IU, UGA, or In-State College?

Hey guys. I’m having a hard time making a choice on which college to attend! I have been accepted to Indiana University, University of Georgia, and some in-state schools(Alabama). I’m thinking of majoring in Marketing, but pretty positive in the field of Business. My parents want me to go to a school with prestige and higher ranking in business. My dream after college is to probably live in Austin, Texas. Would it be smart to pay extra to go to a school with a higher ranking in business to meet my goal of living in Texas? What I also look for in a school is a good college and sports life(more so In football than basketball). Please help me make my decisions easier, thanks!

Bama seems to have everything you’re looking for except good rank. For marketing, I’d say stay in state. Going to Bama won’t prevent you from moving to Austin.

IU and UGA are better ranked, but Alabama is your most affordable option, yes? Are you a direct admit to the business school at IU or UGA? IU’s business school is excellent, and basketball is of course huge. Tons of school spirit, gorgeous campus. I don’t think you could go wrong. UGA b school is strong as well, Ali gorgeous campus, meets the big southern football vibe. Honestly, I don’t think you can make a bad choice. It’s likely going to come down to fit and affordability. Which one are your parents more enthusiastic about for you? Is $ an issue?

Yeah my parents would like me to go to a more highly ranked school no matter the cost

@CTCape I am a direct admit to Kelley but I don’t think UGA does direct admit into Terry. Money isn’t a big issue for us but I would like not to pay a too big of a price for college even though my parents wouldn’t care paying me to go to an expensive college. I like UGA because it’s more of a football school , has a decent business academy, and is ranked higher in general. But on the other hand IU is meh in football, Highly ranked in the business department, and an ok ranking in general. They both have something I like and something I don’t like which makes it so hard to choose one or the other!

@itsgettingreal21 I would agree getting to Austin wouldn’t be hard but wouldn’t going to a good school help with getting hired at Austin and be able to get a higher salary than going to Alabama. Plus would it be more than likely of working for the state I studied in? If so my plan is to live somewhere other than Alabama because I am kind of sick of it.?

Bloomington and Athens are two of the best college towns and both are fine state unis. Hard to go wrong. If you are pretty sure about business school, I would lean towards IU Kelley.

I wouldn’t pay that much extra for a marketing degree, personally. Did you get scholarships to UGA and Kelley? For UGA, admissions to Terry (the business school) is not hard. Kelley is riskier if you aren’t direct admit.

You may have to hustle a little more, since recruiting is regional for all of these schools, but you can get to Austin from all of them. None has great recruiting from Texas. As a business student, you’ll need to learn to hustle to be successful anyway, so this shouldn’t be a huge factor.

UGA and Terry offer analytics to complement your marketing degree, and I would highly recommend you add statistics or analytics to a marketing degree to be competitive.

I’m getting hung up on the marketing degree and it’s worth. lol Putting that aside, I’d recommend UGA or Kelley. Both are great options for a business student and UGA is the best option of the 3 if you decide against business.

@bloomfield88 would you say they’re similar in the topic of student life and having fun things to do?

Got it. So if money isn’t a deciding factor, did you visit both and get a sense of the vibe?

UGA sounds like a better fit in terms of what you want (big football, business school) and what your parents want ( ranking). However, IU offers direct admit to an excellent business school, and a chance to live in a different region if the country, which is a cool opportunity.

They are both in awesome college towns and have strong Greek life if that’s appeals. If you didn’t visit, go online and spend time learning about Athens and Bloomington. Which appeals more?

If your parents aren’t worried about the $, they are giving you permission to remove that from the decision tree.

@AllenLi17 Absolutely. If you cannot find fun things to do at IU or UGA that is really on you. You will need to keep the fun in check to focus on your GPA, so don’t go wild.

IU Luddy School of Informatics offerings would compliment a marketing degree very well.

@itsgettingreal21 I am a direct admit to Kelley and intend to major in marketing but not confident. Should I try maybe doubling major or Major and a minor? Which would you think is a better fit in the case of rankings, fun student life, and sports?

@bloomfield88 thanks I will keep that in mind. What major or minor in Luddy School would pair nicely.

@CTCape I like IU high ranking in business and change of scenery, but I’m not sure if it’s worth giving up the sports scene and living at least somewhat close to my family

If you major in marketing, you absolutely should add statistics or data/business analytics. Based on your criteria, I’d recommend UGA over IU. Business rankings aside, UGA and Kelley are both excellent business schools. I wouldn’t give an edge to Kelley based just on the rankings. I’m familiar with both and they are comparable, in my opinion. Athens beats Bloomington. And UGA football beats IU by a lot.

Are they fully willing to pay the extra cost, without any additional cost/debt to you, or any limitations on their retirement plans or (if applicable) your younger siblings’ college budgets?

Luddy’s Informatics, Data Science, and Statistics are very complimentary.

https://luddy.indiana.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/index.html

I don’t want to persuade you that UGA is inferior as a whole. UGA is a great option.

IU-Kelley is just more well known as a top 10 undergrad business school for decades and is clearly amongst the best value undergrad b-schools, if you think you want to major in marketing, finance, entrepreneurship, accounting, management, etc…

@ucbalumnus they are willing to pay the price for it, we plan on splitting it 50% from me and my parents.

@itsgettingreal21 hoe would you say Athens is better than Bloomington? I’ve never been and more than likely won’t be able to until the coronavirus goes away. Would you pick UGA over IU in the sense of sports in general?

@bloomfield88 thanks I will keep that in mind when choosing schools! Is it worth paying $5k more thank UGA in tuition for IU?