<p>Ok, look at it this way…</p>
<p>WashU:
-A lot smaller in size compared to Cornell.
-One of the “Kings” in midwest. (Only competing with Chicago, Northwestern, Michigan, and Notredame).
-Better weather.</p>
<p>Cornell:
-The size is comparable to a public school –> that’s why they need more recruiters
-It’s considered as a “smaller fish” in east coast. (Competing against HYPMBDCP, NYU, JHU, Georgetown, Williams, Amherst…etc)
-Harsh winter.</p>
<p>Enough said!</p>
<p>Prestige isn’t really too big of a deal as long as your school is decent (doesn’t really have to be a top-25 school). After all, UT-Austin and BYU are the ones that have the best programs. Big Four will go to all those schools.</p>
<p>Accounting firms recruit mostly locally. So think about where you want to go to work/live after graduation.</p>
<p>I was under the impression that business jobs were almost all about prestige. It’s just that while Wash U’s business school has some good local prestige, Cornell’s got the national prestige.</p>
<p>BearCub, cornell is not really comparable in size to a public school, not a large one at least. The public school from my hometown (UF) has about 3x as many undergrads, and in total student population cornell is smaller than harvard and columbia (way less grad students). Being “one of the kings of the midwest” means nothing for washu. For business recruiting WashU would be behind every other midwest school your mentioned, and the northeast is where the most important business is conducted anyways. WashU just does not place well in business compared to Cornell, period. If this were biology I would say go to whichever one you prefer, but for business this is no contest. The midwest is probably the ONLY area of the country WashU may have an advantage in job placements. Cornell will make it much easier to find a great business job on either coast (including my region in the southeast).</p>
<p>Are you seriously putting NYU, Johns Hopkins, and Georgetown ahead of Cornell? Johns Hopkins for business?!? Cornell is also probably better in IB placement than Brown. Being one of the top 15 schools is the nation and a member of the Ivy League (and I am sorry, but WashU is overall very overrated because they are outstanding in a few areas, but not enough) how is Cornell one of the smaller fish?? it is a target school for every major investment bank, while WashU is for none of them.</p>
<p>Tall Saint, why should he be embarrassed? WashU has pitiful IB placement and I imagine he has never met anyone from there in all his years at goldman. WashU does not place well at all on Wall St., and that is a fact. If the OP only wants to do accounting though, a school like WashU would be fine I imagine because it is nowhere near as competitive or lucrative. </p>
<p>balancedhelium, not having a company recruit on campus makes it exponentially harder to get hired by them, so while yes, it is possible, being able to do on campus interviews for some of the top companies in the world is a major advantage.</p>
<p>thats WUt i said,
What you said applies to ibank/management consulting jobs. Accounting is not as prestige obssessed. How can it be anyway? Most top schools don’t have accounting programs while the Big4 need to hire many of them everywhere.</p>
<p>The current Goldman vp attended Union College for undergrad, a college I’ve never heard of and I’ve roamed CC for a long time. This leads me to believe that at some point in his life he lived a very normal lifestyle and probably heard a lot more about second tier colleges before going to harvard for his MBA.</p>
<p>Sorry if I had any misinformation before. I don’t go to Cornell and didn’t intend to put down the school. I simply think that there is a difference in going to an undergrad business school, and doing an undergrad business program within another division (college of agriculture and life sciences).</p>
<p>St Louis is a fine city for recruiting. I’d say it’s better than Ithaca (not necessarily better than Cornell, and I never purported to say it was, but there can’t be an argument that Ithaca > St Louis for employment prospects). Cornell is a huge draw for recruiters, but Ithaca as a city would not be. St Louis has 8 Fortune 500 companies headquartered there, the 6th most in the country. There are also tons of other businesses with significant operations there. Companies headquarterd in STL: [Category:Companies</a> based in St. Louis, Missouri - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Companies_based_in_St._Louis,_Missouri]Category:Companies”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Companies_based_in_St._Louis,_Missouri)</p>
<p>This is taken from the business school’s website: <a href=“http://www.olin.wustl.edu/docs/WCC/EmploymentBSBA.pdf[/url]”>http://www.olin.wustl.edu/docs/WCC/EmploymentBSBA.pdf</a>
It shows that 34% of undergrads got careers in Investment Banking last year, and 51% of undergrads got a job somewhere in Finance.</p>
<p>“in total student population cornell is smaller than harvard and columbia (way less grad students).”</p>
