Hello, I have been accepted to both Tufts and directly admitted to the Kelley school of business at IU Bloomington. My question is: If I am interested in a job in investment banking or consulting at a bank on the East Coast, should I pursue Tufts’ Economics program or attend Kelley at IU? I know Kelley is a highly ranked business school, but I have also read many great things about the Econ. program at Tufts, including that many econ. undergrads go on to attend grad school at universities such as MIT. Thank you for any help or information you can provide!
I have no personal opinion on the two schools (other than to say they are both fine options but very different environments) nor do I want to try to predict what jobs or grad schools you might get into from either option. But It is important to understand that economics and going to an undergrad b-school are very different paths. Economics is a liberal arts course of study and gets very theoretical at the upper levels. In contrast if you go to an undergraduate business school you will take a business core with introductory classes in subjects such as accounting, finance, IT, marketing etc. and then you will major in one of those disciplines. I’m not saying that one path is better than the other, but they are different. I would take the time to look at the coursework (can be found online) for the b-school at Kelley and an economics major at Tufts. Then consider if one academic path and/or one school’s environment is preferable to you.
The Liberal Arts/Econ path provides a more general base of knowledge, provides more practice with writing/communication skills and will be more theoretical. You will need to be able to apply this more general knowledge/skills to business.
The Business path will provide a more specialized base of knowledge where the underlying theory has already been applied to the domain of business.
Some Business Schools are more theoretical/liberal artsy than others. I have no knowledge of where Kelley fits on that spectrum (and it could vary by specialty).
Some Econ programs are more theoretical than others. Tufts spans a pretty wide range because it has both a standard Econ major and a Quantitative Econ Major (more math heavy and more theoretical).
Some people like learning the theory and may be good at figuring out how to apply it themselves, while other people like learning the specific application of the theory and may be good at generalizing a given application to another application.
Learning more of the specific applications tends to allow one to come up to speed more quickly in that specific field, with less on the job training/learning required. Learning the theory tends to pay dividends as one advances to more senior roles within a field or switches to a related field.
For Investment Banking, you would most likely major in Economics at a pure Liberal Arts College and Finance at a pure Business School. Finance is applied Economics theory plus some field specific knowledge.
Tufts offers a minor (but no major) in Finance. So a combination of an Economics major and a minor in Finance represents sort of a middle ground between Pure Economics and Pure Finance. Tufts also offers a minor (but no major) in Entrepreneurial Leadership which is another applied field within the domain of Business.
I do not know what options of majors and minors Kelley offers.
There are many types of grad schools, but a more general/theoretical path tends to better complement graduate school than a more specific/applied path.
Tufts does place people in IB, Consulting, and top grad schools. I have no specific knowledge about Kelley, but I know it is highly regarded.
I am biased toward the Liberal Arts major/applied minor path, but that does not mean that it is the right path for you.
Make sure you avail yourself of both academic and career advising early (independent of the path you take), especially if you are aiming for the more selective jobs/grad schools. Extracurricular activities and internships are important.
Best of luck