Sorry! Another college thread...

I was admitted to Yale, Brown, Cornell Engineering, Carnegie Mellon's business school, and NYU Stern. I'm interested in both IB and Tech/VC. Any suggestions?

23 Comments
 

IB and Tech/VC are vastly different paths, you should pick one.

Anyways, for IB (assuming econ/business major) Yale >> Brown > Cornell / NYU Stern >> Carnegie Mellon Business

 

Would I be an idiot to pick Brown over Yale? Yale feels so bookish and humanities-centric. I feel like Brown students have so much more fun and don't have to worry about requirements at all.

 
hschoolmonkey

Would I be an idiot to pick Brown over Yale? Yale feels so bookish and humanities-centric. I feel like Brown students have so much more fun and don't have to worry about requirements at all.

Brown non-grade disclosure, etc is pretty attractive.. but no question choose Yale for the best odds at IB, etc. Brown is really solid as well, but Yale is at least a tier above

 
hschoolmonkey

Would I be an idiot to pick Brown over Yale? Yale feels so bookish and humanities-centric. I feel like Brown students have so much more fun and don't have to worry about requirements at all.

Honestly, given the choice, I would have gone there as well over Yale for the same reasons you cited. You can do well from either place, so I wouldn't say it's crazy. Yale is considered a better school by almost everyone, especially by those that don't know anything about schools (those people won't be in a position to hire you). Everyone knows that Brown is a great school though. It definitely won't ruin your life or anything crazy like that if you choose Brown.
 
Best Response

Yale, absolutely. you're also mostly wrong about Yale socially and I think you'll see that if you spend a few nights there during the admitted student weekend (I had a similar impression of Harvard and Yale kids being boring and nerdy before I really spent some time on both campuses, and was incredibly surprised) -- Yale is very similar to Brown actually in terms of culture and social life, both being artsy and pretty chill overall. if you want to party there will be more than enough going on every night. Brown may have a slight edge in overall quantity of weed smoked, but Yale kids are no slouches there either.

in terms of career opportunities, especially in banking and in VC, there's just no contest at all. it's a gigantic difference. there are a lot of VC firms, tech companies, and other stuff that you just would not have access to whatsoever at Brown. and of the firms that do recruit at both, it will always be much easier coming from Yale, at every step. that's just how it is.

 

I went to both campuses for their admit visits. I was pleasantly surprised by Brown. The students were fun, friendly and not weird hippies like I thought they could be. When I went to Yale, I thought the prefrosh were geeky and dull but very intelligent. I also noted that Yale felt professional--as in they seemed like future IBers. Maybe I will have less competition if I do end up looking for an investment banking job from Brown? I don't know at this point. But for now, I am leaning towards choosing Brown. That's where my heart is. But I'm afraid that by choosing Brown I am throwing away many more opportunities. I am sure that I have at least a good chance at landing an IB internship and hopefully a job. I did JP Morgan's investment bank high school internship and got great feedback. Apparently the program is a bit of a feeder. I talked to some alumni of the high school program who said that doing it was invaluable for getting an internship in college and later a full-time job offer at JPM after graduation. It's no guarantee, of course, but it sure helps. So my point is that I don't really care what prestige Yale has over Brown in terms of landing my first job. I'm sure I'll have at shot if I attend Brown. But what I DO care about is everything else: the alumni network, the Yale Club, and any other benefits that might come with being a Yalie after graduation. Is this all "hype" surrounding the HYP name or is there anything substantive that can come out of it?

 

If I were you, I would choose the school that you like the best, because you'll be able to thrive there. That sounds like Brown.

Honestly, the alumni network at Yale will be stronger (at least in finance) and there will be more recruiting opportunities there too. To say otherwise would just be incorrect. If you're considering working abroad, most people in business have heard of Yale but haven't heard of Brown (I'm a international student with friends at a bunch of schools, and this is based on what I've heard from people back home). Basically, Yale will give you more opportunities (even in tech - most computer science majors work at Google/Facebook//Microsoft/Dropbox/Redfin/LinkedIn), but if you like Brown more, you might make more of your experience there and hence create even more opportunities for yourself.

How did you feel about the current students at Brown and at Yale though? People change a lot once they start college.

 

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