We are Florida residents, and my daughter is trying to narrow down her selections. She plans to stay in the Southeast, but might be open to the right offer further from home. She prefers a school that leans a bit more conservative.
Her list so far:
UF
UCF
UNC-Chapel Hill
Wake Forest
Stetson
Clemson
Elon
Auburn
Alabama
Washington & Lee
Liberty (she is really drawn to the Christian aspect of this school)
She comes from a long line of Gators, and with UF being highly ranked and in-state…of course, UF is on the list. But she’s not 100% sold on it. Her older brother just graduated from there and he was disappointed with the experience he had.
She visited the Honors College as well as Warrington at UF and did like it. But is still looking at other schools to compare.
-Weighted GPA is 4.27
-SAT is 1450 (only took once)
-ACT composite is 34 (35 super-scored)
-National Merit Commended
-Probable Valedictorian (small school of 26 seniors)
-Interested in a degree pertaining to numbers (Accounting, Finance, Economics, Statistics, Analytics, Actuarial, etc)
-Would like to combine with a business degree
-Varsity letters in swimming, basketball, and lacrosse (basketball and lacrosse for managing the team, not playing)
-She is a film/commercial actress and runs her own business doing commercial and industrial voiceovers out of her closet
-She does her coursework at home, so most of her extracurriculars are adult groups/activities. Not the normal high school stuff.
She has Florida Prepaid + top tier Bright Futures, so if accepted to UF, her tuition would automatically be covered. Makes it hard to pass up. However, UF is SUCH a big school… I can’t help but wonder if being in a smaller school would give her more opportunities to make a difference and get involved. She’d be more than just a number.
I would add Notre Dame. She has the ND profile of very high stats and high school athletics, plus Mendoza is a top undergrad business school, especially accounting, Not sure how Washington & Lee fits in. I would suggest removing out of state publics because private schools will be much lower costs if you are looking for financial aid. Wake is a great choice.
I agree that she sounds the ideal Notre Dame applicant and it checks all her boxes.
If she wants a Christian university, I’d look into one that has a better academic reputation than Liberty.
Hope, Calvin, Grove City, Hillsdale all have a good reputation as Christian schools but don’t match UF or Notre Dame.
BYU would be conservative and has an excellent business school.
She could look into Holy Cross and Babson?
I’d recommend she look into USC Honors and Furman.
Washington and Lee is definitely secular and heavily Greek, with an excellent business program but some of the behavior wouldn’t be appeal to someone who wants a ‘Christian’ environment…
Thank you so much for the feedback! Since she is not in a regular school, we do not have a ton of guidance in this so all of this feedback is helpful and much appreciated!
She is hesitant to go too far North. I really like the idea of ND, but the distance may be a little too far for her comfort.
I forgot to add USC to the list above…she actually did apply there. And she’ll definitely be applying to the honors college of whichever school she ends up choosing.
She will NOT qualify for any sort of financial aid, so she’ll have to rely on winning the top tier scholarships from the schools if she wants to go outside of Florida. That may narrow things down for her REAL quick.
She is going to look at Furman online tonight…when we visit SC, it will be easy to see USC & Furman in the same trip.
And I’m grateful for the honest (and kind) opinions on Liberty. It’s a great school I’m sure…she is a hard-line rule-follower who gets very frustrated with those who don’t follow the rules. I think she likes the law & order aspect of the campus. On the other hand, as her parents, we’d like for her post-college job search to be fruitful!
For accounting, UF will be likely be her best choice. If she wants to be an accountant, she will want to start as a public accountant, and flagships are the best pathways to the Big Four. Accounting is the strongest major among UF’s business degrees, and she will have excellent recruiting in-state and the southeast as long as she keeps the grades up. The in-state cost is also hard to compete with unless she gets a large merit award.
The only other school on that list I would take over UF is Washington and Lee if she can get a Johnson Scholarship or another merit award. W&L has a very well respected business school, and great connections to the business community in DC and New York.
UNC-CH’s business school is better than Florida’s for Wall Street placement, but for accounting they should be similar. However, the OOS tuition tilts your equation strongly toward UF as she likely would get no merit at UNC.
The equation changes for finance, as the State of Florida has plenty of low paying finance jobs but not that many high paying ones. UNC and W&L would be stronger here, but she would likely start her career in the Mid-Atlantic.
I would stay away from actuarial as a degree. The field is too narrow, and one will have much more long-term flexibility with an accounting/finance degree.
I do not think that Liberty is a good choice for a strong student, and there are plenty of evangelical options at UF or any other flagship if that is what she is looking for.
Excellent points! This is priceless info-thank you!
She was intrigued by the 3/2 BS/MS Accounting program at UF. If she does decide to go the accounting route, we will probably strongly encourage her to go to UF (that is, if she is accepted for admission!). There’s just no logical reason to pass up that program for the money.
Here’s a link to students resumes/placement (by year) out of the MSF program. It is a very competitive program.