<p>Who cares about grad school now? We’re talking about undergrad. And Cornell’s freshman classes are usually at least twice as big as WashU’s.</p>
<p>“Being “one of the kings of the midwest” means nothing for washu. For business recruiting WashU would be behind every other midwest school your mentioned”</p>
<p>Really? How did you know? And I assume that for business recruiting, Cornell is ahead of Penn, MIT, NYU, Harvard, Babson,…etc? I know that the northeast is the best area to work in business area…but Cornell students have to compete with so many “Better” schools, which may be a disadvantage for many Cornellians.</p>
<p>“how is Cornell one of the smaller fish??”</p>
<p>Like I said before, Cornell is a fine institution…but it’s still considered as the doormat of the ivy league. Also, it’s competing against a lot of schools which are better in overall. Around 10 out of top 15 schools in the nation are located in Northeast. And for business…it is competing against Wharton, Sloan, and Stern…those are just a few top business schools in that area…there are many more.</p>
<p>“Who cares about grad school now? We’re talking about undergrad. And Cornell’s freshman classes are usually at least twice as big as WashU’s.”</p>
<p>And as I stated already, large public schools have 30,000 plus undergrads, Cornell does not even have half that. How is that comparable? In my opinion, the larger class size is an advantage. I do not like small schools and would never even consider a LAC (yes I know WashU is not a LAC).</p>
<p>“Really? How did you know? And I assume that for business recruiting, Cornell is ahead of Penn, MIT, NYU, Harvard, Babson,…etc? I know that the northeast is the best area to work in business area…but Cornell students have to compete with so many “Better” schools, which may be a disadvantage for many Cornellians.”</p>
<p>Did you seriously just call BABSON (and NYU for that matter…no it IS NOT better than cornell for business) better than cornell for ANYTHING? You CLEARLY do not know jack about recruiting at cornell (or babson obviously!).</p>
<p>And what do you mean how do I know? I have contacts in Ibanking and have seen the list of schools recruited at by goldman sachs, and after digging it up again, northwestern, u chicago, and michigan are all on it (and cornell of course), so I guess maybe an argument can be given for WashU vs. Notre Dame since neither are on it, but the fact is, neither of them are good for aspiring Ibankers. Cornell is a target for BB Ibanks, and WashU is not, I am sorry, but this is fact. I don’t care about accounting jobs or whatever, but for Ibanking or management consulting cornell is better than WashU.</p>
<p>“Like I said before, Cornell is a fine institution…but it’s still considered as the doormat of the ivy league. Also, it’s competing against a lot of schools which are better in overall. Around 10 out of top 15 schools in the nation are located in Northeast. And for business…it is competing against Wharton, Sloan, and Stern…those are just a few top business schools in that area…there are many more.”</p>
<p>Considered doormat by who? USnews has cornell ranked above brown. I don’t care about rankings personally, but lets just say Cornell is the doormat of the ivy league (which I do not believe!), that is still more than WashU has going for it. You do realize Cornell is one of those 10 Northeast schools that is a part of the top 15 in the nation, do you not? How is that an advantage? You are calling schools ranked MUCH lower and way less prestigious better for recruiting, which is just outrageous. Cornell AEM is one of those top business programs in the Northeast (and the nation for that matter), why are you attacking it, but defending BABSON, georgetown, and JHU (again, you never explained how the hell you could even mention JHU in a discussion of business recruiting)?? The fact you mention JHU as better than cornell in business recruiting is alone enough to show that you have no idea what you are talking about. A good friend of mine who goes to JHU for pysch would even tell you this.</p>
<p>“Cornell AEM is one of those top business programs in the Northeast (and the nation for that matter), why are you attacking it, but defending BABSON, georgetown, and JHU (again, you never explained how the hell you could even mention JHU in a discussion of business recruiting)?? The fact you mention JHU as better than cornell in business recruiting is alone enough to show that you have no idea what you are talking about. A good friend of mine who goes to JHU for pysch would even tell you this.”</p>
<p>Ok, I mentioned JHU, Georgetown and Babson because those are good schools. Do u think that Cornell students will win the competition in getting jobs simply because Cornell has better business program compared to those schools I mentioned? IF SO, then you’re admitting the fact that Wharton students will always win the competition when they’re competing against Cornell students…after all…Cornell business school is nothing compared to Wharton. </p>
<p>“Did you seriously just call BABSON (and NYU for that matter…no it IS NOT better than cornell for business) better than cornell for ANYTHING? You CLEARLY do not know jack about recruiting at cornell (or babson obviously!).”</p>
