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Joined: 10 Sep 2018
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Re: Wharton($) v. MIT Sloan($) v. Yale SOM($) [Solved: Wharton]
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22 Dec 2020, 08:29
Hi Regeneron, the HKS dual degree works so that you focus an entire semester at one partner school (HKS or HBS, Wharton, Sloan, Tuck, GSB). There are three semesters at each campus. So, there’s no travel for concurrent classes between campuses (could you imagine going from SFO to BOS weekly?).
Generally, I’ve seen folks at Wharton (I’m a 2Y) do their first year at HKS, then do a full year at Wharton to enter with the class they’re graduating with (I.e., meet their cohort, take core classes together, and graduate with those folks). The last HKS semester is usually taken in their second year at Wharton, and it’s not much different than doing one of our programs at Wharton San Francisco or Insead. You’re mostly off campus, but in the loop with things through slack / email / important visits. Usually during that three-month period you’re so interested in garnering a new network/having fun at HKS/Insead/SF that you’re not really focused on what’s happening in Philadelphia for that semester. I can’t speak for what it would be like at HBS/Sloan given the proximity, but I’m sure it would be similar for Tuck/GSB dual degrees. It’s hard to balance two lives and academics in one semester.
Regarding OP’s career interests. I’ll mostly comment on Wharton since I’m not familiar with the other two programs in the social entrepreneurship space. Although, I will say Yale is supposed to be the #1 non-profit school, and obviously MIT is extremely strong from a technical perspective and technology given the mother institute.
Wharton has a number of entrepreneurship resources, many focused on social impact. There’s the Entrepreneurship major and department, as well as the new Tangen Hall, which houses a lot of centers and places many start-up oriented spaces under one roof (e.g., VR equipment, test kitchen, retail center, impact investing resources, etc.). You also have the Semester in San Francisco option, if you think being in San Francisco is key to your goals - SSF is not hard to get into.
Additionally, there’s looking at social impact from a financial perspective, which leverages not just the entrepreneurship resources, but also Wharton’s finance resources. Here you can look at the Wharton Social Impact Initiative and accompanying fellowships (e.g., WISE, WIVA). Further, there are many student led clubs and organizations - Wharton Impact Investing Partners, Wharton Entrepreneurship Club, Wharton Social Impact Club, etc. You’ll have access to academics (both entrepreneurial and finance), faculty, centers, physical resources, fellowships, clubs, and like-minded students.
Clearly there’s a ton of optionality, ability to explore, and opportunity to mix and match. I’d say for you it’s important to think about what specific opportunities you’re interested in (e.g., starting a company versus investing capital). The tools are there to learn about the spaces, it’s more on you to figure out which academics to focus on, which clubs and fellowships to invest in, and how to focus on your government niche.
Below are some resources I’d recommend for Wharton (I’d post links but I guess I’m not allowed to):
Entrepreneurship & Innovation Major
Tangen Hall
Wharton Social Entrepreneurship - Venture Lab
Wharton Social Impact Initiative (WSII), and accompanying fellowships
Wharton Social Impact Club
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