My son gets accepted into CUNY Macaulay honor program at Baruch college. The nice thing about this honor program is tutition free for the four years program. I just want to get some feed back about this school? Is it worth attending. My son is interested to study Economics and Finance. Thanks for the feedback.
Hi there!
I’m currently a sophomore at Baruch in the Macaulay Honors College (be careful-it’s not a program, it’s a college). I turned down a big scholarship to NYU Stern for Macaulay Baruch and I don’t regret that decision one bit. Although I know of people who are not very content with the school, I have found myself challenged and welcomed into a unique community.
First off, I enrolled with an intended business major in mind and wow am I glad I picked a college where it would give me the freedom to choose otherwise! I am now creating two majors in the liberal arts that have nothing to do with business and I know attending NYU or any other major business school would not have let me done so. Baruch DOES have a strong liberal arts school, but I do have to say the Zicklin school of Business is really something. All my friends are business majors and they are constantly being challenged and struggling, which is a good sign because the education here is top notch. The professors know what they are doing. I know for a fact the two strongest business majors here are Accounting and Finance.
Also, I am SUPER happy that Macaulay provides a scholarship that covers tuition. I do not have to worry about undergraduate debt and I can proudly search for law schools knowing I won’t have an insane amount of debt when I graduate. Of course you receive the laptop as well but the money to study abroad/research/intern is top notch. I have already studied abroad once and I am studying abroad again this summer and next winter, all with the help of Macaulay and financial aid. Meaning, I am only paying for souvenirs and food when I go away each time (literally!). I’m not sure of any other school able to put me in such a situation.
I hope I gave you meaningful information, but in the end it is your son’s decision on where he thinks he will strive and be happy. Good Luck!
Hi. I am a student at Baruch College. However, I am not a Macaulay Honor student; though I would like to offer my insight and opinion.
The Macaulay Honors Program is prestigious in New York. Macaulay students get the benefits of a smaller student:faculty ratio. They have an advantage over regular students in various fields, such as the opportunity to study abroad, early class registration, and personal training/guidance from advisers.
As the student above mentioned, Baruch is, without a doubt, a great school for Accounting. As for finance, it is great but can be better! Allow me to expand on that after talking about the Accounting. First off, Baruch probably generates more CPAs than University of Penn or Harvard. That is not surprising because students who attend those schools wouldn’t become an accountant… They would go for investment banking, chemical engineer, etc. But nevertheless, this doesnt undermine Baruch’s accounting program. We do generate an army of CPAs to the big four accounting firms.
As for Finance, we have a plethora of opportunity in Finance. But Finance branches out to many units, which include risk management, advisory, wealth management, consulting, investment banking, treasury, etc. Yes, I will agree that we have a lot of alumnus in Goldman Sach, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Citigroup, etc. But rarely do you see the title “Financial Analyst” in these firms. Our alumnus are working either in corporate tax, operations, IT, credit risk management, etc and rarely do we see the front-office/money making positions, and even if we do, they are probably Macaulay students.
Its unfortunate, no matter how prestigious or rigorous the program may be, Investment Banking, Corporate Finance, Public Banking positions hire among their own network. Hence, even if you are smart, unless you network with right people, its hard to get into the top positions. Hence this is why, let’s say, NYU Stern beats Baruch Macaualay. You’ll meet richer kids. You’re network will be more powerful than that of Baruch’s network. And I hate to admit but Ivy brings their own people in. A UPenn, UChicago will bring their own alumnus into the firm and its the cycle. It is very hard for Baruch students to get into the door, even for Macaulay. I have to say the name matters. So do weigh your choices and what your son actually wants.
Ultimately, Baruch Macaulay will get your son far into the financial services industry. But if you could go to Boston College, UPenn, NYU Stern, UMichigan, it might be better.