<p>Hi everyone. It's that time of year for college applications and I have all of my 13 sent in and am finally starting to receive letters of acceptance (yay!). So far I am accepted to University of Alabama and University of Kentucky. My top choice is Texas A&M, and I am also strongly hoping for an acceptance from Auburn University. But, I am at a bit of dilemma. I want to go to a fairly conservative school, major in International Business or Marketing (haven't decided yet) and then go on to law school. The only problem is, out of Alabama and Kentucky, I have NOT read good things. I do not want to go to a school that has a degree that will not be looked upon highly in the business world. I also do not want to go to a party school (not my thing, and I need to work hard for law school). Therefore, say I get accepted to Auburn as well. Out of Alabama, Kentucky, and Auburn, which would be the most highly respected in the business world? I have read horror stories of students from Alabama who say their degree was "useless" in the business world because of the school they went to and that kind of scared me. I saw on Princeton Review that Kentucky's professors are rated one of the top for "professors with low marks" and "least accessible professors" which also scared me a bit. I also applied to Drake University, Baylor University, and Drexel University, but have not heard back yet. I won't hear back from A&M until March which is another big dilemma in itself. Would anyone think that it would be a better idea to go to a school such as Texas State for one year and transfer to either A&M or UT Austin the next year? I know Austin is very highly regarded in the business world.</p>
<p>First of all: CONGRATULATIONS!
You’re going to college!
:)</p>
<p>Now:
Could you apply to USC-Columbia for International Business - highly respected nationally even if it’s very hard to get into.
Another good, conservative school with a good business school: Saint Louis University. Well-respected (Jesuit education!)</p>
<p>Please remember that what matters most is what YOU do with your opportunities at college.</p>
<p>In addition: do you need financial aid? Merit aid?</p>
<p>No matter what: you don’t have to respond until May. Keep your options open. Don’t make a decision yet, even for yourself. Wait until you have all your admission letters and financial aid awards.
Communicate with the schools that admitted you, ask questions (% graduates who had a job at graduation/ % within 6 months/within the year; what type of jobs; % graduates who went on to earn an MBA; % that get any graduate degree - MS, MA, MBA, etc; % who get internships during their school years. But also: size range of freshman business courses - you want as many as possible under 40-, whether freshman classes are taught mostly by TAs or by professors; what the graduation rate is, the retention rate, etc…)</p>
<p>Know that the phrase “looked upon highly in the business world” means vastly different things in different contexts. If you want to work in the South, say Atlanta, a degree from Alabama may be more highly respected than one from a Yankee school like Harvard. But on Wall Street, no one is going to be impressed by an Alabama degree, where the Ivies dominate. (I know both of these are broad generalizations, but they are still true to a large part. I know everyone from Atlanta is from somewhere else, but the point is, in other parts of the country, a Harvard degree does not confer the god-like status that it does in the Northeast Corridor.)</p>
<p>So, keep things in context - what do you envision doing after college and law school? Where do you envision doing it? Of course, none of really know, but you must have some idea. And from there, you can work backwards to which school is the best fit for your post-graduate world.</p>
<p>I want to be a lawyer in business law, hopefully working on an International level or even perhaps in Europe. Thank you both for your responses! I will continue to do some research!</p>
<p>Business law is a very wide field with many, many subspecialties, from mergers and acquisitions, where you’re better off working from New York, to ordinary contract law, where it really doesn’t make much difference. Both can be very lucrative. If you work in Atlanta, with Coca-Cola or CNN, you’ll be international but probably just fine with an Alabama degree. But if you want to handle Coca-Cola’s M&A deals, you might need to look elsewhere.</p>
<p>Sometimes you just need to go with the best you can get in, and work from there. Opportunities will arise, you’ll just need to adapt to take advantage of them.</p>
<p>Out of the schools you have listed, the University of Alabama is probably the most well-reputed and respected. While there will always be individual negative stories from students, there’s no reason to believe that there’s a widespread negative attitude towards Alabama in the business world.</p>
<p>Any of those degrees will work for you.</p>
<p>And although Ivy League degrees do dominate on Wall Street, you can work in the financial district of New York (or other cities besides in the South) with a degree from Bama. The degree will be more widely recognized in the South, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take it elsewhere.</p>
<p>You will have to take advantage of opportunities in college, though. Study abroad, learn a language and do some business internships - preferably at top business firms.</p>
<p>One other thing. If you do get a law degree, no one will really care where your undergraduate degree is from. It’s where the law degree is from that will really count. (There is that one legendary firm that insists on only HYP grads, but that’s very rare.)</p>
<p>You said you want a fairly conservative university. Texas A & M is your place, for sure. I have siblings who went there for their undergrad and masters degrees. If you said you want a conservative school AND you’re thinking UT, my brother would laugh so hard he’d fall over.</p>
