Please help me rank the business programs at these colleges

Applying to College
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Could you help me by ranking the following business programs at these universities? Her dad is a Georgia Tech alumni and we have the option to seek an automatic transfer in after a successful year at another accredited institution. She has been accepted at the other colleges.

She is in competitive high school band / color guard program & she would like to continue in college. UA, Colorado State & Georgia Tech are her top choices.

University of Alabama
Colorado State University
Georgia Tech
University of Colorado, Boulder
University of Arkansas
University of Oklahoma
Georgia Tech

Thank you.

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Towards what end? Finance at a consumer products company? Marketing for pharma? Accountant at a regional firm? Supply Chain for an aerospace company? Actuary? Need a little more context about her interests…

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See Niche and Poets and Quants for Undergrads.

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GTech will have regional with some national recruiting. The others will be more local(state) level recruiting. That doesn’t mean that people don’t get hired nationally, it will require more individual footwork.

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I’d take the guaranteed transfer. All the rest are a full level (some 2) below GT.

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delete

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So - does she want to go to school four years? If so, I’d eliminate Ga Tech? Because college should be a four year experience.

Then you have Colorado State and UA - is that Bama or Arkansas?

Bama is going to be the cheapest of the three. CSU and Arkansas both have nature - Fayetteville is super cool, a great town in the Arkansas mountains and CSU is close to skiing - but close enough to Denver.

You’ll have recruiting at all - but most at Bama (if that’s your UA) - but you can only get one job and you’ll be fine at any of them.

I’d go to:

  1. What’s most affordable and 2. What’s your best fit.

I would love who loves me - and that’s not Ga Tech. Only getting three years of college and starting after people have cemented friendships - that’s not a win to me.

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She really doesn’t know where she wants to end up doing long term. She knows the benefit of a GT degree as she has witness her dad’s successes. She is captain of her color guard team and has been ultra focused on that throughout high school. We live in Texas and she didn’t have an interest in applying to any schools here.

Her main drivers are 1) going somewhere where pretty, 2) continuing with a high level color guard program and 3) getting the best possible education she can at an institution that offers both 1 & 2.

University of Alabama & Colorado State University are her current top choices. She just received a nice scholarship to Colorado State. We are waiting to hear scholarship options for Alabama.

Univ. of Arkansas would be a price performer for us, but they do not offer a strong color guard program. Initially we were thinking she could attend here for her first year and transfer in to GT. If she liked it she could stay. But then we heard back from Colorado State and it bumped Arkansas off the list. She did get a nice scholarship to Arkansas however.

She is also admitted to University of Oklahoma, my alma mater. It’s not pretty there and they don’t have strong color guard program.

We are waiting to hear back from University of Colorado, Boulder. Very pretty, but color guard is not competitive enough. Although they do have the Blue Knights close by which offers a competitive extra curricular color guard program that is not affiliated with the college.

We have tours set up for Alabama & GT in February and Colorado State & Univ. of Colorado in March.

I was hoping knowing more about the business programs might help our decision making process. As I type this I’m think the tours are really going to give us the missing piece of info we need for determining which is what school will be the best “fit.”

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Thanks for making thing about the recruiting piece of this. That’s an important for us to remember. Also, good point about - Loving who loves me (her)! Thank you.

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Good points. Thank you.

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The OP’s daughter has yet to be accepted at Georgia Tech. At this stage, the OP appears to be seeking advice on which school might be best for the interim prior to a possible transfer.

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I understood that. My point is it doesn’t matter because I’d recommend taking the guaranteed transfer. Business is one of those majors where a solid brand makes quite a difference in available opportunities. The others on the list are fine schools but huge drops in quality and opportunities for business students. It’s the difference between a $45k job and an $80k job. Go elsewhere, do well, and transfer to GT. I’d advise any of my mentees the same.

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Got it.

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I went to grad school in Arizona and live in TN. I had never been to TN - at least that I can remember.

Where you go to school says little about where you’ll end up in 20 years unless you’re an entrepreneur or someone with a practice like a doctor.

