IU VS UNC Chapel Hill VS University of Richmond VS Ohio State VS Drexel

College Search & Selection
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Hey Everyone,

I’ve gotten into 7 colleges so far and do expect to get into a few more however I won’t be considering those. I have shortlisted it to these colleges although NC Chapel Hill hasn’t yet responded but, I’m keeping it in this forum so that if I do get it I will have opinions.
PS: I am studying business

IU- This was initially my dream college but, am still open to change. I did not get Kelley( the business school) directly however I am in the pre business programme which means that I have to get a 3.5 GPA and no grade below a B in order to get a seat in Kelley.

I’m not too thrilled about the location and it is a big school, but the campus is stunning especially in the fall.

No scholarship however my parents can afford IU without one.

UNC Chapel Hill- If I do get in, it will be similar to IU as I have applied RD and thus won’t be considered for direct admission to the business school. However it ranks similarly to Kelley in most aspect but is a couple of ranks higher overall.

I have family in Charlotte and Raleigh as well, that was one of the reasons I applied tbh.
I like the fact that it’s on the east coast so that opens it up to jobs in DC or NYC the campus too seems good.
I’m not expecting a scholarship since it is public.
Could someone also tell me my chances of getting in: I have strong essays and extracurriculars, my GPA as calculated by IU is 3.61 I don’t know if it’s weighted or unweighted and we don’t measure GPA in my nation. My sat is a 1330.

University or Richmond- I really love the location and campus of Richmond it has small class sizes which suit a student like me.
I was really fortunate to get a Presedential Scholarship which gives me a third of tuition off, thereby making Richmond affordable to me.
Richmond too however does not offer students direct business and I will need a 3.0 GPA in order to enter the business school which is a top 20 if I’m not mistaken, 12th
The location is great as it’s close to DC and NYC again on the east coast. I have family who are close enough to visit once in a while as well.
Scholarship of around 18000$ a year

Ohio State- the only reason Ohio State is in this is because I’ve got Direct buisness and the Fisher School of Buisness is highly ranked.
I’m not too thrilled about the location tbh, I had never pictured myself in Ohio.
No scholarship.

Drexel- although drexel’s Business school doesn’t compare to those of the other 3, it does have a Co Op programme where I can work for a whole semester and gain experience, plus it’s in Philadelphia and I think that’s awesome itself, I have family in Philly as well.
I can afford it since I got a scholarship of 17000$ a year

I’m sorry this is so long and thanks in advance

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I know a bunch of business school profs (top 12 MBA school). They all said (as of a few years ago) the most prestigious MBA degrees are generally from schools that don’t have undergrad business degrees (e.g. Harvard, Duke, U. Chicago etc.). They basically said they would rather have an undergrad CS or physics major who had solid work experience after undergrad to accept into their business school. Just passing it on (don’t kill me). CEOs of apple, GM, IBM, google all had undergrad engineering degrees +/- MBA

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CEO of Apple Tim Cook went to Auburn, a state school, ug and then to Duke for MBA.

So it’s your personal attributes that will determine your future.

I would go to UNC or Richmond, IU OSU and Drexel in that order. Based on your goals and the other factors you outlined. Cost should be a huge factor to consider.

All would be excellent so best of luck!

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Thanks for your reply, but how is this in relation to what I asked? PS: I am an undergraduate student

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Thabks a lot, this helps although since UNC, IU and OSU are public they fall within or slightly under my dad’s budget. He wants me to take the best business school possible. But naturally other factors play a role

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This is with regards to UNDERGRADUATE.

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I think the point they are making is you can combine a fine experience in a well respected UG, if you don’t get into a ug business school, combined with an mba.

So cost is neutral. Here’s again my thoughts.

I would be very cautious personally to have to meet a 3.5 standard just to get into Kelley.

So if it’s UNC Mendoza as a direct admit. Plan 1A, if it were me. If it’s richmond/robins school and you have a direct admit that’s would be 1B for me.

Or UNC for something useful like Econ CS or engineering that can be coupled with an mba, that’s a great path too.

Pre business at IU would be my back up plan. And Drexel would be me my safety.

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Yeah makes sense, but I’m not really a science person. UNC don’t offer direct business to ppl that applying RD, I think I have to just get a more than a C in all the pre requisite classes in order to get into UNC’s business school but, yeah UNC in general (not counting business) is surely better than a IU. So if I do get UNC i’ll take that over IU if not Richmond.
What about Drexel’s Co Op? Do you not see that as having enough merit? OSU? Should I forget about it even though I’ve gotten direct business since I think a 3.0 at Richmond is achievable comfortably right?

