<p>I was recently admitted to Northwestern and Cornell AEM (Cornell's business school). I am trying to figure out which school will have the best return on my investment ( I am putting down big loans to attend the schools).</p>
<p>I am trying to break into the field of investment banking or other finance related areas. I have heard that Northwestern is recruited very well in Chicago but that one must be in New York in order to rise within a company (But I really like Chicago and think it is an amazing city). That leads me to accepting the Cornell invite. Also, I've heard that because Cornell is an Ivy League school, it has an edge on job recruiting over other schools of the same level of prestige such as Northwestern. I really like the Northwestern and Cornell campuses, so I don't think campus environment will be a problem in deciding.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any information about this? Thanks a lot.</p>
<p>It has scaled down immensely but still exists. Hopefully, and this is a big hope, it will be growing again when I try for internships in several years. But saying that it doesn’t exist anymore is a little too extreme. That is like saying that farming doesn’t exist anymore just because there is a draught.</p>
<p>With the scale down, you may find that the best approach is to go to your state flagship and turn down both if ROI in monetary term is the most important factor. The expected value of ROI should take the probability of actually landing the IB jobs into account. In reality though, you don’t really know the probability. So my point is no one but God can give you the right answer.</p>
<p>I’m in a similar situation and there’s 3 factors I’m looking at:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Finance- investment banking will revive with the business cycle. In fact, there’s no better time to study business than now.</p></li>
<li><p>Cornell vs. Northwestern: Kellogg is renowned, but b/c NU has no undergraduate business program, it doesn’t make much difference. Prestige wise, the Cornell name will give you an advantage on the east coast w/ wall street. Northwestern is widely respected, but you’ll get an edge with the name mainly in the Midwest. Its all about location. </p></li>
<li><p>Major: After talking w/ many econ majors and business professionals, many will tell you that an econ major is not necessarily the best path. I’m personally planning on studying some type of statistics/analysis, where my skills will be more practical in a large firm. Kellogg does offer a Certificate Program for undergrads
[Kellogg</a> School Certificate Program for Undergraduates - Kellogg School of Management - Northwestern University](<a href=“http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/certificate/]Kellogg”>Certificate Program for Undergraduates)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I would take up Cornell. Its undergrad busines program will get you ready for wall street.</p>
<p>Prestige of the schools are one and the same. But undergrad business programs outside of Wharton and MIT are often seen as watered down majors compared with econ, math, engineering, etc. As arbiter213 argues, AEM is a much easier program than, say, Cornell econ, but don’t believe for one minute that arbiter and I know this and employers don’t. Employers will take that into account when considering that inflated GPA.</p>
<p>A la Sam Lee’s argument regarding state flagships, as I mentioned in another thread, if you’re a NYS resident, AEM (and ILR for that matter) will mean 64K in savings over 4 years. You have to deal with some funky Cornell Ag requirements along the way if you do business there but that’s a lot of money to be saving, especially these days.</p>
<p>ROI wise from the point of view of contacts, agree Cornell offers more in absolute numbers of alums/contacts, especially on east coast, but there are many more Cornell grads sharing those extra alums/contacts than you’d see at NU (in part because of Cornell’s huge undergrad size, in part because of huge numbers of business aspiring Ag business, ILR, and A & S econ majors). </p>
<p>My advice - go where you’d be happiest and consider $. ROI’s here are probably pretty much a wash.</p>