Alabama or Indiana?

College Search & Selection
1

Hey everyone,

I’m a senior from the Chicago suburbs and I’m deciding between University of Alabama and Indiana University Bloomington. I’m majoring in finance and was directly admitted to Kelley School of Business at IU. I also plan on attending grad school for an MBA The overarching reason I can’t decide is that I can attend Alabama with a full tuition scholarship, but for a lesser education, or attend a top 8 school for my major for a lot more money. Below I will go into more specific pros and cons of both schools. Please comment any advice or opinions! Thanks!

Cost
I received the presidential scholarship at both schools. Bama: $12,000 (room and board) IU: $25,000-$33,000. My parents can pay for Alabama, but a little less than half of IU every year. Another thing to think about is paying for grad school afterwards…

Campus life
Bama: I love the campus. Great weather all year round. I’m a huge sports fan and already follow and love the football team. I plan on rushing and Alabama has some of the best fraternities in the nation. Endless opportunities for fun. However, the campus is so nice that it almost seems like a resort rather than a college. It’s almost too nice and somewhat loses the classic “college” feel that I want. Also, other than one strip, Tuscaloosa isn’t the greatest town.
IU: loved it here too. Beautiful, old campus that exemplifies the “college” feel I mentioned before. Football team isn’t great, but they have a great basketball tradition which could be just as fun. Not as much to do as at Alabama but still wouldn’t be hard to have fun. Also, Bloomington is a great town that blows away Tuscaloosa.

Education
Bama: Alabama is ranked somewhere in the 80s for my major. That speaks for itself. But at the same time, I would “shine” there, as my dad says, and graduate with a good gpa which may help me out when applying for grad school. Also, I won’t have to worry about not getting classes I want and will graduate on time if not early.
IU: Kelley has the 8th ranked program in the country for my major. I was stunned after attending direct admit day, which is a massive presentation on Kelley for incoming students. They are a machine that provide their students incredible opportunities and prepare them extremely well for the real world. With their connections training it seems hard not to be successful. Also, a degree from Kelley can help me get into good grad schools. However, I am worried about just being part of the crowd and not being able to stand out. This can range from not establishing good relationships with professors to not being able to take classes that I want and graduating late.

Location/Culture/people
Alabama: you can’t beat warm weather year round at Alabama, But going south could be a hit or miss. I feel like I would like the southern culture from what I experienced on my visit there but you never know. Either way, it could be good to get out of the Midwest and experience another culture. Alabama is a 13 hour car ride from home so I would only be able to come home 2-3 times a year on holidays and pay air fare. I think I would be ok with being away from home and being forced to be independent but in case I really needed to come home, I wouldn’t be able to. Also, I would want summer internships close to home (Chicago) and I’m not sure if I would be able to do that at Alabama. Finally, one more thing that worries me about Alabama is that the people there are only there to party and don’t care much about their education as long as they pass. One more thing is that 2 of my best friends from high school are going to Bama. We will be friends for life but we are different people. Even though it would be nice to spend 4 more years with them, I don’t want them to hold me back from reinventing myself and starting over, or worse, ruining our friendships.
IU: shockingly, after living my whole life in the Midwest, I still love the snow and the gray skies. Warm weather is nice but nothing beats a Midwest fall or just having all 4 seasons in general. Bloomington is about 4 hours by car from home so I could come home whenever I needed to but at the same time I don’t want to be stuck in the Midwest my whole life and not experience anything else, even though I would be very comfortable at IU. Another good thing is that the other kids at Kelley will be serious students like me and I wont have to worry about kids majoring in alcoholism as much As I would at bama. Not many kids from my school are going to IU so I would be able to start over completely, which would be great.

Another question I have is how much going to a good undergrad school will help me when applying to grad schools. Is it better to do good at Kelley or great at bama?

Thanks!!

2

I was going to say this might be the key but IUB costs $45K/year for OOS and if your parents pay for half that leaves $10k for you which can be paid for with a direct loan and a summer job/job during school.

3

The academic quality is close enough between these 2 that it should not be an issue. Go Alabama because you’re getting a similar outcome without the financial worries.

Somebody will probably come along and say “Ooooh,.but IU is #28 and Alabama is whatever”…Both schools are very respectable…don’t fall for the “but this one is a millimeter better than that one” garbage.

4

At Alabama you could apply to the Honors College. They have their own housing, some separate classes, programs, etc. At Honors College I’m sure you would see less partying and more individualism.

5

How much debt will you have by the time you graduate from IU?

If you plan to go directly to grad school, and your parents will have zero money left when you finish your undergrad, plus you’ll have a big debt, then go for UA and save the money, and apply to Kelley (or Kellogg, Booth, etc.) for your MBA.

If you plan to enter the workforce and do your MBA later (perhaps even paid for in full or part by your employer), then depending on the total debt I would pick Kelley because of the connections–if you can get a good job the debt won’t be too difficult to pay off (depending on how much it is, thus the above question).

