Just to refocus: OP is debating between the number 1 & number 3 finance majors at Penn-Wharton & NYU-Stern respectively at a four year cost difference of $184,000 plus interest.
And OP has shared that cost is a concern to her & her parents.
But as was hinted at earlier, there are a lot of schools in between Wharton and Stern that don’t have a specific finance program so the ranking is somewhat misleading. Taking out that much in student loans isn’t feasible, but Penn wouldn’t ask it either. OP’s family can probably pay the tuition, and only they can decide if it’s too much of a burden.
Whether in the form of loans or taken from the parents’ investment accounts, their is a loss of earnings similar to interest accruing on a loan.
OP has shared that her discount at NYU-Stern is in the form of tuition remission; financial aid, therefore, may not come into play–although this is not certain as the tuition remission may have negated the qualification for any need based aid.
OP is in a great situation with tuition remission as NYU tends to award aid largely in the form of loans rather than grants.
Interest in a savings account versus interest on loans are two different amounts. That aside, if you actually took out that much debt it would be hard to repay even with a high paying job and it would create a massive amount of pressure to really flourish at Wharton. If it’s the parents sacrificing their savings then it changes the dynamic because there’s no longer a worst case scenario where you have a huge debt burden that you can’t get rid of for years and years. Without knowing the financial situation of the family it’s hard to know how big of a difference $184,000 is to them. Penn is generally okay with financial aid for those who need it. So If they’re simply shortening their vacation a few days and traveling to Florida instead of Greece, it’s probably worth it. Stern is good, Wharton is better.
@Publisher I don’t think money will be a problem for a Wharton Grad.
I would definitely choose Stern. Stern has an amazing reputation in the business world and is great with jobs and internships right in the city. A huge scholarship from Stern makes this a no brainer decision from my point of view.
I am in the finance business and m and a. It is not I repeat not more impressive to go to Wharton undergrad than a stern undergrad and say Fordham mba. Much less Colombia hbs or Stanford. MBAs I’ve been in the business for 27 years. It’s just not accurate. It might not be better head to head with info sys or cyber
@privatebanker It definitely depends on where you’re working somewhat, but my firm wouldn’t consider interviewing someone from Stern or Fordham unless they had some other type of spectacular item on their resume. Top Wharton students are much more desired, as are HBS, GSB, and to a lesser extent Columbia MBAs.
The statement was Wharton undergrad alone is more valuable in the marketplacd than stem with a hyps mba. I say that is just not true at any level. My point was stem coupled with Fordham mba definitely gets a look than a straight undergrad especially anything outside of a entry level 3 year banker program.
My point was in respect to Wharton undergrad alone. Someone coming from banking or HBS/GSB is coming in at a higher level than the Wharton undergrad, but it’s one of the few ways to actually break in. A Fordham MBA or similar would likely be ignored.
I must have misread a post along the way. I thought it was saying to the op that the Wharton undergrad was more valuable than stern and a HBs Stanford tuck type combo. Which is rubbish. I was saying stern plus Fordham was An example of it not even taking that level of mba
Ik this thread must be dead by now lol, but I’d like to keep everyone updated if they (by any chance) bother to check this again.
I ended up choosing Penn! I thankfully got 20K a year from them, so it ended up being better than nothing