My husband is an investment banker; started straight out of UNC at a bank in Charlotte more than 25 years ago. Then went to Kellogg and worked for another investment bank in Chicago. He still says undergrad doesn’t matter - go where you can do well and can afford it! Save the big bucks for grad school.
@Chardo This is why we’re hoping our son doesn’t get into NYU this week!
1 Like
@Chardo : Yes I meant NYU Stern, Cornell Dyson, Georgetown McDonough, Upenn(not Wharton), Duke(doesn’t have a undergrad business school). And yes NYU Stern squeezes 50K more. So, its very clear now that none of these worth 200K. Emory even offered special attention from Dean, preference to sign up to classes, scholars programming, paid semester abroad etc. So, they really want to give this scholars program the required attention to make it special and students successful. Only 5-6 kids of the 300 student class each year get this merit scholarship.
@mystic33 Take it and don’t look back! If he does well he can go anywhere after Emory.
As someone whose son turned down elites for a full scholarship to be the big fish, excelled as expected, got multiple offers for the job he always wanted, is now working alongside people from every elite school (at the same salary), and makes more money than he knows what to do with thanks to zero debt, I endorse Emory for this student.
1 Like
There are LOTS of businesses in the metro Atlanta area. LOTS. And it seems like more are opening up all the time. I think it’s a great spot for a business major to be.
Emory is a great school. Great.
1 Like
Thank you for all your thoughts. As we speak, my son just called me, overly thrilled to tell me he got into Georgetown as well. Its one of his top choice and the toughest to get in so far. I didn’t know how to respond, although congratulated him on his continued admissions to top schools(earlier he also got into UVA but McIntire is a separate application in sophomore year so we didn’t consider it anyways).
1 Like
You probably were willing/able to full pay (or at least resigned to full pay) at any of these schools if your kid was actually lucky enough to gain admission.
But now your kid is getting into all of them, and it may get worse before the week is done. Be careful what you wish for!
And now Emory has basically handed you (but not your kid) a check for $200+k tax free. But you can’t cash that check unless your kid agrees to go there…
If your kid was admitted to UPenn Wharton vs Emory, I might understand your indecision.
However, the differences between Emory and schools I listed alongside it in my prior post are so minor that it’s not worth tossing away that free ride to Emory.
And while UPenn(non-Wharton) and Cornell might be “stronger”, the differences are still so minor it’s not worth tossing away $200k. Especially considering you’d still need to excel at the top of your classes in both places for IB in the same ways you’d need to excel at Emory and schools I listed beside it.
In short, go Emory and put the $200k towards a top 8-10 MBA or something else.
Emory is a very good school and this is an outstanding offer. I don’t want to say “never”, but I can’t think of a situation where I would turn down this offer for any school at or near the full sticker price. The only way would be if Emory didn’t offer a program I just had to major in, or I had serious problems with Emory – but then, I wouldn’t have applied to Emory if either were the case.
I can see some very well-off people having the means to do it without it making much of a dent in their bank accounts, but that wouldn’t make it a smart move.
Emory and Goizueta are well-respected and if a student works hard and makes intelligent connections, I’m sure a job in NYC in the Finance world can be found. If that proves difficult, start out in Atlanta and transfer.
Future job notwithstanding, there is value to the education itself, and Emory (I think) is probably the equal of UMich and UNC academically at the undergrad level. (and Georgetown, Notre Dame, WUSTL and others among privates)
Mystic – FWIW, a kid at my kid’s school turned down Harvard in favor of one of those swanky scholarships from Emory.
In addition to the dough (which your kid will not appreciate as much as you), I’d focus your kid on all the special perqs and recognition that comes with the deal. Versus being one of many at all those other fine schools.
Like who likes you! > Don’t want to be a member of any club that would have me.
Wow- congratulations!!! As the parent of a Tar Heel who absolutely loves her school … I am going to tell your son to take the money to Emory ( as long as he likes it) and don’t look back. Congrats!!
I personally would set aside a pot of money for school and say, look, you can go to Georgetown or somesuch at full-pay but then be on your own for grad school, or you can go to Emory, get the perks there (and being designated someone special there, IMO, is as or more impressive than being one of several at a Georgetown), and an elite MBA for free (and maybe a nice car as well; $200K covers a lot).
Say you get in to HBS/Stanford. Do you want to be the guy who can’t go because of costs or has to take on massive debt to go, or do you want to be the guy who gets an HBS/Stanford MBA for free?
1 Like
DD is junior @ Goizuetta in accounting; will be @ Goldman for summer internship; was in Germany last summer for internship; take the money; save it for grad school.
Thank you all for continued and unified feedback. To continue the discussion, I will try to repeat some of the sound bytes based on your postings here (apologies, my first kid going to college, hence some of these amateurish postings):
BBA :
- Emory Goizueta Scholar is on par or better than Ross, Georgetown given its tuition free and special handholding from Dean for internships, placements etc.
- Although websites like wall street oasis didn’t show any undergrads from Goizueta at places like Goldman Sachs or other investment banks, its possible to go to those places(just not shown on those sites).
- Its better to be a big fish in Emory than a small fish in UMich.
MBA :
- Undergrad degree doesn’t matter as much if someone wants to build a strong career in IB/finance with a business major - they will most probably need an MBA.
- An MBA from a reputed school will override the undergrad from a very reputed school(unless its Wharton).
- It desirable to get into finance/IB after an MBA if the kid wants a more sustainable career
- In the long run, an MBA grad will potentially do better than an undergrad, financially or otherwise.
Career networking :
- Seems like networking is the mantra for success, how does one network with people in NYC when they are studying away in places like Atlanta, DC or Ann Arbor?
You could also point out to your child that not spending that $200,000 will will potentially make your estate worth an extra $1,000,000. (Assuming you live at least 25 more years and your money doubles every 10 years.)
Take the free ride at Emory. It’s a terrific university in a great city. Save that money (better yet, invest some of it), because in 7 or 8 years the cost of attending Ross or another top-10 business school for an MBA will be high. My daughter earned an MBA at Ross, and speaks very highly of it. But it cost a mint.
And if you’re lucky to get your employer to pay for such elite MBA programs like BCG does for some of their associates hired straight out of undergrad after their 2 year stint, that $200k can be put towards other things like a house/condo, seed money for starting a small business, or if he wants to splurge on a major scale, a bare bones Lambrogini. 
mystic33 one point that no onee has made to you and is important to consider - your son may very well change his mind about IB in the next 4 years. IF that is the case the $200,000 cost savings may become more important.
I speak from experience. My son is set to graduate from UPenn (Wharton) in less than 2 months. He is full pay. He chose Wharton (over U-Mich Ross direct admit) because his intent was to go to Wall Street. He has done very well at Wharton and had many IB’s to choose from. He interned the last two summers at prestegious positions. After those summers, he decided that Investment Banking is not his choice any longer. He instead chose a Consulting firm. His experience in school made him decide that finance alone wan not his desired path. Also the drudgery he experienced at the IB changed his mind.
The point is Emory is an excellent school. Also while it might not open as many IB doors, it will not close all of them. Furthermore it will still give him the opportunity to pursue many other career paths if he changes his mind. Finally saving the $200,000 can come in handy if and when he pursues an MBA (which quite a few of these kids will do).
This is true. IB has long painful hours.