A friend of mine once stated, "You come to a point in life when you realize that you have no viable talents that can contribute anything useful to humanity, so you might as well learn how to make money and live a long, pointless -- but comfortable -- life."
This was his motivation for transferring from the College to Wharton. And, sure enough, he made the switch and is now as miserable as ever. Another friend of mine made the switch, got murdered by accounting and statistics, then switched out -- with nothing to show for it except a half-point drop in his GPA and a couple of useless electives. I made the switch too, and thrived, but I thoroughly regret it.
I think you notice the pattern here.
As the May deadline for Wharton internal transfer and dual-degree applications draws ever nearer, there is a fresh crop of wide-eyed freshmen out there with uncertain motivations ready to take the plunge into the Wharton pool without their swimming trunks. If you're one of these folks, don't hand in that application unless you're sure what you're getting yourself into.
Yes, there's something intimidating about seeing students dressed in black business suits walking out of the interview suite smiling while you're walking by dressed in your baseball cap, jeans and "Make love, not war" T-shirt. How unprofessional of you. "How the hell do I expect to have a job, or even a future," you think to yourself. You need to be like these people. You need to transfer to Wharton.
If these are the thoughts going through your head, then you have the wrong motivation and are making a mistake. Forget all the glitzy surface attributes of a Wharton degree and think substance. Answer the same question that your College adviser will ask you when you talk about majors: What field of study makes you pick up a book out of curiosity and read until you pass out? If it's not anything business-related, then you obviously don't belong in Wharton. And don't confuse an interest in economics with something like OPIM or accounting. I could read my econ textbooks till dawn without a yawn, but my Accounting 102 textbook made me downright narcoleptic. If you like econ, stick with econ.
However, there is something to be said for the synergies that might arise if you combine an econ major with a Wharton degree. So in that case, a dual degree makes sense, just like it would to add a real estate concentration to an urban studies degree, among others.
But keep in mind that just as one degree can add value to another, it can also take away value. For example, I knew before applying for a dual degree with Wharton that I wanted to major in philosophy. And I did. And this recruiting season, I learned the hard truth: there are absolutely no synergies between a philosophy major and a Wharton degree, except maybe for the fact that you're the only student in your business ethics class to say, "no, dammit, it's not all relative!"
Employers will ask you why the philosophy degree, and the admissions folks at graduate philosophy programs will poke at the business "tumor" growing out of your transcript. By doing a dual degree, I shot myself in the foot, and no amount of academic honors or a high GPA will ever rescue me.
This is especially true since I've been cheating on my wife. I married Philosophy, but sophomore year I met this cutie named Music, and we've been seeing each other ever since. But because of Uncle Wharton, I have absolutely no room in my schedule to do a music minor or even take a few extra music courses. I'd give my right arm just to be able to do it all over again, stay in the College, and major in music and philosophy. I couldn't continue learning French, as I wanted to. Couldn't take German, either. I didn't take these opportunity costs into consideration, and now there is no use crying over spilled tears.
Similarly, don't make my mistake of thinking that you'll be able to do all the things that single-degree students can without complications. Take study abroad, for example. I only recently strangled the last of my core requirements in Wharton and was cleared for study abroad, which means that I'll be going abroad first semester senior year -- just in time to miss fall on-campus recruiting and grad school applications and complicate my life.
So, the moral of the story is to put on your swimming trunks before you plunge into the Wharton pool. And don't dive into the shallow end like I did.
Cezary Podkul is a junior management and philosophy major in Wharton and the College from Chicago, Ill. Cezary Salad appears on Mondays.
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