i’m not really getting any responses from the business major forum but does anyone have any thoughts? cost will end up to be similar i think. if anyone is in KF, it’d be great to hear how it’s been being a student in it/ any other info!
KF undergrad has been a fantastic experience! What do you want to know? Interests? Aspirations?
@NewYawk hey, thanks for the reply! what was your emphasis if you had one (do most students remain general or pick one)? Were many of the biz classes inflated or was it difficult for most to get a high GPA? Also, I Believe the schools within UNC don’t have their own career services offices so did you feel like you got enough attention or help from them when you needed it?
Thanks so much
My son chose KF assured admit. He ended up only minoring in business, but had excellent experiences as a result of that minor. Traveled to South Africa for a summer minimester business class after his freshman year. Spent part of the next summer in Malawi working on a business plan for the UNC Medical School’s clinic there. Both trips were partially funded by grants he appplied for. He is a biology major with minors in music and business. He was hired by a major medical consulting group before he graduated.
Hi there,
I’m a KF student graduating this spring, so I can take a crack at your questions.
Areas of emphasis: I did a dual emphasis in Finance and Consulting. Both were fairly easy to complete. My general impression is that most students have at least one area of emphasis, with Finance (either general or corporate), Consulting, and Marketing seeming to be the most popular. Depending on what field you’re looking to get into, it’d be a good idea to pick up at least one emphasis to help make you more competitive for internships and full-time jobs. For example, it’d look a bit odd if you’re a Real Estate emphasis and you’re applying for a top consulting internship, especially since you’d likely be competing with a few dozen other KF students that have Consulting emphases.
Grades: Classes tend to be both challenging and competitive, but grading isn’t overly tough. Core classes (i.e. Marketing, Corporate Finance, Financial Accounting, etc) tend to curve to around a 3.3 or 3.4 GPA. Upper level classes, at least from my experience, tend to be a bit more lenient, though the KF administration does exert some pressure to keep grades at roughly the 3.4 level for most classes.
Advising: While other schools within the university may not have dedicated career services staff, KF does have full-time career/academic advisors that cater specifically to undergraduates. I’ve used them on a few occasions (once when deciding on an internship and once when weighing full-time options) and found them extremely helpful. All business students are required to attend KF orientation sessions that are strongly career focused prior to enrolling in the school full-time. In addition, as a pre-admit you’d have the opportunity to develop close relationships with most undergraduate staff, and they’d certainly be resources for you going forward.
My overall impression of KF is extremely positive. I took a lot of fascinating classes, learned from some excellent (and well-published) professors, and was able to leverage (business buzzwords!) my time at KF in the classroom and in extracurricular activities into a full-time position at a bulge bracket investment bank in New York City. In addition, like the above poster’s son, I was able to attend a two-week KF-sponsored business immersion trip to China, which was subsidized by a KF scholarship and undoubtedly ended up being one of the highlights of my time at Carolina.
Please feel free to reach out with any additional questions.
I really appreciate the detailed response and congratulations on your new position! @GoHeelsGoAmerica . I did end up deciding on UNC and KF as an assured admit and was wondering if you knew what positions marketing or marketing+consulting emphasis students that don’t become an analyst at a consulting firm tend to go into after graduating? (I’m interested in both but just in case my stats aren’t competitive enough to be the cream of the crop to be picked by a top consulting firm). I keep hearing that marketing is a “soft” area of study and that finance is much more solid. Would a student who picked an emphasis in finance and consulting also be able to go into marketing? Thank you much in advance
@Jaysun18 Sorry for the delayed response! I’ve been travelling abroad before starting work and just got back to the US.
There are a lot of consulting firms that recruit at UNC, including all of the top ones (Bain, BCG, McKinsey, Deloitte, PwC, EY, etc). KF has a great consulting emphasis, so many of those spots are filled by KF students. If that’s the route you’re looking to go, you’re certainly in a good place!
Most Marketing emphases, and even many Marketing and Consulting dual emphases, choose to go different routes, though. Some work for marketing-specific consulting firms. Other work for advertising companies or digital marketing firms. Others choose to work in marketing for large public or private companies like P&G, Newell Rubbermaid, Wells Fargo, or Altria. A few even go into strategy or financial analyst roles at similar companies. In short, there are a lot of options, and there are plenty of KF upperclassmen and alumni to network with so that you can figure out where you want to go!
You probably could go into marketing with a finance emphasis. If you’re set on marketing, though, I’d suggest sticking with it as your emphasis. Firms generally like to see that you’ve demonstrated an interest in the field that you’re applying for. If you’re applying for a marketing role, they’d probably prefer that you’ve studied marketing rather than a “harder” or “more difficult” discipline. Your interviewers will likely be marketers as well, so I highly doubt they’d look at marketing as a “soft” area of study, anyway!
Congrats on your decision, and best of luck for your next 4 years!
@GoHeelsGoAmerica are there also any big investment banks that recruit at UNC?
@bksoccer7 Many of the bulge bracket investment banks recruit at UNC. Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Bank of America - Merrill Lynch, Citi, and UBS all recruit on campus for traditional investment banking roles. In particular, Wells Fargo and Bank of America - Merrill Lynch, which have large presences in Charlotte, recruit heavily from UNC.
Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse also recruit on campus, but only for middle or back office roles that are generally based out of the Research Triangle Park.
While banks like Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Deutsche, and Barclays don’t directly recruit at UNC for investment banking positions, they have each hired KF alums (and some current interns) in the recent past.
Smaller, though still prestigious, investment banks like Lazard, Jeffries, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, and Oppenheimer also recruit at UNC.
Investment banking is a fairly popular first job for UNC graduates, in general, and for Kenan-Flagler graduates, in particular. I’d guess that upwards of 60 students end up in investment banking roles at various banks across the country each year.