<p>@LongRangePlan: Depending on where OP is from (not TX), UT may seem conservative
However it’s unlikely OP can afford UT, or TAMU, since as an OOS student it’d cost him/her a lot more than instate. Some scholarships waive the OOS fees, but they’re very competitive.</p>
<p>I am from Wisconsin (pretty conservative here) and although UT is liberal, I know the business school is excellent so I would have to deal with it. In terms of affording out of state at either UT or TAMU, I can afford it. Those are actually some of my cheapest out of state options I have applied to. Helpful information. Thank you everyone!</p>
<p>Also, I’m not looking to work in the South after college. I would like to work in either New York or Chicago, which is why I’m wondering which college will look best in those cities.</p>
<p>If you want to work in New York or Chicago going to law school in Texas is a bad idea but where you attend for undergrad doesn’t matter. History philosophy or. stem/ engineering are all good majors for law school. However due to the oversupply of lawyers you need to have the stats for a top law school.</p>
<p>*have read horror stories of students from Alabama who say their degree was “useless” in the business world *</p>
<p>that’s ridiculous. However, anyone from ANY school that gets a degree in an area where there are few jobs is likely going to have a problem. This nation has a glut of college graduates with rather useless majors. In another thread someone posted TODAY that their friend’s two children who went to top schools are under-employed. </p>
<p>If you want to go to law school, then your choice of major isn’t as important, but if you want to get a job right out of college, then you should choose a major that is more likely going to lead to a job.</p>
<p>If you want to go to law school, then Bama has a Tier 1 law school, and its OOS price is considered to be very reasonable.</p>
<p>However, your bigger concern may be how you’re going to pay for these schools. What are your parents saying about how much they’ll pay?</p>
<p>edited to add:</p>
<p>I can afford it</p>
<p>What do you mean by “I”? Do you have the money? or are you saying that your PARENTS have said that they’ll pay?</p>
<p>If you want to practice law in NY or Chicago, take a look at law firm websites in those cities and take a look at the lawyer’s bios. They’ll often list where they got both their undergrad and law degrees from. Some schools should show up over and over. You’ll want to go to the same schools to maximize your chances. Not saying you have to, but that’s probably the smart move if you can get in.</p>
<p>“One other thing. If you do get a law degree, no one will really care where your undergraduate degree is from. It’s where the law degree is from that will really count. (There is that one legendary firm that insists on only HYP grads, but that’s very rare.)”</p>
<p>Mom is spot on. If you do well in college and go to a top law school your undergrad degree will not be very significant in your future job searches</p>
<p>mom2college kids, my family can afford it I meant (not just my parents but also my grandparents). They will be paying about half, which leaves me the rest, but I’m not sure what type of scholarships I will receive, so the amount I will have to pay is uncertain. MrMom62 and CHD2013, I’m thinking I will do my undergrad in Texas or Alabama (whichever I get accepted to-then decide on) and try to do extremely well my four years, and then if I do well enough, apply to top notch schools (not necessarily ivies-but schools that are ranked within the top 20 law schools). I looked on a few law firms websites to scope out what universities their employees went to and it ranges everywhere from Harvard law, to USC, Berkeley, to Michigan and Tulane. I think I would just need to attend a law school that is high in ranking and probably more towards the east coast if I’m looking to work in New York, or even Chicago.</p>
<p>iThey will be paying about half, which leaves me the rest, but I’m not sure what type of scholarships I will receive,</p>
<p>??</p>
<p>Are you saying that at a $40k+ per year school, your family will pay half ($20k+), and you have to pay the other $20k+? </p>
<p>If so, this is why we asked. Money is an issue. Your family may be able to “afford it,” but if they’re only going to pay half, then cost is a big issue.</p>
<p>You’re not going to be able to come up with $20k+ per year all by yourself. YOU can only borrow $5,500 for frosh year.</p>
<p>As for scholarships, your past posts say that you have an ACT 23. Unless you’ve retested and have gotten significantly higher scores, neither Auburn or Bama will give you much/anything. I think you have to have at least a 27 to get a small award. I doubt TAMU is going to give you anything.</p>
<p>If you do have this large cost constraint (student has to pay half), then you need another list since your current one won’t be affordable.</p>
<p>*2.52 gpa uw and about a 3.2 w (bad sophomore year and not a great freshman year) but improved my gpa to a 3.6 junior year and currently a 3.8 senior year.
I have taken almost all honors classes throughout high school and one AP this year (my school is very small and does not offer many)
My class size is 25 students so I am assuming I am in the top 25% although they do not rank.
I have been involved in numerous clubs (student leadership, debate, DECA, environmental, history) and have learned 4 foreign languages throughout high school (French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and Italian). I also play piano and guitar, and take boxing/kickboxing. I have around 60 hours of community service. I worked a 35 hour per week job at Best Buy as a seasonal employee and then worked a 25 hour per week commission based job at Younkers.
I got a 23 on the ACT and have taken it 3 times but my scores have been consistent. I have high reading scores (30) but my math score is what has kept my ACT score at an average. My math score was around a 20. *</p>
