Kid just got an admit from UPitt (Katz) for Undergrad/Business. We are In-State for UPitt. He is aspiring for UTAustin, UIUC and IU Bloomington where costs are much higher. For example, UPitt $38k/year versus UTA $62k, UIUC $58k, IUB $56k. Is it worth accepting UTA, UIUC or IUB instead of UPitt, assuming he’s admitted? Thanks in advance!!
Congratulations on the acceptance!
My opinion would be to wait until he has all acceptances in hand and evaluate at that time.
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What major in business?
No one can truly answer the question. Why? Different programs.
Pitt business is small relative to IU Kelley which is gigantic. Is that a concern? One targets 350 a year…the other graduates over 2000 a year. That’s each class so multiply by 4.
Pitt and UT Austin are urban - different types from each other - and IU and UIUC aren’t.
IU is a relatively easy admit for its top rating - but not everyone gets into the B School - will your student be direct admit? Top kids tend to get money from IU. I’m not sure if the others are direct admit.
Why these schools? If you’re looking out of state and less expensive, there are other great schools.
Anyway, it’s hard to answer - these schools are all different but all are fine schools.
Your major, type of environment you’d like, and of course cost do matter.
Not a bad choice.
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Yes, that’s the plan but wanted to be prepared with a strategy then. Thanks!!
Accounting major. What other better business schools would you recommend? Thanks!!
Better is in the eye of the beholder. For example, my nephew got his accounting degree at UNLV - and guess who recruits there - all the big 4 firms and the other top regionals like Grant Thornton.
Because better is in the eye of the beholder, what I said was - If you’re looking out of state and less expensive, there are other great schools…
Note I used the word great - not better.
Many schools put out very successful accounting grads. You likely looked at US News and Illinois and UT Austin are always at the top with IU too. If you wanted a strong rating and lower cost, potentially OSU with merit, UF, and then depending on the student’s stats schools like FSU, Bama, Arizona, Miami of Ohio, UGA and others could be cheaper but that doesn’t mean they’re right for you. It depends on what your goals are and I don’t just mean career - but your four years, day after day…
For example, at IU with an average accounting salary of $65,172.
I pulled Alabama just because their data is easy. They’re not on your list but for accounting, they show $64,271 average so $900 less.
But companies adjust based on location but not so much schools.
Now this isn’t one of the four schools on your list but if the student had top stats, it’d be cheaper than Pitt - and I’m not sure what your hot button is - is it just cost or something else?
Illiniois is showing $66,678 - likely placing in Chicago - again, firms hire based on location -
I suspect you’d find Pitt similar - in the 60s.
So if your student gets into the highest rated, I’d say great - and the three out of state he chose are that.
But does Kelly with 9K + kids vs. Pitt at 1K matter? Does direct admit vs. not direct admit matter? Does being urban vs. suburban matter? Or one of the country’s largest schools (UT) vs. a 20K student school matter? Is the Pitt cost too high and you want / need lower because depending on stats, that’s possible.
Accounting is a high demand field due to the regulatory setting - and I have no doubt that public firms and private businesses are seeking grads - as my nephew saw at UNLV - and your son will see wherever he goes.
Hope that helps.
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I’m a CPA as is my H and S. I believe that all the colleges would work well for an accounting major.
One thing to keep in mind is that to become a CPA candidates need 150 credits. A typical bachelors degree is about 120 credits. Some can use APs, summer classes etc to reach the 150 credits in four years, but many go on to get a one year MS in Accounting. If finances are a factor, the money saved by attending Pitt could pay for the MS degree.
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If UT Austin becomes an option, make sure you look into the steps for residency. It ‘may’ be able to drop the 4 year costs significantly.
https://admissions.utexas.edu/apply/frequently-asked-questions/#texasresidency
then select ‘How do I establish residency through domicile?’
The school and it’s residency office are very helpful and many students have successfully taken the steps.
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Too early since your son does not have all college decisions yet.
IU-Kelley offers merit scholarships to many direct admit students so the COA may be lower than your estimate.
What are your son’s numbers (GPA & ACT or SAT) ?
The University of Texas at Austin is tough for non-residents as 90% of first year admits must be Texas residents.
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For accounting in particular, the great news is you will have a lot of flexibility in where you can attend without a ton of variance in outcomes if you do well.
As Happy points, out more credits are needed so that will factor into costs if that is a consideration and in-state in most cases is going to provide the best ‘value’ for accounting in most but definitely not all cases. Then you can also decide on fit: big/small, urban/rural/suburban, campus, geography, diversity or whatever factors are most important to the student.
Ranking of the business school is probably even less important for accounting (Indiana, Illinois, Texas all great schools but you can go to many places with similar outcomes for potentially less money). I haven’t looked at Pitt in detail but am sure the accounting program could work well for your student based on overall school reputation and business reputation if they like Pitt.
