Hey! I am an international applicant who got into Duke Econ and GT and Umich Industrial Engineering, and are so grateful for my acceptances! I am looking forward to working in Investment Banking, Consulting, or Management, and these are the colleges I got into. As such, I feel like Econ and Industrial Engineering would both help, but I need help regarding some specific points. Please help me decide regarding social life and academics.
Social life: I mean dorm quality, food, weather, parties, activities, stress/chill culture, and general study and classroom facilities
Academics: where am I more likely to get a better grade (is there grade inflation/deflation on any, as I plan on going to grad school), better placement for Consulting/IB, and research/project opportunities.
In terms of specific schools:
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GT (50k a year)
I like the school, but I feel like it’s too engineering-focused. I expect GT to be especially hard as I have read online, and the workload is supposed to be huge. probably going to leave with a lower GPA. major: industrial engineering with an economics and finance concentration.
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UMich (73k a year)
Not sure about the weather and the fact that there’s no airport, but definitely like the vibes. Also got in as an industrial engineer.
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Duke (80k a year)
BS in Economics with a finance concentration. Good stats and political science programs, and like the campus. Not a fan or Durham, but at least there is an airport.
In terms of money, my family does not qualify for financial aid and could technically afford all three options. Obviously cheaper is better, but as I am first-gen in the US, we are willing to spend a little more if the difference in opportunities (access to IB/consulting and grad school) are significantly better at one school than at the other.
Thank you!
UMich is a public school so it’s definitely bigger than the other two. Will probably get more of a social life there. It seems like you like UMich the best, and it’s definitely an amazing school! Is cost a factor at all? And also with GPA unless you are planning on going to grad school immediately afterwards I don’t think a lower GPA will really harm you that much (granted you pass all your classes and understand material, etc).
with umich being a public school it might be slightly harder for you to get research opportunities due to the massive amount of students, but also I think it depends on your field of interest and how willing you are to cold email and network w/TAs and professors
Georgia Tech is also a public school.
Ann Arbor is 20 miles from DTW. I wouldn’t let that distance deter you.
There’s a big difference between a BS in economics vs an engineering degree. I would decide which one you want to do without regards to the university and then go from there.
Your opportunities for IB/consulting might be better at Duke.
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Ann Arbor is about as far from DTW as downtown Detroit is so it definitely has an airport.
All 3 of them are hard. You may hear more whining from GaTech because there are more engineering majors there and the lower end is lower.
Duke would provide the best recruiting opportunities in your target industries
BUT
with the money you save from going to GaTech, you could pick up another masters or almost have enough for a M7 MBA later on.
There is a lot of overlap between econ and IE.
@baxelander , all very good schools. I am a Michigan grad. Lived in Atlanta, and best friend from high school went to Duke, so I’m familiar with all three.
Socially, Michigan will probably be best. Weekends in the fall revolve around football games, and in the winter basketball and hockey are there. Duke is a huge basketball school. Greek life is also a good way to get your social activities in, if that is your thing, and Michigan has an active Greek scene.
But if weather is a potential issue, then I would consider Duke or Ga Tech. Atlanta rains a lot in the winter, and Durham gets ice and snow. But Michigan is dreary and cloudy. You will not see much of the sun from Dec-March.
I had a hard time adjusting my first 1-2 winters, and I was from the Midwest. It definitely affected my mood.
The location of the engineering school at Michigan is North Campus, which is away from all of the action on Central Campus. A bus connects the two, but it’s a bit of a bummer.
If weather and North Campus aren’t an issue, then Michigan or Duke would be my picks. Tech is a great school but it always struck me as a bit too nerdy for my taste.
Check out niche dot com for reviews of all three schools.
Georgia Tech is number 1 in the US for Industrial Engineering. Can’t beat the networking opportunities for that program. It’s also got a huge student body (but not so huge that you’d get lost) and tons of activities. D-1 sports don’t hurt either, especially now that the teams are getting better again. There is so much to do on campus and in Atlanta that you wouldn’t have time for it all. The academic rigor is real, but that’s also part of what makes the program so good.
Georgia Tech does seem to have a number of study abroad opportunities that, apparently, are less expensive for OoS (and, I assume, international) students then studying in Atlanta as they allow the student to pay in-state tuition those semesters they are studying abroad.
I would think studying abroad would also be a (slight) plus for entering the consulting world.
Good luck.
There is a material difference in access to IB and McKinsey / BCG / Bain at Duke vs GT and UMich. That’s not to say you couldn’t do it from the other two, it’s all about the person at the end of the day. But you will get the opportunity to interview for all the consulting firms and IBs on campus at Duke, and the network for NYC is exponentially better (in an absolute sense, and especially in a per capita sense) at Duke. At a ~$30k cost delta per year, it’s an easy trade in my mind (though am obviously somewhat biased here)
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The study abroad opportunities are great. I think the selling point that they cost less is misleading. While as an OOS student you will be charged in state tuition, there are often quite significant extra costs associated with these programs, such as program fees (5,000 for GT Lorraine), Eurail passes, travel costs within Europe and to Europe, etc.
I wouldn’t count on spending less than OOS cost at GT if you go abroad.
From the standpoint of wanting to go into IB (by that I am assuming you mean NYC) Duke is the obvious choice. Those options are not nearly as plentiful at GT (not sure about Mich). There are a handful of students that do it every year but not easy and some that do have connections in the industry.
So how’d the story end? What’cha pick?
You should have tried to go to Michigan Ross if you wanted consulting or IB.
Target Schools
Target schools are schools where the vast majority of top banks conduct on-campus recruiting or specifically allocate spots for that school. Each target school is going to have multiple school alumni across all of the top banks. There’s going to be several people for you to reach out to at each firm and there’s a good chance that you have alumni at the junior, mid, and senior level.
Based on our assessment, there are 16 target schools nationwide, but even this list is pretty top heavy.
Frankly, there are a couple of schools that consistently dominate investment banking. They have multiple analysts at every single firm. The data says it and it was definitely my belief from working in investment banking in New York.
Wharton, Michigan, and Harvard are the only schools that have representation at 100% of the top firms.
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That generalization doesn’t apply to Michigan. There is only one school in the whole world with a research budget higher than Michigan. Also, Michigan UROP is a model for other universities, so I’ve heard.
