<p>I got into USC's Marshall school of business and BU's School of Management. At this point, I feel like the smart thing would probably be to go to USC, since I'm most likely getting the presidential scholarship (21k) fr/ national merit and I didn't get aid fr/ BU. Both school's total cost is ~60k. My family can afford to pay tuition, but I'd rather be as small a burden as possible. Also, I realize USC's more prestigious at this point and all that, and I like the school but I really really like BU - school, campus, city, the whole deal. Can anyone explain the pros and cons of each? Or just anything at all to help me decide. Thanks!</p>
<p>I think you’ve done a good job laying out the case in favor of USC. The only thing I’ll add is that undergrad job hires tend to be predominantly local (with only a few exceptions). Therefore, if you intend on working on the West Coast after graduation then SC will have an advantage; obviously BU will be stronger on the East Coast.</p>
<p>That said, I appreciate the things you say you prefer about BU, but without substantial fin aid, I have a hard time spending an extra $25K per year to go to Boston. If you love the city that much you might consider going there for graduate school if that’s on your radar.</p>
<p>I’m from Boston. BU is a good school but does not have a core campus; it’s like NYU. USC carries more weight on the East Coast today than decades past. In fact, USC is at least as well regarded in Boston (and NYC) as Boston College, which is more well regarded than BU. Boston is a party hardy college town where drinking is infused in the BU (and BC) culture. And the Boston USC alumni network rocks.</p>
<p>And the weather…nuf said. For grad school, a USC diploma also carries more weight…check out the stats for freshmen admitted at both schools.</p>
<p>Go to USC. Congratulations and fight on!</p>
<p>Sent from my SGH-T989 using CC</p>
<p>Thanks for answering. It seems as though I should give more weight to USC, which will probably happen when I visit soon!</p>
<p>Hi @ aychihuahua99, Im in the exact position as you; got into USC Marshall & BU SMG. </p>
<p>Only difference is I’m not receiving any financial aid cuz im an international student. Nonetheless, can I get some feedback from you guys on the academic rankings of USC vs BU (course specific to business).</p>
<p>According to businessweek, BU is ranked higher than USC for undergrad business.</p>
<p>Also, do any of you folks know if either school gives out merit-based scholarships and how/when? I would like to reduce the financial burden on my family if possible too. </p>
<p>Thanks in advance guys!!</p>
<p>@ schmukk : That’s cool to hear! which one are you leaning towards right now?
Also, BU’s merit scholarships came out with decisions I think, check your applicant link. And USC is supposedly supposed to have them out by early April, I’m waiting now.</p>
<p>Haha I am definitely biased in this matter, but USC would be my choice!! Pros: Are great at helping you find a job!! They use their worldwide alumni program to help you get the best internships or jobs for your field!
Also, idk if this matters, but they have amazing school spirit!!
And the obvious pro is their generosity in financial and merit based scholarships and awards!