You may also want to consider where your student might want to live after graduation as a lot of students tend to end up in nearby cities based on recruiting. Not a hard and fast rule but worth considering.
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There are many factors on what would constitute going to an OOS state school that would make it worthwhile. Rarely do I think the financial ROI makes sense, but that’s not the only factor to consider in a college decision, IMO.
But, as far as outcomes go, the senior accounting majors I know this year at Pitt had summer internships with Big 4 firms and received return offers for graduation. Those offers are in Pittsburgh.
My daughter is a sophomore in the College of Business Administration at Pitt (it not called Katz — that’s the grad program) and she chose it in part because she wanted a smaller program. There is a big difference in a program that starts with 350 and graduates 500 vs one that that has 2,000/class. One isn’t better than the other necessarily, but the size needs to work for your student.
Edited to add: one of the students I know was able to complete her undergrad in 3 years and is doing the 11 l-month MBA program at Katz. CBA and Pitt are very generous with DE/AP credit, so it wasn’t difficult for her to do. I typically wouldn’t recommend going straight through for an MBA, but she is able to do it at the in-state, undergrad price and work on the additional continuing education accounting credits she needs.
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My oldest got her 5 year masters in accounting from Rutgers (just because she needed the 150 credits), she didn’t go with a big 4 because that wasn’t the environment she was looking for, but easily could’ve gotten an internship, she went with a smaller local practice that offered the same starting salary. It’s not hard to get employment. My son started with accounting but ended up in finance, they might change their minds as they go along.
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GPA 4.2 weighted and SAT 1430
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That’s qualifies for Kelley direct admit, so that will be a choice. Has your student visited? Would the parents or student have to take any loans to attend Kelley? Is Pitt affordable? (mwfan affordable definition=not requiring more than the $27K in total undergrad student loans)
UIUC and UT Austin will calculate GPA in their own ways…what’s the uwGPA in core courses only? Both those schools will be reaches, even with an uw 4.0.
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So if costs matter and given your opening statement, I’m not sure if they do or not but an Alabama, for example, you’d be all in about $20k a year with $28k auto merit. So here’s a case where it’s much less than in state.
Florida State is about $35k a year (removing the $4800 they say is needed for personal expense). But if you qualify for the out of state tuition waiver and you might, your cost would be $20k ish a year.
While the US News accounting rankings are hardly complete with only 66 schools, both are listed. These are just two examples and there are likely others as well. One is automerit so definitely less expensive than Pitt. They buy kids in which is why they have many smart ones. The other could be much cheaper based on the strong SAT. But it’s not assured.
Again - cost may not be the most important factor. It’s hard to know but you noted the three OOS schools were more expensive than Pitt. Costs are a factor in a college decision but there are many more factors as well that several of us listed above. And each has to decide what factors are most important to them.
Good luck.
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Miami of Ohio Farmer School should be on the list. Your stats should get you in and also some merit to bring costs closer to Pitt.
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That’s qualifies for Kelley direct admit, so that will be a choice. Has your student visited?
That’s great news! We had planned a campus visit (~10 hours drive) but didn’t work out.
Would the parents or student have to take any loans to attend Kelley?
Likely need to take a loan for anything above UPitt/Penn State.
Is Pitt affordable? (mwfan affordable definition=not requiring more than the $27K in total undergrad student loans)
Yes, 529 Plan should cover UPitt/Penn State.
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Yes, he’s aware that UIUC and UTA are reach schools.
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If these loans would be more than what the student can take on their own during the undergrad years ($27K in total), it likely doesn’t make sense to do so, especially if he sticks with an accounting major…meaning there is often little reason to pay more to get an accounting degree at a more prestigious/highly ranked/rejective school.
Also, as someone noted above, sitting for the CPA test requires 150 credits in most states…that is basically a fifth year of college (give or take based on incoming credits), so factor that into ultimate college costs.
ETA: Have him get his app into IU ASAP. Here’s the direct admit info…requires 3.8 GPA (whether uw or w, they take the highest on the transcript) and 1370 SAT: First-Year Students | Bachelor's Degree in Business | Indiana Kelley
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Rankings are a funny thing and a draw for families and students alike.
While the amount of loans needed may or may not be significant, they are a future tax on your students (or you) and create another stress that will potentially impact lives - whether yours in lifestyle changes, your students in having to turn over a chunk of future income or both.
That’s another thing rankings/pedigree can’t factor in. Not everyone is created equally from a cost/affordability POV.
If you decided to pursue a lower cost school, the opposite would also be true - you’d have leftover 529 money to help with further schooling which for accounting is possibly needed. And any additional remaining can be funneled into a Roth IRA or held for another - even including grandkids.
Travel may also be a factor to you. If IU is ten hours, then there’s the time (and fuel/lodging) costs or future flight and shuttle costs - perhaps similar to other OOS schools vs at in state or adjacent states.
These are all a part of the four year experience/budget and have impact on a different level to each student.
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