<p>Alumni say, for some reason I can't find their sources, that NIU has a nationally ranked CoB - Accounting, Marketing, Public Administration (graduate school ranked, this I know). It seems that it's a "bang for your buck" and a "hidden gem" against UIUC's CoB. I know UIUC has a great CoB, but is it wise to attend NIU's CoB? Is NIU a "competitor" against UIUC? The alumni claim that their CoB is just as good if not better than UIUC. Please, someone shed some light and truth about this issue.</p>
<p>I know that both have amazing accounting programs and I have heard from my uncle (head auditor for some private investment company) that NIU is an amazing return on your investment. Also, UIUC has the highest instate tuition of any public university.</p>
<p>Yea, accounting at NIU is awesome I heard. How about the rest of their CoB, overall? How does it stack up against UIUC's?</p>
<p>How come NIU doesn't have a Ph.D accountancy program for such an excellent an program? Is it because UIUC wants to monopolize in that field?</p>
<p>uchicago>northwestern>uiuc>niu</p>
<p>UIUC is spectacular for business. Their only relatively high overall rank belies a spectacular recruiter rank, their accounting is top in the nation, and they are just opening a brand new, state of the art facility.
NIU has fallen somewhat from its glory days, and even though it has a relatively strong business curriculum, the school overall is looked at as nowhere in the same game as UIUC, which could definitely have an effect.</p>
<p>UIUC and NIU are not in the same league for Business. Just take a look at some rankings. UIUC has the #1/#2 ranked accounting program and is the preferred college for the Big 4.</p>
<p>Also U of Chicago may not be better for undergrad and you also must think of what those private schools cost in relation to UIUC and NIU 50 k and 28 k are a lot different. For undergrad I would go UIUC over them. Oh wait, I already am. Oh and NW doesn't have accounting at least undergrad according to my friend who applied.</p>
<p>not everyone wants to be an accountant</p>
<p>OK, so Finance at UIUC is around #8 in the nation.</p>
<p>All the programs are ranked well those are just the top two.</p>
<p>My kid got a 32 on the ACT had a 3.7 through high school got into UIUC attended the business school for 2 years had a 3.2 and said that their business school wasnt working out and we had very little money his 3rd year he attended NIU maintained a 3.8 and said that the business school was much more to his wants and needs and that the profs. at NIU were overall better and more helpful than UIUC. He believes that NIU has a better COB and an overall better program for much less money.</p>
<p>Who cares about the money, the name recognition will all be worth it when you are applying to MBA and getting jobs. Go with UIUC hand down. No point going to a lower ranked school. I went to a slightly aboev average school (Still top 25 on businessweek but hardly), and it makes things more difficult. Let me tell you this. It doesn’t matter which “program” is better. It’s all about reputation and ranking.</p>
<p>I graduated in finance from UIUC and have a number of relatives that went to NIU, so I have a personal affinity for both schools. However, when it comes to job hunting and on-campus recruiting (which is what you’re going to care about a whole lot more in the long-term than whether you get a temporary “warm and fuzzy” feeling from your school), it’s not even a contest. If you want to work in the Chicago market (which is what most UIUC and NIU grads want to do), then UIUC is way way way way ahead in terms of reputation. I worked for a Big Four firm and participated in the recruiting process firsthand - this firm (along with all of the other Big Four firms in Chicago) would hire an army of people from UIUC every single year along with a good number of people form other Big Ten schools such as Michigan and Indiana. UIUC has long been a prime target (if not the single biggest target) for the Big Four firms. This is the same hiring pattern at other consulting firms, trading companies, corporations and banks in the Chicago area. There might have been one or two slots granted to NIU grads (or people from similarly ranked schools) per year, but that was about it (compared to literally dozens of Illinois grads). Obviously, we can all point to anecdotal stories about how Person A attended Lower Ranked School X instead of Higher Ranked School Y and still did well and got a job. However, I’d recommend going with the norm as opposed to exception, especially in this particular comparison where there’s a massive gap in terms of recruiting ties.</p>
<p>The only people that I would not recommend UIUC business to are people that are 110% dead-set on:</p>
<p>(1) Going into investment banking; or
(2) Moving to NYC or Boston.</p>
<p>UIUC will place a handful of people in each of the major I-banking firms each year, but I wouldn’t consider the school to be a target. Of course, very few places outside of the most elite schools in the country have measurable and consistent placements into I-banking firms. Also, UIUC’s reputation in NYC and Boston seems to wane in comparison to Indiana and Wisconsin (even though UIUC business is tougher to get into than either of those other Big Ten business schools). So, if you really want to go to one of those 2 markets, then UIUC doesn’t give you a real competitive advantage over a lot of schools on the East Coast (even if they’re lower ranked nationally) or its Big Ten peers of Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana. In Chicago, though, it’s pretty clear - UIUC is pretty much as good as you can get in terms of job placement in that market.</p>
<p>Good post Frank, I didn’t come from the best ranked school, but it was a main Big 4 target in my area. That being said, I would NEVER recommend going to a significantly lower ranked or prestigious school because of $$$ reasons. Definitely matters long term, people are so superficial.</p>
