| Topic Name: |
George Masons and Others |
| Message Name: |
oh... |
| Date Posted: |
05/18/2000 |
| In Reply To: |
As someone who went to Wharton, I must say how wrong the poster was who went on their ridiculous Wharton-bashing session. I can honestly say the people I met there there were the brightest and most talented I have ever worked with. Period.
And no, I'm not making this shit up. Wharton's reputation would survive without my support. There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that had I gone to a "lower tier" school, it would NOT have been the same experience. I don't know of ANY instance when I was there when I felt that my classmates were "grandstanding" and telling stories in class just to be heard. That is so far from the truth. On the contrary, the people I met there were actually extremely humble, ironically enough. Furthermore, I was surprised at how NON-competitive they were. I think this is for 2 reasons. First, Wharton has a pass/fail system (no GPA)... hence the expression "19 P's, 100 G's" and second, the students are old enough and mature enough to have more important things to worry about.
On the other hand, although I didn't go to Wharton undergrad, my impression is that Wharton undergrad IS very competitive and annoying. I had some undergrads in a few of my classes and heard some comments to that effect. I think this is because they are at an earlier point in their career when "grades matter" and they are hopeful to get into a top firm and b-school later on.
A school like Georgetown or UMD may be a fine program, but the harsh reality is that many of the most competitive students will never apply to schools like those, thereby deluting the value of the program on the b-school food chain. Now I am not knocking those programs whatsoever-- I think both are fine institutions. But you can build a great baseball stadium, however, if the top players don't want to try out for your team, it won't amount to much.
That being said, I think Georgetown is a far better choice than UMD. Sure, UMD may be a point or two above Georgetown on the latest ratings, but Georgetown has a much stronger national brand name than UMD, and the difference is so minor in terms of the program that I think the brand equity of Georgetown far outweighs it. The Georgetown degree will prove more versatile if you want to move outside the Mid-Atlantic corridor. |
| Message: |
for the record, I'm not the same person as "Wharton '01" ... just wanted to clarify that.
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