Con: Honeslty the only con, in my opinion, is that it’s kind of located in the ghetto
But as much as I love USC, you honestly need to go to a college YOU want to go to! If you end up going to USC when you’re true dream is BU then you most likely will always wonder what if…
Would love to know you’re decision!!</p>
<p>Haha pardon my grammatical errors! Didn’t proof-read and auto-correct changes many words!</p>
<p>@aychihuahua99 I’m thinking along the lines of usc, butcher I’m still confused as to which is actually better. Most people here are saying usc is more prestigious, but the bu rankings are higher than usc, and they’re actually climbing pretty well. Any thoughts on this?</p>
<p>And I didn’t actually apply for any scholarships to bu, and I missed the Dec 1 deadline for usc zz. Just found out about that part haha.</p>
<p>Was wondering if they gave scholarships during freshman year or at the start of sophomore year if I did really well (deans list etc.)??</p>
<p>schmukk - rankings aren’t the only thing that make a school prestigious ;)</p>
<p>Haha care to share more on the pros then? Cause my mum loves figures, ranking and stats haha
And I guess if I’m asking her to spend 60 odd thousand a year I need to have a pretty persuasive reason haha.</p>
<p>And any idea on scholarships for students in the second year or mid freshman? That would be a great thing to add under the pros list</p>
<p>i think you’d be hard-pressed to find people in the US say that BU is a better school than USC, regardless of whatever the businessweek rankings claim. i live on the east coast now (NYC) and even here people regard USC more highly. if the costs between the two are similar, i don’t know why one would ever choose BU over USC.</p>
<p>And between bu and usc, what I’m really looking at is what kind of job prospects I have for each school after I graduate. I think rankings do play a part when it comes to employers right</p>
<p>“I think rankings do play a part when it comes to employers right”</p>
<p>I doubt it. I know in my field, computer science, they’re pretty much irrelevant. Even if I’m wrong when it comes undergraduate business degrees, the difference between USC and BU probably won’t be significant enough to sway a potential employer.</p>
<p>Thanks for that input simba9, but my concern is actually in terms of recruitment at banks.</p>
<p>I think it’s safe to assume that schools like bu and usc aren’t exactly “Target” schools like nyu stern or Wharton, especially for ibanking. I was rejected by nyu stern, which was my first choice. </p>
<p>Now that I’m contending with bu vs usc, I want to ensure that I have a relatively competitive chance at entering ibanking even though I won’t be attending a “Target” school. I guess what I’m asking then is which school presents a better chance at competing with other “Target” schools for job placements in the banking industry. </p>
<p>Hope you understand my dilemma</p>
<p>A poster asked for facts about the two universities. I searched the profiles and the BU Common Data Set. Rankings are from the latest U.S. News Best Universities Rankings.</p>
<p>Best Universities U.S.News Rankings:
Boston Un. #51
USC #24</p>
<p>Admit Rate for 2012
Boston Un. 49.4%
USC 20%</p>
<p>Student Faculty Ratio
Boston Un. 13-1
USC 9-1</p>
<p>Freshmen Retention Rate
Boston Un. 91%
USC 97%</p>
<p>USC’s endowment is far higher than BU’s. Both are urban campuses, but SC’s is a true campus with a central plaza, fountains, courtyards and tropical flowering trees.</p>
<p>Admission Information:</p>
<p>GPA of Enrolled Freshmen
BU 3.5
USC 3.7</p>
<p>ACT Composite of Enrolled Freshmen
BU 26-30
USC 29-33</p>
<p>SAT Scores of Enrolled Freshmen, Fall 2012
BU (Latest scores I found)
Math 600-700
CR 580-670
W 590-680</p>
<p>USC
Math 650-720
CR 620-720
W 640-740</p>
<p>Business Schools</p>
<p>In the U.S. News rankings BU’s business schools was unranked. None of their specialties were ranked. USC was ranked #11. (Undergraduate)</p>
<p>USC’s Marshall Specialties Ranked by U.S. News-Latest Rankings Undergraduate
Real Estate #4
Entrepreneurship #4 (Entrepreneur Magazine #1)
International Business #4
Accounting #5
Management #10
Marketing #10</p>
<p>The business school is known for the global outlook, particularly the Pacific Rim. Unique programs are the World Bachelor of Business, dual majors in BA/CS, BA/Cinematic Arts and BA/International Relations.</p>
<p>USC was in the top four of fundraising colleges in fiscal 2012. They were in the top five of National Merit Scholars enrolled in the freshmen class.</p>
<p>USC is a national university. After CA and TX freshmen come from New York, Illinois and New Jersey. More international students attend than any other U.S. university.</p>
<p>There are long lists of prominent alumni of Marshall. Here are a few:*
Marc Benioff-Founder & CEO of Salesforce.com
Dave Bohnett-Founder & former CIO of Geocities.com
Henry Caruso–Founder of Dollar Rent-A-Car
Chris DeWolfe-Co-founder and CEO of MySpace
Yang ho Cho–President and CEO of Korean Air Lines
Joe Francis–Founder of Mantra Films
William Lyon–Chrm. & CEO of William Lyon Homes
Paul Orfalea–Founder of Kinkos
Ed Roski–Chrm. & CEO of Majestic Realty/Major donor to USC
Preston Martin–Founder of PMI Mortgage/Former Vice Chrm. of Federal Reserve Board
Richard Knerr–Co-founder & former President of Wham-O
Pat Nixon–Former First Lady
Andrall Pearson–Former President of PepsiCo/CEO of Yum! Brands, Inc.
