I need help choosing between: Indiana, Wisco, OSU, CWRU, and UIUC (business)

Hi Everyone, while I have a few other choices I am currently between:

  • Indiana Kelley and Hutton Honors College
  • Ohio State Fisher
  • University of Wisconsin pre-business in the College of Letters and Sciences
  • Case Western Weatherhead School of Business
  • University of Illinois Urbana Champagne Gies School of Business

I applied as an Accounting major to all of these schools, but I also plan on adding a finance major or atleast minor.

I’m pretty stuck between these schools and know that all have their pros and cons.

If anyone would like to give their suggestions I’d be more than grateful.

Thank you.

If you are not a direct admit into the Wisconsin B School, I would remove it unless you are instate.

First of all, I am biased toward UIUC Gies. Both of my kids are Illini. The only other school on your list that we considered was Kelley.

Gies is very strong in Accounting. My son is a senior who is double majoring in Accounting and Finance and minoring in Technology and Management.

Anyway, I have a few suggestions as you consider your choices.

  1. Check how many AP credits you can apply toward your degree(s). 150 hours is required for the CPA certification so a school that is generous with credit can help you reach 150 without needing a 5th year.
  2. Do you want to study abroad? If yes, you may want to research how it’s handled at each school. Our Gies study abroad experience was outstanding.
  3. Look at the size of the Business school. Large may mean more opportunities or it may suggest more competition for those opportunities. Size was definitely a contributing factor in my kids’ decision making process. ~550 business freshman at Gies is very different from 1600+ freshman at Kelley.
  4. Look at job placement stats for the school. My kids wanted Chicago as their post-graduation destination. Gies has a strong reputation and high job placement in the Chicago area. This may or may not appeal to you.

These are just a few things off the top of my head.

My son graduated from CWRU in 2016. He was a math/economics major so although his degree was from the Liberal Arts College he took classes at Weatherhead. His wife is also a CWRU graduate (biology) and got into a good PA program.

He was able to get research opportunities at Case because of its small size. Case does offer grad degrees in business but there did not seem to be a huge amount of competition for research opportunities. Case emphasizes undergrad research.

Job placement at Case seems to be good based on my son’s classmates. Nearly everyone he knows got into grad school, professional school, or is working in a good job.

He really likes Cleveland and is still living there. It as everything a young person would want as far as activities, yet it is not expensive or very large. My son played football but Case does not have a rah rah sports culture. Most of the games were attended by the players friends, family and fraternity brothers. Sometimes you see youth football players from greater Cleveland at the games.

Cost for each?

Out of state for all the schools. Got $10,000/year from Indiana and $20,000/year to CWRU