Wharton vs Haas
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26 Jan 2021, 13:56
Hi OP,
First off, congrats on your amazing acceptances (and getting $ to boot)! I'll offer my thoughts on Wharton in particular (I'm a 2Y), but note my bias.
To start, I didn't apply to Haas, but have two great friends there who are current students and absolutely love it. From my high-level view, Haas is known as a very entrepreneurial, small, and tight-knit program. It definitely punches heavily in the startup and tech space, especially in being in the Bay. If you heart settles on Haas, grab it, run with it, and don't look back at the people who said "wait, but you turned down Wharton??". You make the decisions in your life, and Haas is an amazing opportunity.
Now, for my thoughts on Wharton for your categories.
Short-term goal (Tech/startup PM and PE/VC)
- Wharton has great resources in tech and obviously PE/VC
- I've posted this a number of times before, but most major tech companies hire Wharton MBAs, the following hired multiple students from the class of '2020: Alpine Investors, Amazon, Apple, Activision, Doordash, Facebook, Google, IBM, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Paypal, Redpoint Ventures, Spotify, TikTok, etc.
- For tech, Wharton has a number of resources I would look into, including the Tech Club (and trek) and Wharton's Semester in San Francisco at our SF campus
- For Entrepreneurship, I'd look into the new Tangen Hall (which is a new building this coming year with startup incubators, test kitchens, VR equipment, etc.), Pennovation Lab, and the Entrepreneurship major
- For PE/VC, I'd look into PE/VC Club as well as term-time internships at companies like Pear VC (I know a few students doing such internships to break into VC)
Long-term goal:
You want to start a company in your home country? That's awesome. I think the above resources can help you explore topics, but it will be up to you to craft the whole journey. What are you looking for out of tech, entrepreneurship, and VC/PE?
Wharton (and I'm sure Haas) can help you with theory (finance and entrepreneurship classes), hard skills (financial modeling resources, startup incubators), career searching (career treks, dedicated career advisors to PE/VC, tech), and networking (conferences, SSF, alumni network and database). You'll have to navigate these for your particular needs and interests.
Quicker Comments on your 'stuck' points.
Brand value / Long-term reputation: I won't comment on Wharton's brand, but I can say Haas is reputable, especially in the Bay area and tech community more broadly
Community: Wharton has a reputation of being a competitive finance bro school, but I've found almost none of that during my experience. Wharton is ~850 people per class (1,700+ total). There are people from all different backgrounds (tech, consulting, finance, startups, PE/VC, retail, real estate, education, military, etc.). There are communities here for everyone. Also, I would say that it is extremely collegial, with grade non-disclosure for employers, and I have seen the opposite of competitive and cut-throat, but rather a very welcoming and supportive environment. Many people get their internships through connections with other classmates!
Recruit into tech/startups: Haas definitely has vicinity to the Bay (besides Wharton SSF), though I'm not sure it places 'better' into tech roles. Class of 2020 employment reports show the same median starting salaries in tech for both schools ($140k) and the same median signing bonus ($35k). Haas has nearly double the proportion going into tech than Wharton (32% vs 16%), though Wharton being a larger program has more overall students going into tech. I would say that tech would be more of an emphasis among Haas students with this, though Wharton would have more alumni in industry.
PE/VC: Totally agree with Variantguy that PE/VC are very hard to break into, even for Wharton. But, you can explore term-time internships at interesting companies, as well as join the PE/VC club, talk with the PE/VC career advisor, and network with Wharton alumni. I would say Wharton has great resources here, but I would find it very likely Haas has great resources for looking at VC too.
Alumni: I often hear from smaller schools that their alumni are more responsive. To be frank, I've not found alumni responsiveness to be an issue. In fact, the Wharton alumni network is very organized (filterable database, active involvement, and global networking events) and responsive in my experience. Over the recent holidays, alumni have actively been reaching out to students in a program to bring us closer together during the COVID-19 crisis. I had an alum who is an MD in Goldman Sachs' Hong Kong office reach out to me unprompted (I'm more of a finance/consulting person, so my interests might be a bit different from yours).
Scholarship: Personally, I don't think money is a big issue in me deciding my MBA experience. I will say, holy crap how did you get money from Wharton? Not an easy feat. Although, Haas I believe is a bit cheaper, especially in-state. So, the money calculation is something you'll have to do on your own. I personally don't put much stock into it.
Location: Can't argue with East Cost vs. West Coast. I've lived in Boston, San Diego, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and soon to be NYC. If you prefer the West Coast, then certainly Haas offers a great spot in Berkeley (vs Wharton's one-semester option in SF).
Hope this helps. Feel free to pm with questions.