Kid got in EA to Georgia Tech. Have ED2’ed to Vanderbilt and are planning to major in CS + Econ at both. They would like to go into IB or Consulting. Didn’t think that Georgia Tech would come through, but now that we have that we are now rethinking the Vanderbilt ED2. Has anyone decided between these schools and these majors?
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I’m not familiar with Vanderbilt, but I have a son in his 2nd year at GT - electrical engineering major w/CS minor. He’s in France now at GT Europe doing a semester abroad! I’d be happy to try and answer any questions you might have!
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With respect to economics, you compare these schools based on faculty scholarship in this analysis: Economics rankings: US Economics Departments | IDEAS/RePEc. By this method, Vanderbilt places 26th nationally; Georgia Tech places 129th.
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And for CS? likely swapped? I have no idea, just a guess.
Also, if you want to consider cost, I am guessing GT is much less, even OOS, than Vandy. At the end of the day you can’t go wrong with either school (unless you can’t afford them.)
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Of course, there are many ranking systems, but US News has GT at 6 for CS and Vandy at 55. I don’t think Vandy is known for CS. It’s really tough to beat everything Georgia Tech has to offer for CS. It’s a big player/big name in the field with stellar facilities, top tier internship and coop programs, and a campus in a major metropolis, among other things. It’s a world class program.
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A student with this combination of interests may be well suited for a major in data science with economics as an applied domain.
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Since you are already “rethinking” this, it might be a good idea to see about switching to RD from ED2 at Vanderbilt. That would give you more time to think this through. But have you already promised your child they can go to Vanderbilt if they are accepted?
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Thanks. Yes, that is the challenge since for CS, GT is clearly superior.
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Thanks. That is the discussion we are having.
That will solve your issue. Your odds of getting into Vandy RD will go down although both ED and RD are hard. If you are not a URM, it will be harder.
I do think that most would consider Vandy more Wall Street friendly although few in general get to Wall Street and there’s always after grad school. And I’m sure Ga Tech can place there as well. For consulting, it likely matters less.
I think the campuses and city/surroundings are vastly different and perhaps you can get out to see both - just four hours apart, you can spend a day in each with a drive in between. Both are also easily accessible from their respective airports if you flew into one and flew out of the other.
You should find the right school for the student. And the rest will work out as it should.
Good luck.
There will be good outcomes from both schools, so maybe focus more on fit and finances, as opposed to rankings.
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If you want to do IB or consulting I am not sure why the stressing about the quality of the CS program. Perhaps this may be if some help to you.
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Yes, but the possible outcomes are likely different.
A GaTech CS degree can open more doors for selective software jobs than a Vanderbilt CS degree. Likewise, a Vanderbilt Econ degree can open doors in investment banking and consulting that GaTech cannot.
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I’m not sure either school is that strong for IB recruiting. I would guess that Vanderbilt may likely have an edge but either school should be great for consulting. More importantly why major in CS if you want to consulting or IB? Unless you are thinking of quant, in which I’m not sure between the two.
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According to the link that @neela1 sent, Vanderbilt is a semi-target for IB, with more IB hires from there than from Stanford or Brown (although a much larger fraction of Brown hires end up at Goldman Sachs).
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