Duke worth it over UNC-Chapel Hill for IB?

Hey man (or girl) - I graduated from UNC-CH several years ago and ended up in MM IB with no internship experience prior to my SA stint. I was out of state and also toured Duke even tho I was a Carolina fan. Couple of thoughts:

• IB is competitive - I knew a few people that struck out on recruiting. That said everyone that was smart, “normal”, polished and good prior experience ended up in IB.
• The UNC alumni network is pretty big between undergrad and MBA and was extremely helpful for networking calls and interviews.
• UNC has an undergrad business program which Duke doesn’t. While this doesn’t guarantee you to do better than a Dookie, it does matter. You’ll be better prepped and trained going into the internship and you’ll just be exposed to a lot from RE to PE to Securities to consulting. 
• Overall Experience - UNC is going to give a completely different experience than Duke. From sports, to meeting other students from all sorts of different backgrounds to sheer size. Personally, I found UNC offered a better experience and the kids were more relatable.

To each his own, but I loved my 4 years at Carolina and wouldn’t have traded it for anything (except maybe a full ride at Ivy ;) ). 
 

Go Heels

Was also deciding between the two and have friends in both, so offering my thoughts.

Duke is a fantastic spot to recruit from. Generally, you'll see that the vast majority of those at Duke who somewhat put in the effort are able to get low BBs and MMs at minimum, with many placements at mid and top BBs (especially with favorable outcomes in group placement). You'll also see some of the top students who put in the most effort landing at almost every top boutique across RX and M&A as well as buy-side roles at extremely reputable private equity and hedge fund roles.

UNC is also a great spot to recruit from, especially with the infrastructure of the business school and the benefit of being able to choose a path of study very relevant to the field. However, I would definitely say that you see fewer land offers from top BBs and that those who do are often the select few skewing towards the top of the business school (most likely part of the assured admissions program or a couple of their more selective funds, outside of nepotism hires). You see a good amount of placements also at mid and low BBs and reputable MMs, but almost no placements in boutiques and buy-side roles until very recently. However, what you don't see is the number of people that were not able to break in and had to go down a different path, of which there are many solely due to the sheer number of people in the business school.

My personal thoughts: if costs are similar with financial aid incorporated, Duke is the clear choice across the board solely for placements. However, if you are confident in your ability to succeed and you're already identified by UNC themselves as a top applicant (through merit scholarships or the assured admission program) and the cost is a factor, then doing the right steps at UNC to identify yourself as "top of the pack" can very likely pay off in an offer for a good group at a good bank.

Just looking around the street, there’s a far greater number of Duke alum than UNC. Would say it’s worth it in the long term.

I think this matter was settled in last year's final four.

From NC, have friends that went to both. Duke places better in NYC. UNC/Duke are both targets for IB/PE in CLT. From what I’ve seen the placement difference is somewhat like this:

Duke - Top BB , MF PE

UNC - Lower Tier BB, MM IB, MM PE

You’ll get two very different experiences. I enjoy the people and campus, much more at Carolina. UNC also has a very strong alumni network. Overall, not a large difference. Would decide based on financial aid and what experience you want to have.

Historically UNC has placed on par with Duke for undergrad IB recruiting (the bigger difference has been in PE placement). Seems like a pretty uninformed group here so far. While it’s definitely gotten harder recently, with some banks that no longer formally recruit from UNC, it’s one of the easiest semi targets to break into from. Competing against a much smaller cohort with undergrad/MBA alumni at essentially every major bank; major doesn’t matter; GPA just needs to be average to slightly above average (~3.7 (even 3.5) regularly break into BB each year). Sends largest amount to BofA and Wells Fargo with DB, Goldman and MS following. Most of the other banks are in play (my year there were at least 1-2 kids going to each BB) but less of a formal pipeline these days. Boutiques and true buyside (outside of Roark and Acquiline) are definitely a bit harder to come by. Overall a big time name that definitely should get you to BB NY IB if that’s what your working towards.

I have nothing at stake here but came to say go to Duke dude

i’m not reading all this stuff before but i’m sure they gave good counsel. i went to unc and if you get into the business school and you can’t get an IB job, i’m not sure you’d have gotten it at duke. people from unc every year make it to BAML, Goldman, Morgan Stanley, Evercore, BlackArch, Credit Suisse, Truist, etc. — a wide range of places.

if you can’t get IB out of Kenan Flagler, it wasn’t a lack of opportunity.

Hey everyone! I would like to thank everyone for their extensive responses and guidance. Currently, I am focused on college apps and will decide once those have died down and have received decisions from both, however, I will be sure to update this thread with my decision. Additionally, apologies if my "forum etiquette" is bad, I am new to this so I was not sure if I am supposed to reply to everyone or not. Anyways, thank you so much for all the resources and help, this has given me a lot to think about and will make sure to take all of this into consideration!