<p>I am an international student in UIUC.. i am going to transfer to other university as a sophomore. I have already decided to do business career.
now I got in Gtown's business school and am still waiting for northwestern's decision. do you guys think northwestern is a better choice for a business student than gtown? is nothwestern worth to wait?
Thank you!</p>
<p>There is no clear answer. Each has advantages and disadvantages. GU has an undergraduate business program, NU does not. Of course, a business major is not the only good preparation for a business career. Another path is to major in economics, mathematics or engineering (etc.), get some work experience, then possibly get an MBA later. Northwestern is stronger than Georgetown in some fields (for example GU does not offer engineering at all). The Chicago location could be a better home base than DC for finding internships in a wider variety of industries. </p>
<p>Georgetown offers a solid education in business or economics, as well as good work/internship opportunities in areas like IT or telecommunications. Washington DC is more compact than Chicagoland. It may be easier to navigate (literally and figuratively) as you build relationships in and outside of school. One possible issue to consider is this: how would being an international student affect your access to the many DC-area business connected (directly or indirectly) to the US government? Ask your Georgetown contacts about this (it may not be a serious problem at all.)</p>
<p>Congratulations on your acceptance (it is a highly regarded university).</p>
<p>It is not worth the wait unless you really want to be in Chicago/Evanston, Northwestern is your dream school, and Big 10 athletics is your passion. Otherwise the schools are comparable in many ways academically.</p>
<p>In addition to the comments above, Georgetown’s comparative advantage is that it has a dedicated business school, you can major in business, they have a beautiful new building, DC is rapidly becoming a financial center due to the financial crisis/government bailout etc, amazing speakers come to campus (Paulson was there last week), it is the home of 3 large international institutions that recruit international students (IMF, World Bank, Inter-american development bank), it is the best university in the city (big fish in small pond), target school for Wall Street banks, excellent connections in NYC, and a very strong community and alumni network.</p>
<p>OP, why don’t you tell us your current major? If you are majoring in engineering, keep in mind that Georgetown doesn’t have an engineering school. The sciences are also stronger at Northwestern.</p>
<p>You can’t lose either way–they are very much equal.</p>
<p>wang1215, what do you plan to study if you do go to Northwestern? Why did you decide to apply there?</p>
<p>1789 makes a good general case for Georgetown. I don’t think you can go wrong by picking Georgetown. However, NU may have other advantages besides Big 10 athletics, etc., if you have specific programs in mind. For instance, I don’t think Georgetown offers anything quite like NU’s Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences (MMSS). NU students can combine MMSS with courses in the Kellogg School management certificate program. So although NU (like many other selective schools) does not have an undergraduate business program per se, it is possible to put together a strong program in quantitative analysis, which should be at least as marketable as an undergraduate business degree.</p>
<p>It’s not worth your wait. Georgetown has an undergraduate business program (among the top 25 too!) and Northwestern does not so Georgetown is definitely the right choice for you too. Also, I’d rather be in Washington DC than Chicago but that’s just my personal preference.</p>
<p>@tk21769
thank you!
i am economics major now. i was thinking about majoring in economics and combining MMSS with courses in the Kellogg School management certificate program if i get in NU. how do you think about these programs in NU? and how does the rerecruiting go in NU compared to Gtown?</p>
<p>@1789
what kind of the advantages do you think NU has?</p>
<p>if you want to work in finance or consulting (which most business majors end up doing) then gtown and NW are pretty good and about even. USNews just punishes georgetown because they have a really small endowment.</p>
<p>^ Endowment size is not a criterion in the US News ranking. ([How</a> We Calculate the College Rankings - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-colleges/2009/08/19/how-we-calculate-the-college-rankings.html?PageNr=3]How”>http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-colleges/2009/08/19/how-we-calculate-the-college-rankings.html?PageNr=3))</p>
<p>wang1215, I cannot speak to the recruiting at NU v. Georgetown. Both schools have a relatively strong pre-professional orientation, so I would think both have very good career counseling and campus recruiting.</p>
<p>I have no knowledge about the MMSS program other than what I’ve read on the NU site and here on CC. It appears to be an excellent, rigorous program. There are no reliable ratings/rankings of undergraduate programs like this, but NU does have highly ranked graduate programs in economics (USNWR #8) and Math (USNWR #16).</p>
<p>Like tk21769 said, there’s no clear answer. But one thing about WashDC is that its job market is not friendly to internationals since so many jobs involve the Feds. Even consulting/contracting jobs that work with the Feds mostly likely would require security clearance. There are IMF and World Bank in DC so there may be potential opportunities but those positions are very competitive to get.</p>
