Hello, my daughter is admitted to NYU Stern undergraduate, but has been offered only 11K scholarship that leaves approx. 66K to be paid out of pocket and I expect it to increase 3 to 4 % year or year in next 3 years. She has also gotten admission into UT Austin’s Mccomb business school’s non-BHP program. She is a Texas resident, so tuition at UT will be approx. 25K each year (No scholarship). She is very much interested in Investment banking job. I read several blogs on these two schools and opportunities to get into IB jobs. I find that Stern has higher opportunities being in NY, but Mccomb also has good chance in Houston. With respect to out of pocket tuition, I can afford to pay all 4 years tuition at either school and she will not need to take a loan. But, my question… is it really worth to spend almost 275K at Stern? If she goes to Stern, what’s the ROI and in how much time it can be recovered vs going at Mccomb and spending 100K. I also found that Mccomb has FAP program. How easy or difficult to get into FAP program and does it give you same oppprtunities as Stern? Please help us deciding between these two schools. Appreciate your feedback.
My opinion…no.
If you were talking about Cornell…I might say yes…as they have excellent IB internships, and recruiting, etc.
But NYU? My opinion…no.
What is the reason your kid wants to go to NYU?
Non-BHP McCombs will make IB more difficult. You can’t bet on FAP - she’d have to be among the best Finance majors (and I wonder if BHP students don’t have a leg up for that).
If you can afford NYU Stern and she’s sure about IB, it’d be the safest choice.
So, is NYU worht 66K? No, not really, but IB is very prestige-conscious and being in NYC is a definite advantage so basically if you can afford to pay you’d pay to ensure she gets where she wants to even if she has a rougher time in college than in HS, whereas for McCombs you invest less and will definitely get better ROI but odds are that she won’t make it into IB.
Does she have ANY other acceptance options?
I guess if you can afford that $66,000…and you had the money discussion before applications were sent…NYU is then on the list to be considered.
@MYOS1634 does NYU degree really guarantee a job in IB?
What if your kid decides against IB? What if your kid washes out of that career after a year or two? What if your kid sticks with IB but never makes it into the ranks of those who do make the big bucks, or the industry changes, or…?
There is no place to get good data on ROI for these two programs because pretty quickly it becomes a matter of what each individual does with their own education, talents, and skills.
Does your kid even know what IB is?
Even most college kids think it involves working for a global company (true), on exciting deals (very few new hires get staffed in M&A and many of those deals are NOT exciting), with terrific mentors (some are, some aren’t, some are just horrible and arrogant), and getting paid a TON of money (yes, but you need to live in an expensive city for most of these jobs- NY, London, HK don’t come cheap).
Kids don’t know about all the OTHER IB jobs that are not M&A. Back office roles, bond pricing, risk management, endless compliance filings. And a new BA doesn’t get to march in to Goldman Sachs with a list of “I’ll work for these departments, but not those”. You go through your rotation and get staffed where they need you. Which might be something exciting and interesting, or might be updating and correcting spreadsheets for 18 hours a day.
Before you get too excited about NYU-- why IB?
Just putting it out there but there are many ways into any industry, some conventional, some less so. If your daughter is at or above the Sat/ACT average for NYU she could potentially get some good offers from schools that probably haven’t even appeared on your radar. Both Fordham and Seton Hall place students in great internships in the financial sector in NYC, both are in very close proximity to Wall Street.
Also…that $70,000 is NOT just tuition…as is in the subject…it is the total cost of attendance at NYU.
IMHO,
Acceptances to NYU Stern and Tisch are a whole different animal than Gallatin or the Paul McGhee school.
NYU Stern (the business school) does have a far reach and is an excellent business school . At NYU where it’s true great repuation is it’s grad programs, TIsch and Stern have both excellent undergrad and grad programs.
After Columbia in NYU Stern is probably the best undergrad feeder for IB, for schools located in NYC (with CUNY Baruch College in 3rd). Stern does have a strong presence in IB and business in NYC.
