UVA vs Tepper

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>i know a lot of people have donen similar threads before but the situation this years is quite different. admissions have been extremely competitive (schools are cutting down in size & more people are applying...etc) so the stats are going to change. i would like some really updated info from current students.</p>

<p>any advice? i have to pick one of the two. I'll probably be studying business/econ. the statistics vary too much so i'm asking people who are attending or have experience with these two schools.
which one has the highest recruit. rate?
which one is harder to do well in?
is McIntire really hard to get in?</p>

2

<p>It’s a tough choice and I believe it comes down to whichever school you are comfortable with. Once you get into Tepper you are guaranteed a spot in the Business school. On the other hand, once you get into UVA you have to apply to McIntire in your sophomore year. If you don’t get in you have to transfer to another school. :frowning: However, McIntire’s offer rate is 60% so if you study really hard freshman year you should have no problem getting in. :slight_smile: UVA is overrated on Businessweek and it’s ranked perfectly on USNews. (Businessweek considers student opinion in the ranking formula which is why its extremely flawed). UVA is ranked one spot higher than CMU on USNews which really isn’t that big of a deal. Because they are pretty much equally ranked the rankings won’t tell you which ones the better school. Academically I believe that UVA is the better school hands down. Yet, CMU Tepper grads have a higher starting salary. The same companies seem to recruit on both campuses and both schools can’t seem to place grads into MBB consulting firms. Unlike UVA, CMU had 2 grads placed into Goldman Sachs last year out of a class of 80! If you’re into Finance I would go to Tepper because it is the second best quantitative finance school after MIT (Sloan). Don’t worry about the recruitment rate, if you go to either school and maintain a good GPA you’re getting a job guaranteed. </p>

<p>In a nutshell…
CMU

  1. If you are majoring in Finance
  2. Don’t want a stressed out freshman year
  3. Want an opportunity to work at Goldman Sachs ( not guaranteed but at least you have a chance)
  4. Enjoy a small class size of 80 something students
  5. Have the same professors who teach grad students
  6. Higher starting Salary ( Only by about 2k though)</p>

<p>UVA

  1. If you live in Virgina
  2. If you want to attend a school ranked highly in Academics</p>
3

<p>I forgot to answer “which one is harder to do well in?”</p>

<p>UVA has grade inflation and CMU has grade deflation.(According to a thread on CC)</p>

<p>I don’t really believe in the whole grade inflation/deflation nonsense because class size is a more important factor. In my opinion it is harder to do well in McIntire because of the larger class size. At Tepper more companies recruit than the number of students. Tepper’s trademark class of 80 something students is clearly a plus that McIntire can’t match.</p>