Stanford or Columbia
Hi everyone, I am new to here and I have an emergent question. I am currently in an liberal art college and study math+econ. I am really interested in IBD so I think it would be helpful to transfer to a target school. This year, my sophomore year, I applied transfer to several school and got into stanford. My major concern is that stanford do not have a finance department and is far from wall street. I also have a chance to do the Financial Engineering in Columbia. In a word, which one will get me a better shot to wall street given that the other factors are equal? Columbia Financial Engineering or Stanford Math+Econ? I need to reply by the end of this month, so I hope to get some quick answer here. Thanks!
From the response's I've recieved in my thread, banking is in your back pocket and it's yours to lose. But if I had to say one, I'd say Stanford is better for banking.
Obviously both world class schools. Congrats on your acceptances! Math and Econ might be better but having "Financial Engineering" could make you stand out to interviewers which would help a lot. Take a look at their OCR schedules and see which is more popular. It's a very close call. You've got to start narrowing it down to the little things (location, weather, dorms, food) to figure out which is the better fit for you. Or you could use this methodology that would land you at Columbia: when in doubt, Ivy League
Go to Stanford and don't think twice.
Stanford. It's an incredible school and you'll be studying in California. Trust me, that's a lot better than any city.
Hey guys, Sooooo happy to see your reply! But could it be easier to get job info and eventually a job if you study in NYC?
Stanford is an amazing school, but Columbia is nothing to laugh at. It really should come down to where you want to be most during and after school and what you want to study. West coast it makes sense to go to Stanford, east coast to go to Columbia, solely because of proximity to the school you'll have a larger alumni base in the area. That does not mean the Columbia name isn't respected on the wc, and Stanford on the ec, it's just a lot easier to go out and meet people in the city/ies you want to work.
If you want to study FE, go ahead and do it. But getting a math and econ degree from Stanford will get you all the same doors opened. My personal opinion is that Columbia is an amazing school, but I think Stanford just stands a step ahead. We don't like to talk about prestige here, but there's a reason it's HYPS.
Ultimately you have to go where you'll be most happy. Columbia and the faster New York pace are for some people, others like Stanford and Cali. Just figure out where you want to be and that's how you'll be the most successful, coming from either school.
stanford
Greendale. But since that's not an option - Stanford without question.
Stanford hands down
Wow. Grats on Stanford transfer. Their transfer acceptance rate is like 2%
you would be an idiot not to choose stanford...yes, columbia is in the backyard of all the major pe's, hf's and bb's, but california weather is a lot better and there are still plenty of finance in san fran as well. plus, nyc is not all that for a student,....very expensive
Stanford is the place to be. Excellent quality of life. Amazing student body. Top notch research. Great weather. Great campus. California.
Columbia is not a great undergrad experience from what I hear (great school though obviously, but you have to really be a fit for it), and most of NYC is off limits on a student's budget anyways.
Good luck and congrats.
Stanford for sure
People overstate the importance of finance majors here in my opinion. if I was on the other side I'd rather take a history kid who got a well rounded education over someone who did finance only to get a job assuming the history kid had done internships in finance. Just my opinion, and some boutiques prefer business majors, but I'd take stanford
Thanks everyone for the opinions... What if I consider working in the emerging market area such as HK? Is a finance degree really important then?
Economics will do, there is a lot of crossover between the two subjects. I took finance courses as an economics major and im sure most finance majors took economics. Stanford is a world renowned institution, you'll be just fine. Go with you plan of taking some advanced math classes, it will serve you well in the future.
I know it will sound kind of naive....but is Stanford a target school for most big I-banks?
Are you serious?
Errrr....in my mind the big IB banks only recruit in east and VCs like the west coast....is that the case?
I don't understand how you can not be totally stoked about getting in to Stanford. Just go to Columbia because right now you are taking a massive shit on some waitlisted kid's hopes and dreams.
Everyone recruits from Stanford... and breaking stuff down into east and west coast like that is a good way to not find a job you want.
Thanks everyone, I think I am leaning toward Stanford right now...
As a Columbia alum, take Stanford.
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