ND (100k Scholarship) vs Other Schools

Hi everyone,

I recently got into Notre Dame Mendoza with a scholarship (Brennan Family Scholar 25k a year for 4 years), which I'm super excited about. Given its strong alumni network and placement into IB, it’s a solid option for me. However, I’m still considering a few other schools and would love some advice on which ones I should be potentially be taking over ND. Iʼve seen some super conflicting info from some saying the ease of placements from ND is comparable to the low Ivys + Duke and UChicago, and some saying itʼs around where UVA and Michigan are. Does having the scholarship help me at all when standing out for recruiting or does it give me no benefit on that end? Regardless Iʼm still very happy about it as money still matters to our family but isnʼt the end all and theyʼd be willing to pay more for certain opportunities if there was a solid difference in placement. Here are the schools I think Iʼm still considering that Iʼve applied to but havenʼt got back yet.

Princeton (Econ)

Stanford (Econ)

UPenn Wharton (Finance)

Yale (Econ)

Cornell (Hotel)

Columbia (Financial Economics)

Duke (Financial Economics)

UChicago (Business Economics)

Northwestern (Economics)

The sentiment I got from the few people I personally know in the industry was to consider ivies + Stanford still besides Cornell and Columbia as the difference is small enough to be outweighed by the scholarship, is this a fair assessment? For some context too I donʼt qualify for diversity in any way which partially makes me lean towards ND where Iʼve heard I could get farther as non-diversity compared to a school like Duke. Any insights would be greatly appreciated!

11 Comments
 

Where are you from? If your goal is to stay/move to Chicago - ND is a no brainer. I think you're splitting hairs trying to compare Duke/ND/Cornell. Too be fair, I usually sleep through the resume review before Superday's, so others may have a better view. You'll for sure have more fun/classic college experience at ND than Columbia, UChicago, NU, Yale, Penn and Duke. 

ND people are for sure a cult. Hard to beat networking wise. I think only BYU is more loyal in finance to their alums imo 

 

From the Indy area, I think I'd prefer east coast but I currently don't have a massive preference. By splitting hairs I assume you mean the differences are marginal in my situation? I would say one consideration for me is I'm not any type of Christian let alone Catholic so I worry this might affect my experience, and as an Asian too.

 

I did a program at ND and currently going to one of the schools you are considering. I will say I loveeeee my school but I will also say for the amount of extra work we do at my school it’s probably not worth it compared to ND for experience, even if we have slightly better placements. ND is a great school with one of the coolest student bodies in the country. The only thing that sucks is their weird dorm policy but that might not even matter to you. It mattered to me because I am older.

 

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