My son has been accepted to several business schools for Finance and a few are still pending. We live in NJ. Cost is not a factor. He’s having a difficult time choosing. Any thoughts?
Accepted
U of South Florida
U of South Carolina
Rollins
Penn St
Embry Riddle
Waiting
U of Miami
U of Florida
Florida State University
PSU is not direct admit. I think you must have a 3.5 gpa at the end of sophomore year.
I would put direct admit at the top of my list unless your son is flexible with major. It is a well regarded program.
All are fine choices. USC has a good finance program. I did my MBA there many years ago.
S21 is at FSU and loves it. Happy kids there.
They’re all great. Well, I’m perplexed at ERAU. Is the wanting to study aviation finance?
I’d punt that one first of find out why.
Next you have Rollins - fine school - but small school. When you have it against USF, U of SC, Penn State - makes no sense. Does he want small and intimate or large and spirit?
If he wants large - USF is growing quick but it’s still more regional. U of SC is making a huge push and if he wants international business, it’s #1. They also have a top rated Honors College.
Penn State is just a super cool school and Smeal is great. U of SC is urban. USF is suburban. Penn State is - just and in the middle of nowhere. So all three have a dichotomy.
UF has a lot of online classes first year - allegedly. FSU is a great school, great campus. A U of Miami is a great medium sized private - again, different than the rest of the list.
So you have to know what you want - because everything is so different - and there won’t be a bad choice in the mix although I am perplexed by ERAU.
Although students from any college can get a job in any other part of the U.S., there is still a great deal of recruiting that happens regionally. Does your son have any thoughts as to where he might want to land after graduation? If any of the colleges under consideration are in those areas, that might give them a bump up in my estimation.
That’s fair, but Smeal attracts national companies and the kids I know who have graduated from Smeal recently are in Texas, New Jersey, NYC, and Virginia, and had offers from other cities like Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and so forth.
I am guessing some of these other schools may have similar recruiting, but Smeal is the only one where I know a lot of recent graduates.
Smeal isn’t direct admit, but if you think you can do it kids seem to have good success and multiple offers from campus recruiting.
Hello! Thanks for your feedback. Yeah, ERAU since my son has some interest in aeronautics and national security intelligence. Think rainman for aircraft.
My son is selective nonverbal and it’s making the process excruciating.
When he talks he’s leaning towards Smeal probably because its closest to us in Jersey. Then plan is to move to Florida darnit.
Maybe I need a psychologist. 
I don’t think that I would go to an OOS school that has a 3.5 GPA requirement for admission to the major. A 3.5 sounds way easier in HS than after the first semester of college.
Did he get admitted to Darla Moore at U of SC? That’s a great program!
As others have said, UF has some of their entry level business classes online (even before Covid) and I believe FSU does as well (D21 was admitted but went elsewhere and I remember reading that while doing research into their business program). By the way, a lot of the very large public universities will have their share of online classes (pre-Covid), so don’t think it’s limited to UF & FSU. If he wants a Florida college but smaller (and probably less online classes), there’s Rollins & UMiami.
Also, on-campus housing for freshmen can be challenging at UF & FSU (many applicants put down a housing deposit at UF when they submit their application so they can get in line).
I would wait for all of the acceptances and boil it down to best overall fit.
Yes, he was accepted to Darla Moore with a scholarship.
Good point regarding the GPA. College definitely has an adjustment period and its not guaranteed.
Are you being literal or joking about his lack of communication as a teenage boy with his parents?
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