Don’t know your daughter’s stats - but CU last year gave $6,250 a year to most everyone - or as they like to say $25K (but that’s four years). So CSU will be cheaper - but CU is more known on the national stage. Very few got - I want to say $15K a year.

Bama is tops for merit - when you say you don’t have the scholarship, you can figure it out pretty easily…I’ll link the table below - assuming you submitted a test. Theirs is auto merit.

OU is gorgeous (sorry) as is Arkansas (tons of Texans at both so if she’s trying to escape Texas, I get it). Don’t know anything about Colorguard but if that’s her passion she should go to where she can best participate - period, end of story.

I personally wouldn’t go somewhere with an eye on transfer - then you’re bound to be miserable that first year. And frankly, an undergrad business degree from Ga Tech does not carry that much weight.

So you listed two things - and I can’t address #2 - only you can.

But as far as pretty - and that’s in the eye of the beholder - many rate the Bama campus high - but the surrounds - not nice. Boulder and Fayetteville are super nice - campus and town. btw - Fayetteville is in a red hot growth area. CSU also nice - but most consider CU nicer.

The education will be solid at all - and you did not mention a major. Dr. Walker, the dean at CSU was my professor in grad school, and she’s top notch!! So I’m giving CSU some love!!

To me - Ga Tech is out - but unless you like being next to a freeway and in the city, I’ll call it less pretty. But some like being in the big city. But it’s not an option for next year - and frankly, to go second year is not fair to your child who will be behind socially.

So I think you pick the best for Color Guard - and if that’s CSU and Bama, you choose from them. Bama will have better recruiting - but again, you only need one job and so many kids find jobs on their own. Tuscaloosa is, for lack of a better word, a crap town. If she wants mountains and nature, CSU is an easy win.

Here’s the Bama Auto Merit table…you can get more. For example, my daughter got $24K but was upped to 28K after filling out the scholarship app they have.

Any questions let me know.

Out-of-State Freshman Scholarships – Scholarships | The University of Alabama (ua.edu)

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I highly disagree about G Tech for business. I work with those $45K kids…and they are in the same jobs as W Georgia, UT Chattanooga, etc. It’s a solid school for quantitative oriented education - but I don’t get the sense that this person is into operations or IT, etc. Yes, it’s ranking has moved up - but I don’t see it as a huge differentiator for business.

Business undergrad, outside of the high end consulting and finance jobs, people overstate the importance or rank, etc. Most people end up in “typical” corporate jobs - and for a student looking at OU, Arkansas, and Bama - I’m going to assume this person is in that category. Their goal and interest is colorguard, not immersing themselves in business clubs, hobnobbing and other stuff.

They’ll be fine at any of these schools.

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I hear what you are saying and thank for helping me understand the value behind taking this path. She’s can see the value, which is why she was considering it. We probably need to discuss it as sort of a hybrid, you can get what you want for a period of time at ___ and if you do well and want to, you can finish at GT. Best of both worlds. She also wants to study abroad and we can somehow weave that in too.

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That’s good insight. Thank you.

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With respect to business programs only, these choices may be more similar academically than different. Scheller probably places closer to Colorado State than it does to Wharton, for example. Nonetheless, I’d still place Scheller first from this group, and would suggest Leeds as a credible alternative for academic quality. Or, your daughter simply could choose the school she likes best without need for concern about making a “mistake.”

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I’ll advise GT really for the exposure. One of my students is interested in business and we have been to Scheller twice. Both times the students doing the tours had their internships after their first year. One was recruited by a firm in NY, was flown there etc but that fell through with Covid, then he got one remote to do. The other has had 2 internships with Atlanta area businesses and he is only a 2nd year student. I was definitely impressed with the opportunities the students have. They also do a lot of study abroad and for some guaranteed pathway students, they can start their fall semester doing the study abroad which has its pros and cons. They do have a lot of transfer students and have a lot of programs to acclimatize them.

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OP, Poets & Quants has a very good ranking for undergrad business programs. Check it out. No one in the know would rank GT and any of the other options even in the same tier. They aren’t close. Neither are the opportunities.

Good luck to your DD.

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