I’m currently finishing my freshman year in Tepper at CMU and last week I received my acceptance to AEM major at Cornell Dyson.
Transferring to Cornell will cost me 30k more than if I stay in CMU; Cornell will cost me 60k for remaining three years and CMU will cost me 30k for remaining 3 years. I live in NYC so bringing back a cornell AEM degree would certainly help me.
My career goals and aspirations? I’ve been thinking of: IB, S&T, operations management, or maybe financial consulting. I plan to double major in Biometry (applied math/stats) if i transfer to cornell, and at CMU double major in statistics
I need advice deciding whether Cornell’ AEM degree is worth 30k more total than CMU Tepper in the long run.
Thank you very much for reading
Can you afford it? Would you have to go into debt for it?
I am changing my mind. Usually I would advise saving money on an undergrad education, but I would say that paying an extra 30k for Cornell is a better return of investment. While CMU is a fantastic school, Cornell AEM is a much bigger target school for IB and finance. If you get a high paying job on wall street, 30k might be insignificant in the long run.
@brantly my parents can afford it, no debt, but I’m still taking this financial issue seriously.
@Dontskipthemoose That’s the general vibe I’ve felt on Wall Street Oasis as well. I’d like to work on Wall Street one day and even by looking at career placements, Cornell seems to have stronger recruiting and placement there.
After some number crunching and comparing CMU’s and Cornell’s salaries, It seems Cornell can better leverage me into a finance career, especially if I couple it with a math and stat major.
any other reasons why cornell?
Your other thread says your parents are low income, disabled (with payments that may end), chronically ill, have only $20k in savings, and would have to borrow the money to send you to Cornell. And you have a younger brother whose education has to be considered. I’m not sure an investment bank will be eager to hire a student with $90k of debt for an undergrad business degree.
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I too usually advise on going with the lower-cost option if we’re talking about ballpark peers and the cost difference is substantial (say, $10k-plus) and the student likes the lower-cost school.
But in this case, if you are intent on Wall Street, I gather (as others have) that Cornell is a step or two up from Tepper in terms of being a target. It isn’t quite HYP or Wharton, but it’s on the rung below. So – assuming you actually feel you would otherwise fit in at Cornell, I could see Cornell as a smart choice here.
Also, Cornell at least reputationally is stronger all-around – strong in more areas/majors – than CMU, which seems propped up mainly on CS, Engineering, Business and… Dance (?). So if you changed your mind regarding major, you’re probably in better shape at Cornell.
S1 started at an amazing state school business program and transferred to Cornell AEM. He had interviews and an internship at a major NY Wall Street firm that he was told that had he stayed at his original school, he would not have even had a shot at an interview. Cornell and Ivy paper open doors. Good luck with your decision
@prezbucky I do prefer Cornell more. Despite the weather and minor stuff like weather and non-urban environment (which still count though), I do think I would fit in, especially since I already know about 10 friends from high school that go there, plus many more acquaintances. I like the work hard play hard atmosphere described everywhere from forums here to other sites. At CMU, it was more like work hard and do nothing except academics and clubs.
Aside from my personal taste, I am aiming for Wall Street. Cornell’s appied econ and managment program is just another name for an econ-concentrated business major. I’m trying to couple that with another major related to math/statistics to give myself some technical skills, for probably a quant, trading, or analyst job. I do not intend to switch majors.
No, unless wall street bound and sure of it.
What else can I do with a business degree other than aiming for wall street?
Become an entrepreneur or work at a company – sales, marketing, finance, HR, or any number of other departments.
If I didn’t note yet, I plan to double major in applied mathematics and statistics. So I am on the side of business analytics and finance for concentrations.
@MathFudgy you previously stated that you didn’t want to work in IB because of the long hours and stressful conditions. Most if not all the jobs on Wall Street are cutthroat and stressful, especially trading. PE, Hedge funds, and VC hours are better, but these jobs are hard to get straight out of college.
Also, Wall Street isn’t the only form of business… There are literally so many different industries. Tech companies, biotech, energy, retail, etc. it’s not Wall Street or bust.
It seems like you are making this decision without any knowledge or information. You are going to go to Cornell and rack up a ton of debt on the assumption that you will work in Wall Street, and I bet you aren’t even going to end up on Wall Street. If the only thing that is lucrative is money, the starting median salary out of Tepper is higher than Cornell AEM. I wouldn’t take on over $60k in debt just to impress people at bars that I went to an Ivy.
Take a look at how many Tepper kids reported their salaries vs Cornell’s. 50% vs 90%. Pretty skewed statistics there.
And I just don’t like IB because there’s so much excel. I want to do something with mathematics and solid technical skills.