6

FYI, most of the top MBA programs (e.g., Northwestern, Chicago) don’t let people in directly from undergrad. You need to work for a few years before applying so that you have some real world experience that you bring to the classroom environment/discussions. Because of that, your work experience would also be weighed along with (and possibly even more so) than your undergrad resume in determining admittance to those programs.

7

Definitely go IU. IU is a better school than Bama by a bit. And as you said, you want to have a fresh start, which is great - take it from me.

8

Thanks. I really don’t know what I’m talking about with graduate business programs. So would the quality of my undergrad education matter much when I eventually apply to a business school? Specifically, would having a degree from Kelley, rather than Alabama make a big difference?

9

Undergrad doesn’t matter a WHOLE ton, but it is still better to go to the higher-rated B-school (assuming that’s the one you prefer).

10

Agree @LBad96 that IU business is ranked higher than UA business. But is IU worth $40k - $80k more than UA? That’s the question. Frankly, I don’t think it is. But there are probably data out there that paint a better picture than my opinion.

11

@ScreenName77

if money is a big issue i would choose Alabama, go to the Honors College, get top grades, perhaps double major, and take advantage of every opportunity / special program available thru the Honors College. the Honors College may also let you structure your major/double major in a way that makes it very unique and attractive to future employers and grad schools. if you do all you can to maximize the opportunities available to you at Alabama, i think it can somewhat close the academic gap between UA and IU and save you tens of thousands of dollars in the process.

12

This is so wrong. There may be a handful of kids like that (same as every other college, btw), but most everyone is very concerned about their grades. They know they’re not getting jobs without solid grades. You will find a very similar student body at each of these schools. Both large flagships, filled with partiers, bookworms, geeks, jocks, geniuses, snobs, sweethearts, rich, poor, and everything in between.

13

This is a tough question because I love the IU campus, and Kelley is a great business school. I would tend to think that IU will be far enough from home for you, and different enough, that you will have that true college experience. On the other hand IU and Purdue have lots of students from the Chicago area, so it wouldn’t be a huge culture shock.

That being said, it’s hard to justify the $40-$60K swing in cost between the two schools. If your parents had the money, and didn’t mind paying the difference - that’s one thing. I just know that we would not go into debt to choose IU over UA. We would cash flow it or sell something. Not everyone can do that.

It is a bit of a gamble and it’s not an easy decision. Once you pick either school, you lose those freshman scholarship opportunities (of course there might be transfer opportunities but I would look into that carefully).

When we were at UA in the fall, our tour group had two young women from Chicago and they didn’t know each other. I think the Chicago crowd is discovering UA.

I think you could create a great opportunity for yourself at UA. But I can see why you lean IU. Maybe run some payment calculators and look at what that level of debt looks like on a monthly basis. It can set your life back years.

14

What do want to do with your finance degree? There are many paths. If your goal is investment banking, you will be probably better off at Kelley. That is one field where brand name matters, and Kelley is pretty strong, especially if you get into their investment banking workshop. For most other avenues of finance, both schools are strong.

The cost-benefit analysis of your options is your first finance assignment.

15

That’s the thing, I’m not really sure what direction I want to go in with finance… Investment banking seems interesting but I don’t want to try it out and then not enjoy it

16

“one more thing that worries me about Alabama is that the people there are only there to party and don’t care much about their education as long as they pass.”

Lots of those people at Indiana, too, I’m sorry to say.

17

Try to see if there is a substantial difference between the 2 schools on outcomes and then make your decision. I would ask the placement offices for each school for data on who hires their graduates, % of B-School grads employed 6 months after graduation and what MBA schools their grads tend to go to.

18

Do you want to invest in the best undergraduate b-school you were accepted to?

If so IU is the easy choice

19

<<<
Finally, one more thing that worries me about Alabama is that the people there are only there to party and don’t care much about their education as long as they pass.


[QUOTE=""]

[/QUOTE]

Oh good heavens. That is so not true.

And at every univ, there are SOME people who are there mostly to party, but that is NOT true about the majority of the students.

If that were true, their graduates would not be getting into fabulous grad schools, med schools, law schools, etc.

20

<<<
received the presidential scholarship at both schools. Bama: $12,000 (room and board) IU: $25,000-$33,000. My parents can pay for Alabama, but a little less than half of IU every year. Another thing to think about is paying for grad school afterwards…
<<<

So, if you’re paying for more than half of the remaining costs at IU, I’m guessing that you won’t be able to afford to rush there, is that correct?

Sounds like your parents will pay the same $12k whether you go to IU or Alabama, so you’re stuck with the balance at IU (which would be you trying to pay $13k-20k per year for IU). Is that right?

I think some people here haven’t done the math…and/or they aren’t a student who would be burdened with that much debt or cost to cover.

No, IU is not worth that much for undergrad.