I’m majoring in finance and I’m considering UNCW as one of my top schools among some others. I’m concerned with where I’ll be able to find a job if I go there. I’m from a small city 45 minutes north of Boston and I’ve heard rumors from a few people that firms generally favor applicants who went to schools they are familiar with and are in their area over ones that are further away unless its a school like UNC Chapel Hill or some public Ivy league school like that. Is this completely true? I plan on living in the Northeast after I graduate as of now, so I want to make sure I’ll be able to find a job there and won’t be forced to live in the south because that was the only option. Also, this may be a far fetched question to expect someone to answer but does anyone have an idea of how many UNCW students come from states like New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut? I ask this because I’m also concerned with the fact that only 15% of the students are out of state because I’m afraid that if I go to UNCW and all my friends are from North Carolina, I’ll have to either get a job there to stay close with them or have to leave them all behind if I find a job in the Northeast.
These are some of our questions too! Daughter is considering applying and we are from NJ. Would love to hear of other OOSs’ experiences there.
I can speak from experience that while 15 percent seems like a low number, you can actually easily find people from out of state in Wilmington. A lot of our OOS come from Maryland and New Jersey, but I know of people from Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, etc. Most of the people I met that were from OOS were from the northeast, but others may have had different experiences. If you’re considering the Honors College, you’ll find that a lot of the people in honors are out of state as well, I met most people I know from other states in my dorm.
When it comes to getting a job, remember that the name of the school you graduate from is only a portion of your resume. The experiences you have at your undergrad, the GPA you get, internships/jobs you hold, etc. are all extremely valuable to bring to a job. If you are motivated enough to work hard to make yourself a better candidate by doing Honors work, applying for internships, and studying hard, you will be able to succeed at ANY school, including UNCW. What I love about Wilmington is I see more opportunities to make myself unique from the mass amount of graduates from a big name school. I might not have the name recognition, but that will give me the opportunity to differentiate myself from other applicants.