UIUC Gies v. Indiana Kelley v. Northeastern D'Amore McKim v. SMU Cox for Finance Undergrad

Main focus is on recruitment and on-campus opportunities. Will additionally visit colleges to limit down and check campus life -- for sure visiting IU and UIUC and either Northeastern or SMU. I know these aren't the best IB targets, but most likely to attend the school with the best changes. Don't know too much about these schools so any insights would be awesome!

UIUC Gies

• Pros: A lot of investment being put into business school -- seems to be on the rise. Lots of counseling and internships opportunities highlighted in college recruitment. Seemingly high salaries for employment and lots of consulting.

• Cons: UIUC overall known for engineering and accounting, not finance. Overall slim chances of cracking IB.

Indiana Kelley

• Pros: Overall best regarded business school. Has special programs/workshops such as IBW that once admitted provide best opportunities and salaries out of my university options. 

• Cons: Some workshops like IBW competitive to get into (ANY INFO about IBW would be appreciated). Otherwise IU and rest of Kelley less prestigious and wouldn't want to go. Seems higher risk, higher reward.

Northeastern D'Amore McKim (Global Scholars)

• Pros: #1 CO-OP program in country that gives job experience and lead to job offers with CO-OP company. University overall is most prestigious (low admit rate due to tons of applications). Kind of the "In-style" school right now -- could change in future but not in the next four years. Boston is a large city and great college town, most location-based opportunities. 

• Cons: University seems overall overhyped. Salaries seem lower than SMU and UIUC (might be wrong). CO-OPs also possibly exaggerated (other universities have internships; how many are getting to work at Morgan Stanley and Fidelity, a couple dozen or 6 people). Global Scholars means living out of Boston my 1st year (Oakland and London), so will have limited access to university resources.

SMU Cox

• Pros: In Dallas (where my parents are planning to move) and Texas is an up-and-coming finance and overall job hub. SMU seems to have a good reputation in Texas with a good alumni network that people recurrently talk about. Also is a smaller than other three schools while still holding similar opportunities and decent name recognition. Also has decent salaries.

• Cons: Has the lowest ranking out of four (not sure how much to trust rankings) and overall school not as prestigious (although still better than Indiana overall). Don't have too many cons, but other schools may just be better, just a lack of knowledge (please help!).

FYI cost is not a huge issue, only Northeastern has a slight disadvantage. Thanks for reading.