BC vs. Fordham

I am looking to go into business and was accepted to BC CSOM and Gabelli at Fordham. I live in New York and intend on staying here after graduation. I would also like to complete my internships in NY. Will it be comparatively more difficult to get internships and a job in NYC through Boston College than Fordham?

It might be harder but not impossible

In accounting or finance, it’s not hard to get an internship in NY. In finance, most of the banking internships are in NY anyway. I don’t know about marketing, though.

It’s obviously possible to get a job anywhere regardless of where your school is located, but recruitment, networking, and internships will be easier from the school located in the area.
Nyu, Baruch, Fordham, and Columbia will have better job placement in NYC while Boston college, Boston university, babson college, and other MA schools will have better job placement in Boston.

BC is one of 8 schools nationwide that Citi regards as platinum. I don’t know if Fordham is one of the others. Almost all of those jobs are in NY. They’ve hired over 100 BC students over the last 5 years. The Big Four accounting firms recruit for Boston and NY offices.

CSOM. If you have a decent GPA, you will have no problem getting internships in NY from BC.

If you currently live in NY and plan on settling in NY, I would suggest you attend Boston College. Try a new city for college. You may like it there and want to stay. I went to school in both Boston and NYC and I found Boston to be much more fun. You’ll have the rest of your life to explore NY.

Regarding internships, CSOM will have as many, if not more, recruiters looking for you as Gabelli. The only difficulty for you will be shuttling back and forth to NY for first, second, or third round interviews - this is a good problem. In most cases, the firms will reimburse your travel expenses. You can combine several interviews for each trip. BC is well aware of this issue and I am sure they will help you accomplish your goal.

Good luck!

You might be interested to know that the federal government had started a website aimed at giving potential students a sense of the value offered by each college at College Scorecard. One of the metrics they measure is the average amount the graduates of various schools earn 10 years after graduation by comparing the social security numbers on financial aid applications with those on federal tax returns filed 10 years later. By removing the element of self-reporting from the exercise a considerable degree of reliability is introduced. On the website one can filter schools by religious denomination. The most recent rankings of Catholic schools is as follows, excluding stand alone nursing schools:

  1. Georgetown $ 84,000
  2. Villanova, $73,900
  3. Notre Dame, $ 70,100
  4. Fairfield, $68,500
  5. Santa Clara, $67,800
  6. Boston College, $ 66,700
  7. Holy Cross, $63,100
  8. Loyola MD, $63,000
  9. Manhattan, $ 61,700
  10. San Francisco , $60,300
  11. Stonehill, $ 58,500
  12. St. Joseph's PA, $58,400
  13. St Marys CA, $58,400
  14. Providence, $57,700
  15. Creighton, $57,100
  16. San Diego, $ $56,900
  17. Fordham! $56,200

@CTDadof2 I still can’t wrap my mind around Fairfield showing 68,500 and Fordham showing 56,200. I don’t get it.

Do you have a link to the website?

Fairfield offers ABET-accredited engineering degrees, Fordham doesn’t - that could be part of the swing.

Suzyq7. Fairfield has been a sleeper in the Catholic school universe, rather low key, and even on this site you don’t see many proponents advocating for it with the gusto you see for Fordham, BC, HC etc. Nevertheless, it’s alumni have done quite well, especially in high wage areas like Fairfield County, which has one of the country’s highest concentration of hedge funds, and Wall Street. It has a strong alumni network and was one of the youngest schools awarded its own Phi Beta Kappa chapter. I know it will seem like heresy on this thread, but when I was graduating from my Catholic high school in CT, a traditional feeder to Catholic colleges, 30 years ago, many of the best students went to Fairfield and none to Fordham.

Agreed. Fairfield University is a well-kept secret.

My son and I just finished the search process and Fairfield was a finalist. Much to our surprise, the biology/science department really wowed us. That was after sitting for Columbia University’s Science day presentation, so it withstood stiff competition.

Ignore rankings. Or at least try. It was impossible for us to ignore rankings, but in our wealthy suburb several well-to-do families feature graduates of Ivy Leagues alongside Fairfield diploma holders.

It’s down to you, ultimately–and the quality of your contacts.

It was announced today that the next CEO of General Electric is John Flannery, a 1983 graduate of Fairfield’s Dolan School of Business and of one of those Catholic high school feeder schools that I mentioned previously.