I’m having a really hard time making a choice on which college to attend! I have been accepted to these three universities. I have always wanted to get out of the cold, midwest for college and spend these four years exploring another part of the country. I have always wanted to go to a warm school far from home, but when I was directly admitted to the Kelley School of business at Indiana I knew it was a great offer. I’m just torn because outside of education UGA has everything I want in a school, except I am unsure about its quality of education and repuation in the north. I am afraid if I go to UGA I will only get jobs in the south and never be able to move back to Chicago. SMU on the other hand I know has a great repuation in Chicago, and I know a lot of people who went there and work in Chicago. I’m just unsure about the size (socially), price tag and potential snobby people. Graduating from IU looks amazing in Chicago but then I will go to a cold school close to home with a ton of people I know. UGA is 31k, IU is 38k and SMU 49k with scholarships recieved. The b-schools are ranked IU>SMU>UGA. What would you chose? Anyone know how good Terry grads are at getting jobs out of UGA? Any info is great!
Hey! It totally depends on your major but I’m a sophomore econ and MIS major and I’ve had a really good experience with Terry’s ability to bring in employers. They have someone here recruiting every other day, even more often during recruiting season. Most of the bigger companies have offices around the country, especially the big 4 which recruit heavily here (KPMG and Deloitte hire the most). Many people go to Atlanta after graduation because they request it but companies are very willing to work with you on location if they have an office in another state. There are other companies that do not even have southern offices that still come to recruit, like Dropbox (Austin, TX and San Fran) which is where I want to work. As a Terry MIS major. the placement rate is 97% so I’m not at all worried about finding A job, just THE job. If you do well in Terry and get involved in its organizations, you’ll be very well connected. All around, I’d say Terry provides more opportunities than you can even stand to attend. Their alumni connections office is very good too and sponsors a mentoring program which has been helpful to me. What would be your major here and what type of job do you want? Do you have any specific companies in mind?
Good luck with your decision and feel free to email me at amandaco@uga.edu if you have more questions! Go dawgs!
@Amandaphoria wow thanks for all this information! I’m not sure yet, as of right now I’m thinking marketing. I definitely want a job in a big company in a city. I just really want to experience another part of the country, but still make it back to Chicago one day (but then I’d have no friends from college with me 
) . My parents are a little nervous on agreeing with UGA just because they have never heard or met anyone who graduated from there (that’s why they are pushing IU). I figure this is my one time in life to explore a new part of the country, so I want to take it. Thanks so much for your detailed response, makes me feel better. I’m visiting soon and meeting with the business school and carear center! Hopefully after I visit all three schools for the second time the choice will be clear!
Sure! And if you want to meet up, I’d be happy to tour you (and your parents if they’re coming as well) around campus. A friend from my co-ed business fraternity just graduated with a marketing degree and now she’s up in New York (brrr) working for 360i. I don’t know anything about ad agencies really but that’s apparently one of the top firms.
I understand your concerns about moving away from current friends and then moving away from new college friends for your job, but I think that’s a good part of the fun. A lot of UGA’s students are from Georgia but nearly everyone breaks away from their high school groups. If they don’t, they’re really missing out on the benefits of attending a school of UGA’s size. There are a ton of organizations you can meet people through during your time here but it sounds like you know that and have a good spirit of adventure.
I believe Terry’s placement rate after graduation is something like 80% overall, more or less for each major, but with a decent amount of drive, it’s easy to not be the bottom 20%. You’re certainly given a lot of opportunities to rise above that.
A lot of our students do stay in the southeast by choice so it’s not too surprising that your parents haven’t met any UGA grads. You definitely can move between locations at a big firm. In fact, a lot of companies prefer to move you halfway across the country from your university to keep you from getting “distracted” by friends and family, haha.
One positive thing I will say about the majors at Terry is they make it very easy to pursue multiple interests. For example, I’m a double major in MIS and econ with an international business co-major and a Spanish minor and I’m graduating in 4 years. Although I don’t plan to pursue a career in econ, I just think it’s very interesting and want to learn more, it was only 6 more classes to add it as a major. If you decided you liked marketing AND something else, it would be easy to get both as majors. This only applies within Terry (it’s more difficult to double major across colleges) but it’s usually 6 or 7 extra classes, which gives a lot of flexibility and doubles your career opportunities.
You can also apply to the honors program after your first semester if you’ve maintained a 3.8, gotten teacher recommendations, and written an essay. The honors program gives you smaller classes where you can connect more with faculty. It’s easier to do research with a professor through the honors program and it’s definitely something that could give you a leg up when searching for a job.
I’m sure you’ll be happy at any of those schools if they’ve made it to the final stages. I hope you can make a decision that’s good for you!