Duke or Stern?

Am now facing the up coming application season. i am highly interested finance and looking forward to finance related jobs, especially IB. Duke and Stern are both great institutions of course, but I just want to know which one is probably better in what ways. Thx

In terms of job placement, I would give Duke the edge because NYU does not have the same reach nationwide as Duke.

I would pick Duke over NYU for quality of life as well. NYU is a very boring noncomprehensive experience.

http://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/2015/02/04/the-top-feeder-schools-to-wall-street/

From above article:

PENN AND NYU TOP THE RANKINGS

Focused on bulge bracket and elite middle market and boutique banks –Wall Street Oasis created what can be best described as a “recruiting map.”Overall, the University of Pennsylvania edged out New York University among Wall Street recruiters. For example, Penn ranked as the #1 feeder school to Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital (tied with Harvard), Citigroup, Blackstone, Houlihan Lokey, and Nomura Holdings (Tied with NYU) among undergrad schools. However, it didn’t reflect across-the-board dominance, with Penn failing to even crack the top 10 for interviews at Credit Suisse, UBS AG, and Evercore.

New York University finished a close second, with its 2.35 power score just a shade below Penn (2.39). Technically, NYU made the top 10 lists of more firms (18 vs. Penn’s 14), outpointing Penn in the bulge bracket set as well. Overall, NYU students drew the most interviews at JPMorgan Chase, UBS AG (tied with Boston College), Lazard (tied with the University of Michigan), and Nomura Holding (Tied with Penn). Surprisingly, NYU failed to reach the top 10 for several high-end boutiques, including Evercore, Jefferies & Company, and Moelis & Company.

The University of Michigan Ross School of Business
Of course, you don’t need to be an east coast Ivy Leaguer to make it on Wall Street. Just look at the University of Michigan, which finished third and placed in the top 10 for interviews at 14 firms. Michigan was also the top feeder school to Evercore, BNP Paribas, and KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Overall, the Ivy League still dominates the undergrad recruiting pipeline on Wall Street, with six schools in the top 10 overall, including Harvard University (4th), Cornell University (5th), Princeton University (6th), and Columbia University (9th). That’s not surprising given their close proximity to Wall Street. Boston College, the University of Toronto, and the University of Texas at Austin also made the top 10.

Looking for some surprises? Canadian schools are a big draw, with the Richard Ivy School of Business and Queen’s University joining the University of Toronto in the top 20 overall for interviews. And Yale, Duke, and Stanford undergrads rank only 28th through 30th respectively.

@BatesParents2019 What someone finds “fun” and “boring” is very relative. To someone who loves school spirit, sports, parties, etc, then yes, Duke would be more fun than NYU. However, there are plenty of students who would rather go to art galleries, theatre, etc and have no interest in school spirit and sporting events. They would likely prefer the experience NYU offers. Saying NYU is boring and does not offer a real college experience without knowing exactly what OP is looking for from college socially isn’t doing him/her any favours.

They will both get you to where you want to be. Duke has more prestige and arguably a better college experience. However, NYU gives you easy access to interview all over NYC (and this is an underrated advantage). If I had the choice, I would personally pick Duke. However, I think both are great.

I would pick Duke over Stern.

Duke, specially if money’s an issue. There’s a huge difference in the financial aid generosity of each school.

^that is very true. NYU is famously stingy.

I would pick Duke. They both are stellar schools but Duke also is better with financial aid.

Both are amazing schools with similar opportunities - so pick based on what type of experience you want. If you want to intern during the year and get some unique experiences, are more interested in the club/bar scene, like having access to museums, galleries, theatres, diversity of restaurants, NY sports teams then go to Stern. If you want the typical college experience and are more interested in frat life and like college sports go to Duke.

NYU is better for finance recruiting and Duke is better for consulting recruiting.

I do not think that NYU even comes close to being better than Duke for finance at the undergraduate level. Stern is better than Fuqua for finance at the MBA level though.

Having said all of that, the OP first needs to be admitted to both schools before making any decisions.

Duke is located in a nice city of 250,000 plus people where a student will never want for anything. It is also just 12 miles from Chapel Hill were UNC is located. The cost of living is dramatically lower for a student in North Carolina. New York is extremely expensive for a student. A night out for a burger, fries and two beers could easily be $40 - $50 including the tip.

Is Durham really "a nice city?

One of NYU’s major attractions for many of its applicants IS its location.

@yc2989 I would definitely pick Duke over Stern. Like Stern is very good for business and for placement in top firms but you will get a very one-sided education. NYU is not a school that is strong across the board on the undergraduate level. Like non-stern nyu students are of the caliber that would not even have a chance at ivy+ ( ivies, stanford, mit, duke, chicago) admission and sternies are a mix of people who didn’t get in ivy+ ( i d say prob the majority) or might have gotten in some of the above schools but are so deadset on business that chose stern. In my opinion this sort of make-up of student body makes for an education of much narrower scope and lower quality than you would get at duke. And still duke’s recruiting stats are very good.

Unless the location overwhelms all other considerations, there is no reason to choose Stern over Duke.

Not strong across the board?? While I certainly get that Duke is much more aligned in terms of providing an overall educational experience…to not say NYU, has a top notch film school, drama, theater, arts, American Studies, etc…is to vastly underestimate the depth of the educational experience at NYU. And I won’t concede that with respect to finance, at both the undergraduate and graduate level, that NYU is inferior to Duke. Most of my friends that either work wall street or in Greenwich obtain many of their entry manager/analyst positions directly from NYU.

Personally, I also see few reasons to choose Stern over Duke.

Don’t over look the vastly better internship, networking, and connection opportunities in NYC. It’s better to get your feet wet in college rather than just throwing yourself in the fire from a much smaller city. Chances are you will want to work in NYC when you graduate, so why not establish a reputation there? Provides you get into both and can afford both, I would go to NYU. Remember, it’s not what you know. It’s who you know.