<p>Got a recent letter from WUSTL prez that all those with incomes under $60k (I believe it was) would be awarded grants rather than having to obtain need-based loans. Forget the exact wording...</p>
<p>Wash U has far more name recognition in private schools than in publics unless they are top publics with large, highly involved college counseling departments. Sadly, college counselors in most publics are overworked and over stretched and don't have the time to try to explain the merits of a Wash U over a Penn or JHU to parents who never attended college or are new to this country and Ivy obsessed. It is far easier (and less time consuming) for them to deal with "brands" that are more readily recognizable than schools they have to try to push.</p>
<p>We attended a Yale info session about 6 years ago when our son was a junior. An Asian man sitting right behind us asked what schools made up the Ivies and when told asked " so Stanford isn't an Ivy?" Even though the Yale rep tried hard to explain the the Ivy League was simply an athletic conference, he turned to his son and said : if Stanford isn't an Ivy you can't apply there." Just imagine how Wash U would have stacked up in this man's opinion.</p>
<p>Those who truly count post grad, i.e. top employers and admissions reps at grad and professional schools all know Wash U and its reputation. There should be absolutely no concern about matriculating there.</p>
<p>I read somewhere that Olin students don't compete very well for the big-time banking/consulting jobs with the Wharton/other Ivy kids. True? I know the brochures all feature so-and-so getting a job with Goldman Sachs, but is that pretty rare? When I went to WashU all the b-school kids were like, "Yeah! I have a job lined up with Target!" Nothing wrong with Target, but that seems to be on a different level...</p>
<p>Didn't Goldman Sachs go bankrupt? or fail? or have some part in the econ crisis?</p>
<p>The Ivies would like you to believe that their grads get the best banking, finance and consulting jobs but this isn't the case. It's true that many of their grads end up going that way but a lot of it is because of the way that the school pushes them in a given direction almost from day one.</p>
<p>The son of a friend graduated from Princeton two years ago and throughout his time there he said he always felt pressure from both his advisers and peers to go into the IB world. Currently his two year contract at a Wall St firm is expiring in July and next job's offer was withdrawn in December due to the financial meltdown. He's about to be an out of work Princeton grad who is thinking about some post grad time to get his pre med requirements so that he can apply to med school.</p>
<p>The big banks and consulting firms recruit both UNC and UVA very heavily as well so I am sure that Olin grads are readily in the mix. Be careful with the marketing "propaganda" that you read because everyone has an agenda to make their respective schools look better.</p>
<p>I think it is true that some of the huge firms don't recruit here, not because the education quality is inferior (in fact, I believe the opposite is true) but a lot of the major feeder schools are located in the northeast, which is convenient because 1. they are closer to where the firms (mostly in Manhattan and NJ) are in the first place 2. there is little spread so the recruiters can knock them all out on one trip. Wash U is in the midwest, so it is often not worth it to travel to the midwest just for one school, no matter the quality.</p>
<p>But, a lot of this is moot because Wall Street basically got Fubared.</p>
<p>Location, location, location.</p>
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[quote]
I think it is true that some of the huge firms don't recruit here, not because the education quality is inferior (in fact, I believe the opposite is true) but a lot of the major feeder schools are located in the northeast, which is convenient because 1. they are closer to where the firms (mostly in Manhattan and NJ) are in the first place 2. there is little spread so the recruiters can knock them all out on one trip. Wash U is in the midwest, so it is often not worth it to travel to the midwest just for one school, no matter the quality.
[/quote]
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<p>I'd agree with most of that (except about education at Ivies being inferior, anyway). My company recruits amongst the Ivies and Ivies only because of the geographical ease of visiting all of them in one fell swoop. We don't even go to Stanford or Duke. Geography is powerful, more so in this era of tight budgets..</p>