My son is trying to decide between these two. Possible finance or marketing major. He is not sure where he wants to live after college. Can anyone speak to internships and job prospects after graduation? I have heard Georgetown students do a lot of internships but don’t really have data for Notre Dame. How many summers do students typically intern? How does the Notre Dame network compare to Georgetown? Comparison of the business schools themselves?
(Also posting on Georgetown thread)
I should have been clearer. I meant summer internships, not during school year.
@mom22boys I couldn’t find any definitive internship stats either. I did find the link below which give reports that are summarized based upon people that chose to respond to the survey. Obviously, many people probably didn’t respond to the survey. The report does provide some info that you might find helpful as it relates to where people obtained internships and what “Class Year” those people were. The surveys were performed in the Fall and were asking about experiences during the prior summer. So for those people that are listed as Senior’s, they are referencing an internship that was done the summer between their Junior and Senior years.
My overall impression is that a significant number of people are doing two internships, primarily the summers before their Junior and Senior years. However there are some people doing internships the summer after their Freshman year.
http://careercenter.nd.edu/students/success-stories-data/summer-experience/
I don’t know the answer to your question about internships, but would say that outside of Washington D.C. the Notre Dame network is stronger than Georgetown’s. The ND alumni network is one of the strongest.
Also, while acknowledging that you can’t rely too much on rankings, especially since the evaluation factors can be so varied from ranking to ranking, it nevertheless bears some consideration that there appear to be no rankings of either undergraduate business schools or of national universities overall that put Georgetown above ND, and several have ND significantly higher, e.g.:
USNWR Undergrad Biz: ND #10, GT #15
Fortune Top 10 Undergrad Biz: ND #2, GT Unranked
Bloomberg Undergrad Biz: ND #1, GT #15
USNWR Overall: ND #18, GT #21
Forbes Overall: ND #13, GT #23
Niche Overall: ND #13, GT #18
The b-school at ND is ranked a bit higher (hopefully your S has a Mendoza pre-admit) but both are excellent. I’d base the decision largely on which campus environment you S wants to spend the next 4 years.
Both ND and G’Town have strong undergraduate business schools. If you do well at either, you will have opportunities. Don’t get caught up in rankings…chose the campus culture and location you prefer.
I agree that if you visit both and one is clearly a better fit, then go with that one. DC location clearly has some advantages, but so does the close-knit community and school spirit that comes with not being in an urban setting. But if you had to break a tie, ND is generally regarded as better for undergrad business, better overall and as having a stronger alumni network. Georgetown might have a clear edge over ND if you were looking at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, but Mendoza has the edge over McDonough.
GT will have closer relationships with East Coast firms, ND with Chicago firms, but that will by no means be absolute. The ND senior student tour guide (Finance major) we had at the admitted students visit was moving on to Goldman Sachs in NYC after graduation. If you are interested in international business, GT might have some advantage, but both universities offer plenty of opportunities.
My son is going into physics at ND, and we were impressed by the many excellent internship opportunities, both domestic and abroad. For example, they send a couple of students each year to CERN in Switzerland and have an ongoing faculty presence their. Similar opportunities with Argonne, Fermilab and others. Study abroad and research opportunities abound.
My point is that my impression of ND is that, while solidly in the middle of the Midwest, it is truly a world-class institution with plenty of opportunities beyond the realm of South Bend.
ND has excellent connections and a strong alumni base on the east coast as well…
As mentioned in previous replies, either school will open plenty of opportunities for your son (and congratulations to him for having these fabulous choices). ND business is ranked a bit higher, but his choices will likely have to be based on the soft factors mentioned in above replies as well. My DD had to choose (not for business tho) between an excellent urban school (Penn) and ND. ND won out because of the soft factors. I mention the urban part, because depending on where your son went to high school, that may be a factor. Georgetown is in the “thick” of it in an awesome city. Bustling activity, hospital sounds etc…,. ND of course isn’t. My daughter is graduating from a great high school located in the middle of a bustling urban university environment. She’s happy to get away from the urban atmosphere, (although will miss the many wonderful places to eat). If your son has gone to a sleepy suburban high school, maybe he wants the bustling urban environment. Again excellent choices, whatever he decides he will be successful for sure : )