Between Wharton and London School of Economics

Hi to all of you!!!
This is my first posting and combines both Distance and Traditional education

I´m enroled as a BSc. in Management student at the University of London, whose lead college is London School of Economics.

I have now been admitted to the Wharton School, at the University of Pennsylvania and to London School of Economics.

Both London School of Economics and Wharton School are considered excellent business schools, and I don´t know for which to decide

Can someone give me some advice.?

Is Wharton or LSE worth the high cost compared to the External LSE?

Thank you

 

What a wonderful set of choices you have.

The Wharton cost must include, of course, the not inconsequential expense of nearly two years of life in Philadelphia.

But as for prestige and usability of the degree, you're very much in a Rolls vs. Bentley situation. The minor arguments for one over the other are inconsequential vis a vis either of them vs. almost anything else in the world.

Incidentally, the last time I visited Wharton, about three years ago, I was struck by how much more British it felt than Harvard or MIT: clubbish, a bit snooty, elegant; very much, I felt, "We are only reluctantly a part of the University of Pennsylvania."

 

Both Wharton & the London School of Economics are very famous. I agree with John that you cannot go wrong.

On of our Canadian Prime Ministers (the Late Monsieur Trudeau) attended the LSE. I understand Mick Jagger attended for a couple of years before dropping out as the band hit its stride. Some have said that is why he knows how to invest his money so well.

North

 

Obviously, both schools are quite prestigious. What would the difference in prestige and potential salary be between earning the LSE degree in external mode as compared with with the traditional LSE mode. I´m asking this because I´ve noticed that, despite the fact that UoL states there´s no difference between degrees earned through either mode, the External degree states that it was earned in this way.

Also, I´m a bit worried about potential employers´perception of a degree earned through Distance Learning methods.

Titita

 

You might want to contact the schools themselves and ask what the starting salaries are for graduates in the program you are intersted in. I believe US News has or had such information in its guide to graduate schools but only for selected domestic schools. It gave you the chance to compare tuition with potential earnings.

I am not a business major but I have heard of both schools. As a kid in Canada I had not hear of Wharton but had heard of the London School of Economics which my Great Uncle (an Englishman) considered to be a hot bed of leftist politics (Trudeau being a graduate and Mick Jagger having attended).

Personally, I think you cannot go wrong either way. Ask LSE about salaries, Wharton's may (?) be available at the US News site or in the guide.

As for the external issue, personally I would simply list the degree as from the LSE which it would be.

North

 

Dear Titita,

Greetings!

Search here for Bill Dayson and London School of Economics (or LSE) as he posted some excellent commentaries in this sense.

Yours,


Karlos Alberto Lacaye
[email protected]

 

Due to financial constraints I had a set of less wonderful choices many years. My universities studies must be between my country's local university and the London external degree program.

After a month in the external degree program I had decided to opt for the local university to enrol in their Business Admin programme.

I want the whole hog the experience of an undergarduate (I was young then): the beer parties, the summer attachments to corporations, the war stories by the lectureres, the chance to argue with your peers, tutors and everybody else.

I found the external programme taught by the lectureres tend to be more focus. They have to be. A significant portion of students are mature adults and very serious working people with limited time on hand and the lectures tend to be more geared towards the end of year examination. In the end, after a month there I found the programme to be to close to my A-level experience for comfort and decide to go traditional.

So I guess its a matter of lifestyle choice, your financial resources and the time you have on hand. If you have "been there and done that" in the working world which many of the contributors to this site certainly qualify( eg Capt, USAF) then an external degree is good. If you are young like me then and want the experience of what a traditional university offere then the experience a LSE traditional programme is a good choice too.

My brief experience with a recruiting firm in the far east, is that it is not so much the degree (whether external and internal) that matters, not by a lot anyway. For international MNC's do view favourably a candidates international and broad based experience.

The fact that you actually complete a three-year degree at LSE in London count for something. The "perception" is that one has greater exposure to different culture and the international perspective of studying and living in a major city.

Of course this doesn't matter much if you are an European or looking for a job in Europe or when firms look for mature and experience professional but at the entry level these things count. Of course this is a general view, a candidate could have been born in one country, complete high school in a second country and complete an external degree in a third. Against such a candidate the advanatge of you being a LSE graduate could be negated but the usual candidate competing with you for a position is not a LSE graduate.

Best Regards

Billy

 

Hi, Billy!

Your assertion certainly fits my description, but I don't think that this makes me more qualified than others. More interesting, maybe, but not more qualified.

Best regards,


Karlos Alberto Lacaye
[email protected]

 

Definitely interesting enough to be shortlisted for the interview...that's a good enough qualification by itself.( beat the other 90% applicants )

Best regards

Billy