<p>45percenter - certainly, Wharton has a “halo effect” on campus, and provides a net benefit for all undergrads on campus. Your comments, and chrisw’s, overall, have been illuminating. </p>
<p>I’ve spoken before about certain “disproportionately loud” voices on campus, and whether that plays out at different schools. For example, at UChicago, I’ve spoken about the future PhDs (and they only make up about 15% of the class) enjoying a disproportionately loud voice on campus, and muting some other groups at U of C.</p>
<p>I wonder if, in a way, Wharton has a disproportionately loud voice on Penn’s campus. I don’t mean this in a derogatory way. Rather, 25% of the school is Wharton, but 52% of grads go into finance/consulting. In a similar vein, while Penn has a great communications major/school, I’m not sure if this school sways a good number of folks to look at careers that are open to more than just communications majors. It seems as if folks in other departments completely unrelated to Wharton feel swayed, in some way or another, by the opportunities open to Wharton grads. </p>
<p>As another example, Penn actually has an awesome accelerated BA/MCP program, but I’m not sure if it’s a huge draw on campus. The Wharton halo effect, in some ways, may translate to tangible influence and allure on campus. Again, I don’t mean this badly, just like I don’t necessarily feel that the focus on finance at Princeton or the past focus on phds at UChicago was necessarily bad - it just speaks to schools having particular cultures, which is totally fine.</p>