I’ve checked this board seeming hour by hour for about 18 months and now all of her decisions are in and I’d love some input.
As background, she wants to ultimately end up in finance on Wall Street and she has had a clear number one school from the start. I just want to make sure we aren’t overlooking something and please disregard cost this is just based on her future aspirations.
We aren’t waiting on deferrals or WL because she got in everywhere she applied and the options are (in no particular order):
Boston College (CSOM)
IU Kelley (Honors)
University of Richmond
UVA
UNC (waiting on assured admit to Kenan-Flagler)
Furman
UGa
Thanks for any input! @privatebanker@Publisher - I’ve respected your opinions regarding applicants and wanted to make sure you saw this
If I had to pick the best option for finance on Wall Street based just on the information shared in the above post then: The University of Virginia is a great option.
Internships are important with respect to getting job offers.
I think that visiting campus and attending classes can be the most helpful way to decide. Sometimes overnights. And reading the fine points of curriculum and degree requirements.
Is there a particular area of the country where she wants to be? Big or small, city or rural or suburban and of course “vibe” is important.
Is she sure of her career goal? Many high schoolers have ideas on career but change during college. There is an argument for leaning toward programs with the broadest foundation. Many grads end up working in finance on Wall Street without majoring in business at all, in fact.
Off the top, I would consider BC and UVA top choices, but that’s me And we don’t know the relative costs.
All seven colleges & universities are interesting options. But, and I suspect that I will catch some flak for this statement, the University of Virginia is considered to be quite prestigious. This may possibly be due in part to its graduate school of law & MBA program at McIntire which both rank among the very top in the nation, but UVA undergrad carries some weight on Wall Street.
Narrow it down to the top 3 and go to admitted student days at those three. Use that time at the schools to have her figure out which one she feels is the best fit for her. When my daughter had to decide we did a spreadsheet for all of the places she was accepted - in the end that only got us down to 3 schools. The admitted students days made the decision for her.
Are all of these options affordable in terms of the costs of attendance? I know younsaid to ignore finances…but seriously…a finance major of all things should be aware of…finances.
I would take Furman and Richmond off the list now. I think the others are better options.
If possible, consider advising your daughter to take some courses dealing with data analytics if this area of study is of interest to her. Data analysis / data analytics is in high demand & should make her resume stand out if noted that she has completed a course or courses in this area (assuming high GPA, of course).
I’d check courses and what’s truly available the first two+ years and any pre-reqs. And how my kid would thrive or less so, as a big fish vs little fish. The idea isn’t just the prestige or the major, but where she can come out on top (ish) and be empowered. Some of that is also each school’s culture. BC is a pretty tight community, networking may be different than at a mega U, especially in the NE. Or some on the list may have more accessible research or internship opps.
It’s not just that kids can change majors. It’s that colleges offer more variety of courses than hs can. Kids discover new interests. And in hs, they don’t know the range of career options. They tend to name the few same ones they’ve heard of. Doctor, banker, professor, lawyer, etc.
I may be a loner in this but I think direct admit to a b-school program (assuming that is what she wants to study) is huge and it would weigh in my decision. I know too many people who went to a college assuming they would get into the b-school and then it didn’t work out and they had to change major or transfer. I understand that the admit rate to McIntire is around 60% which isn’t bad https://www.commerce.virginia.edu/undergrad/application-process-uva but I’d rather have the direct admit.
On your list the schools I’d look at BC, UNC (if get direct admit), URichmond and Kelley the closest and if she loves UVa keep that in the mix as well. Ask your D what she likes in terms of size/location, what she wants in a college etc. Look at the core curriculum for BC (can be found online) and be sure she is OK with it. Narrow things down to a few and if possible make some visits during accepted students day (or before if she wants to make a decision sooner rather than later).
BC is good for Wall Steet. Is there any preference on wider environment? Many good things about Boston as a college city, but there seems to be a predilection for the south in that college list.
Do not underestimate the chances that her future aspirations will change. We see it here all the time. My own daughter changed her mind from the application time, to attending time, to end of second semester. Somehow she went from Bio/Chem to Math to CS and will graduate double major Math/CS. I would have never guessed that she’d major in CS at all, she never showed any interest in high school and was pretty clear back then what her future aspirations were.
I do not view a direct admit to business school as a huge plus. IBs do not care that much if one has an UG business degree. I think a general, rigorous liberal arts education is probably more desirable and it would give OP’s kid more options for future employment. I would choose UNC and UVA over other schools.
Both of my sons did spreadsheets with ranked criteria, including things that were highly subjective. For example, they rated things like distance from home and strength of major on a scale from 1-10, but then also ranked how important each criterion was (so for one son, the food was ranked high for quality, but low for importance.)
Visit/sit in on classes where she can, stay overnight on campus if possible, don’t make a decision until late April. She has the luxury of time to sort through each school and decide what’s important.
Knowing how tough it is to get into our flagship’s business school if not a direct admit, I’d consider a direct admit to the program a plus.
And we don’t know the relative costs.