Northwestern vs Vandy Undergrad
So, I'm a high school student who is looking to get into MBB consulting. This is not definite but just what I think I want to do. Anyways, I've gotten into Vanderbilt and Northwestern. I'm getting 10k off Vandy from some scholarships and full pay at Northwestern. Do you think that that 10k extra is worth it for Northwestern considering money is a strong considering factor for me?
If MBB probability is the metric, Northwestern is certainly the better choice. Vandy is a great school that places a few students every year, but off the top of my head I don't think it'd be unreasonable to say Northwestern is the #1 school in the country in terms of number of students who go into top consulting firms
In my opinion, given you're already looking at spending ~$80k/yr all-in, $10k/yr difference is not enough to move the needle
There should however be other factors you're considering, not just differences in getting one particular job. If you've otherwise fallen in love with Vandy over Northwestern I wouldn't fault you for doing it, just know you're going to a slightly-less-but-still-phenomenal school with a harder pathway into consulting
Northwestern is one big consulting pipeline
--NU alum
I've worked at 3x consulting firms across 2x internships and first job and everyhwere I went there were a handfull of NUs. Only met 1 vandy alum.
Went to northwestern—the school is pretty brutal socially with a dramatic decline in the last 10 years. I have a hard time recommending the institution now based on how it declined from a student experience standpoint. The school no longer has Greek life with critical mass, has no bar scene, and is pretty aggressive on cracking down on underage drinking with the Evanston PD and townies not being very friendly. Further, the professional benefits come really from 2 things: exclusive clubs and just the sheer number of alumni at different firms. The career center and on campus recruiting isn’t really that strong with them commonly telling students to just join clubs for assistance.
My take, if you have ties to the south, want to be there long term, or are more concerned about having a fun college experience choose Vanderbilt. You aren’t going to struggle getting a consulting role from vandy if you maintain a good gpa and prepare for interviews properly. The name is good enough everyone will be like—oh this person is smart. Choose NU if you are afraid of parties and care more about consulting recruitment than a college experience or if you wish to be in the Midwest long term.
Overall, it’s a hair splitting decision with the schools pretty interchangeable professionally with NU likely having a slight edge, but vandy is way way better socially.
When did you graduate? This does not square with my NU social experience at all...
2016, have a sibling that also attended and left in 2021. Feel very confident in this assessment on a relatively objective basis due to major institutions shifting/ disbanding. I also have a pretty solid comparison through my sibling. It doesn’t mean you can’t have fun on the campus anymore, it just has shifted dramatically and is less conductive to really underage drinking than many other campuses are, which often means less fun.
The bar culture never really existed like many other schools with similar size. Although places like Nevins and the Keg made it alright, there isn’t really a Northwestern bar or place where people reliably go every week. I understand there are places like La Mach now and maybe others, but it’s not really like a college bar in a more traditional sense. I think historically because Evanston wasn’t exactly super supportive of drinking, Northwestern really leaned on Greek life as the campus’s drinking spots. For some reason, the abolish Greek life movement seems to have gained significantly more traction at NU compared to other campuses and as a result a great deal of sororities and fraternities that existed for decades no longer exist. My sibling describes the NU social experience as common Ubers into the city of Chicago as even a freshmen. I also have seen this based on seeing more Northwestern kids in the city of Chicago right when I got out of school. When I went, it was rare for people to go into the city/ was more a special occasion thing. I think part of this is Ubers making the city more accessible, but I also believe the campus is pushing kids off because without Greek life or a college bar, there isn’t really a major social watering hole on the campus. I also saw immediately after I left the campus, the increased presence of the Evanston PD and numerous Greek orgs losing houses and having difficultly not getting shut down. I don’t remember having tailgates get shutdown for context during my NU experience unless they were really out of control. Not sure if you have visited other schools, but if you see other places, the comparison becomes pretty stark.
Vandy is in nashville which is lit, don’t discount that
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but...
I would absolutely ignore "MBB pipeline" in your decision-making process. I commend your ambition and your direction, but at the end of the day you are in high school, and both schools are fantastic choices that will in no way hamper your ability to work in consulting. Pick the school based on where you want to learn, make friends, and have fun for the next four years. The fact that you even know what "MBB" is right now probably means you're ahead of the curve, and if you still want to pursue that path you certainly can, but you never know what doors will open or how your interests will change during college.
Anyway, you can't go wrong here, best of luck and don't forget to have fun and do dumb stuff in college with your friends.
Let’s say you’re going into MBB consulting for two years after undergrad — that is ~125,000 of salary + bonuses per year, so ~250,000 total income during the entire span. It wouldn’t be un reasonable to assume that going to NU over Vandy gives you a 0.2/1 boost in probability of getting into MBB consulting, which gives you a margin of 50,000 in expected returns. This covers your 10,000/yr cost reduction had you gone to Vandy and yields better career results in the long run. The calculation neglects going to NU over Vandy’s influence on chances of getting into other firms, and the influence is to NU’s advantage with regard to you making your decision, so it is safe to leave it out of our equation. You should go to NU over Vandy because that yields a higher short-term monetary expected return and then some
Did you just make an account to bump a 1yo thread with advice that's missing the larger context of picking colleges or
My personal view is that you can make it happen from either school, but Northwestern is likely going to be much easier to recruit out of. However, I think college is a ton more than just “how many people do they place at MBB”. I think Vandy is academically strong and will be a fair amount more fun to go to college at (Nashville is awesome and you’re super close to if vs Chicago is a bit farther from Evanston than you think). Also, there is a good chance you change what job you want to end up doing so I wouldn’t lock in too much on which places better.
Overall, both are great schools and I highly recommend you visit them both to get a feel and think about this in a broad range of contexts (academically, socially, professionally, etc.).
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