Rice vs Vanderbilt vs Emory

Accepted into all 3. Rejected from Northwestern, U.Va (OOS), UPenn (ED), Georgetown, Duke. Cornell comes out tomorrow but honestly even if I got in I wouldn't go. Recruiting is probably good but Ithaca fucking sucks man. I need to be near civilization lol.

Cost and financial aid will be pretty similar with all three.
Opinions on Each:
Emory - Semi-target (?). The lowest USNEWS ranking (21) and highest acceptance rate (23%-ish). Honestly kinda surprised it was that high. Honestly my favorite vibe out of all the schools. I really like it's location and it's diversity. Has interesting and really diverse students, which is good. As an Asian, hanging out with only privileged white kids 24/7 can get old lol.. Has a business school, which is cool. It only has DIII but I don't really care lol. ATL is pretty cool - seems to have a strong finance base while still being a really fun city. Love the look of the campus too. I literally visited there only twice and I've already made friends there that I talk to pretty frequently.

Vanderbilt - Also seems like a semi-target(?). Highest USNEWS ranking (15) and absurdly low acceptance rate (11.7%). Honestly not sure how I got in. However, because of it's location it's recruiting isn't AMAZING. Also, student diversity kinda sucks there. Really frat heavy school - kinda too much for my tastes. Nashville was really really cool though. DI sports are kinda cool I guess - not something I really cared much about. Supposedly has pretty intense grade deflation. Honestly, probably last "fit"-wise

Rice - Semi-target (?). Good USNEWS ranking (17). Low acceptance rate 14%. Seems to be the creme de la creme of Houston recruiting along with UT. The only problem is, I have lived in Texas all my life and I'm really itching to get outta here lol. I really wasn't the biggest fan of Houston ( weather was seriously miserable ). However, Rice's campus was really nice. The residential college system was really cool and the students seem chill ( albeit a good portion of them were kinda weird ). Not a lot of people in this school really pursue Finance/Consulting. Most of the Finance alumni on linkedin went to the business school rather than undergrad. Honestly UT did better. IDK, a great school, but not really a fan of the city/Texas.

TLDR;
Kinda disappointing that I didn't snag a target acceptance, but oh well, gotta make the best of it I guess. I also got into McComb's, but I got rejected from BHP and I didn't like the enormous campus size.

Which school is the most prestigious/has the best recruiting? If all three schools are considered on par for recruiting/prestige I might end up picking Emory based upon fit. Is that a bad move? If I get into Cornell (fuckin ithaca dude lol), am I screwing myself by picking Emory over it? Where would you pick?

 

This is a tough choice as they are all fairly similar. From a pure culture standpoint I'd go with Emory because the extremely fratty nature of Vanderbilt wouldn't vibe with me and Rice has a rather boring student body. All 3 place decently well into NYC IB. Rice does have the added advantage of being a target for energy banking and commodity trading, but also places the least proportion of its kids in NYC IB.

Also, don't ever pay attention to acceptance rates and school rankings. They are meaningless.

 

Vandy has strong presence in NY. I would definitely go there. Definitely perceived as superior to both Emory and Rice (at least in NY).

“Elections are a futures market for stolen property”
 

It sounds like you want to go to Emory, and want us to convince you that its a good idea. Emory is a great school by any means and you would easily be able to get into firms in Atlanta and Charlotte (if that's what you wanted). However, I would echo one of the posters above say Vanderbilt would probably be your best for going to NYC or anywhere not in the South. I don't get your reason for not wanting to go to Cornell (which has the best recruiting not in the South), - you probably won't be spending that much time out in the city anyway if you're crushing your school work and making an impact in your ECs. Go with your gut, it's your money, debt, and career on the line. If you think you'll do best at Emory morale wise then go with that. You will have a plethora of opportunities coming out of there.

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there" - Will Rogers
 

Well IB in the south, which I guess is dominated by Mccombs but how are the others doing? Getting into UT is extreamly easy, however hence they won't pay financial aid it's no option. Right now I'm only concerned about OCR.

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