Georgetown @ 50k or Northeastern Honors @ 5k?

Can anyone give me some advice on where I should go for the fall? My top choices now are Georgetown and Northeastern.

About me:

  • want to study business
  • can afford 35k per year comfortably, rest would be with loans
  • want lots of involvement in entrepreneurial organizations and exposure to the finance industry
  • want to go to Harvard Business School for grad school
  • valedictorian, 35 act, national merit finalist, interned at hedge fund as rising high school senior

Georgetown:

  • accepted to McDonough School of Business in EA round
  • net cost would by 50k per year, so about 15k would come out of loans

Northeastern:

  • accepted to D’Amore McKim School of Business in EA round
  • accepted to honors program
  • initially received 35k honors scholarship (max), but this was increased to 70k per year National Merit scholarship
  • received more financial aid, so…
  • net price = $0 per year, with living/food/study abroad stipend

How much better is Georgetown really? For business, will this matter? Any other thoughts?

Thanks so much everyone!!!

$15k per year would be more loans than you can get without a cosigner. Cosigned loans are commonly a bad idea for both the student and cosigner.

So Northeastern is your financially realistic choice here.

From my experience (and what my parents have told me), all the big deals are made through connections from the top undergrad schools. Grad school is also important. Where you go is important for business. My dad who has worked at a wall street bank has stressed this to me during my college process. This is not always the case, you can get a job no problem. If you are concerned about how much you will be making post-grad, I say Georgetown. Top school and will give you all the connections and career centers that will give you a huge head start. 15k a year can easily be made up with your salary once you graduate. I, however, do not know much about northeastern but it is definitely an up and coming university that is rising in the ranks and is becoming more well known. You accomplished so much, congrats!

Georgetown is of course great but I find it hard to imagine that it is worth X given that Northeastern’s undergrad business is ranked pretty well:

https://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/2019/12/20/wharton-again-tops-pqs-best-undergraduate-b-schools-of-2020/8/

https://www.gradreports.com/best-colleges/business

According to the second link, the median salary between the two schools is 3K a year. It’d take quite a few years to recoup the 200K price difference at that rate.

That said, confirm your cost is truly zero at Northeastern. As far as I’m aware, merit aid doesn’t stack. The financial aid offered should mix, but it sounds like that is less.

Northeastern…Duh. Co-op makes northeastern better than Georgetown anyways as you graduate with connections that you don’t get elsewhere

Thanks to everyone who responded thus far.

Does anyone have any info on the kinds of connections formed at GU vs NU? Does Northeastern lack interest from prominent people or institutions, and would recruiting be much more aggressive for Georgetown students?

Also, for Northeastern students, can they network with MIT & Harvard kids? Are there co-institutional organizations that include those three?

Also, are there significant finance opportunities in DC, or is the business industry there more consulting-oriented?

Thanks again!

You should definitely double check your costs for Northeastern. I’m fairly certain that those two merit awards will not stack. You’ll get the higher of the two, so $35K per year.

Yes I agree, the scholarships do not stack.

For clarification, the honors scholarship was replaced by a 70k per year national merit scholarship.

Wow! I hadn’t heard of NEU ever offering such a huge scholarship for NMF. Congratulations!

In that case, I think the decision is easy. NEU is a great school in a great city with wonderful co-op opportunities and you can’t beat that price.

And there are all sorts of things you and your family can do with the $180K difference.

If I understand correctly, the COA is $5,000 per year at Northeastern versus $50,000 per year total COA for Georgetown University ?

If correct, then I urge you to give strong consideration to Northeastern as the difference can be used to pay for grad school.

Of course, the hidden “cost” may be in the type of internships available to Northeastern University business students in your field of interest. Best resource for this issue would be Northeastern University business school advisors.

Can you ask for advice from the hedge fund you interned at last summer? That would be another good piece of information to have.

Publisher:

COA at Northeastern would actually be 0 plus I would receive a stipend, since grant financial aid covered some and the scholarship goes towards the stipend.

cinnamon1212, thanks for that advice it is a great idea.

Does anyone have info on Northeastern’s exposure to other schools in the area like Harvard & MIT?

Northeastern University is the safer choice. Saving well over $200,000 at a well respected business school is tough to beat.( No stress college experience & financial freedom is almost priceless.)

Georgetown is a much better school. We are likely headed into a recession, so up and coming schools might get less interest from recruiters. OTOH, we are likely headed into a recession and you might really need that extra cash. Have you approached GT for more FA?

Graduating with lots of experience from co-op’s at Northeastern is another way to make sure you’re set in a recession.

Yes I have, but to no avail, they will not budge.