<p>My daughter's final college decision is coming down to the wire! She plans to major in Business with a focus on Legal Studies, with the ultimate goal to attend law school. She has been accepted to both IU (direct admit into Kelley and the Honors program) and Miami Univiersity (Honors program also). The decision had come down to finances. We live in Ohio, therefore would have to pay the OOS tuition at IU. She was awarded a total of $11K per year (this does not include the Stafford loan amounts that she can also take out). She also has other scholarship awards and a decent college fund, but we (her parents) would still have to borrow at least $30K total for her to attend 4 years at IU. </p>
<p>At Miami she has been awarded $6500, but since the cost would be in-state we could probably swing the cost here with very little debt. She also is a National Merit Finalist but was not convinced that any of the colleges where she could get the full ride had the best business schools. I am looking for anyone's input/opinion about IU vs MU, specifically the business schools. I know they are both ranked high, but would it make that much of a difference where she attends for her undergrad degree? She loves both campuses for different reasons, so this has been a tremendously difficult decision. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>While I can’t give a great amount of help, I made this exact same choice less than 3 days ago.(chose IU, but I was a DA to both, but from ny so finances were alittle different) I actually have, however, two friends of the family who made the similar choice(one to miami, one to indiana). From what they said, either choice will be excellent. I will say, from what they’ve told me, as well as from my own families research, that Miami sounds a tad bit better for your circumstances. Many B-students I talked to who attended IU, and Kelly, did it for where they helped place jobs.(more majors cities, and certian companies they have contact with) Since Law School is in the future, this isn’t a huge priority for you. Miami also has an excellent Grad school acceptance rate.(kind of ironic for the lack of grad students they have) </p>
<p>Like i said either school will most likely be a great four years from everything i’ve heard and sounds like your daughter has put herself on the right path to success. Good Luck!</p>
<p>Agree with Nyorker. The key stats for law schools are GPA and LSAT. UG School is not important. And, you will need to save some funds for the law school. However, do keep in mind that business school’s training may be a little bit too vocational. An Econ major may provide better training for future law students. So, your D may want to take a fair number of courses in CAS which will help the LSAT. There are quite a bit discussion on the law school forum on this topic.</p>
<p>I am in the same exact bind as your situation. Right now and soon, I have to choose between between IU, Miami, and Illinois. Thankfully, I’ve been accepted into all three business programs, but Kelley is by far my favorite. Being from Illinois the OOS burden will be huge for my family, so still trying to figure out a way to make it work.</p>
<p>Saying no to Miami and Farmer is going to be tough as well because of their awesome facilities and campus.</p>
<p>My last three choices were OSU (Fisher), IU, and Miami. The final two were Miami vs. IU. In my mind the a big thing was the opportunity to start a completely new experience. I’m from fairly close to Miami and a lot of kids from my high school go to Miami. I also though Oxford was too small of a town. Otherwise, the schools both have pretty campuses. I also took out loans to attend school here, and I haven’t regretted it. I loved Kelley when I came here, and my big takeaways would be: Kelley has the largest business school alumni, which can be great to leverage for jobs, internships, Kelley consistently places students in different geographic locations (Chicago, NY, West Coast where Miami students stay in Cincinnati, Cleveland a lot of times). My final takeaway for your daughter would be this (what I finally made my decision based on): Kelley was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. I couldn’t attend Miami for a year and decide to switch to Kelley because my scholarships wouldn’t be there and thus it would be too expensive. But if I went to Kelley and worst came to worst and I wanted to transfer, I could do so fairly easily because it would be in state tuition and I would know people already attending school there. Ultimately, it was the toughest decision I ever made but I haven’t regretted it.</p>
<p>My son went through a similar situation last year. We live in Ohio and his final two were IU and Miami. I did try to convince him to go to Miami due to finances. I will say I was very impressed by IU and their business school. We had a great visit and I understood why he wanted to go there. He did not want to got to Miami because so many of his high school friends were going there. </p>
<p>In the end he picked IU and he is totally happy with his decision. Also, he was thinking about going to law school but has since changed his mind. So, don’t be surprised if once your daughter starts classes, she goes in a different direction. (My older son has changed his major three times.)</p>
<p>Either school will be great so I don’t think she can go wrong. Your pocketbook may suffer as ours has, but our son’s happiness is worth the cost.</p>
<p>Thanks to all for the input posted! We really had considered most of the things that everyone mentioned, and what it came down to was a wonderful second visit to IU this past Tuesday. She chose I.U.! She decided that she really loves the campus, and just felt “right” there. We are from a very conservative, NON-diverse community and she decided that IU will give her more exposure to a different type of community. I’m sure she would have done great at MU too, but I am happy with her decision. Yes, we will be making some financial sacrifices, but this is our only child, so I can live with that! Thanks again!</p>