NYU Stern vs. UC Berkeley (potentially) Haas

Hey everyone!
I’m stuck deciding between NYU’s Stern and UC Berkeley.
I plan on studying business, specifically finance; cost isn’t too much of an issue, although NYU will be slightly more expensive.
The big dilemma is deciding between going to NYU’s business program directly vs. going to UC Berkeley as an undecided major and having to apply to their business program with the potential of not getting in.
I plan on visiting both schools this month for their admitted students day.
Any advice, especially from people who are or have been in my situation, would be greatly appreciated!

Some other notes I’m taking into account:

  1. NYU takes considerably less AP credit but I think they’re overall credit requirement to graduate is less.
  2. I’m from Southern California so going to NYU would be a drastic change in scenery. (My brother goes to UC Berkeley, so it’s more of a familiar terrain)

I’d generally opt for the direct admit school (NYU Stern in your case) since you will be guaranteed that you can study what you like.

Visit and see what you like – NYU is a less traditional college experience as it has no real campus.

I’d also suggest that you research to see what qualifications you need to get into Haas, how many are accepted into the b-school etc.

NYU

I have a student at Haas and undergrad admissions is very competitive. I recommend taking the bird in the hand, NYU - Stern. If you don’t get admitted to Haas, I think you’ll have plenty of regrets for what might have been…

I’m wrapping up freshman year at Stern right now and I’m planning on transferring to Haas during junior year.

Like some people above have mentioned, I would recommend going to Stern, especially because it’s a geographical/lifestyle change, which can help you learn outside the classroom, and then applying for Haas as an external transfer.

If you do well at Stern, your odds of getting into Haas will be pretty high; if you don’t get in, then you’ll still be at Stern with equal amounts and quality of education and opportunity. To me, this option is sort of a win win.

Hope that helps!

I do not usually recommend NYU over Cal, but if you want to work in Banking, Stern over Cal (Haas) makes good sense.