Northwestern vs Duke Finance?
trying to decide between northwestern and duke for finance recruiting. i’ve seen online that nu’s banking club places lights out, and that there’s not as much internal competition compared to some other targets. on the flip side, i’ve heard duke has strong placement too, but that being in greek life is basically required if you want to network and recruit well. for anyone with firsthand experience, how true are these takes, and which school gives the better overall setup for finance (ib, pe, hf, etc.)?
Don't focus on IB recruiting. Both will get you a spot at a top firm as long as you put in the smallest level of effort. The cultures of each school are very different. Duke is a school dominated by greek life and athletes, so if you want that life of greek life and want to join a frat, Duke is great. If you're more nerdy and want the slower paced environment with less of that party culture, NU is better. NU is colder, but more urban(Evanston isn't Chicago, but it's close enough). Weather in Carolina is pretty nice most of the year.
College admissions advisor here (former IB myself). Both are EXCEPTIONAL schools and will get you looks at top firms - you should think about culture and location. Duke is a bigger sports school overall, and their Greek life is a pretty big part of the social scene, and the location has less stuff to do than NU (Evanston itself isn't anything to write home about, but Chicago is ~15 miles away). Chicago's weather isn't very friendly in Winter - keep that in mind. Ironically, NU used to be VERY Greek-heavy, but seems to have died down significantly in the past 5 years. NU students are a bit less party heavy than Duke, but not to the point where it has a diminished party scene that you might find at schools like MIT, Rice, UChicago, etc.
If you know you want to be in Chicago, NU has an advantage. If you know you want to be in the South (i.e., Miami, Charlotte), Duke has an advantage. They're both about equal footing for NYC; Duke might have a SLIGHT advantage, but that's just on the basis of more NU students selecting Chicago by choice.
i would take northwestern cuz of buyside placement but realistically you're gonna get the same job from both schools lol. i have friends from high school at both schools and they placed well.
NW and Duke, along with Penn CAS, are the most similar top schools imo. Just tour and apply to all three of them and pick whatever you like the most (or whichever one you get into lol). As someone from California that went to college in the Northeast, I would absolutely consider weather when making your decision.
Duke for the weather, warmer place makes me happier and that's the single most important thing in networking
Northwestern easily. Not even a question.
Why easily? I've heard you have to get into IBC and once you do its toxic af...
Bro just say you didn't place
Didn’t get into IBC got interviews at centerview, Qat, WB, MS, and Nom lol.
IBC helps, but it isn’t at all required if you are a good candidate. Can confirm the kids are a bunch of weirdos, but it really is the same type of person in IB/PE so if you can’t get along with them, it might say the field isn’t a long term great fit.
Same tiering IMO, huge difference in culture though. Would choose based on fit, enjoy college..
They are equal schools, pick the one you actually want to be at for four years
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