Hi y’all! I’ve recently been going through somewhat of an existential crisis because I’ve been pretty confused where I want to go. For the longest time, I wanted to go to Barnard, but I feel like it’s pretty much a longshot. I have good extracurriculars and solid essays, but I heard that its very competitive.
As of now, I’m tied between Reed, Barnard, and University of Washington. While all three are very appealing, they have some downsides. I was wondering which college would be the best choice for me to apply ED and any other colleges that are similar.
What I want in a school:
Preferably in a big city with a large job market so I won’t have to worry too much about employment and so I won’t have to move after I graduate
Easy to switch majors
Relatively small, but fine with 15,000 to 20,000 undergrads
Study Abroad
Students are able to have a life outside of academics
Barnard. Reed offers no merit aid so ED is not a good risk financially no matter what your situation. If your stats are such that you are even considering Barnard, you’ll likely get in to Reed RD. UW doesn’t do ED.
EDITED: You probably mean Wash U, not University of Washington! Sorry! Hopefully others here can advise on Wash U.
U of Wash is too large. If you mean WUSTL, then - they do offer merit (hard to get). Neither Barnard nor Reed do. Can you afford $325k + or have your folks filled out the NPC? It’s binding so you want to ensure affordability. You say tuition isn’t a deterrent but double check with your folks because you can find similar schools for much less if full pay - in a city with cold.
What do you want to study ? Barnard is NYC. Right there. If UW, it’s not in downtown Seattle yet not horribly far. But it’s not the city like Barnard. If WUSTL, same - it’s in St Louis but a few miles West of downtown. Reed is also not downtown. So if you want city, only Barnard is it.
Reed, btw, is not relatively small. It’s very small - under 1500.
So b4 you apply ED make sure they are affordable.
For switching majors, it will depend on the major but it’s normal.
As for employment, you always need to worry regardless of city size and you can and will end up anywhere, regardless of the three you go to if you get into one. In other words, where you go provides zero assurance or even better chance of ending up there.
But if it did, then you should pick based on where you want to be - NYC, St Louis or Seattle for UW/WUSTL or Portland are all vastly different.
In actuality, outcomes do not appear to align this way. Graduates from Barnard and Reed do not, on average, earn as much in their early careers as those from Hamilton and Williams, for example.
Sorry - when the person mentioned WUSTL - I’m just mixing schools - yes, UW is public and WUSTL is not public. Sorry for the mix up. I’ll take OP at their word that they are talking about UW but threw in WUSTL as @mom2jgd mentioned. My bad.
My parents are fine with paying as long as I end up at a school where the can justify the cost. Barnard seems to be the only school as of now that fits all of my criteria, but the acceptance rate is so low, and admissions are so cut throat.
As of now, I want to study finance, and that’s why NYC is where I want to go.
Then I suggest you first find schools that offer the major you want to study vs naming schools you’d like to go to that don’t offer what you want (short of UW if that’s what you truly meant).
I’m not aware that Barnard/ Columbia or Reed have a finance major. Econ yes. But that’s not finance.
You would be smarter to lay out your criteria as you’ve done. Your stats - gpa/sat. Your rigor - # of AP,etc and ask for recommendations of schools you should look at (Penn instead of Barnard for example).
I don’t know, forgetting acceptance rates, that you’re qualified for these schools as you’ve given no stats.
But I do know you’ve named them without researching and your criteria in regards to reasons for a location are highly flawed.
Also, why finance ? What do you want to do - corporate, I banking, something else ??
First can you clarify if you are talking about U Washington , or WashU in St Louis?
Neither Barnard nor Reed have a finance major. They both have Econ which is not like studying finance, so take a look at the Econ course descriptions and readings, and see if they appeal.
Reed is probably not a great choice if you want to end up in NYC finance. There will not be many peers looking to do that, it’s a relatively poor cultural fit, and the geography will also be a disadvantage. If Econ appeals look at an LAC in the East if you want NYC. There are also some LACs with finance majors so perhaps those could be a good fit. Barnard can work, but it’s a reach for all so you need to expand your list.
Based on what we know about this student’s stats, from another thread, Barnard would seem to be a high reach. But maybe you have information we don’t have? It would be helpful to know OP’s rigor and ECs.
I got a 1350, and I’m going to retake it in august, but I highly doubt I can get it up to a 1480+. My gpa is 3.74/4 uw / 5/6 w
oh - there’s more. Good research. Yes, Barnard would be very unlikely - but forgetting that, I think the OP needs to stop doing chance mes - and needs to figure out what she wants in a major and find a school to match.
And if she put out those stats and her criteria, she’d get recommendations - assuming Wall Street not part of it - U of Denver, as an example
You can prepare for a career in finance through a combination of courses in economics and mathematics. If you would like to attend an LAC, look for those with economics course offerings in topics such as accounting, corporate finance, international finance, financial economics and financial econometrics. This analysis will lead you to colleges with excellent economics programs, which you can then research further: Economics rankings: US Economics Departments at Liberal Arts Colleges | IDEAS/RePEc.
College Scorecard reports the following median earnings for economics majors (which is the most popular major at all of these LACs) and all majors (which could be influenced by the portions of students choosing higher and lower pay majors and other student career goal characteristics):
School
Earnings - economics majors
Earnings - all majors
Barnard
$87,791
$71,678
Hamilton
$84,359
$74,340
Reed
NA
$50,784
Williams
$91,723
$71,608
Reed seems like the outlier, probably because it is far out from the Wall Street orbit both geographically and in terms of student career goals.
These schools are very different, so it’s not immediately obvious what you like about each one. You mentioned that all of the three are appealing, but also have downsides. What is appealing about each of these schools? What do you see as their downsides?
The point for the OP to consider might be that an urban collegiate setting does not appear to confer evident career advantages, at least with respect to these examples.
