<p>Hi guys, I've been accepted by both but still hesitate about which one to attend. Which do you think is more suitable for me? I am an Asian and I will major in finance/accounting. I appreciate comparisons of any kind, including student experiences, teaching quality, national/international reputation and job opportunities. Thank you very much!</p>
<p>Villanova is much higher ranked in every business school rankings I’ve come across, I would suggest Nova.</p>
<p>contra dfree, US News ranks the University of Minnesota’s undergrad B-school 14th and Villanova’s 69th…</p>
<p>Perhaps more importantly is the huge difference in cost between the schools. Even if out of state, tuition at the University of Minnesota is well below $20,000 while tuition at Villanova is roughly $40,000. Unless you received significant aid at Villanova at not at the University of Minnesota, I doubt the difference is worth $80,000+.</p>
<p>Well businessweek ranks Villanova at 7 and Minnesota in the 50s. Personally, I’d choose Nova. </p>
<p>[Best</a> Undergraduate Business Schools 2011 - Businessweek](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?)</p>
<p>OP are you in state or OOS? If money is a factor for you, you should consider Minn.</p>
<p>I suppose I was thinking of Businessweek’s rankings when I put Nova ahead of Minn. I don’t understand how the two rankings can have such disparities (Nova 7 in businessweek, 69 in USNews).</p>
<p>Another factor: is where do you eventually want to work? </p>
<p>Villanova’s business school has an excellent reputation in the middle atlantic states, but I’m guessing employers in Minnesota have probably never heard of it. A local alumni network can be helpful to get your foot in the door for internships and interviews.</p>
<p>Another factor is whether you love big cities, and want to visit them while in college. Villanova is on a rail line that connects to Center City Phila. From there, it is easy to reach NYC, Boston, Baltimore and DC by train, as well as the Jersey Shore.</p>
<p>nova, but dont switch majors! then u have to re apply to the school</p>
<p>@dfree I have no idea what causes the discrepancy but it suggest the rankings shouldn’t be considered too heavily. The Businessweek rankings are barely consistent with the previous years Businessweek rankings. Villanova jumped to 7th for 20th last year! Obviously, there’s no way such a jump could be caused by actual increase in quality so it must come from changes in methodology or survey noise. Neither of those point to the reliability of Businessweek’s rankings. I make no claims about the reliability of US News business rankings.</p>
<p>Even if the OP is OOS for University of Minnesota, it will still likely be far cheaper than Villanova absent major scholarships from Villanova. The University of Minnesota is rather unique in that OOS tuition is not much (only like $4,000) more than in state tuition. Even if your parents can afford to pay, $80,000-$100,000 more seems like a lot to pay for the probably small difference in quality. Now, if you have received significant aid from Villanova the decision may be more complicated.</p>
<p>I would also agree that both schools have much stronger reputations in their regions and are not particularly well known elsewhere in the country.</p>
<p>If you love big cities, you might want to consider University of Minnesota because it’s actually in an urban area. Although Minneapolis isn’t New York or close to it, it’s still a major urban center while Villanova appears to be in some suburb.</p>
<p>@UMTYP student - Rankings makers always change up some part of the methodology year to year just so they can have different rankings. I use rankings to get a general idea of where a school stands, but the discrepancies in the rankings in question are just ridiculous! I have to agree with you, OP should definitely consider Minn because of its price. I didn’t know it was that cheap even for OOSers.</p>
<p>Yeah that kind of discrepancy between rankings is pretty ridiculous. I think Minnesota has a state law that puts the difference between OOS and IS tuition at $5,000 (not the $4,000 i said in my last post) per year. Considering that in other states the difference between OOS and IS is like $20,000 it’s a real bargain.</p>
<p>Money is usually an important factor, but I just don’t take it into consideration in this thread. I only wish to hear opinions about these two schools, preferably from ones who have attended them. I am an Asian and I live OOS in my country. I know that both have good locations and their b-schools are highly ranked. I’m talking about experiences and opportunities. Villanova has 3% of international students; UMN is kind of more diverse, but also is a really big school. I’m not sure which one fits me more. Please continue giving your opinions. Also, will scholarships of UMN for internationals increase if the OOS tuition increases?</p>
