Cornell vs Michigan vs Dartmouth school choices

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I'm shocked everyone isn't putting Dartmouth first. I don't even go there but I applied ED when I was applying and still kinda wish I went there.

Stern does well for banking, but unless you're 100% sure you want to work in banking. dartmouth/Cornell/Duke are more prestigious and will place better in nearly any other role, and I still think Stern is at-best an equal to any of those other schools for IB. But if you decide later you want to go into consulting, tech, F500, etc, one of those other three schools will place a ton better than Stern.

Dartmouth alumni are also obsessed with Dartmouth and have a ton of influence all over finance. For the size of the school, Dartmouth has an unbelievable alumni network that really cares about its students.

While Stern places well, I think it's just a numbers game. Nearly everyone in Stern wants IB, so obviously some are going to end up in great places. Dartmouth has a smaller student body, many of whom do not want IB, but I think the average Dartmouth kid definitely beats out the average Stern kid.

Dartmouth > Duke = Cornell > Stern

 
Most Helpful
Jdogg89:
**Dartmouth alumni are also obsessed with Dartmouth and have a ton of influence all over finance. For the size of the school, Dartmouth has an unbelievable alumni network that really cares about its students. **

THIS (on the above).

There is no other school in the Ivy League or top 50 that can match Dartmouth's alumni network. This does not mean sheer number of alums or where said alums are, but actual accessibility and connectivity to said alums all over the world and across industries, many of whom have done very well and are in top positions.

So much of social life and human connectivity is based on shared experiences and culture. Being isolated a very small school, in the middle of nowhere and with all kinds of unique traditions and culture, Dartmouth (for better or worse) has all of those traits. One can reach out to alums decades older and talk about the shared experiences (and still do or things that have changed). If you want to connect with someone within a decade or so of you, there is a strong chance that you know someone in common and can get a warm introduction from said person.

I cannot comment on recruiting but the alum network is incredible (and so few people use it well). It requires persistence and to be outgoing (many people have/are neither, and that's ok), but those who can utilize it can literally get a huge leg up and build high level connections for jobs, mentorship etc very early on.

For some color below is a loose re-creation of a discussion following a cold email with an alum like 30 years older and at a very high level in banking that I have actually heard (and believe).

Him: "Hey X how are you? Must be cold as hell up there given that it's February." Student: "Yeah tell me about it. Thank you for taking the time to speak" Him: "No problem. Let me ask. Do you guys still get wasted? Do you still party?" Student: "Uhm.. Yeah sure you know its college" Him: "Yeah let me tell you. Man we got wasted. This one time I broke into a place and the owner himself kicked me out while wearing his pajamas (laughing). Do you still get kegs from that one place?" Student: "...Yeah" Him: "Oh its almost winter carnival. What's the ice sculpture this year? I think we did Dr. Seuss or something" Student: "Yeah, this year it's Gandalf."

10-20 mins later (after talking about Greek life, studies, professors, changes in school/culture) Him: "So you wanted some advice or an internship or something? How can I help?"

Once again I cannot comment regarding on-campus recruiting, but the alumni network at Dartmouth is unparalleled. Maybe Princeton comes close or meets it.

Now for the most important part of my post (as an older person on this board). College (for me and hopefully for most) is and should be about so much more than jobs/banking/on campus recruiting. One does not know how the world will be or how he/she will change and develop in college. Some might want to be in a big city, or hate the cold weather, in which case Dartmouth is a tough sell... We could have a re-run of 2008 and if you graduate then, you are probably not going to get a job in a bank...Study, party, make friends, explore new subjects and activities, check out the area, date etc etc etc. That's hopefully what college is all about. A time for growth, exploration, personal development.

Or maybe I'm just off my rocker.

Good Luck

Edited the quote for clarity

I used to do Asia-Pacific PE (kind of like FoF). Now I do something else but happy to try and answer questions on that stuff.
 

Many of these answers seem to come from people who don't work at one of the BBs. Cornell's Dyson School placement is definitely number 1 out of the 4. Then Duke, Dartmouth, Stern. Despite Stern's vicinity to the financial institutions, the placement definitely is not as strong.

 

First of all, no matter what you do, don't waste your time with placement stats. Placement stats are too fuzzy to get anything out of them, and something is always wrong with them. Either the numerator is wrong (wrong "finance" categories that don't isolate true IB), or the denominator is wrong (who's to say how many really wanted IB? Doesn't everyone ultimately say they got their "desired industry"?) or some other bullshit. These are unverified, miscategorized and even miscalculated numbers done by 9-5ers in the career office who are careless at best and biased at worst. Don't bother.

As someone who's worked in IB I can tell you these are all target programs that will more or less get you the same shot at the end of the day. Any minor preference you have should outweigh any IB recruiting advantage, which will be too small to matter or even identify.

I haven't read the other comments yet but I have no doubt someone has already pointed out the NYC advantage for Stern. Personally, I don't like that angle. It doesn't really help you for formal recruiting because it just creates a situation where everyone is expected to network like a mofo because its NYC. Doesn't get the school more slots and just makes the process more annoying for the students. NYU is already sort of "not really college" in terms of its general feel, I don't know that I'd want to push that experience even further by spending inordinate amounts of time pounding the pavement like Bud Fox.

Dartmouth and Duke are very well represented everywhere I've seen, and they have a strong school spirit among the alums. I don't know as much about Cornell, but I do know a couple things. I know its famous for suicides. I also know that Cornell alums like to mention the Ivy League a lot, which kind of feels like they only went for that label. And lastly I know they are on WSO talking about placement stats, which, I mean . . just go to Duke or Dartmouth.

 

For NYC/Boston IB

  1. Dartmouth, by far. Their alumni network is the top by far and they send the most proportion-wise of their student body to finance among the Ivy League schools

  2. Duke. Location is a bitch but the prestige helps a lot

  3. Stern. It's decent but it's only #2 because there are no good undergraduate business schools within the Ivy League except Wharton, which is #1 by FAR

  4. Cornell, not that big of a presence in NYC IB relatively

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