Full ride at Dartmouth vs paying full at Stanford as an international — for finance industry,worth the debt?
Would really appreciate some perspective here, especially from those in IB/PE or with international backgrounds.
Background:
- International student (East Asia), low-income family
- Admitted to Dartmouth (full financial aid, essentially full ride)
- Admitted to Stanford (no financial aid, full pay)
- Also admitted to UPenn and Columbia (full pay)
Career goals:
- Finance (IB/PE) or possibly law
- Potentially working in the US first, but likely returning to home country long-term
Key dilemma:
Dartmouth is financially the clear choice — no debt, no family burden.
However, Stanford has significantly stronger brand recognition in my home country (arguably on a completely different level vs Dartmouth).
In my local market, Stanford undergrad is viewed as top-tier elite, while Dartmouth is relatively unknown.
I may have access to family-supported borrowing (through my aunt), but it would still mean taking on substantial financial pressure.
Main questions:
- From a finance recruiting standpoint, how big is the gap between Dartmouth and Stanford?
- Does Stanford meaningfully outperform Dartmouth in placement into top IB/PE roles, or are they closer than people assume?
How is this a serious question? Take the full ride at Dartmouth and don’t look back.
Any marginal gains in prestige/recruiting are off set by graduating with no debt by far. You can have the same outcome coming from Dartmouth career wise
Stanford for sure. Your career will be long and you're targeting high earning industries. Think of this as an investment in yourself.
People can throw monkey shit but esp. at the international level, which is what OP is asking, that gap is massive.
Is the gap that big especially in Finance?
IMO Dartmouth and unless you specifically want to go into tech/startups, it's not even close. Even if you do, debt is a real handicap and shouldn't be taken lightly. A full ride also reads pretty well for interviewing in my experience.
No way, not interested in tech at all.
Then run, not walk, at the Dartmouth offer. Huge network, target school for most meaningful areas of finance, and you'll be graduating debt free. Plenty of weight to get into a competitive MBA and its a great school for having fun/creating connections up and down the east coast.
Are your parents paying for Stanford or are you taking on debt? That's important. Also the two schools have different cultures - figure out which you'd like better.
Penn (especially if Wharton) and Columbia are both worth considering along side Dartmouth too… especially since both are also free.
Dartmouth is a very particular student culture and I’m not sure how much a low income East Asian would enjoy it or thrive in it…
OP said both Penn (would assume it isn't Wharton or they would have said so) and Columbia are full pay, so no reason to take those over Stanford besides strong personal preference on the school experience
Oh - I didn’t catch that detail. You’re right. No point considering them vs free Dartmouth.
If UG Dartmouth all day. If mba Stanford all day.
From similar background (though I got a full ride at one of HYP instead).
Dartmouth is what I would lean to, it's not any less of a "Target" than Stanford for Wall Street.
Don't saddle your parents with debt for Stanford. Dartmouth is closer to NYC also which is the hub for finance and what you wanted to do.
You're from East Asia. Local companies there aren't likely to pay you well or treat you well (there are exceptions), and international MNCs will mostly know what Dartmouth is (especially if it is American).
Anyway, after your first few years of working, what school you went to matters less and less. If you go back to Asia after say 5 years of working, where you worked at and in what role will matter FAR MORE than Stanford vs Dartmouth.
Similar background, chose UChicago full ride over others. Never regretted -- would've lived a much harder / stressful life if I took the other path.
This is a pretty tough one. If your goal is actually just landing IB, equal chances from both schools. If it’s doing something more (buyside, entrepreneurial, etc.)—which is suspect your interests will develop into this—id say Stanford will give you that higher potential. In other words, for IB it doesn’t matter at all. But that’s probably not what your goal will be by the time you finish school. Congrats. Getting into all those is not easy
150-200k student loans is not fun when you're about to graduate and scrambling to find a firm to sponsor you because of some geopolitical event completely outside of your control. this happened to me during the GFC and my last two years of college were a miserable existence. go with dartmouth and dont look back. A lot changes in a few years (goals, priorities, economy), better to navigate that without the shackles of student debt and no safety net (no family to bail you out)
How do people like OP get into schools like these and seemingly act like they have 0 brain cells when it comes to picking the obvious answer.
Because they're 17-18 years old making the first big consequential decision of their lives? OP most likely has a perspective on what they think is the right choice, but getting more information before making a decision is what anyone with brain cells would do
Unless you want tech I would go with Dartmouth. If you wanted the best chance off finance and law UPenn. I really don’t even see how Stanford is competitive unless you want tech or if want to possibly pursue something like physics or stem. I guess law maybe but I think UPenn has a great law program.
One watch-out, you'll be well-positioned for IB from many of these options, but remember that PE is pickier about visa sponsorship, and there are pretty limited seats for internationals.
I'd suggest having a back-up path in mind (e.g., MBB, tech, career IB, etc. with stronger history of visa support) and considering how each school might support that path.
Understandable dilemma - don't be too hard on yourself. If you're not dying to get into tech/venture ecosystem, then go for Dartmouth - it's a great place and you'll have amazing career outcomes so as long as you apply yourself, integrate, and learn fast. You'll be fine buddy. Good luck!
dude unrelated but go to stanford. You're interests might develop and deviate. You may one day no longer be interested in finance and if that happens to be the case, stanford is virtually better in every regard. I do agree however, that if finance is the be all end all goal here, then either way is fine.
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