Northwestern v. Carleton College

<p>Hi, everyone. I'm an international student admitted from Northwestern's waitlist. Now I have two choices:
1. Northwestern: family contribution 28k
2. Carleton College: family contribution 10k
I should say that I love Northwestern, but 28k per year is a big amount for my family.
I will study Statistics in Northwestern and Math (and Economics) at Carleton.
I hope to be an actuary in the future.
Northwestern asked me to reply in a week. Which one shall I choose? Help!</p>

<p>i would honestly probably go with carleton if you're totally ambivalent between the atmospheres at the two schools, 3x as much in cost is a lot, and carleton would probably give you much more personal attention, even though it will have a lot less name recognition it's a very good school</p>

<p>What's a Carleton?</p>

<p>Carleton is the obvious choice, extremely good school for much cheaper. Plus, for UG, Carleton may be the better school(Extremely arguable).</p>

<p>Thanks! Speaking of name recognition, it seems that no one in my country knows Carleton. Do people in the US know Carleton? Since I hope to become an actuary, would you please tell me which school offers better job opportunities?</p>

<p>quick,</p>

<p>To land an entry level position, you need to pass at least the 1st exam, regardless where you go to school. That said, being at NU would allow you to have more opportunities as Chicago is home to quite a few insurance companies. Minneapolis/St paul may have some opportunities but I don't know how close Carleton is to that city. But if costs is an issue, stick with Carleton. Passing the first two exams is more important than where you go to school, at least that's the case in the US. If you want to work in the US, please be aware that getting an acturial job is much harder for internationals as there aren't that many openings. You may want to take the advantage of Chicago into account if you plan to find a job here. Good luck!</p>

<p>By the way,</p>

<p>Call NU to see if they still have spots available for MMSS (even technicly the the deadline has passed). Quite a few MMSS students had got internships with insurance companies in the past and last year at least 2 MMSS alums became Fellows (according to the alum news in their newsletter)</p>

<p>In terms of name recognition, I'm from the Northeast US and consider myself very well "in the know" about colleges, and I'd never heard of Carleton other than knowing it existed, and definitely didn't know it was a good school. So I think its safe to say the prestige is much lower.</p>

<p>The prestige to the general public with Carleton is lower, however, in terms of where it will get you, Carleton will be very similar to Northwestern. Carleton is well known by grad schools and employers, even if it isn't the household name that Northwestern is.</p>

<p>You can't really go wrong here.</p>

<p>
[quote]
The prestige to the general public with Carleton is lower, however, in terms of where it will get you, Carleton will be very similar to Northwestern. Carleton is well known by grad schools and employers, even if it isn't the household name that Northwestern is.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>this isn't really true, for overall undergraduate experience carleton may be comparable, but grad school/job placement is the one area that northwestern wins HANDS DOWN</p>

<p>From what I gather, companies that hire actuaries in the US don't generally care about where you go to schools as long as you pass the first two exams as the exams are difficult enough to be the better screening tool. That NU is better known is kinda a moot point.</p>

<p>That said, I think NU wins in two fronts:
1. Chicago; geographical location is a big deal as acturial positions are concentrated only in certain areas
2. alum network esp in Chicago; the field is a small sector so any edge in connection & networking is important.</p>

<p>carleton isn't even in the top 50 as a feeder school, northwestern is #21
<a href="http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>carleton is not recruited by even one of the top five consulting firms, northwestern is recruited by 4/5
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=235587&highlight=consulting+core%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=235587&highlight=consulting+core&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Thank you for all the replies! If getting an acturial job in the US is very hard for internationals, what kind of jobs can I get if I study:
1. Statistics in Northwestern
2. Math & Economics in Carleton?</p>

<p>One thing I don't understand is why you would choose to study Economics at Carelton but not at NU? NU's econ program is its hallmark...</p>

<p>Well, I intended to major in Statistics (for an acturial job), but Carleton doesn't offer this major.</p>

<p>there is absolutely no way that you can even compare Carleton to NU. But, NU wins hands-down. There are some educated people that have never even heard of a place like Carleton. I know a lot about schools but for a long time, I had no idea where it was located.</p>

<p>Interesting that Macalester outdid Carleton on that list, as Carleton is a much more selective institution with a better reputation. 28k is a lot of money, it might be a better idea to go to Carleton and try to be the big fish in the small pond. Regardless of what these feeder school lists may say, as long as you perform well and stand out you will gain entry into a highly reputable graduate school.</p>

<p>Carleton/NU:</p>

<p>To respond to some misconceptions on this thread: 3 of the top hires of Carleton grads are McKinsey, Ernst and Young, and Deloitte and Touche. All recruit ON CAMPUS as do many others a prospective actuary/statistician might one day be interested in including St. Paul's-Travelers (as in St. Paul/Minneapolis - 35 miles from Carleton), Banc of America, Well's Fargo, Piper Jaffray, GoldmanSachs, Progressive Insurance, Edward Jones, etc. This is true despite the general "pre-PhD" rather than pre-professional bent of students.</p>

<p>Northwestern attracts an even larger list of prospective employers to its campus given the interest of significantly larger numbers of graduates in pursuing business careers, the well-known excellence of its economics department and (by association, primarily) the Kellogg business school, the sheer size of its graduation class, and the Chicago locale. Graduates fair extremely well in job placement in top firms nationwide. </p>

<p>As you probably know, the vast majority of actuaries do not major in statistics in college but rather in math (often with a statistics concentration) or in economics with a math minor or co-major. If you were to perform well academically at as rigorous an institution as either Northwestern or Carleton and can handle the equally rigorous actuarial exams, you will have little trouble finding excellent job opportunities open to you. The critical importance of college cost is only known to you. Similarly, your thoughts about spending four years at a top ranked LAC of 2,000 students outside Minneapolis or a top ranked university on the outskirts of Chicago are also unknown to us and obviously an essential element in your decision. You're lucky to have two such excellent options.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Northwestern attracts an even larger list of prospective employers to its campus given the interest of significantly larger numbers of graduates in pursuing business careers, the well-known excellence of its economics department and (by association, primarily) the Kellogg business school, the sheer size of its graduation class, and the Chicago locale.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>i disagree with the assertion that size of graduating class has very much, if anything, to do with it.</p>

<p>If size of the graduating class meant anything, why are northwestern, dartmouth, princeton, harvard, yale, stanford, and penn all recruited more heavily than michigan, UVA, and Cal? which have ~3x the amount of students than even the biggest of those colleges?</p>

<p>Additionally, why are pomona and harvey mudd, williams, and amherst recruited? the latter two over UIUC and UT?</p>

<p>it's not size, it's desirability of undergraduates.</p>

<p>One more question: Does anyone know something about the "NU Loan - Int'l Undergraduate"? What's the interest rate? Any other loan programs for internationals?</p>