icethrone5:
If you had just been accepted to either school, which one would you choose. Is Columbia's OCR scene that much worse than Wharton's?

If?

Did you get into both schools or are you applying?

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

I went to Columbia and thoroughly enjoyed my experience, and being in New York is great.

That said, if your sole objective is to get a job in high finance, go to Wharton. I think Columbia's OCR is middle of the pack among the ivy league, meaning you'll get plenty of opportunities, but Wharton probably offers more in the way of quality / quantity of recruiting options.

Go to Columbia if you want a classical, traditional, well-rounded liberal arts education in addition to plenty of finance opportunities. Go to Wharton if you prioritize getting into a top fund / top bank over the above.

 

Oh snap, Columbia grad says to go to Wharton.... that's deep

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

if you are hardcore set on finance and business in general (and feel like you want to study business undergrad and perhaps forgo an mba later on), wharton is the your top pick. But tbh, the obsession with wharton is overexcessive. I mean, if you really like Columbia and all you want to do is just to break in IBD at a BB, Columbia will do you just fine and you don't have to go to wharton to do that. So the main reasons I'd go to wharton: you want to study business undergrad, you really like UPenn, you want the "wharton network" (this comes into play for example when you want to break into PE/HF right out of college). Other than that, don't be that guy who's like "wharton or bust". My friends who are in Wharton rn tell me that many students don't even max the potential that wharton provides (breaking into IBD, then going into PE

 

TL/DR Columbia is a better school and won't hold you back.

There's more to choosing college than what makes it easier to get into IB. Especially for undergrad. I got plenty of looks from BB coming from Boston College with a weak gpa. Columbia has better name recognition outside Wall St and will offer plenty of chances at BB recruiting (through OCR and networking events a short train ride away). Eventually, you'll need to get an MBA and can save Wharton for that. You'll build a great NY network at Columbia as an Econ major. You can even minor in CS. At Wharton, you're doing vocational business studies that result in a "mini" MBA.

If you're dead set on IB, you can study for the CFA Level 1 before freshman year even starts. If you read financial news, invest on your own, get the relevant iBanking books, and do the WSO courses you will be very far ahead. Whether you took Intro to Finance, Organization Behavior, and Managerial Accounting at Wharton won't matter.

 
HazelJ:

If you're dead set on IB, you can study for the CFA Level 1

Most IBs could care less about CFA L1

They want 3.95 and 4.00 GPAs

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Depends on your career goals. Both are obviously top schools, but if you're dead set on specializing in finance, then Wharton is the best signal you could send to all the top firms.

If you're just kicking around the idea and are open to other fields even (gasp!) outside of business, then Columbia's brand and location (top 5 school, #1 city) would be advantageous.

Completely anecdotal, but the 2 guys with the most interesting resumes I know are both a Wharton and a Columbia grad, respectively.

Do well at either school and you'll find fantastic opportunities.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to choose Columbia. Columbia's faculty and staff are really incredible and I think if you want a better experience then it's definitely worth it. Though Wharton is a better school for IB and everyone breathes finance, I would much rather go to Columbia where I get some diversity of opinion and actually talk to people who DONT want to go into banking.

I think at top schools, HYP, Columbia, Wharton, NYU, etc... things start to blend a little and people generally have a good shot of getting positions in banking, (I know certain schools place better etc) so I would much rather go to a place that has a better experience.

Also NYC is an amazing city.

 

Difficult but interesting choice. While I think that from a pure finance standpoint, Wharton will probably prepare you better than Columbia, I think that no city beats New York and the network you can build and the people you can meet are second to none. On the other hand, I know if I had studied in New York I would've probably never graduated.

Overall if I had to make that choice looking back, I would choose Wharton. At your age I would probably still go for Columbia.

I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. See my Blog & AMA
 

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