Personally, I never got caught up in prestige. While it would feel great to get accepted into an elite school, the thought of large scholarships always appealed to me more. I have made posts before and realize that I could go to some great schools for a very low COA.
My main affordable school right now is Ohio State. With my current stats, the COA would be about 22k/year but with a 10 point SAT increase it would be down to around 20k/year. There is also a possibility of a full tuition or even full ride bringing the COA to either 10-15k for full tuition, or almost nothing for full ride.
This sounds great, but my major unfortunately seems to really care about prestige. While I am not set for IB, and I don’t think most 17 year olds are other than for large salary reasons. However, I don’t want to close doors before having a chance to even open them. Some of my “reachier” schools are Georgetown, BC, and Villanova. These and a few others luckily meet need. The NPCs came out to around 25k/year.
Would a more prestigious school be worth it for finance? Let’s use the full tuition as the cost effective scenario because if I don’t get it at OSU, I could get one at Temple automatically. With full tuition, costs would be around 10k-15k/year. Do you think a more prestigious school is worth an additional 10k/year? My family is middle class and the extra cost is doable, but if it’s not worth it, I would rather not do it.
Also, does being a “_____ Scholar at X university” matter at all for internship/job recruiting compared to just “Student at X university”? Would it help me stand out or does it not matter?
I bought a gray bicycle once because “it came in my price.” It was fine. If I could have afforded a blue bike, I’d probably have bought that one.
That’s pretty much the problem in a nutshell. If you can afford a “prestige” school then it doesn’t matter. If you have to stretch, it starts to matter. If you can’t really afford it, then you’re cooked.
I went to a public U in Ohio, and was always surprised that people from out of state paid extra for the “prestige” of our campus. Turns out there are a lot of people from all over who think Ohio State (or Miami in my case) is prestigious enough to cough up the OOS fees.
So candidly, Ohio State seems like a really smart choice. Your long term success in a profession is going to be based more on what rather than who you know. Even then, the current speaker of the house went to an Ohio public as an out of state student - and like him or not, the “lack of prestige” doesn’t seem to be holding him back.
That is Paul Ryan. He “has a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio”
Also, the last Speaker also graduated from an Ohio school - Xavier University. Wiki claims that “taking seven years as he held several jobs to pay for his education.”
@thumper1 I have looked at both Pitt and Penn State, but merit is unlikely at either. Yes, I have seriously considered Temple. Temple and OSU are my safeties at the moment though as they come out cheaper than full instate cost of Penn State/PSU. I know prestige isn’t everything, but I thought it mattered a little more for finance than for most other majors.
@50N40W Yeah OSU is a great state and I was quite surprised at how good their merit was for OOS for a public school, especially since it is one of the top publics IMO. “If you have to stretch, then it starts to matter” is where I am at. The extra cost is doable but if my perception of how much prestige actually matters for finance is way off, then yeah I would rather save the money. Do you think going to a school on a scholarship could set you apart to job recruiters or when applying for internships?
If you have competitive stats for Georgetown…then it would seem you would be completive for some kind of scholarship at Pitt. Not guaranteed like Temple…but something.
@thumper1 I wouldn’t say I have a “good chance” for Georgetown but I have a perfect GPA and test scores are right at the average along with some decent ECs. The main problem with merit at Pitt is my scores. Even the average SAT score at Georgetown isn’t high enough to be qualified for any sort of merit at Pitt. IIRC you need a 1450 old CR+M and since that’s the minimum I wouldn’t expect much. If I convert my new SAT to old using CR+M score concordance table conversions, I’m at a 1440.
No idea. But I’d like to think that a person who figured out how to get a solid education in finance and come out OK financially would score some points.
[edit: In my earlier post I thought you were an Ohio resident. I now understand you’re PA. In that case, I have to confess that I know very little about Temple, but in general, if the school is solid - if the classes are real and overwhelmingly taught by profs, how do you go wrong? Someone will know, but I sure don’t. /edit ]
Posters on CC like to think that there is only one discipline called finance and only one career path that kids who major in finance take and only one type of job that is in “finance”.
You can work for your state’s treasurer arranging bond financings with banks for construction of new bridges or dormitories for your state U- that’s finance. You can work for a think tank researching the impact of a reduction in the price of oil on terrorism- that’s finance. You can work for Pepsico or Pfizer on a team which figures out pricing strategies on new products- that’s finance. You can work for a consulting firm which helps organizations or companies in bankruptcy develop strategies for an orderly disposition of their assets which maximizes their value but obeys the law (particularly important for non-profits- as Detroit learned when they tried to sell of art to raise cash). You can work for the UN on a clean water initiative, or the World Bank figuring out how to lend small farmers enough money to finance next year’s crop in countries without a functioning capital markets system.
There is only one track in finance where going to Georgetown vs. some of your other options is likely to make a difference- and I haven’t even gotten there yet. And you might decide by junior year that you’re not interested in investment banking (do you even know what it is right now?).
@blossom True, the wide array of opportunities in finance usually isn’t mentioned on here. Most kids here seem to be IB or bust. So if I am not dead set on IB, it shouldn’t matter where I graduated from? I know rankings aren’t everything but I was surprised with how high OSU was ranked, usually tied or around PSU(my in state) for business with lots of top 10 or top 5 programs.
Look at the career services section of the college’s website to see who comes to recruit every year and which jobs they are recruiting for.
That doesn’t mean you can’t get hired by a company which doesn’t have this college on its schedule- but it’s a good first cut as to how employers view the graduates.
If it’s mostly small, regional companies hiring financial analysts (nothing wrong with that) then you might have to put in a lot of effort to get noticed by a global company. If it’s a diverse range of name brand companies- hiring for multiple functions all over the country- that’s a good sign.
@classof2017, if you are a PA resident you have two more chances to get full tuition or more at Pitt. I believe that the SAT requirements are somewhat lower for the Nordenberg and Stamps Leadership scholarship.
Primarily those would look at your community involvement, leadership experience, etc in combination with good grades and scores, I imagine.
Application opens in July this year. Ask your GC or principal at your HS about the nomination process for Nordenberg scholarship.
@mommdc Even though the requirement is lower, I only have a 1460 new SAT which is above the requirement but since it’s so competitive the winners must be really impressive. There’s only 5 Stamp scholars and 10 Nordenberg scholars and I don’t think I’m that competitive.
What are your parents saying? How much will your parents pay each year? Ask them, please don’t guess. We see later posts from a lot of disappointed students who thought their parents would pay more.
Prestige for finance is typically found in schools higher than G’town, Nova, etc. Prestige for finance (IB) is typically certain Ivys, Stanford, and the other schools with very highly ranked B-schools. So, if you’re “keeping options open” for IB, but won’t be going to one of the true prestige schools for that, then no need to go to G’town, Nova, etc, unless they give you amazing aid.
@mommdc True, I’ll still apply but I probably have better chances elsewhere.
@mom2collegekids My parents said they could oh what the NPCs said(25k/year) but if it really doesn’t matter where I go then I would go somewhere cheaper.