Berkeley or Columbia GS

I got into Berkeley for sociology and am debating whether I should take a gap year to attend Columbia GS.

I’ll be working so the gap year isn’t an issue, my concern is if I attend ucb I will have a harder time recruiting and standing out. Additionally, I do not personally like the west coast and am not intending to work there.

How easy is it to land a MBB role from GS? Is it worth taking a whole year off school and not giving Berkeley a shot?

16 Comments
 

Not in GS, but I know a lot of GS students personally that have done pretty well recruiting for MBB. Can’t directly compare it to Berkeley, but can definitely say that being at Columbia gets you good attention from recruiters, especially for consulting.

 

Do you think it’s worth the price tag? GS is relatively the same cost-wise as Columbia College and similar Ivies.

 

Great question, hard to say for sure but it’s dependent on how aggressively you recruit and what your alternatives are. Can’t speak on exact numbers, but know a lot of students that placed well into IB (def our strong suit) and buyside (mainly HF), so from ROI perspective there’s a case to be made for Columbia. Name also helps with recruiting, but there’s absolutely no finance classes that can help with technicals + case prep before SA recruiting happens; there aren’t that many finance classes, and even so you only get to those classes junior year maybe sophomore year if you’re lucky. $90k/yr on college is steep but recruiting at Columbia has good odds of paying off relative to other schools, j gotta make sure you put in the work on your own time.

 
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Here is some advice. Don't go into sociology anywhere, not even the #1 college. Literally the lowest salaries of any college major. Look it up.

You could argue that you are a less productive human being after finishing sociology than just getting a high school degree.

 

Columbia GS is fake Columbia. That is a fact. Students are not even close to the same caliber as Columbia College. Admissions for GS is insanely easy - they take anyone with a pulse. No one at real Columbia respects fake Columbia GS.

You should 100% take Berkeley over Columbia GS. Berkeley has solid placement, great brand, and you’ll meet plenty of impressive people.

 

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