I’ve been accepted to University of Miami and University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. I am planing to study Finance and I am having a hard time chosing which one is better for me. First, I love North Carolina and I feel like their business school (Kenan-Flagler) is way better than that for UM. I love the campus, the student life, and the rigorosity of the school. On the other hand, UM would be 13.000$ cheaper than UNC. UM is also a school were I think I would fit in more, as I am a latino with strong connections and relations with the city of Miami. My family say there is no problem on paying the difference but I wanted to lessen the pressure for my parents. Which one could be better for me for my years as a college student and for my postgraduate endeavors? Thanks
First, congratulations on two great schools. I would agree in general that UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School (KFBS) has a better reputation than UM, but UM is also a great school. Differences in the two universities are primarily UNC is larger, in smaller college town surrounded by bigger NC city, business school has great connections through the US and has a lot of choices for concentrations. If you test out of a lot of classes from AP credit, you will have smaller classes and may be able to save some of the $13k a year difference.
Compare that with UM that is smaller, but they tailor your undergraduate experience a bit more, you are in Miami which is a larger city and not as much a college town as Chapel Hill (although Coral Gables is a nice oasis in a larger area). UM has good international business and Miami is a hub for Latin and South America. UM is that private university experience compared to a more public university so it may have more people from different areas of the country.
Unless you are an assured admit to KFBS, you apply for admission to KFBS your sophomore year and stats are pretty high for that, so that can be a bit of an unknown. About half the applicants are accepted to KFBS. Not sure how UM works.
A lot probably boils down to where you will be most comfortable and will give you the environment to thrive and maybe where you eventually want to live and work. If you are looking at grad school after, there probably isn’t a lot of difference between the two and an extra $52K ($13K * 4) could be used for grad school. Not sure if this helped, but good luck
UMiami is an excellent school and if it’s cheaper, you basically get a private university education at public prices. Very good value.
UNC Kenan-Flagler is a better school than UMiami - no question about it and 13k over the long run really isn’t something to use to sway your decision 100%. Choose where you will be more comfortable in this instance but strictly academically speaking, UNC is superior to UMiami