<p>You can get into MMSS only as a freshmen/sophomore; that door is closed if you didn’t apply to it as a transfer.</p>
<p>^ If NU accepts you and you want to go, I recommend you knock a few times on that MMSS door. Explain your situation and ask if they’ll accept a late application. Can’t hurt to try. If they are firm, ask about alternatives.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>it effectively is through faculty salaries and annual salaries, which while not immediately measuring the endowment are fundamentally tied to endowment sizes. Most colleges spend a similar % of their endowment on annual expenses, so the larger an endowment the larger the spending ability.</p>
<p>While these metrics are related to education quality, they have no bearing on recruiting quality - hence my argument that Georgetown places on wall street better than USNWR might lead one to believe. </p>
<p>I actually buy Sam Lee’s argument, many of the opportunities at Georgetown are geared toward American citizens, so Northwestern might be better from that perspective. But there are great jobs available to internationals at both places.</p>
<p>NU has a comparative advantage in engineering,journalism and the Chicago job market.</p>
<p>I do not really see where NU has an advantage over Georgetown with regard to opportunities for international students. They are probably equal and Georgetown may even have a slight edge because it is in more of an international city than Chicago due to the presence of embassies, journalists from around the world, foreign companies looking for business from the US government (f.e. British Aerospace), and international organizations. This results in a number of professional foreigners living and working in the city.</p>
<p>IMF, World Bank and IDB are all headquartered in DC. Georgetown has the advantage over NU at these international organizations. The investment banks that come to campus not only recruit for wall street, but also London, Frankfurt, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore.</p>
<p>^Well, if the OP wants to find a job in the US, being in Wash DC can hurt him/her. Entry-level positions with IMF and World Bank are almost non-existent (what is IDB?) . Federal jobs and consulting/contracting jobs for the Feds dominate the job market in DC; these jobs are off-limit for internationals. Overall, there aren’t that many finance jobs in DC.</p>
<p>That said, if the OP wants to do accounting, he/she can do it at Georgetown but not Northwestern.</p>
<p>Most Georgetown students that want to work in finance are recruited to work on Wall Street or in Charlotte. Nevertheless, some go to Baltimore (Deutsche Bank) or to smaller Banks or funds in the DC metro area (such as FBR, Allied Capital, and the Carlyle Group). Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also recruit.</p>
<p>It is not clear how being in DC is detrimental, if anything it is an asset. It is an incredibly diverse city. It is the capital of the largest economy in the World, has two international airports, is increasinlgy attracting businesses to the region (Hilton hotels and Volkswagen recently moved their US HQs to DC), and is 2.5 hours to Philadelphia and 4 to NYC. Finance and economics are more and more influenced by government, and to understand that is increasingly important. Being in DC reinforces this new, albeit disturbing, reality.</p>
<p>IDB is the Inter-American Development Bank (a regional development bank that invests in Latin America)</p>
<p>The World Bank has entry level positions that last for two years. Currently there are between 150 and 200 staff in these positions. International students have a decided advantage over Americans for these slots.</p>
<p>The IMF has a similar program for research analysts.</p>
<p>There are also a lot of consulting jobs related to the Federal government and these are only for Americans.</p>
<p>^Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac no longer recruit internationals. </p>
<p>^You need to know Spanish/Portugese/French to have a chance for IBD. Actually I know a French national with a MS in finance not finding anything in DC yet. I am sure he did look at IBD. </p>
<p>The World Bank’s entry level positions have 150-200 staff? What areas are they in? My friend from China got an internship in hedge accounting with WB but last I checked with her in March, she told me her position was temporary and she had to find something quick, despite graduating with 3.9+ GPA. Rumor has it they give preference to those from developing world. She told me her classmates from China were all having a very hard time looking for jobs, complaining about citizenship requirement almost everywhere they look in DC. We are talking about accounting here, supposedly one of the easier fields to get jobs in.</p>
<p>Being in DC is detrimental for internationals because, like I said, most of the jobs are Fed/Fed-related. Go to a job fair at any campus in the Wash metro area, half (if not more) of the organizations require US citizenship. The VA office of my ex-employer requires US citizenship because of the Fed contracts that office usually gets whereas the LA/Oakland offices hire many foreigners (I was one of them). The presence of World Bank, IMF, and IBD is just a drop in a bucket; they hardly make any impact to the overall job market.</p>
<p>@ sam lee
thank you so much for the information. but how about finding job in NYC or Hong Kong as a Georgetown student?</p>