I’m trying to decide whether or not I will attend WashU. Ultimately, the decision is coming down to a few major factors, mainly postgrad employment. I can obviously find the statistics on the website, but I’d like to hear from current WashU students, alums, and/or parents of WashU students… what is the process of finding a job like? Are recruiters for finance / business related fields interested in students from Olin? How much so?
When I visited, everyone said that recruiters practically flock to Olin. Is that really the case? I’m wondering because I received way more money from Lehigh, and want to know if attending WashU will be worth it. (I’m not going to be in debt if I attend WashU, but the extra money I’d get if I went to Lehigh wouldn’t hurt.) Does its location in St. Louis make finding internships and jobs harder? Do top, well-paying employers deliberately seek out Olin students, and if so, are only the very best selected for job opportunities from these companies?
If you do well and then if you hustle to get a job, you will get a decent job after graduating from either option. I don’t know Lehigh, but I suspect more employers will recruit at WashU/Olin and the WashU alumni network will certainly be bigger and likely stronger. The association with WashU and their alumni network will on average give WashU grads an edge. But it is not a guarantee and many that graduates from Lehigh will also do well. If you can afford either option then that is great. Only you and your parents can assess if the cost of WashU after scholarships is worth it compared to the costs of Lehigh after scholarship. Good luck.
We had similar concerns but in talking to current Olin students, the career center and alumni, I found that Wash U is good with internships and jobs and is working to get better. They do have a lot of companies coming down to recruit, may tilt a little heavier towards the midwest - and you might have to hustle a little harder to place on the East coast. If you look on the Wash U website, they actually put down the % of internships that come through college fairs vs networking etc. I’m not familiar with Lehigh so I can’t really compare but if they have the figures on their website, it might be worthwhile to check.