Philly is the only city on your list. UR isn’t in Richmond and even if it were Richmond isn’t much of a city as well as Columbus. They are more like suburbs/strip malls surrounding a downtown financial center that dies at night and the weekends.
Drexel is in a nice location in Philadelphia in University City with UPenn. It’s right across the river from Center City. It has everything a major city has to offer.
If you are certain that you want to major in business, then direct admit is the best option.
US News ranks undergraduate business programs:
IU-Kelley = tied at #11
OSU-Fisher = tied at #15
Univ. of Richmond = tied at #91
Drexel = tied at #109
UNC-Keenan-Flagler is tied at #7, but it is not a realistic option for you.
If you are certain that you want to major in business, then your only two options are OSU-Fisher & Drexel-Lebow.
I know UNC is a hard school especially since I’m an international student and they only 18% are out of state. Nevertheless I didn’t think i’d get into many of the unis I applied to such as Tulane and Richmond. If I get UNC I’ll most probably take that
I’m decent at math like i used to be much worse and used to hate it. I’m not opposed to it but, I would never want to study math as a pure subject or take more than 1 class a semester of math.
I want to go to Wall Street for now as I’m really interested in investing, but I’m still open to marketing as I would want to have a bit of creativity I guess.
@publisher the op knows the relative strength of each school. Your list is spot on.
In his case he has not received a direct admit to b school except for Drexel. The others require a bit more thought.
Kelley is the best but the requirement to get in and stay in is quite daunting.
Richmond is doable. Drexel is guaranteed.
If UNC comes through it will be for other than b school and he knows this and will choose a UNC major closely aligned a try to transfer internally.
@privatebanker: OP’s first post indicates that he is a direct admit to Ohio State–Fisher School of Business.
I shared the US News rankings because OP raised the issue of undergraduate business school rankings in a post above (the original post in this thread in which he asserts that Univ. of Richmond is ranked among the top 20 business schools guessing that it is ranked at #12).
I think it is 12th according to Bloomberg, I didn’t mention US News.
Then I think you need to back up & look at your assumptions. Majoring in business- even at schools like Kelley- does not get you to Wall Street. Being at a name school does get you in front of recruiters, yes (where they will be seeing you & all of your classmates), but the big IB firms recruit at a wider range of schools than you might realize. And at the end of the day *you( have to get yourself over the line.
And to do that, you will need 1) a strong GPA (3.5+) and 2) good internships. To get good internships you need good grades and good recommendations. To get good recommendations you need to you need to stand out from the crowd and have profs who know enough about you to write a meaningful recommendation.
@Publisher Good catch on OSU. That’s a great option too. Big school but great academics.
The best undergrad business rankings are at Poets and Quants. From your list:
IU 13
UNC 14
UR 25
OS 46
(Sorry, didn’t look up Drexel).
You are not a direct admit at IU, which has the easiest direct admit business school of any. They take whatever is your SAT/ACT (1380/30 needed) and your weighted GPA, which only needs to be a 3.8. Your weighted GPA is quite low. What this means for your chances at IU, I’m not sure, given that I do hear academics there are easy, though in business it may be harder. Assuming you make it in, classes are huge in the beginning. Anyone who wants to go to Wall Street is gunning for the Investment Banking Workshop, which takes a small number of top kids. If you go to IU, do great, are at the top of your class, get into the IB workshop (or network intensely) you could get to Wall Street for IB. If that doesn’t happen, IU still has great OCR and placement, probably more in the Midwest. You’ll get great sports, but not small interactive classes. But, I thought their b-program sounded awesome!
UNC - haven’t researched this because it wasn’t on my S’s list, but the placement for IB on Wall Street will again go to the very top performers. Academics will be harder than at IU, I’m guessing similar to UR. Admission to B school is holistic, taking into account leadership, ECs, etc. I’m sure it’s a great program.
UR - Beautiful campus and b-school, not in the city but school provides shuttles, on Amtrak line for easy DC access. Small interactive classes, and professor mentor ship. Academics will be harder than IU, but if you can focus and put in the work, you should get the 2.7 (my S put social life before academics and ended up with a 2.7 1st semester, which shows 2 things. One, UR academics are not easy (he’s quite bright and thought he could get As with minimal work, which isn’t the case) and two, you can still get into the B-school with what we consider to be disastrous grades. He will be doing much better this term or won’t be returning!). UR is not known for IB placement on Wall Street. Due to that, a group of students started a fund, Gateway Capital Management, with the goal of Wall Street IB placement. They are all getting those jobs. They also have s student managed investment fund for top performers that is a class. So, again, be at the very top, get in the fund (or do your networking) have great ECs and internships, and you’ll get a placement you want. UR has good OCR, lots of connections in DC, and growing placement on west coast and Wall Street. They also have a great alumni network. A plus is that they will pay up to 4K for an unpaid internship, or research with a professor in your area of interest.
Don’t know about Ohio State.
Bottom line, no matter where you go, you need to work incredibly hard and be at the top of the class, with the right ECs and internships, to get the type of work you are seeking. Even at a feeder schools, you will not get Wall Street IB jobs without the top grades, ECs, and internships.
I’d suggest posting your query on Wall Street Oasis. My guess is they’d say this order: UNC, IU, UR, OS (not sure where Drexel fits in). But only you know 1) your true academic capabilities (need to be honest with yourself) and 2) whether you’d thrive in a big vs small environment.
OSU-Fisher is an excellent undergraduate business school. Drexel offers real world experience via internships.
UNC–for any major–is quite difficult for out-of-state applicants.
One thing i hear you saying over and over in the posts is how you and others who know you feel the smaller classes and other aspects of a school like Richmond would be the best fit.
As a Richmond mom who is an Ivy League alum, I could not speak more positively about the school. Richmond offers the best from a LAC experience combined w preprofessional schools as well. There is a top notch business school, a global school of leadership studies, a $4000 summer stipend for internships, a heavy emphasis on studying abroad and all this in a university of under 5000! You will have full- time dedicated professors teaching your classes, not TAs who you may not even understand bc they don’t speak English! (loved Brown but this was the case in a calc class-unfortunately I did not speak Mandarin) Don’t get me wrong, I realize there are v qualified TAs out there but the amazing professors that teach at an LAC and at smaller schools like Richmond, which have both LA courses and preprofessional classes, are there because they WANT to teach regardless of the research they might be doing. Of the very diff and mostly larger schools you are considering, really think carefully about the fit that is best for you. You sound like a Spider to me !
@BrownSpider, love the enthusiasm, but this thread is from last January & I’m guessing that the OP has made his decision & has started school someplace 