Kelley (Indiana) vs Mendoza (Notre Dame) on Wall Street

I'm a HS senior currently and have these two schools as options for next year. Not 100% if I'm gunning for IB but it's definitely on the radar. If anyone has experience with either school, could you guide me to which one would be a better choice for finance oriented careers?

17 Comments
 

Kelley is better but both are good options. Best piece of advice, ask career services what firms recruit for all industries at each school. I wish I had done this or even thought about it 6 years ago.

Frank Sinatra - "Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy."
 
yeahright

Kelley is better but both are good options. Best piece of advice, ask career services what firms recruit for all industries at each school. I wish I had done this or even thought about it 6 years ago.

This is the best answer. Kelley gets many top notch employers recruiting on campus. I'd assume Mendoza does too.

I know several from both that ended up at solid banks and funds.

But, if you want the best overall experience, IU is much more fun than ND. You'll learn to work hard and play hard.

 

Appreciate the help. I did visit ND (granted it was a Friday night before the USC game) and had a kick ass night. If they party like that regularly, I'd be fine with it. Hopefully going to check out IU soon, I have a feeling I'll be agreeing 100% with you afterwards. Seems like they're equal in terms of placement, so I guess it comes down to fun/cost.

 

I can't speak for NYC, but in all areas of finance in the midwest Kelley seems to trump ND by leaps and bounds. Most people that go to ND in general tend to be massively self-absorbed douchebags who think their school is the next Harvard even though it is (at best) the 4th or 5th best school in the midwest. Kids I know from Kelley seem to work harder and know their shit better.

I would agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong.
 

4th or 5th in the midwest for finance or in general? I could give damn about the engineering or premed departments. From what I've gathered, both are considered "target" schools, just not the very zenith of target schools.

 

Kelley. And way to go thinking about your career early on. More people need to be like that.

"You are neither right nor wrong because the crowd disagrees with you. You are right because your data and reasoning are right." -Warren Buffett
 
Best Response

Kelley undergrad and Mendoza MBA here. While I loved my time at both schools, personally if I could go back to undergrad, I would choose Kelley every time. Although I pursued corporate finance, I know quite a few people from Kelley that went into IBD and did quite well for themselves. I really enjoyed the professors at Kelley, and felt that the teaching and materials covered were extremely relevant. People would often joke that we were all be trained to go into IBD, even if we were pursuing other areas of finance.

On the social side, IU is an absolutely awesome campus, and you will love the party scene there. Notre Dame does not come close on that front.

The one thing that ND does have a big advantage is in alumni relations. My experience with alums as a MBA was out of this world. Alums would move heaven and earth for a Notre Dame student.

Overall, you can certainly succeed at either school, but if given the option, Kelley is your best bet.

 

There is absolutely no contest. Indiana places just as well as any Ivy League school on Wall Street, and the workshop educated students perform as well as, if not better, than those students. It is the best program for entering Wall Street outside of any Ivy and many schools in the Midwest are copying what IU is offering. That being said, you need to work exceptionally hard to gain admittance to the program and to reap the rewards of the network.

 

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