dayman wrote:
I am a long time lurker on gmatclub and finally registered because of this topic. The forum has really been a great source of information and super interesting to listen to everyone's perspectives.
Anyway, Booth had been the school I thought I wanted to attend most after all my research and having gone to GSB Live. Wharton was kind of a shot in the dark and I spent very little time on the application. So yesterday I got Waitlisted at Booth in the morning and I was pretty bummed. Then around noon I got an email to check my Wharton status and sure enough I was accepted (no phone call which I thought was weird). That definitely boosted my crushed ego, but now I don't know what to think. I have never stepped foot in Philly and admittedly haven't spent much time getting to know the school. I was pretty sure I would get into Booth and not Wharton and that would be it.
I was hoping someone could help me understand just how different the culture of the schools are (especially if you are from the west coast). I am going to pursue MC and feel that Wharton would be give me a great background, but I have scary visions of uptight ivy-leaguers in my head. This probably makes me sound like a douche, but I live by the beach in LA and Wharton just feels like another world. I want to be sure my two very expensive years off are really fun in addition to all the work.
dayman,
I feel your pain. I also live in LA and Booth was my #1 choice. I got rejected outright after an interview. Booth definitely comes across as a bit less stuffy than Wharton on the surface, but the reality is that you will find your group of friends or clique no matter where you go. Wharton has worldwide brand recognition. If you want to move back here to California after you graduate, Wharton will serve you better.
Congratulations - your post and results definitely serve as inspiration for those of us who got dinged from Booth. Last year, there was very few people on GMATClub that were waitlisted/dinged by Booth and accepted at Wharton, Harvard, or Stanford. Booth has a very high acceptance rate (they no longer publish it) and it was certainly demoralizing for me to get rejected, but that's life. This process is not very transparent and there are all sorts of things that go into it.