Undergraduate School Decision
Want to become an investment banker. My school choices right now (Illinois instate): with the yearly prices are below. Does anyone know scholarships that I could try to apply for, is it worth spending more to attend a better target school? I have ordered the schools below based off information I've heard about IB programs and the want to attend there (costs, close to home, near family, etc). My parents salaries are on the border where fiancial aid won't be given, and I also have to consider my two older siblings in college as well. Is it worth to pay the extra? Mostly looking for a school, where I can get a well paying job at an investment banking firm! Thanks for all the help. Additionally, being accepted into these schools isn't the problem, choosing which one to attend is. Any inside information about these schools? Which ones should I consider? Where will I be best off at once I graduate from the school?
Northwestern - $65,000 (dream school)
Indiana - $45,000
Michigan - $55,000
UT Austin - $44,000
U of I - Urbana - $33,000
Duke -$59,000
UC Berkley - $55,000
UNC - $50,000
Gerogetown - $64,000
Virginia - $61,000
Vanderbilt - $62,000
No comment, other than I would kill to go to any of those schools.
Go to Northwestern, Duke, or Berkeley. Differences in a few thousand dollars doesn't really change anything. Only school substantially cheaper is U of I, which don't align to your IB goal.
Also, these schools give out a ton of financial aid, so you might be pleasantly surprised in need/merit aid you get - so might be worth waiting until your packages come in to see where you stand and ask again.
Thank you, is Berkley more of a target school for LA and San Francisco banks?
Holy crap that's alotta debt
I would go to Michigan.
I would go to Berkeley, Michigan or Indiana (but get in the Indiana investment banking workshop) for their business program. All are great schools. If you want to pay that extra 10k on top of the 55k you can go to Georgetown or Northwestern (Although the latter is your dream school, I suspect Georgetown will have higher placement rate in IB).
At the end of the day, these are all great schools. It is a lot more dependent on the strength of the candidate in IB recruiting if you go to the schools I listed. Good luck!
I would go to Georgetown or Duke
If Northwestern is your dream school then just go with that. Yes, its going to be more expensive, but if you can get a little bit of financial aid or help from your parents that will help to alleviate some of the debt burden. Northwestern, Duke, and Georgetown are the best schools on your list. If you can get into any of those then I would pick from those three. Berkeley, UVA, UT Austin, Michigan are also excellent schools, but in my opinion I think its kind of a waste to spend $50k to go to a public college when you could go to a private school for $60k. Those "public ivies" are great for people that can go on the in state tuition and get a degree from UVA for $15-20K a year, for 60K its less worth it unless money isn't an issue.
If you're going to pay full price then just go to the best school. If you get significant aid from any of the above schools, then I would reconsider.
Another thing to consider is that competition will be much tougher for top jobs at the public universities than from the Northwestern, Duke, or Gtown. I live in SF and I know that Berkeley is stacked with smart hardworking asian kids who are grinding away for jobs in banking. Same goes for places like Indiana, especially in their IBD program. While competition will be high anywhere, Duke and Gtown place extremely well into finance and their alumni networks are extremely strong. Good grades, a little networking, and OCR at N/D/G will almost guarantee you spot somewhere.
With all that being said, you can't really go too wrong with the list you provided. My advice would be to visit all the schools and go with your gut. Where are you going to feel the most comfortable over the next four years. All of these schools will give you opportunities to do IBD, you just need to figure out where you'll be the happiest.
I go to Indiana and am actually at an advantage because so few kids do actually go into IB. Lots of freshmen come in wanting banking, but then they fizzle out because of the effort needed in terms of networking and having a stellar academic record.
OP if you want to know anything about IU PM me.
Please don't try to convince the OP to go to an inferior school just because you go there.
Let's put away the freshman bias of "Look at me and how good my school is". If we're giving the OP honest advice on what schools will benefit him in both finding a job in finance post grad as well as setting him up for the rest of his life, Indiana is pretty close to the bottom of the schools he listed. That's not to say its a bad school at all, but you're an absolute fool if you think that Indiana is better than Duke, Georgetown, or Northwestern. Does Indiana happen to have decent placement into Banking? Sure. Is it even close to the number of kids that Georgetown or Duke send? Not even close. Gtown and Duke have some of the strongest placement on Wall Street and are even ahead of some schools like Harvard and Wharton.
I've met IU kids in banking, and while some of them are decently sharp, there aren't too many of them that turn down Ivies to go to IU instead. It's a great budget alternative to get into IBD from a non-target school, but with the exception of U of I Urbana, its last on the list of schools that the OP listed.
Georgetown gives you the best statistical chance of getting on wall street. Although almost every school you mentioned is absolutely solid.
As an IU grad, I agree with the previous post. If you have to spend 45k to go to IU and 60k to go to Duke, I think I would take Duke or Georgetown in a heartbeat.
I said nothing about picking IU over Georgetown or Duke. I was simply correcting your point that competition will be tougher from a public school. It will be harder to network, but the actual peer competition won't be as stiff and it's easy to get noticed if you are a decent student with drive.
I know the merit available at IU and if you're decently smart you can easily get a cost of attendance at under $30k which changes things. If we are talking about debt this kid is taking on, that's very significant. $15k more is a lot in debt if his parents can't pay the full cost. These schools are all very different choices, but OP is heavily weighing cost so this is important. Don't be naive to think Georgetown is worth $60k more in debt. If your family can afford it comfortably, go for it. Most often it's a different reality and the brand name isn't worth the sticker price - especially in banking these days when non-targets are breaking in easier than before.
And not a freshman FYI. Had multiple offers this year with BBs and know of similar in my class (without workshop) with Goldman offers and even PE.
fyi this is a pointless thread as college decisions aren't even out yet
Never mind. I see how you got those numbers.
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