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Co op at Drexel is a great way to develop work experience. It helps you also learn what interests you.

OSU is also a wonderful school. Just way too big for me personally.

I am only suggesting what I would do being cost neutral and having the options/focus you prefer.

So updated. Unc if you feel comfortable getting into b school. Richmond direct admit to robins. OSU direct admit. Drexel direct admit with co op and IU with pre business and 3.5 minimum for Kelley. In that order.

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“This is with regards to UNDERGRADUATE.” @ARYAMANSHETH01 I guess what I’m relaying is that for kids who want to get an MBA, getting an undergrad business degree is not necessary or advantageous. Except for direct admit places, most MBA programs value a hard science degree from the best place possible + work experience after college. My guess is if you were a CS major from UNC and took some business/economics classes and then worked for 2 years, you’d be more competitive than getting an undergrad business/accounting major somewhere. The business school profs consider a physics, or CS or Math major more useful/rigorous than undergrad business. I don’t believe UNC has direct admit.

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Richmond is very different from the others on your list. It is a private liberal arts college vs a large state university. So, first you’d want to decide if you wanted to attend a LAC. Students aren’t “direct admits” to business at Richmond because you don’t declare a major until the end of sophomore year. To declare a business major, you take the prerequisites, and need a 2.7 (B-) gpa. Compare that to a 3.5 GPA at IU. Look up the prequisites for UNC’s b-school and required GPA.

My S found out the hard way that college is not high school. (He’s at Richmond, also a Presidential Scholar, but went in with a 34 ACT/1520 SAT). Getting a high GPA there is not a cake walk. You need to really work for As and even Bs. If you only have a 3.6 in high school, how do you know you’ll get the required GPA for those b-schools with high GPA requirements?

If you really are set on studying business, you should choose a school where you are a direct admit or Richmond, which has a lower GPA requirement. Most schools with direct admit set the bar high to those who didn’t get it to ensure the school isn’t over-enrolled. Richmond sets the bar at where they think you need to be to be successful in the school, not to keep the numbers where they want them.

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The thing is that i never thought I’d be able to a private school due to the private. I feel and have been told by my counselor that I would have a better chance of thriving in a smaller classroom. With the scholarship I’m able to afford Richmond at the same price as the rest. I said I need a 3.0 because that’s the requirement to renew my scholarship.
I think the main question I have is, is IU worth the risk because Kelley is so good. if I get UNC, I’ll probably take that as, even if I am unable to get into the business school, it is still a good liberal arts university like, Richmond. IU on the other hand, I feel isn’t worth paying so much for, if I am not in Kelley .

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So basically you think kelley isn’t worth the risk and I should settle for Richmond since I have a easier chance of getting into Robins? I think I can scrap OSU now. If i get UNC, it’ll surely be between UNC and Richmond since UNC trumps IU. But, for the time being it is basically about taking a risk at IU or going to Richmond which is a bit more secure but not as good as Kelley. I think I’ll evaluate the value of Drexel’s Co Op because it certainly has a lot of merit and has a very good location.

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Again, it depends on what type of college experience/fit you are looking for. You shouldn’t base your decision just on rankings. You need to explore what each college/university is like.

For instance, my S was a direct admit to Kelley, with their top scholarship. He also got into higher ranked LACs than Richmond. When he applied, he wasn’t sure what he wanted in terms of size of a school or even major. As he toured a few places and sat in on classes, he decided he wanted a small class with lots of discussion. And, because he wasn’t decided on a major, he liked that at Richmond as opposed to the other LACs, if he decided he wanted to pursue something in business, it had a business school, but in a small liberal arts setting.

To talk about “settling” for Richmond shows you haven’t done your own research into any of these schools. For the most part, someone who chooses to go to Richmond would not want to go to IU or any of the other schools you’ve listed. Comparing the large universities to a small LAC is like comparing apples and oranges. And, btw, UNC is not a “liberal arts university.”

Can you visit any of the schools? You might be able to rule out Richmond if you visited, since it is the outlier in your group as the only LAC. Or, you might decide you want the small interactive classes taught by full professors and much smaller student body. This is a very personal decision. We have younger kids, one of whom has already said they want more anonymity that a large university would provide.

I think visiting at least the LAC and one of your large universities (say, IU) would help you decide where you see yourself for 4 years more than rankings will.

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When I spoke about settling I was talking from a business school ONLY standpoint. See I’m quite conflicted and I know I have to make a decision eventually but, Richmond’s class sizes are smaller and that’s why I feel I’d be a slightly better fit there and I’ll be able to adapt quicker imo. I can’t really delve into the everyday life of each college, I can’t visit schools because I’m from India and it’d be expensive to go there and visit them. I understand that IU is a slightly more risky option because of the fact that the GPA requirement is higher and also the fact that the class sizes are really large there, but that’s where I think Richmond’s size,location play a bigger factor than the rank alone.