<p>Have u ever heard of Stern business school??? Also, Babson college is a business college…and it even beats Wharton in one area, entrepreneurship.</p>
<p>“In my opinion, the larger class size is an advantage.”</p>
<p>Please elaborate on this. </p>
<p>“You are calling schools ranked MUCH lower and way less prestigious better for recruiting, which is just outrageous.”</p>
<p>MUCH lower? Really? How much lower than Cornell are those schools actually ranked? 30? 40? JHU and Georgetown students would be happy to read that. AND I didnt say that they’re better for recruiting. I only said that Cornell is competing against those schools because they’re sort of peer institutions. (which I just realized that you dont consider those schools as peers to Cornell, because Cornell is ranked way “MUCH” higher than them).</p>
<p>I do agree Cornell has a more well-reputed business program, which inevitably leads to better recruiting opportunities. I say this because Cornell has really made an effort to improve areas not necessarily typical of an Ivy League undergraduate education (i.e. business, engineering). WashU, though well-rounded, cannot really be said to be the most ideal school to graduate with an undergraduate business degree. It still needs time to develop that area; but I’m sure as time goes on, WashU will continually to improve its weaker programs. Then again, you don’t need a business degree to go into Ibanking out of college. I know plenty of people who graduated with PoliSci, History, Econ, even English degrees who have gone into such field.</p>
<p>That said, I think BearCub has a good point in realizing how the schools are geographically situated. For one, it’ll surely bring a different batch of recruiters to the respective schools. For another, it’ll definitely expose the schools to different grounds of competition. How this competition will affect each school, I really don’t know. But the fact that they simply ARE exposed to these differing environments is valid. </p>
<p>But then, I do believe Stern is a better school than Cornell’s AEM. I’m not a big fan of NYU, but I know Stern is a pretty sick school right in NYC. I just hate the school blueprint.</p>
<p>I know what babson is, and I would still never go there over wharton or cornell for entrepreneurship or anything else. Ooooh, business week says babson is best for entrepreneurship, so it must be!</p>
<p>I was referring to babson and NYU when I said schools ranked much lower, but that does not change the fact that JHU is essentially useless for business and not relevant to any discussion about it. Yes, I have heard of stern, and it is probably on even ground with AEM, but NYU as a whole is not. I know someone who transferred out of stern into AEM and is happy with the decision. </p>
<p>And Cornell’s size is an advantage to me because I do not want to be in a small, homogeneous school. And I love how you are attacking the size of Cornell as a negative, but are propping up NYU (a much larger school) as this perfect powerhouse. You cannot attack one school for a specific attribute, and then praise another for its prowess in an unrelated area while completely ignoring that it is even worse (in your eyes) in the attribute you used to attack the first school. It is just not fair, not to mention you are completely deviating from the original topic which was WashU Olin vs. Cornell AEM, because it is obvious Cornell is very strong in business while that is one of WashU’s weak points. I am so sorry that you have such a severe case of WashU inferiority complex that you will stop at nothing to berate Cornell by comparing it to other schools instead of WashU.</p>
<p>“I know what babson is, and I would still never go there over wharton or cornell for entrepreneurship or anything else.”</p>
<p>Yeah Of course…cos you’re a Cornell student. But you’ll be surprised to see that people still do choose Babson over Cornell for business. </p>
<p>“I know someone who transferred out of stern into AEM and is happy with the decision.”</p>
<p>So?? People transfer out from every school. I know people who transferred out of UPenn and Dartmouth into WashU CAS…does that mean WashU is better than UPenn and Dartmouth?! </p>
<p>“JHU is essentially useless for business and not relevant to any discussion about it.”</p>
<p>You dont even know how JHU came up in this discussion. I mentioned JHU just to mention some of the competitor schools that Cornell has to face when its students are applying for jobs or internships. No matter how “bad” JHU business school is, it is still Cornell’s competitor and just because Cornell has a better business school…doesnt mean that JHU students will lose out when competing for jobs. </p>
<p>“I love how you are attacking the size of Cornell as a negative, but are propping up NYU (a much larger school) as this perfect powerhouse.”</p>
<p>I mentioned NYU for its business school, which is really well known internationally. I did not say that NYU was a more perfect school to go compared to Cornell. Whether you realize it or not, you guys (Cornellians) have to compete with them when applying for job or internships. So, start opening ur mind…cos that’s the reality.</p>
