<p>Quick question. I, like most HS seniors, have not determined which career field I want to pursue after college. However, I do have a serious interest in both medicine and investment banking. Yet, because I do no have a single definitive "occupation goal," it sort of complicates my college search. I think I stand a fairly high chance at getting into a couple of ivies (not trying to brag or be arrogant here..but please just assume that I could get into say a dartmouth). Is it worth it to incur potentially large sums of debt when I don't know for sure what I want to do? More so, how long would I have in college before I would need to make a call on which career I want to pursue?</p>
<p>If you’re not at a Top15 (+Ross and Stern) school, you will have to work extremely hard to become a banker. Also, if you want to do banking, you need to get a solid coporate finance related internship before your senior year starts.</p>
<p>If you think you can get into a couple of Ivies, your chances at Dartmouth is pretty slim. Getting into Dartmouth and Columbia is only slightly easier than HYPMS. If you do get into Dartmouth, then you are on the fast track to investment banking.</p>
<p>The general opinion on collegeconfidential regarding best undergraduate colleges for investment banking (heavily influenced by academic strength of student bodies and strength of alumni network on Wall Street seem to be:
Best: Harvard, Wharton
Next: Princeton, Stanford, Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, Duke, MIT
Next: Cornell, Brown, Stern, Northwestern, UCB, Ross, UChicago</p>
<p>However, at these top schools, your performance in each matters much more than which one you attend.</p>
<p>Haha…I think I am competitive for getting into one of the HYPS schools…but your point about the difficulty of getting into dartmouth is well taken. Thanks for including the useful list. However, should I choose to go into a medical profession, then didn’t I basically waste all this money to attend a top school?</p>
<p>Sorry for making the assumption. Perhaps the phrase “I think I stand a fairly high chance at getting into all of ivies I apply to” would be more apt at describing your case based on what you just said.
But, anyway, I don’t think it’s fair to view attending an Ivy League school, Stanford, MIT, Duke, etc. over a top state flagship as wasting money no matter what career path you aspire to take. Attend one of these schools grants a unique experience, one that world’s most qualified applicants fight fiercely over and one that you will reminisce for the rest of your life.</p>