<p>Hi all I was accepted by both Washington University in St.Louis and University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign for the Master of Science in Finance program. I am still wondering which one I should go to...</p>
<p>tough choice lol....</p>
<p>FWIW:
I can tell you that, at a midwest-based trading shop I worked at some time ago we hired several outstanding people with similar finance backgrounds out of U Illinois MBA program. I'm not sure this specialty finance program existed at the time. We did not recruit at Wash U, for some reason. My impression is maybe the WashU MBA program overall is more marketing focused? OR maybe it was just too small so we didn't think there'd be many good candidiates? Don't recall any discussion about it, actually.</p>
<p>Wash U used to have a couple of individuals I'm familiar with that had big-time finance industry experience, but I see these particular individuals are no longer on the faculty there.</p>
<p>You might check with the respective career centers and see what portions of the banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, commodities trading and securities firms headquartered in the Midwest actually recruited at each school last year.</p>
<p>Also look at the faculty bios and see if anybody has actually worked in finance for any length of time whatsoever. A small dose of reality can be helpful.</p>
<p>My guess is when you're done with this U Illinois will look better. Don't know though.</p>
<p>Report back.</p>
<p>Per Princeton Review's "237 Best Business Schools", Illinois is given a 93 for academics and 92 for selectivity, whereas WUSL is given an 87/87.</p>
<p>However, this doesn't tell the whole story. Illinois gets the higher rating because of a better student/faculty ratio 3:1 vs WUSL 14:1.</p>
<p>When you actually look at the things that matter most:</p>
<p>Cost to attend:UIUC: $16,000 in-state $23,000 OOS WUSL: $34,500
Professor interesting rating: Illinois: 95, WUSL: 96
Professor accessibility rating: Illinois 84, WUSL: 96
Average salary for Finance Masters graduates:
Illinois: $64,300, WUSL $75,848</p>
<p>That's a pretty big difference in salaries, I'd say. But cheaper to attend UIUC, on the other hand. </p>
<p>I'd go with WUSL--but I'd also say you're fortunate to have two good schools to choose between.</p>
<p>Thank you for your advices. According to the figure given by the two schools' program websites, WUSTL's tution ranges from $38,500 - $44,500, and UIUC's estimated tution for the program is $39,868. Therefore the cost to attend is about the same. Talking about starting salary, Is the figure you mentioned for the MBA students? THe FAQ section of WUSTL's finance master website said because the program was very new they didn't have the starting salary figure yet. </p>
<p>According to the US NEWS's newest ranking, UIUC's business school ranks the 28th this year while WUSTL ranks the 26th, which means they have pretty simliar business school ranking. However, WUSTL ranks the 11th in the best college ranking and UIUC ranks the 42th. (Even though the best college ranking is mainly for undergraduate, it seems to me WUSTL still has better reputation between the two and it is more famous?)</p>
<p>Talking about the program itself, UIUC's finance program "is among the longest running programs of its type in the world"(as mentioned in its website) and WUSTL's finance program is quite new and only has two years history. UIUC's program is more flexible and you can choose what elective courses to take and what area you want to concentrate. WUSTL's program is a set program which means all the courses you are going to take are already determined by the program. It is a comprehansive program and by the time you finish the degree you have the knowledge in a lot of areas of finance. These two finance programs both last around a year. </p>
<p>I am still trying to get more feedbacks and thinking about which one to go to...</p>
<p>On the costs to attend, I apologize--my number were for the undergraduate program. The other numbers I gave were correct--and for the MBA program.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision.</p>