Columbia vs. Penn CAS vs. Northwestern

Got accepted to transfer to Columbia, Penn CAS and Northwestern after my sophomore year. I'm currently a math and finance major at a non-target business school. I would be a math major at Penn or Columbia. At Northwestern I would be able to do a Math/Econ double major. Which of these schools have the best placement for investment banking and S&T. Also, how would transferring right before recruiting affect my chances for an offer? Any other insight would be helpful.

 

actually the majority would say Penn CAS. Penn CAS does quite better for business recruiting, Econ departments are pretty equivalent, Penn is even ranked slightly higher, and you have the benefit of taking as many wharton classes as you can fit in your schedule an =d have access to better recruiting opps. Plus social life at Penn is better than Columbia.

 

Most diverse recruiting opportunities would be at Penn as there are lots of firms that want undergrads from top b-schools and those b-schools bring some spillover opportunities to non b-school students.

The other way to look at it is go to Columbia and use your location to network. You may be able to find firms that don't conduct OCR at Columbia (many boutiques IB/S&T shops don't since they don't have a b-school) and network with them. They will look favorably upon you since you are a Columbia student and less competition from you school since many students don't want to put in the effort to network. It's a toss up really, you'll be fine from either

 
qwertyzxc:

Most diverse recruiting opportunities would be at Penn as there are lots of firms that want undergrads from top b-schools and those b-schools bring some spillover opportunities to non b-school students.

The other way to look at it is go to Columbia and use your location to network. You may be able to find firms that don't conduct OCR at Columbia (many boutiques IB/S&T shops don't since they don't have a b-school) and network with them. They will look favorably upon you since you are a Columbia student and less competition from you school since many students don't want to put in the effort to network. It's a toss up really, you'll be fine from either

HYP don't have a problem with not having an undergrad b-school. Also CBS is still a thing...

That said, OP I'm going to Penn CAS as well. The placement is def solid.

 

Decision is definitely between Penn CAS or Columbia. Can't speak to Penn CAS that much but Columbia's math department is pretty rough for undergrads (it's very research focused) and your GPA may suffer just due to the level of shit you have to go through.

As for the schools themselves Columbia will give worse opportunities in terms of OCR (because there is no Wharton analogue) but I am not sure how recruitment teams at Wharton/Penn actually do the split. Try and figure out if Wharton kids are preferred in the process, or if there is separate recruitment teams, or whatever other important info there is... this is key. If Wharton/Penn teams are split or Penn is secondary to Wharton you have a much better shot at Columbia because there is a lot less kids who are competitive IB candidates.

In terms of lifestyle I think the schools will likely be similar. NY has a good club/bar scene if you're willing to go off-campus but it's a pain in the ass/expensive to do this.

Transferring before recruitment may have some small effect but ultimately I think it would just be one more talking point in an interview and not something to worry about too much.

 
Best Response

Is there a reason you only want to do Math / Econ @ Northwestern? You could do ECON / Math @ PENN CAS and can also take classes within the Wharton school.

I was CAS @ Penn and leveraged Wharton OCR recruiting / networking opportunities. Wharton attracts a ton of networking / recruiting opportunities which you can obviously leverage within CAS - I did. You can take 4 Wharton classes in your last 3 years so knock out Finance, acct, etc. I actually got a waiver as an econ major to take upper level finance classes. They wouldn't give it to me but I was 2 classes away from a Wharton Finance degree so you can definitely get Wharton exposure within CAS.

As far as recruiting, OCR is open-ended. There is no magical moat around Wharton keeping engineers / CAS kids out. The business school gets a high proportion of finance openings from volume / self-selection but there are always some CAS kids interviewing for IBD. Admittedly, there is probably some preference for Wharton candidates but the field is more level than you would think especially after networking.

Oh and after your first job, nobody gives a $ht if you did CAS or Wharton undergrad for recruiting. The only people that ask me / are disappointed if I was "only" in CAS are marketing girls I used to meet @ B-bar / Phoebes (luckily, now I'm too old for that)

Clearly I'm biased but would go w/ Penn CAS. CAS placement on the street is under-reported / overshadowed by the sheer volume @ Wharton, but I assure you that it is just as strong (maybe stronger) than any other Ivy / business school for the reasons I stated with the exception of Wharton / Harvard.

Transfering has no impact on recruitment after freshman year. With recruiting happening in the fall of JR year, it likely has some impact and is pretty hard given all the transition you are going through.

 

@JackandDaniels Credits transfer better into Northwestern than into Penn and Columbia, so I wouldn't be able to finish on time with a math/econ double major at Penn and Columbia.

 

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