<p>“I am so sorry that you have such a severe case of WashU inferiority complex that you will stop at nothing to berate Cornell by comparing it to other schools instead of WashU.”</p>
<p>That is such a stupid remark u made there. You obviously dont know the meaning of “comparing it to other schools instead of WashU”…I’ve never said anything about Cornell being worse than X school. (sigh)
Ok, I’m getting tired of explaining this to you. But I’m gonna make it clear to you that I have nothing against Cornell. I was just stating that Cornell’s location is a disadvantage to its business students who think that the best place to do business is in Northeast. So, if the mentioning other schools as Cornell’s competitors means insulting Cornell, then you obviously need to learn how to manage your emotions. =)</p>
<p>Cornell might be “small fish” as you say among the elite schools in the East, but WashU isn’t even in the pond. If you go there for business you’ll almost certainly remain in that region.</p>
<p>Hermanns’ stop being bitter over the fact that you didn’t even get into WashU and why are you even so hyped up over AEM you’re not even in that program???</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The major problem is JHU students may be given far less opportunities to present themselves. It’s hard not to lose out when you aren’t given the same opportunity to compete at the first place. I saw recruiting calendar for JP Morgan and the firm was just a lot busier with Cornell than JHU. How can there be such difference between student bodies of pretty much the same caliber? Because cronyism is fairly prevalent for those top ibank/consulting jobs. At that level when you have way too many qualified candidates than number of spots available, cronyism becomes a big deal.</p>
<p>But as far as accounting goes, where you go is less important than where your school is located as far as recruiting goes. Big 4 in NYC would go to Cornell while Big 4 offices in Chicago/St. Louis would go to WashU for their entry-level audit/tax accountants. None of those offices are gonna fly cross-country or fly you over just to fill entry-level audit positions when there are enough talents from the schools nearby. Think more about where you want to work when you graduate. UT-Austin is consistently ranked the best in accounting and Wake Forest has had the highest CPA passing rate.</p>
<p>Not an uncommon practice at business schools for various reasons including
internships and on campus interviews. Not sure they actually do this at Washington University.</p>
<p>My advice, if you are able, visit both/apply to both and talk to as many people as you can. </p>
<p>Olin is placing students quite well in jobs and internships despite the downturn. They hired a new director of career development and placement and the stated goal is for undergraduates to gain offers by the end of the summer internship of the junior-senior summer or fall of senior year if not sooner. </p>
<p>The acceptance stats for Olin undergrads at top ten MBA programs is outstanding (they can give you the numbers; just ask). As to job placement problems…the biggest seems to be out on the west Coast/California via the grapevine. Olin is addressing those issues as well by an increased emphasis on corporate relations which has met with considerable success (again, despite the down turn). Keep in mind that Olin and it’s leadership are trying to improve recruitment but in fact they have been doinng quite well. </p>
<p>The student advising services for Olin undergraduates are outstanding. You will have talked with your advisor long before the summer is over after high school graduation and you will be registered for classes before you arrive to move into your dorm room. Many Olin undergrads achieve not only multiple business majors (accounting, marketing, etc) but the Bschool as well as the university in general really try to promote dual majors/double degrees i.e. business and engineering. Not saying that’s the easiest road to hoe but it is done. </p>
<p>As to reputation/rankings…my advice is to go the college that is the best fit for YOU. This may include a reputation factor but consider the overall experience that the school offers and how it fits/feels. You may not be interested in Bschool after a year. If you have your heart set on a top ranked undergrad Bschool program, go for it but realize that the rankings are just a start at evaluating a program and actually miss major qualities and attributes of schools and their programs. Consider the school as if you weren’t interested in the Bschool and see how you feel about it then. </p>
<p>Rest assured that if you go to either school you will be getting an outstanding education and will have tremendous career potential. Good luck. </p>
<p>PS-Like Cornell too; just do not know as much about it.</p>
<p>So what are the schools that GS recruit from?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not WUSTL.</p>