Comments on: Coming soon … Wharton Lite — *Now with grade inflation!

By: Wharton Lite is LAME is lame

Wharton Lite is LAME is lame — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 13:16:00 +0000

“Well, if you think getting a BFLAT minor is going to help you work for an iBank, be prepared to be laughed out of the OCR interview suite.”

Actually, I was an English major and got an offer from Goldman Sachs.

By: Wharton Lite is LAME

Wharton Lite is LAME — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 16:15:30 +0000

Let’s start with a basic (fairly valid) assumption. The College is afraid to have more of its students transfer into Wharton and lured into the Wall Street/Consulting track, which is where this crazy scheme comes in.

Well, if you think getting a BFLAT minor is going to help you work for an iBank, be prepared to be laughed out of the OCR interview suite. If you’re not ready for wharton classes, which are small potatoes compared to the real world, how will you make a case for working in one of the most intense environments in the world? Your Dean DeTurk is not going to create a “Wall-Street-lite” when you bitch and whine about the hours.

Furthermore, there are numerous other general business classes at Wharton that would benefit everyone so maybe College students should look beyond FNCE classes at wharton to find fulfilment. The Marketing department is high calibered and well respected. For the quant types, stochastic processes in the STAT department, would be worth a look.

From where i see it, BFLAT falls pitifully flat.

By: Simeon McMillan

Simeon McMillan — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 01:33:24 +0000

To clarify my article,

I understand your frustration Collin with FNCE 101 because I felt the same way. The title is misleading because it is indeed an Econ course. Economic statistics and theory have huge ramifications in the world of finance regarding interest rates, currencies, and the stock market. Believe it or not, you actually are learning finance. It’s just not how you expected.

I agree that the math we do in Wharton is easy, however the harsh curves makes up for it. When more than 30% of people are getting C’s, it is a hard class, no matter what the material.

The point I was trying to get across in my article is that Wharton classes are as comprehensive as they can be. The frustrations college kids have aren’t unique. Wharton kids have them too. The Wharton “core” is there for a reason. Having a minor in “business” is like saying you major in “science”. The subjects are so broad you have to go in depth if you want to get anything at all out of it.

By: Collin Beck

Collin Beck — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 00:04:26 +0000

I think the best solution would be for Wharton itself to offer comprehensive classes to college students. As the article mentions, taking the intro classes doesn’t really help college students understand what they need to know about business. For instance, my Econ 102 class used the same text book as Finance 101, but I know nothing about Finance. I asked a Wharton kid who said “Yeah, intro Finance class really have nothing to do with Finance.” I think that’s where college kids get frustrated.

As for the grade inflation bit, Wharton needs to get off its high horse. The curves may be somewhat unkind, but the material is straightforward and the math isn’t rigorous. I’m in intro accounting right now - it’s just common sense and addition. Contrast that with Nick M and I a couple of years ago coming up with Bessel Functions to solve the shrodinger equation in our Modern Physics class.

By: Lindsey Stull

Lindsey Stull — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:13:17 +0000

I think the business minor is a great idea. But at the same time, if you’re going to have business classes at Penn, they should be in Wharton. It’s the best business school in the country; the College can’t compete with that, and shouldn’t waste time and resources doing so.

By: Dan Brickley

Dan Brickley — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 18:47:48 +0000

For those people who’s passions lie elsewhere, but still what some substantial business background, this might be a good option. Now the History major who wants to know more about business can have her finance and accounting classes count towards something instead of just being ornamental.