Where does your daughter want to work after graduation. It is not like she cannot do IB in Texas. If she plans on being in Texas, she may be better served going to MCCoombs. As far as portability, Stern’s degree is going to be more portable.
As far as “worth”, it is a family decision. If you can pay for it without pain or raiding your retirement account, that is one thing. If you can afford it and don’t want to pay it, that is a different issue.
My thing is that you and your child should have had the money talk and run the net price calculator before letting her apply to a school that you would not be willing to pay for.
@sybbie719 would know far more than I do about NYU’s business program.
So…retracting my first reply…and agreeing…this is a family decision.
Thanks everyone for your feedback. We knew that NYU was expensive than UT at the time of applying and I was detrlermined to send her to NYU at any cost, but I have been reading these blogs on different websites, I am finding out that most people are not suggesting spending that much money for NYU and that to benefit is for IB job only. As someone said she is inclined towards IB, but who knows that will not change in next 4 years. I was hoping for at least 20 to 25K in scholarships, but that is not the case. These feedbacks will help me discuss with my daughter. Thanks again and hopefully we will make the right decision.
My concern is that she didn’t get BHP. UT is huge with finite resources and not all students get the same opportunities or access. Practically speaking being in McCombs is awesome but she’ll be second after the BHP students for every opportunity and resource.
You can try and find regular McCombs and BHP students, ask about their experience, their opportunities, etc, then compare the answers. Ask the same thing from Stern students. Then compare again.
NYU Stern v. McCombs non BHP I’d pick Stern if I had the money and could afford for my child to just take the 5.5k loan. Or I’d ask my child to consider that part of this is a no-interest loan on my part and I expect to get a 3.4+ GPA for my investment as well as xk a year for 5 years after college graduation.
(I wouldn’t pick NYU in most cases, but Stern is different, as is Tisch. It just opens more doors on its own.)
However it’s a huge amount of money. The fact I wouldn’t mind spending it if I have it doesn’t mean you yourself don’t have better things to do for it 
@dtharwala
My thought is this - go to UT - save the money - spend it on traveling with your daughter instead.
Then in 4 years you can help her move to NYC and settle there cause it is VERY costly to live here.
No. If she is interested in investments, give her the difference and let her start running her own portfolio.
@dtharwala: NYU Stern for finance is one of the country’s most outstanding programs. But Texas-Austin at $10,163 tuition per year is a steal.
Why not get a degree in finance from Texas (total cost including room & board = slightly less than $100,000), work for a few years then apply to several M-7 MBA programs ? In fact, there is significant movement toward one year masters specialty programs that are replacing the traditional 2 year MBAs. And there is a lot of scholarship money available for top candidates at elite 2 year MBA programs.
Also, the post indicating that Cornell would be a better option than NYU for finance is wrong. Furthermore, many entry levels are going into M&A, just not from IB.
@dtharwala : You may find US News’ ranking of undergraduate business programs interesting (and it should help to bolster my suggestion made in an above post):
- Penn-Wharton
- MIT
- UCal-Berkeley
- Michigan-Ross
- NYU-Stern
- Texas-McCombs
NYU-Stern finance would certainly be number one or, at least, tied at number one.
I do,think Cornell is better than NYU…but really this issue in THIS thread is is NYU worth the cost.
If this student was weighing UT Austin with Cornell, I would be more inclined to say it might be worth the cost.
The Stern Program as noted by many is annexcellent program…but $70,000 a year?
NYU is better for finance. And for IB placement.
I don’t know how Cornell got into this discussion, but tuition at Cornell is more expensive than NYU, yet NYU is clearly superior for finance & IB placement.
Just bumped into the neighbor in the discount vegetable store and she bragged that her NYU-Stern daughter was going into IB (one of these Swiss banks)…
I just want to add that Stern students have a chance to secure well-paying summer internships after the sophomore and junior years and make a few thousands after expenses. Obtaining these internships is pretty much a requirement to get a full-time IB position. There are also students who use their AP/IB credits and graduate in 3.5 years or get a RA position with free housing to save money.