<p>My son's applications are all in. YAY!!!!
Now we wait to hear about acceptances.
He is pretty sure he wants to be a business major, and his first choice is UMDCP, our state flagship. If he gets accepted there it's a win all the way around.
But if he doesn't, he doesn't have a clear favorite. Indiana has a great business school, but Ohio State is "ranked" better, and seems to have a better all-around reputation (and will likely be a little cheaper for s). He doesn't want to visit either unless he's not accepted at CP, and I think he would do fine at either. Any suggestions?
He's also considering others, but I'm guessing these will be his top two, and that they will be financially doable for us.</p>
<p>I don’t know enough about either school to say, but older son chose better school for his major and never looked back. He’s in his dream job, thanks to connections made at that program.</p>
<p>Some kids are very certain about their majors. HOWEVER, many college students switch majors…and more than once. </p>
<p>All of the schools in the OP have a variety of majors, and also have good business schools. I’m not sure I see a huge difference between these three flagship universities (except the cost will be about double,at those,OOS flagship Us).</p>
<p>Some universities admit students directly to the business major. </p>
<p>At other universities, students have to complete prerequisite courses and then apply for admission, usually as sophomores. Because of both academic standards and enrollment limits, not all get in.</p>
<p>I don’t know which plan is used at any of the three universities your son is applying to, but he might want to find out. It could play a role in his decision making.</p>
<p>They all have some direct admits to the business school. His direct admit status attach. School will play into our final decision.</p>
<p>I have to say we were extremely lucky that both Ds knew what they wanted to major in before applying to colleges (even while we were touring colleges), so they looked at schools through those lenses. Thankfully, neither one ever gave a second thought about changing majors, so they both ended up at schools that were highly ranked in their majors, which allowed for some great networking.</p>
<p>If I had a kid who didn’t know what they wanted to major in, I’d likely be steering them to a school that had LOTS of options.</p>
<p>My first two years of college, I attended a smaller directional school. In my sophomore year, once I decided I wanted to major in journalism/PR, I began the transfer process to UT-Austin, which had a much more reputable program in journalism. Luckily, all my credits from freshman and sophomore years transferred, basically class for class… yes, I know, I was one of the lucky ones.</p>
<p>UMDCP, Ohio State University, and Indiana all are fine schools and have tons of majors from which to choose. I’m not sure I believe that any one of these schools truly “outranks” the others. They are all large flagship universities with terrific reputations.</p>
<p>I don’t think the OP could go wrong at any of the three. But OSU and IU will be much more expensive than UMD instate.</p>
<p>It looks like he will get merit money at both IU and OSU. My GUESS is that OSU will be somewhat cheaper than IU, but not enough to prevent me from sending him to IU if we decide that would be better for him.</p>
<p>People change their majors all the time. If OSU will be cheaper, I’d pick that one.</p>
<p>I agree, all are good schools, and UMCP will probably be cheaper. But business is a pretty broad major. If he were going for something very specific, I would say go with the “better” school for his major. S1 did this - he’s at a mid-sized regional university better known overall for the worst disaster in college sports history than for its academics. But he is a sports journalism major and the school has an excellent reputation in the field and a concentration in what he wanted. He’s doing great and everybody’s happy.</p>
<p>1214mom My D is applying to Indiana, Ohio State, and UMDCP business schools, ( as well as some others) all OOS for us. Not sure what rankings you are looking at but Indiana is ranked the highest of these three. (#10 in most recent USNWR). She really likes all three schools. An important question to ask is where do the recruiters come from. Where does your S want to live and work? My understanding is that at UMDCP most jobs after undergrad b-school are in the mid-atlantic area. For OSU, the majority are in Columbus and Ohio area. For Indiana, the top three recruiting cities are Indy, Chicago, and New York City ( more national recruiting) . All three B-schools are very good, so I would be happy if my D went to any of these three.</p>
<p>I don’t have experience with these specific schools, but I have experienced both situations (of better program or better school), and either can work to one’s benefit. </p>
<p>In undergrad I attended the “better program” because the faculty was renown and the equipment for my field of interest was specialized. Few institutions could match that physical plant. Recruiters came on-campus for my field, and my training was a leg up for sure. </p>
<p>For grad school I was a career changer who attended the “better school” and I’m convinced that situation was to my benefit. Recruiters came to this school based on reputation, and there I had “scarcity value” as few classmates were pursuing my area of interest so it was easier to land interviews, and frankly easier to stand out. I feel that if I had attended the “better program” for grad school I may never have stood out from my able classmates - indeed I believe my journey would have been much harder (and it was hard enough already!).</p>
<p>So my conclusion is that “it depends”, and there is no single right answer, but rather depends upon the individual’s situation.</p>
<p>Only 13% of IU grads go to the NE including NY while OSU is at 10%. Given the differences in student body (IU has more OOS kids from the east) I don’t think the gap is very large. OSU kids can stay in Ohio because there are lots more jobs there compared to Ind. Those that want to go farther can.</p>
<p>He’ll need to visit the campuses to decide. Lifestyle differences in small town Bloomington, IN (Indianapolis is a world away) and big city Columbus, OH. For an undergraduate education the campus feel matters a lot. He should consider what else happens on/near campus- and if he is football or basketball crazy (although at large schools you do not need to care about sports).</p>
<p>Thanks for the input everyone. I would like him to be employed closer to home (Maryland), but that choice will be his to make. UMD would be cheaper also, which is why I say it’s an all around win if he gets in there. Based on his stats it looks like he may qualify for honors at IU (thanks racquetdad for info on another thread), and he will be direct admit to business at IU, which is also good.
Racquetdad, for business IU is ranked higher, but overall OSU is ranked higher.</p>
<p>I agree on the rankings 1214 mom.</p>