awarded and these folks are popping up everywhere. With that said, this is the norm and is going to be adopted at every top 20 in next 5 years.
Want a top-ranked M.B.A.? Now, it’s just a click away. https://www.wsj.com/articles/online-mba-wharton-berkeley-nyu-georgetown…
There’s not a door that Wharton opens that Stanford can’t also open but IMO the reverse is not true.
This philosophy should guide every decision you make in your early career.
Toss a coin, i promise you the bot that reviews your application wont care a jot.
Go to the school that feels like the best fit for you. I would imagine that the student bodies and college experiences at Stanford and Wharton are quite different from one another - talk to current students and figure out where you could see yourself. It's pretty obvious from this thread that the difference between the 2 in terms of career opportunities is marginal, so focus on choosing the school where you're most likely to have a good experience and succeed.
What are u interested in? Tech=Stanford and Wharton=business/govt.
Go to Wharton and try to transfer into M&T. For your profile, Wharton’s going to give you the best opportunities into finance. The M&T program will give you the “tech” aspect of it. Despite what all people said about Wharton hardos being narrowed into finance, only a minority (20-30%) of W undergrads end up into IB/PE as their first job out of college. And for M&T - all of those kids are going into something tech related (Startups/FAANG/Tech IB & PE)
So funny watching all the SDE from the Wharton trolls throwing MS at the comments here. That should tell OP all he needs to know.
At Stanford--anyone saying its hard to recruit here honestly has a skill issue. Everyone comes here and people get top spots every year, even spots that you wouldn't even think hire from undergrad--a friend went to Tiger Global right out of undergrad for example. On top of that, Stanford is the type of place where kids do things way outside the norm of just being a sweaty banker. I browse this forum occasionally because I used to work on a hedge fund but now I'm working on a startup and the resources and talent we have here are incredible--VCs will throw money at you, and that's something you don't get at any other school. Why narrow yourself into the world of IB/PE when there's so much more out there. Not to overexagerate things but people here are changing the world, whether its through their companies, research, and other things. Just an example, if you talk to the ex IB/PE guys at the Stanford business school, most of them have startup aspirations because they've realized IB/PE is unfulfilling and kinda sucks. I had to choose between Stanford, Harvard, Wharton, Princeton, Columbia, Duke, Dartmouth and a few others, and Stanford was a no brainer for me and I have no regrets choosing it--the future is made here. Even things like ChatGPT, which will probably get to the point where it can automate most of a banker's workflow within the year, was made by Stanford alums. There are incredible opportunities here that kids at other schools don't even know exist. Dream bigger than just banking--roll card
great that ur sharing insight about Stanford but it’s not relevant to the OP’s goal. OP wants IB/PE, you said everywhere recruits here, but hardly any IB firms recruit here.
MS, GS, EVR, JPM, KKR, BX, Ares, Bain Cap, Silverlake, GA, Insight, BAML. You gotta realize there's like 50 kids per grade that want to do banking/pe, and most of them get good offers bc theres almost no competition
Also wtf does a high school senior know about what they want to do in life. There's a thousand better jobs than banking, they shouldnt delude themselves into thinking thats their only path. Its like optimizing for a goal you don't even know you want--stupid risk calculus
Impressive. Wtf did you do in high school?
Yea bro that dating app specifically for people with boats and dogs is changing the world. JFC
Great strawman mr MD, hope ur next buyout goes well lmfao
Also very excited for ur shops growth fund to invest in said dating app haha
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