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I’m an IU Kelley graduate who now lives near OSU and has toured Richmond with my son…so if you have questions about campus/area/etc, let me know. I agree it is weird to read about Richmond with the rest of these, but you have your reasons.

From a general perspective (my son isn’t interested in a Bus. major so we didn’t pay attention to that), Richmond yes has the small class sizes, and the Richmond Guarantee (look it up) for internships or special projects. It does seem to have more of a feel of closer relationships between professors and students than say IU or OSU. I also believe it will be quite a bit more academically challenging than the others. For what it’s worth, I had no problem maintaining a 3.9 GPA at Kelley and I didn’t even get IN to UNC (but this was 30 years ago). The fact that you have that Richmond scholarship means that they think you fit academically and will likely do well.

Richmond has a COMPLETELY different feel from IU, OSU, and I assume UNC (I know nothing about your last). Smaller, secluded, wooded campus that is all brick, beautiful and meticulously upkept. Preppy, rich looking kids and an upper income intellectual work hard kind of vibe. School spirit yes, and sports, but NOTHING like the other three where you will have hoards of people attending games and a football game can be an all day event. Then you have the city of Richmond about 20 min away I believe.

IU is great, also beautiful with more diverse architecture, and yes a large state school but different from OSU which is in a city. IU is in Bloomington which is typical American small college town. When I was there, the career center did have mostly Midwest, Indiana, Chicago big companies recruiting, although I bet that has changed to a large extent now, but if you want to end up on the East Coast area eventually, I think Richmond or UNC would have a little bit of an edge in terms of your post grad employment.

You could do research on campus life on niche.com and other sites, and also dig into the program info more on the colleges’ web site. Do you have access to any books such as Fiske Guide to colleges? I think you might be splitting hairs a bit on the business school reputation…they are all good choices, and right now you should look at where you think you will thrive, because THAT is what will determine your success in college and post grad.

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I wouldn’t get too attached to UNC if I were you. UNC Out-of-State is super competitive as they can only fill their class with 18% OOS.

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I agree with most of what you’re saying. I think my main question now would be: How much does the location of a university play a role in employment. I come from Mumbai, a New York in India basically. I would prefer being in a big city as that’s where I’m from. Small class sizes would benefit a student like me. As for the type of students, I would want extremely motivated and driven students. I think all colleges and universities will have those, naturally but, as for campus life, I’d love to attend games with great vibes because I am into sports. However, I feel that that isn’t a serious factor in the decision making process, for me atleast.

I have a friend at IU who’s in his sophomore year, he said that you need to work really hard to get into Kelley which I’m sure will be the same for Robins but, the GPA requirement is lower. I feel that I will take time to settle into college as that is normal since I’m an international student. Richmond will give me a sort of ‘big city’ vibe so I feel I’ll settle there with a bit more ease

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UR is a great choice, but it’s not a big city vibe at all. It’s very separate from the city, whereas IU and OSU are not (and IU has no big city vibe whatsoever). Maybe play around with Google maps street view and take a look. U of Richmond is a secluded, wooded campus that is all on its own, surrounded by a very nice residential area with large wooded lots, a country club, and small curvy roads. The city is about 15 minutes away, you can’t see it at all from campus and you couldn’t walk there.
I read on another thread that Kelley does have national big company recruiting so you can probably disregard my experience from long ago.
I’m not trying to talk you out of UR, just want you to know what it looks like there since you can’t visit!

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Just a plug for Ohio State, but it depends on your math ability. Ohio State is a top choice if you want to delve more into mathematics, as a grounding for your business career. Are you good at math? Then take Ohio State offer seriously, as you can gain stronger math skills there, if that is your talent. I don’t think it matters much that you get into business programs directly IF you plan an MBA. Are you interested in accounting, finance, banking, Wall sTreet?
What do you want to do later? Do you have a focus on high tech business for instance, or nonprofits, or any other particular interest at this time? Columbus Ohio is nicer than you think, it is a big city, although Cleveland is the artsy city in Ohio, further north. Ohio State has so many resources and so many strengths in math that could help you later if you are in a business job that requires math skills.

Bloomberg Indiana is known as the nicest college town in Indiana over Purdue’s location. Bloomberg often appeals to students, but its not the science/engineering campus (Purdue is that for Indiana). Ohio State IS the science and engineering campus for the state of Ohio. I know you say that you don’t like science, but how about math?