Shelly Hwang-Co-founder of Pinkberry
Brad Hughes–Founder & CEO of Public Storage
Steve Goodall-President of J.D. Power & Associates
Terrence Lanni-Chrm. & CEO of MGM Mirage
Dan Bane–Chrm. & CEO of Trader Joe’s</p>
<p>*Positions held may be changed from date of listing</p>
<p>Marshall also offers the LINC program, the only one of its kind in the U.S., which features a two unit course in IB and a study/learning trip abroad for freshmen. Also, Marshall offers the International Exchange Program, Global Business Internship Program and the International Corporate Learning Program. A highlight of two recent trips were meetings with the former President of South Korea and the former Japanese Prime Minister.</p>
<p>Wow. Thanks a bunch for that post it was really informative @georgia girl.</p>
<p>Do you happen to know about their scholarships? I missed the Dec 1 deadline as previously mentioned but I would like to get a scholarship maybe sometime during the course of freshman year or in subsequent years. Is that possible given I’m an international student?</p>
<p>A few things about ibanking…</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Very few undergrads get recruited to those firms. Those jobs primarily go to MBAs, undergrad engineers and often math majors. </p></li>
<li><p>There are a couple of undergrad programs that get attention from IB - Wharton and MIT after that maybe NYU (proximity), Notre Dame, Haas, Michigan and believe it or not Indiana. Even with the established connections there are very few opportunities for undergrads.</p></li>
<li><p>Other schools will place undergrads in IB though mostly in the mid-market, small market end. But you’d better have at least a 3.9 GPA and you better have finagled all the right internships to have a chance.</p></li>
<li><p>You are cannon fodder. The pay is nice but when you divide it by the hours you’ll find a lot of your classmates doing better than you are. Furthermore, you’ll be slogging through boilerplate or constructing financial projections no one will read. Don’t even dream about ‘doing deals’; that’s for the big shots with the Harvard and Wharton MBAs. You know what they call an 80-hour week in IB? Vacation.</p></li>
<li><p>Plum VC and PE jobs go to ex-industry movers and shakers.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Too many undergrads, and grad students for that matter, obsess on the money and completely overlook the realities of the IB industry. If you truly want IB, get your undergrad degree, get a job in the next hot industry, help a company grow, get bought out, get an exec MBA from a big name school and then you’ll be recruited. It’s really just that “easy”.</p>
<p>Just remember that college is a lot more than just it’s rank! Although that is one of the most important things in my opinion, you have to like the atmosphere you’ll be in for 4+ years, I’ve known at least 10 different kids that went through depression because they picked the wrong colleges for themselves!!</p>
<p>Maybe my experience is out-dated, but back in the mid-90s, I worked for (ahem) Lehman in Manhattan doing fixed income analytics. (Lehman was actually a good company to work for back then, although the annoying internal politics was a huge change from the west coast computer and aerospace companies I’d previously worked at.)</p>
<p>Anyway, except for clerical workers, everyone I worked with had a graduate degree. Surely there are exceptions, but I don’t know of anyone at the company being hired directly after getting an undergraduate degree. I had my Masters from USC, and remember others in my team had graduate degrees from places like Columbia, Berkeley, Stanford, Air Force Academy, Northwestern, Rensselaer, St. Johns, Wisconsin and Monmouth. One guy had an MBA, another guy had a Masters in Finance, while everyone else had graduate degrees in math, engineering or science (specifically Chemistry.)</p>
<p>That’s why I don’t think it matters if you get you undergraduate degree from BU or USC. Most undergraduate degrees just weren’t relevant in the first place.</p>
<p>The project I was hired onto was in deep trouble, and I think I worked every single day, weekdays and week-ends, for over two months. I remember going into work on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. The money was ridiculous, so I didn’t really mind. After that, things settled down, and I started working 40-45 hour weeks.</p>