I was recently accepted to Clemson University and The University of Alabama’s Honors College. I plan on majoring in accounting should I attend Alabama, and pre-business should I attend Clemson. I am told that Alabama’s business program is more prestigious, but I know that Clemson is a more prestigious university as a whole. I have visited Alabama and plan on visiting Clemson very soon. I thoroughly enjoyed my Alabama visit, the campus is impressive. Any thoughts on the better of the two schools? I’m trying to gather as many opinions as possible.
I wouldn’t say Clemson is more prestigious, especially not compared Alabama’s honors college, which is very well respected. I would go for Bama. You can’t pass up the honors college and you enjoyed your time there.
Wait til you visit Clemson and then decide.
Do you have a preference as to size of university? Clemson is a mid-size university while Alabama is large. Check in with each career placement office to see who recruits there and where the jobs are that are offered. Accounting is a very locally recruited major.
Bama has a top Accounting program. The Big Four recruit there and donate.
As for atmosphere, since I’ve been on both campuses, I can tell you that they can seem similar in some aspects…very attractive schools, school spirit, etc.
However, Clemson is in such a rural area that it can be very limiting.
Tuscaloosa is a fairly good-sized city population 100,000 and the growth and improvements are amazing.
Neither of these schools is very good, but they are pretty cheap. I would go with whichever school gives you the most aid. You don’t want to graduate from one of these schools with student loans,
My sister was an accounting and finance double major at Clemson and now has a great job at Bank of America. I know BOA does a lot of recruiting there as do other major banks. Their finance, accounting, and business programs are very well respected and the university overall was ranked the 20th best public university in the country. The towns smaller but it’s 17,000 acres and gorgeous with two lakes. It’s a great community and environment overall
Clemson has a top ranked career placement center that provides excellent opportunities for students. Clemson isn’t far from Greenville which is a nice smaller city. The Big 4 recruit at both these schools.
@informative - one can get a great education at Clemson and Alabama. Our SC public HS sends several kids each year to the Ivies. Among those top students, you’d be surprised how many choose Clemson (especially Calhoun Honors College). And I’m sure you’ve seen on CC the number of top students that opt for great merit at Bama over top 20 institutions. If you live in the South, a degree from one of those schools can often take you a lot further than a degree from an elite school.
OP, wait until you visit Clemson and then choose whichever one feels right for you. Good luck!
Did you get HOnors at Clemson? If not, choose Alabama. If you got both Calhoun AND UA HOnors, then it depends on vibe and environment (Clemson is more conservative and smaller; Tuscaloosa is more of a college town and closer to major internships.)
@skipper12 Are you a transfer student?
You haven’t been back since you posted your OP.
“Neither of these schools is very good…”
And you say this based on what?
(Disregard Informative, who loves to post such comments)
At UA, they use to have a HS Jr/Sr summer one week business program and one week program for kids interested in acctg - the faculty person coordinating for many years is a current accounting professor - and her upper class and graduate accounting students were a lot of the student workers (working on their CPA exams, etc). So much positive energy! Talking to these almost finished college students was an insight to the positive college experiences they have had.
April 2015 Business Insider had a best 25 list for networking -based on over 10,000 current and former business school students ranking their program’s quality of network. UA ranked 24. Clemson (and a lot of other excellent schools) did not make the top 25. The survey was done by graduateprograms.com - looking where students have strong peer, faculty, and alumni networking connections and opportunities, even after graduation.
I am very impressed with UA. By the way, I got my MBA at TAMU - they are rated #5 on the ranking described, after Stanford, Columbia, Harvard, and INSEAD (France).
I have worked for two universities in two different states, after graduate business degrees. Is your UA scholarship Presidential? Also have a lot of good things to say about UA honors programs too - engineering DD is taking advantage of honors and STEM MBA honors programs.
Both schools are very good and you can’t go wrong either way. However, Bama is a very good school and Honors College is hard to pass up. See how you feel though after you visit Clemson. If Bama and Clemson are offering you similar aid and you like Clemson, think about going there.
Clemson and Alabama are peer schools. Neither is really better than the other. Go with whichever is cheaper.