<p>I agree, Dawgie. Certainly, there’s a cost benefit analysis involved in any college decision. For instance, I wouldn’t recommend someone that can pay in-state tuition to attend Purdue to choose to pay out-of-state tuition to attend Illinois - even though Illinois is higher ranked, there’s not such a huge gap between the reputations of the two schools that it would justify paying 2 or 3 times as much in tuition. The gap between Illinois and NIU is a different story, though - there’s a huge difference in the job opportunities coming out of UIUC versus NIU. I don’t think that people should inundate themselves with debt for undergrad (indeed, that was a huge reason why I chose to go to UIUC for college), but that has to be balanced against putting yourself into the best position for what you want to do in life.</p>
<p>Hiring patterns also vary highly by market, which is why I took pains to look at the Chicago market specifically. The Big Four firms in that market are inundated with resumes from UIUC and the other Big Ten schools, as well as highly ranked privates like Notre Dame and Wash U. So, there’s a ton of competition in that market where school reputation matters a lot - your 3.8 GPA at NIU doesn’t stand out because there are lots of 3.8 GPA candidates from places like UIUC and Michigan. If you go to non-“superstar” cities that don’t draw from as wide of a college grad pool, then the Big Four or other similarly situated firms may hire a larger proportion of people from lower ranked local schools with high GPAs.</p>
<p>I attended NIU and went through their ACCY program so I can speak for it. It’s a great program. The teachers are very friendly and approachable. They do have their own job fair and internship fair with tons of accounting firms there ranging from Big 4 to mid-size to small size firms to industry.</p>
<p>That being said, I have to agree with Frank here and go to UIUC. You really can’t compare the two in terms of job placement. It’s clearly the bigger brand name in the state of Illinois and the Big 4 along with every major comapny love recruiting there. Not to say they don’t recruit at NIU, but out of the 4, KPMG is strongly NIU friendly. PwC will take a few here and there. But Deloitte and E&Y are not for whatever reason. Mid-size firms recruit a lot at NIU too though. So if you don’t get Big 4, there are several other options.</p>
<p>Frank, speaking of Indiana, do most of the Kelley accounting grads that wind up in Chicago come from the Chicago area to begin with? It seems like Kelley is crawling with Chicago area students, and many of them are among the best at Kelley. UIUC must be ridiculously hard to get into, or Kelley is really good and good Chicago students prefer it over UIUC.</p>
<p>Also, Purdue has a lot of Chicago area students. How far is Purdue behind Kelley for accounting recruiters?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>bthomp1, I know your question wasn’t directed at me, but I think I can answer it considering I’m from the Chicagoland area. Yes, a lot of people from my area do go to Indiana for business. Sometimes, if a student from here can’t get into UIUC for business, they consider going to Indiana which is very good in business. And if they can’t get into UIUC engineering, then they go to Purdue.</p>
<p>I agree with JHB619. UIUC is across-the-board more difficult to get into than Indiana or Purdue. However, Indiana’s business school and Purdue’s engineering school each have great reputations, so they are very popular choices for Chicago area students that didn’t get into UIUC. Krannert Business School at Purdue isn’t as highly rated or as difficult to get into as Kelley, but it’s still a pretty good target school for Chicago-area firms. Generally speaking, all of the Big Ten schools have very good Chicago connections - all of them would probably be rated above the in-state Illinois publics other than UIUC.</p>
<p>Don’t forget about Notre Dame. They have a very powerful alumni base here in Chicago.</p>
<p>NIU is being overlooked here. I’ve been accepted into majority of the schools named here and I choose NIU for my Accy UG and Grad and I have no regrets whatsoever.</p>
<p>ALL of the Big4 do hire from NIU and they hire varying numbers but they all take a decent number. KPMG and Crowe are very, very strong supporters of NIU. If you’ve been doing your homework and not slacking, then there is no way that you can not find the Big4 or other job that you were looking for. </p>
<p>I have several friends at several competing schools and the complaint I often hear is that there is very little student-teacher interaction. I don’t know how much this is true, but I can attest to the fact that NIU has a strong student focus. I am on a first name basis with my professors, the department chair and the dean. I cannot begin to tell you the impact on my academic and professional growth from knowing my professors on a personal level. The faculty have been more than willing to offer extra help on assignments/homework, write letters of recommendation, offer career advice, and talk just to get to know you. </p>
<p>The graduate program has recently under-gone some changes to include a leadership aspect. There is a mandatory class on leadership that pairs every student with an alumni in a senior management position. Can you imagine what it is like to have a CFO of a Fortune 50 company as your mentor? I can, because that is exactly who my mentor is. I’ve had numerous opportunities to sit down and talk about anything and everything over coffee. I don’t know if other schools have this, but it is something that EVERY NIU Accy grad student will experience.</p>
<p>It’s becoming a long post so I’ll cut it short.</p>