Our child has got admitted to IU-Kelly-direct and also has Pitt - Business. Pitt offered her full ride and Kelly- nothing yet. Torn about the pros and cons of opportunities in job market post graduating - Kelly seems to be in top 10 for undergrad business and heard their campus recruitment is great; if we take a purely financial view point, are we doing wrong with going to Pitt. I am not very sure how reliable are these rankings. While the focus in undergrad will be finance and probably work for a year or two, there is grad school (MBA) /professional (Law) year or two after graduation in the plans. Can knowledgeable people please advise. Thanks.
First, does the $ difference matter, meaning is IU affordable? I would also be interested in hearing about the full ride at Pitt…is that merit aid or need based aid, or a combo? Or a named scholarship, eg. Chancellor or Lavelle?
To help decide, I would have your child think about/research the following:
- Pitt is smaller both in total students, and those in biz school (2,000 vs 2,500 at Kelley)
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Pitt is urban, so campus has a different feel than IU
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Look thru the majors and course offerings at each school
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Look at clubs of interest, especially those career related. Some of IU’s clubs are very competitive to get into, so assume those might not work out…your kid needs to understand if there is any impact to recruiting in that case (I know less about Pitt biz clubs)
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Go beyond looking at career placement reports, call up the career centers and talk to them. Are there career fairs on campus? How often are the events, like investing panels, etc.? Can everyone go to these events, or limited to certain clubs? Does career center help get internships? If so, how? What careers is the student most interested in and how does that match up, Etc.
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Do they have honors at either school? If so, how do those compare, and are the benefits appealing?
These are two great choices. Will you be able to attended admitted students’ days? Good luck, no bad choice here!
That number for Pitt is not correct. Here is a slide about last years class.
As you can see there were only 356 freshman in the business school. It’s a small school. I can’t say anything about quality as both my kids were A&S but did want to correct the number.
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Thanks for the correction, unbelievable I pulled that 2,000 off Pitt’s site! So the school is much smaller than Kelley, which IMO has its advantages.
My daughter was accepted at both she choose Pitt. Program size was a huge driver in the decision. Kelley does have a higher ranking, but Pitt has very similar recruiting and I have been really happy what my daughter has experienced so far (she is only a freshman).
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IU Kelley has 10k undergrads.
Kelley has a higher ranking but not much higher than Pitt. If that even matters.
Pitt is much smaller.
I’m assuming the cost difference has to be at least $100k. That’s not insignificant.
The college of business is about 2,000 TOTAL for Pitt; Kelley is more than that (about 2,500) for each class. It’s a huge difference. The number on the website was likely addressing the entire program.
Hmmm - I challenge you to find a bad word on this website about Pitt, outsude their admission portal and merit or lack of for most.
You would save hundreds of thousands on a business degree.
For most, 90%+ of kids who are simply going into the corporate world, where they go won’t matter. Unless the goal is I Banking or consulting and even there while IU is stronger it’s not strong - otherwise it doesn’t matter where you go.
Think of the two times per year you are stroking that check. $25k+.
This is an absolute no brainer.
And you’re not comparing IU vs po dunk state. You are comparing vs Pitt, a world class institution. Ps most find jobs today on the internet. My daughters bf goes to U Denver. Had zero issue finding an internship. 3 offers when he stopped looking months ago.
This is a no brainer. Your child’s hard work has paid off.
PS - i don’t have access to poets and quants rankings but Pitt seems to do well. I’m sure IU does too. US News too. Saving more than $200K - for not a lot of drop off if you go by the rankings - which I personally think are overrated. An article from a few years ago showed PItt business.
Their salaries of two years ago compare fine with IUs salaries of today - $60K in 2020 for Pitt vs. a $67K IU Kelly salary two years later - and I can tell you in that two years there’s been big salary growth.
Best of luck.
Pitt Business Maintains Top-Level Placement Rate Despite Challenging Fall Term | Pitt Business
Pitt Business Ranks as a Top 15 Public Business School (Again) | Pitt Business
Pitt Business Ranks in Top 20 of Latest US News Rankings | Pitt Business
Does full ride refer to financial aid (or merit + aid) that your daughter received from Pitt, and she simply haven’t received a financial aid offer yet from Kelly? In that case, she might want to wait to compare offers.
Or did she receive a full ride named scholarship?
I know that IU financial aid and merit has not come out yet since my daughter applied there. (I’ve heard mid-February.) I would wait to see what you get from IU unless you know you want a smaller school.
It’s odd - a few years ago when my daughter got in it came out with the acceptance letter. Guess things have changed. She had a Deans Scholarship - $11K if I recall.
Still Pitt free (you said full ride so room and board too) vs. if IU was just $25K a year and if you’re OOS it will be more.
No brainer…to me.
I just think the difference between Pitt and IU is slim to none for 90%+ of kids.
EDIT
Totally missed mba and law. Neither will impact. Even if they went to Pittsburg St in Kansas vs Pitt or Indiana of PA.
For MBA you need a great GMAT and at least two years work experience for a ‘real’ school. Not a believer in those who admit from undergrad.
For law you need a gpa and top lsat. Look at Harvard’s 170 colleges where people come from. The name is less important.
But saving money to pay for grad school is.
Good luck.
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For law school, the most important factors for admission will be college GPA and LSAT score. Will your daughter fare better in one of these environments vs the other?
They are different student experiences. As others have said, Pitt is urban (which my daughter preferred, but it’s not for everyone). Indiana will be a more traditional campus. Pitt has big time sports and school spirit, but I imagine that IU is a different level. I have an older daughter at a different big 10 school, and it’s a way bigger deal than it is at Pitt. Again, my Pitt daughter wasn’t looking for those rah-rah, cult-like (I say lovingly, as my older daughter loves her school) experiences, but some kids do want that.
One thing to consider is how hard it is to join clubs. At my older daughter’s school and at other large state schools we visited, it is very competitive to join professional clubs. The acceptance rates into the clubs is far lower than into the university. That’s great for some kids, but my Pitt student doesn’t like that kind of constant competitiveness. Pitt does have some clubs that are competitive, but for the most part they are not and students are able to join and make an impact without extended rushing or interviewing to join these professional organizations.
If money is no object, and she wants an IU experience, then go for it. But if money matters in any way, the smarter financial choice would definitely be Pitt. The recruiting will be similar, and it sounds like this won’t be her terminal degree so it makes more sense to be able to afford graduate school later than to spend the extra now.
I didn’t realize that Pitt had awarded any of its large, named scholarships yet. This level of merit (or even financial aid, if you are OOS) is very rare there.
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