Hello guys, I am torn between Vandy and Emory and have to make a decision soon. I’m thinking about pursuing a business career, but don’t know which school would be better. Apparently, Emory has a undergraduate business school and offers BBA degrees, but I know that you don’t have to be a business major to do business. So how does Vanderbilt’s Econ/HOD combo compare to Emory’s Finance/QTM double major? I know both are great schools but I’m really clueless as to which one to pick…
pick on fit, if finances are not an issue.
both of our sons have Emory graduate degrees (one is an MBA), and that son is a businessman in Atlanta. As prejudiced as I am toward loving all things Vandy and Nashville, I will stand up for Emory’s undergrad business program re job placement if you are SURE you want a business career. MBAs expect you to have worked for at least 2 years post undergrad. Emory has always had a leg up in business/professional atmosphere but that does not mean you can’t go to Emory and also get a very old fashioned full on liberal arts experience and degree. Emory has very nice class sizes and few large lecture halls. ATL is business friendly. On the pro Vandy side, Nashville is a tip top 3rd coast medium to large city and the seat of a state government like ATL. Both cities offer a rather goodly spectrum of employment and internships, but Atlanta is a regional powerhouse for the Feds and many other significant things. If you go to Vandy, you may well end up in ATL one summer working. Nashville is both cozy and “happening”…Vanderbilt is more of a full on tight 4 year residential undergraduate campus. Atlanta entices a portion of Emory students to live off campus, and if you like things like “school spirit” and sports, Vandy wins. One of my sons love that kind of alum experience in sports…the Vandy grad enjoyed other aspects of Vandy (creative/political) and ignored Vandy sports life. An MBA from a top 15 sort of school with good job placement is Costly. Therefore be a good steward of your income and payments in undergrad. Honestly, either school will get you plenty of momentum Make a mental health fit choice and then “do well” in classes-- and all will go well. Nashville could not be “hotter” right now. ATL is a city of constant change and momentum.
thx, which one is better on job placement tho. I know that vandy has a bigger name but emory’s B school also has very good placement statistics
I believe that someone else has shared with you Emory’s undergraduate school business degree ranking. I personally do not have research on this. Some selective colleges will not allow a business undergraduate degree as they feel it is too soon to be para professional. My sons seemed to me to be too immature to wish to study advanced applied business courses till they were older and then realized that (duh!) they were going to have to read budgets and understand accounting, taxes and marketing. These are things they picked up later. One majored in Econ and History at Duke, the other in Film and Poli Sci at Vandy. They could have studied “clusters” of applied business concepts at Vandy and at Duke that were practical but they didn’t really try. Now they need these skills and they acquired them in their 20s. If you are international or first generation US, perhaps you should talk to current students to help you decide. I am sure admissions would give you the email of a current student. It is a big decision. I am not qualified to help you think it out. Perhaps you should specifically post questions on job placement Vandy HOD and business clusters. Vandy students by nature are pretty enterprising and determined.
thx for your response, it seems to me that they are pretty much on par and from what I heard, Vandy is more of a sport/ greek life school whereas Emory is leaning towards the nerdy side. Besides, I think i might reach out to some current students and see what they have to offer. but people around me seem to have overwhelmingly positive opinions about vandy and nobody knows emory that well.
@Goforthestar : Just go to the websites and try to feel out the vibe of the places as much as possible through how they present themselves and then pick the one you like. If you want the VU work hard play hard vibe, go for it. If you want Emory’s more cosmopolitan vibe along with the “pre-professional nerd” vibe, go for it. If one presents some opportunities in your field that the other does not, take it into consideration. Don’t let us make decisions for you based upon our opinions unless they include details useful for your transition or journey at the school. Some student bodies are less critical of their schools in public forums(VU) and some are more critical (Emory and believe it or not many Ivies) so if you listen to us you will get very biased views that mean who knows what and are completely disconnected from academic quality and issues about “placement” (which is really only determined by YOU. In no way will going to one similar caliber elite university versus another make much of a difference in terms of placement potential).
Also if you want to do finance/QTM at Emory…be ready to really really work your behind off. You better not mind working and learning upper division math and computing with an emphasis on applications. Doing that is a completely different academic experience from doing econ and HOD at VU. The latter will be rigorous enough but certainly less intensive overall. A more even comparison would be like econ coupled with a math major at VU, but even then it seems to me that the level of economics course work at VU and Emory are similar whereas finance is in GBS is a bit rougher than both, smaller, and more select (as in you will get a concentrated population of gunners). QTM has those interesting folks growing rarer at colleges today who are kind of just willing to learn just because…you are talking tons (and a growing amount) of humanities and social sciences majors agreeing to learn upper level math an CS concepts.