Adding to Zinhead’s point about Finance jobs, you’ll notice that most are getting placed outside of Florida (NY, Atlanta, etc.). Check out the class of 2015.
Furman is probably an excellent fit for her both academically and socially. They have great econ, business and math departments. Don’t let the price tag of any of the private liberal arts colleges shock you. Many are generous with merit money, unlike most of the state schools. With her stats, she might be able to get enough from Furman to cover the tuition between university merit money and departmental money. She may even be in the running for the Townes scholarship.
I had no idea that information existed…what a wonderful resource to be able to see how new graduates are faring in the real world. So much talk about pre-admission stats and rankings…but what matters most to us parents is how employable these kids will be after they get their degree. Schools aren’t as transparent about that stuff…SO glad to see this info on the UF website. Thank you for the link…I am sharing with my daughter!
We are presently looking at the top merit aid offered for each private school she has applied to. One of the reasons she tried so hard on the PSAT was to help her chances at getting some sort of financial award at a private school. She ended up with National Merit Commended…and unfortunately, there aren’t prizes for 3rd place.
If she isn’t awarded one of the top scholarships out of state, she will most likely need to stay in-state. It makes me crazy that UF doesn’t notify students until February!
I have a son that graduated with a Bible degree from Liberty. As a pastor that has served him well. I have another son who is a high school senior and like your daughter is considering a major like accounting. Most Christian colleges aren’t that strong in business, Liberty included. I would not consider it for this son. Also, my older son went there when the former president was alive. I do not think it is currently as strong of a Christian school as it was previously.
As an accountant for most of my life, I think you have a good list of school to work with. Here is the general rules for further screening:
You will get a good accounting education in an AACSB accredited school and you will have a chance at the Big 4 if you do well in that. All Big 4 accounting firms recruit in AACSB schools.
Eliminate all non-AACSB schools, ie Liberty
Compare FA packages once you get offers and if UF is the best, take UF and do not look back.
Prestige does little in accounting field, GPA is the key, you will have a good chance at Big 4 if you have a high GPA no matter where you went to school. I came from a US News ~200 school and our graduates had the same opportunity in "Big 8"(now big 4) recruiting as any other AACSB schools.
The real grind came AFTER you are hired by the Big 4, about 50% of the Associate Accountant (lowest level) will “leave” in two years.
That is very helpful insight about the value of a Liberty degree, depending on the major chosen! It’s unfortunate that STEM majors have to look elsewhere due to Liberty not having much strength in their STEM or Business majors. Hopefully, they are able to improve their reputation in those areas in the coming years. Thanks for the advice!
A year ago, we were in a similar situation. My S was accepted to the UF Honors program and was awarded the Presidential scholarship so, with Bright Futures, all in was very inexpensive. He visited and we set up a one-on-one at Warrington. Understand that he is a lifelong Gator fan (from Tampa) but he just didn’t care for the whole scene. That said, he felt MUCH better about it after spending an hour or so with a leader in student services at Warrington. He explained how the school of business makes the whole place a lot smaller. They’ve carved out their own first yr experience seminars, career services, etc that are housed within the business school, separate from the rest of campus. Basically said, look once you’re in Warrington, it’s a school of 3500 kids. You’ll spend all your time here but you’ll get to go to Gator football games and be part of all that.
Actually a compelling story. However, S just couldn’t get over the size, lack of intimacy. Not what he had always pictured re his college years.
We looked at several small schools with great academics and he settled in on Wake Forest. He LOVES it. Although the business school starts as a junior, he is taking his prereqs, has joined business clubs (The Dow Jones Club - where they actually analyze stocks, pitch them to the Associates, and manage a mock portfolio - actually meet every week). Their accounting program is top notch and is heavily recruited by the Big 4. FOr the past several years, they have had a 100% job placement, many receiving multiple offers before their final yr (right after their required internships). He’s replaced the Gator nation sports thing with the Deacs and he loves going to games. Ton of school spirit, just on a smaller chassis with an undergrad student body of 5000 kids. It is a world of difference compared to Gainesville; not better, just better for him and he thrives in the more intimate settings (always has). Small discussion based classes even as a freshmen (most with around 20 kids), residential focus as everyone must live on campus for 3 years (fosters tremendous community), ample traditions in which virtually the entire student body attend and participate. He’s meeting kids from all over the country and the world which is great.
Cost wise it is tough. No aid for us and the merit is VERY competitive. Basically, everyone’s a valedictorian and president of several things so you have to stand out among outstanding candidates even to get 10-15k. Only 1%-3% receive merit. Fortunately, we have the resources to pay for it. We have him paying some out of a small loan and summer job so he appreciates it. He’ll graduate with debt and he realizes what that means vs. being debt free (small amount of debt) but still wanted this. Schools like Wake provide many opportunities and an experience that’s hard to find at large universities (I went to a large state school and loved it but we certainly didn’t have the resources, attention, collegiality, etc. that these kids get). We view it as we’re giving him a set of tools for him to use the rest of his life. Hopefully he makes the most out of it. So far, so good!