<p>I’m guessing the number of people who have in-depth experiences at both of these schools is fairly limited so it will be hard to get good comparisons. I’ve taken classes at the University of Minnesota full-time for two years but I’m not in a degree-seeking program so my experience is somewhat limited. I also have no particular knowledge of the business school. It is really big as you mention although my guess would be that being in Carlson would give it a smaller feel as you would spend a lot of time with the same people there. I’m unfamiliar with the experiences at opportunities at the Business school although there seem to be decent math and physics opportunities. I think the University of Minnesota’s location is really good as there are a lot of things to do and places to go within walking distance. My guess is that as international you’d enjoy a larger school as there will be more students like you and it’s more likely there will be a vibrant international student organization from your country. I think it would depend on the scholarship. If the scholarship is for X dollars per year my guess would be it wouldn’t increase with tuition increases but if it were X% percent of the difference between OOS and IS tuition it would. You probably should ask the admissions/financial aid office for information on your specific situation.</p>
<p>I’m a little leaning toward UMN because of its diversity and location. Is Villanova’s school of business significantly better in any aspect? This is kind of a tough decision for me because it is where I’ll be for the next four years. Villanova is much higher ranked on Business Week for sure, but I’ve checked the ranking of top undergrad b-schools by specialty and found out that for financial management, UMN is ranked #15 and Villanova is #17. For accounting, UMN is #29 and Villanova is #36. So for my majors UMN is somewhat higher ranked. I agree that differences are confusing, which makes me unsure if rankings mean anything.</p>
<p>The only “Ranking” that matters for an international student is the ranking that employers in your home country give these two institutions. Ask around, and see if anyone there has a particular opinion. Remember that you are going to be job hunting back home in four or five years. You absolutely cannot count on finding a permanent job here.</p>
<p>That said, Minnesota for cost, and Villanova for weather. Villanova if you are Roman Catholic, and Minnesota if you aren’t.</p>
<p>Not that the weather in Villanova is all that good - I went to college near there and remember it raining all winter. But Minnesotat has real true winters that are long, dark, snowy, and cold. For some people that would be an instant deal-breaker. Others would see it as an opportunity to learn cross-country skiing.</p>
<p>Thank you happymomof1 for your straightforward answer. I’m not Roman Catholic, so more likely UMN it is. I live in Vietnam, where I don’t think employers value either of these schools better. Maybe, just maybe, they are more familiar with national universities than regional ones. At the present I can’t think of reasons to attend Villanova, except its noticeably high position on the b-school ranking of BusinessWeek. Does anyone have other opinions in favor of Villanova? Also, is UMN well-known for finance/accounting? I can see UMN’s popular majors include business, but is a school that is great for business majors also great for finance/accounting ones? I still am in the dark about this. Answers are highly appreciated.</p>
<p>Business is really all the submajors such as accting, finance, marketing, etc. Nobody really majors in just “business” at most schools. I would pay little attention to BW rankings. Look for the actual placement reports for each school. I’d say they are on par with each other.</p>
<p>I doubt either UMinnesota or Villanova is well known in Vietnam although I would expect UMinnesota to be slightly better known because it’s a major research university and has many more international students and staff.</p>
<p>I don’t think any college in the US is well known in Vietnam, except for the Ivies, Harvard, Yale, Princeton and such. On a slightly relevant note, my parents and their colleagues didn’t even seem to have heard of any US colleges except for Harvard and MIT, until I started my application process.</p>
<p>That is perfectly normal. Most parents in the US wouldn’t know the names of any foreign universities except Oxford and Cambridge, and they might not even know those two. The parents here know more universities, but few of us could name any in your country!</p>