<p>^ I don’t really buy that happiness survey; it’s hard to measure that, and most people seem pretty happy at whatever school they end up. From HS friends and colleagues who headed to Wharton (including some M&T guys), I’ve always felt like the culture at Wharton was pretty different from HYP, and for most people, it’s quickly clear which they’d prefer.</p>
<p>Either Penn or Princeton will give you a great education. A ton of credit goes to Wharton for making it 50/50 business-liberal arts mix (and M&T infuses even more diversity). But 50% business is still a lot - more than most HYP econ majors would take on. And more importantly, I think Wharton’s matriculation pool ends up self-selecting for people who are more commercially-oriented or career-oriented, vs the far more undefined ambition you see at HYP (I do think the raw intellectual caliber is roughly the same). </p>
<p>I personally don’t think it makes a huge difference in terms of post-grad opportunities. Very few firms hire from Wharton but not Princeton (only SilverLake comes to mind); places like Blackstone, Bain, etc. hire from HPW (and increasingly other schools). And re. the network, every major firm will have at least a couple of Princeton alumni, and the difference between 2-3 alumni from your school at the firm vs 4-5 alumni is nil. Diminishing marginal returns set in pretty quickly.</p>
<p>I’ve met happy and unhappy alums at both schools. At the end, it comes down to you. I’ve met people who knew from the outset that they loved investing or entrepreneurship and couldn’t imagine being deprived of their Wharton educations. I’d always considered finance even early on in college and ultimately ended up in it, but I think I’d have been a fish out of water at Wharton, and I definitely enjoyed the crazy wide diversity of ambitions at Princeton.</p>