<p>I am interested in undergrad accounting programs and would be paying in-state tuition to UWM and Carlson and would pay significantly higher tuition at Olin (180K over 4 years). I was wondering (1) how these accounting programs are considered by recruiters for the Big4 and other accounting firms and (2) whether advantages of the accounting/general undergrad business program at Olin would justify the higher cost. Thank you for your opinions!</p>
<p>Cost is a complicated question. If you are personally paying $180k and your parents aren’t helping out at all, or you personally are going to take out a substantial amount of loans to go to Wash U… then you probably would want to go to UW. I would never discourage someone from Wash U, but if you personally have to go into severe debt, then it’s a completely different story. There is no right answer as to how much of a loan you “should” take out (if any). It would vary from person to person. If you have to take out $180k in loans – then certainly choose UW. It you have to take out like $15 grand total? That’s just a number I threw out there, but that could be paid off in like 2 years after graduation. </p>
<p>Is UW giving you any money? Are your parents paying? If your parents are paying and tell you “go wherever you feel happiest” then take their word for it and choose whichever school you like best. It’s always a nice gesture to help out the parents, but if they don’t care about the money (I don’t know anything about your situation), then go to whichever school you like more. UW and Wash U are about as different as you can get. </p>
<p>Regarding recruiting - I know for a fact that all the big 4 firms recruit on Wash U’s campus and as long as you are doing reasonably well in the business school, you should be able to snag a job, or at least an internship, with one. A good friend is going to be working for KPMG in New York after graduation, and while he’s smart and gets good grades, I don’t think he has a 4.0 and he is just “standardly” involved in various groups. I could ask around to try to find out exactly how many people will be going to a Big 4 firm, but I’d imagine it’s a pretty solid amount of accounting majors here. This might help a bit: <a href=“http://www.olin.wustl.edu/docs/WCC/EmploymentBSBA.pdf[/url]”>http://www.olin.wustl.edu/docs/WCC/EmploymentBSBA.pdf</a></p>
<p>Wash U’s b-school school is ranked in the top 15 in both US News and Business week, while Wisconsin’s is not. Wash U will probably have more of a national recruiting base, whereas at Wisconsin you’ll likely be more limited to Chicago or Milwaukee (not that you couldn’t get to New York or LA or elsewhere if you wanted to, I’d imagine in would just be more difficult).</p>