So I am accepted to both Middlebury College and pre admit to the Ross school of business at U of M. I am interested in doing econ or math at Middlebury if I chose to go there and finance at U of M. ( I do plan on going into Investment banking for now but that might change) I just wanted to know which school will offer me more opportunities in the future and which school has better recruiting on Wall Street/ financial districts like chicago, San Fran etc? Im having trouble deciding so any input would be appreciated.
OMG. These two colleges are as different as they possibly could be. UMIch = HUGE campus, lots of grad students, prominent Greek life, and football; Ross = VERY preprofessional.
Middlebury = small liberal arts school, learning for education’s sake, no Greek life at all, and not preprofessional.
It sounds like your idea of going to college is to get specific preparation for a specific career. In that case, Ross is your place. Why would you be considering Middlebury? Are the costs different for you?
I visited and I loved Middlebury. Campus, people, social life, tight knit community etc. I also know it is a very good academic school with math and econ programs that are highly viewed which is what I am interested in studying.
Have you visited Michigan? The only thing that these two schools have in common is that they both begin with the letter M.
I like both schools…that is why im asking about the opportunities after graduating in the field i listed.
Have you visited Michigan? If not, and you are able to afford the visit, you should try to get there. It is very different from Middlebury, and your decision may become immediately apparent to you.
I have never heard that Middlebury is what they call a “target school” for IB recruitment. Check it out for yourself on Wall Street Oasis:
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/wso-rankings-for-investment-banks-university-power-rankings-part-10-of-10
If your main priority is to get a job in IB upon graduation, it appears that the Ross school would be a more direct route than Middlebury would be. People go to Ross for one reason only: To get a high-paying job right out of college. Most people at Middlebury are there to explore and pursue intellectual interests, not as a direct path to a job.
Middlebury is an amazing school, but if you know for sure that you want to go to Wall St and you got into the business school at Michigan then Michigan makes sense. You might want to see which Wall St recruiters come to Michigan. In fact, find out who recruits at Middlebury, then decide. You can be successful coming from either of these schools, but it helps to know which one will help get you where you want to go.
If you have visited both. Go to Midd. You can definitely get to Wall Street from Midd. And it is the next four years of your life.
Go to Michigan, request the Residential College, which will give you a liberal arts college residential feel. You can double major in Business and Mathematics while taking several advanced Econ courses. It is hard to pass up Ross preadmit if you are considering a career in finance.
That being said, if you visited both schools and really liked Middlebury more than Michigan, you really cannot go wrong going to Middlebury either.
Midd is actually (surprisingly!) a heavy hitter for Wall Street jobs (especially consulting, which is as “prestigious” and well paid as IB).
The difference is more in the overall environment this student is seeking:
- large campus with lots of different people vs. close-knit community
- big spectator sports and a great community experience in the stadium watching games vs. big involvement in sports (as an activity) and the outdoors (skiing, hiking, climbing) with experience based on “doing/practicing” together.
- preprofessional students (focus on future career, learning because it takes you somewhere) vs. more intellectual students (focus on learning because learning’s cool)
- lots of business class choices within a prescribed curriculum vs. liberal arts exposure with a strong study abroad program
You really can’t go wrong but both are very different. If you’ve visited, did you like one better than the other?
Both great choices. Just to clarify, while Middlebury does have some alumni in consulting, the numbers are not that high, no more than peer schools. About 5% of alumni report they are in consulting careers, with Deloitte having 20 alumni. Keep in mind many have graduate degrees and this covers all 26,504 alumni reporting. The largest career path by far is education at 17%, with Media & Communications second.
You can get to Wall Street from Midd. Regardless of where you go, make sure you get some solid summer internships.
Don’t let IB be the deciding factor on your school choice. Your goals may or may not remain the same. Pick the environment you like better. Neither school will stop you from achieving career goals.
I am actually also deciding between these two schools and would go into finance at michigan ( but didn’t get in pre-admission) or Econ at Middlebury. My brother goes to Midd currently and sister graduated 3 years ago. My sister was a neuroscience major there and is now an investment banker, which shows you midd’s reputation and ability to do whatever you want with your degree. My brother is a junior and an Econ major and is working at Deustch Bank this summer. I was offered a spot on the golf team if went to Midd, and was admitted as a feb. I am split because the schools are so different and each has such great advantages.
I don’t think Michigan takes an academic backseat to any public U except maybe Berkeley, but they’re close. Michigan is top-10 in most programs and top-25 in virtually everything else – quality across the board.
Michigan is more known worldwide (should your career cross international boundaries) and in the US.
So the battle lines are drawn:
Elite public university vs. Elite LAC
You just have to decide which environment fits you best, given the money situation and your academic goals.
Excelling in the Ross school would be like excelling at Wharton, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Brown, UChicago, and Northwestern: you’ll have a Wall Street job if you dot your I’s and cross your T’s.
Now, you’ll make six figures in that job, but you’ll also work 80 hrs per week. You get what you give.
Anyway, Midd is freaking bucolic and every one of their programs is also strong. You’ll avoid the huge intro-level class sizes if you go to Midd.
I’m stoked for you because either choice is a good one. Just make sure you pick the one that fits you better. And then… just go to work,
“Now, you’ll make six figures in that job, but you’ll also work 80 hrs per week. You get what you give.”
And you’ll likely be doing it where six figures feels like half that amount.
@Golfer0528 Be careful with Michigan. If you do not get admitted to Ross at the end of your freshman year, it will be harder to get into finance than it would with the same major at Middlebury. That’s because Middlebury does not have a business school that sucks up all the business-related career resources, as happens at Michigan.
He was a pre admit, @brantly, but point well taken for others who might be following.
@doschicos The OP was a preadmit.
@Golfer0528 , to whom I was responding, said he did not get preadmitted to Ross.
Gotcha. Sorry about my mistake, @brantly.
@doschicos NP 