BC Caroll vs IU Kelley undergrad
I'm on my final days of a decision between these two schools, and I'd enjoy some extra help in deciding.
BC Pros: Is a Catholic university and I'm a Catholic, which I would enjoy, though I'm not sure how Catholic it really is Cons; I already live in the Boston area and all other things being equal I'd rather live somewhere else for college, just to see another part of the country
IU Pros: Significantly cheaper than BC Cons: I'm a "big city" guy, and I'm not sure how much I'd enjoy living in Southern Indiana for 4 years, although IU is such a large school that this might not be a problem
Any help is greatly appreciated
Wow! I was just about to post this same question. I feel like if you think you can get into the IBW then you should choose IU.
I feel like this question has been talked about ad nauseam over the past couple of days, but here's my take:
First checkout the "School Ranking" thread here: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/comprehensive-undergraduate-targ…
If you scroll for long enough, you'll get useful info about placement (IB) from both schools and get to see a few alums swing their dicks around. The short version of this read is if you are interested in IB, both schools will give you a really good chance to break in. At IU, you can join IBW (~50% acceptance rate), and from what I've read, they place pretty well. At BC, you can just show up and do well then worry about banking until Sophmore year (we place very well). If you want banking, you should just pick the one you think you'll vibe better with.
If you are not totally sold on banking (I personally didn't even know what it was coming into school), I'd then lean towards the school with the stronger brand, which I would say is BC because it'll give you more opportunities to explore what you want to do.
Last point -- I go to BC. I was in the same spot as you and picked BC and haven't regretted it in slightest (I'm sure the IU people haven't either), but I just couldn't see myself living in the cornfields for four years. I'd also say BC is Catholic, but its nowhere near the Notre Dame level. I've been in a church one time, and that was during orientation, so if you want to actively practice, I think there are like 10 masses a day, but at the same time I'd say the majority of the student body is basically indifferent towards religion. At the end of the day, go to the school that you think you'll fit in the best at because that'll be the place where you will have the best experience.
The Wall Street Oasis database is relatively inaccurate; you can also tell from the salary reports, ex. VP's should be making a couple $100k more than the $313k referenced.
Regardless both are great semi-targets. IU Kelley is nonetheless a bigger school and is a BIG 10 school which similar to SEC schools is very different culturally than ACC schools. Aka greek like, solid sports teams, and an actual campus. On the other hand you have BC, which has the city of Boston, but not much of a campus and does not have greek life (IU is a much bigger party school / is a more enjoyable social school as you can thus imagine). However, BC has an amazing city with great food, social scene, etc. so obviously more of a bar school than a greek life school. Up to you what you prefer.
However, BC holistically is a better school and has a better brand name than IU, but when it comes down to CSOM and Kelley, they are both great business schools and at that point you should go to a school where you fit in more culturally. IU sends more to IB and has better placement than BC, but that is only if you are in the IBW - if you are not in the IBW your placement will likely be at MM firms. On the other hand, at BC while placement may not be as good, you don't have to be in a selective organization to recruit for top banks and they still get very good placement and have a great school brand name as well.
I think you might be mistaking BU's campus for BC's campus. It's definitely not as big as IU's, but its a super nice campus. Also I'm not sure what you mean by only the Big Ten has solid sports. Sure our basketball team is possibly one of the worst ever assembled (we still get the watch some of the best college basketball teams in the country play via the ACC), but we have arguably the best hockey program in the country. For football didn't you guys just have your first winning season in how long, plus we were legit on college gameday as a ranked team against Clemson two years ago (we admitidly choked down the stretch -- but that was Addazios fault). Last year we were .500 in the regular season and had winning seasons prior to that. Plus new stud coach so Roll Eags!
i posted this in another post:
i'm a non-underrepresented BC student going into IB SA at a BB. i transferred from a non-target into the Carroll school and have been very happy with the program. we have atleast 30+ banks come on campus every year, every bulge bracket except for MS and CS (even though i know BC kids going there). for IB, i know BC is a top core for Citi, GS, Barclays, UBS, DB and other banks like jefferies, RBC, nomura, piper jaffray, william blair, TD securities, harris williams. for boutiques, we send a couple kids each to moelis, evercore, pwp, lazard, centerview every year. there are more resources for BC kids because fewer people want to recruit for banking and less people to compete with. the number of kids that shoot for IB is much lower than consulting, so it's widely known that **whoever is willing to put in the work will get into banking. **
there is the investment banking association which takes 30-40 kids every year, but there are actually more non-IBA kids that get into banking than actual IBA kids. just looking through my zoom class rosters, i can name atleast 70 kids doing IB (about 15 of them are at boston boutiques). there are atleast 20 non-carroll kids that are doing IB at BB/EB. for FT, we also place a couple people into PE (mostly boston offices) each at summit partners, providence equity, general atlantic, and 1 to bain cap.
overall, i think you could break into banking with either IU IBW or BC but i'd give the nod to BC. also, there's fewer people to compete with for IB slots (you definitely don't need to be in investment banking association unlike IBW) and can actually go into Boston and enjoy the city. there's lots of other schools in boston, food/restaurants/bars, and BC places into NY whereas IU woud probably be chicago. nearly every single BC alumni i've reached out to took my call, which shows how much alumni are willing to help out and push resumes. go eags!
Damn, I was leaning towards going to IU and trying my hardest to get into the IBW, but ngl if BC can place just as well, I'm definitely want to go to BC. I'm from CT and I am a diehard Boston sports fan, so I would love to be able to live in Boston. How does BC place in NY?
Most kids that do IB are in NYC. Basically every BB recruits for NYC at BC, the rest are boutiques in Boston.
when I transferred to BC, there were 5 kids from IU at my transfer orientation. they all said BC is much much better for recruiting. one did SA at UBS and will FT at Evercore. another is doing SA at GS. people come to BC for the Carroll school. also, because it’s a smaller school, there are more resources allocated to each student. my finance concentration advisor has like 25 people so he’s very very accessible and not bombarded with other kids. the sophomore accelerator class (easy 1 unit pass/fail) is a literal how-to guide with interviewing help, hand holding on how to talk to alum, resume fixing, LinkedIn help, etc. I can’t sing enough praises, especially because i come from a family with no one in finance. there’s also a portal where alumni sign up to do coffee chats with kids in the sophomore accelerator class...literally people in any business field (esp banking) that WANT to talk to you. BC alum absolutely love BC which is why they’re so willing to volunteer and give time to current students. this is in addition to eagle exchange (it’s like a BC-only LinkedIn) for the larger BC community
some other perks: all BC kids get free access to Bloomberg terminal certification, WSJ/FT/NYT subscriptions, free guides for interviews, the Carroll school hires ppl to give basically unlimited banking and consulting mock interviews (usually ex bankers/consultants that were on hiring teams), they publish lists of hundreds of seniors with their industry/role/group that are always willing to chat/do mocks/give connections
This probably the most accurate post w/r/t BC vs IU. Regardless both will get you where you want to go if you work hard.
Go to BC it’s a better school and will give you a lot more options (IB, Consulting, etc). This shouldn’t even be a debate.
Go to IU and don’t look back. The opportunities afforded to you at IU far surpass BC. There are many more people from IU in top BB, EB firms and many more on the buyside at top roles as well. Their alumni network is massive which will take you a long way.
Take a look at their IBW and their placements:
https://kelley.iu.edu/IBN/index.cfm
I go to IU and even I can see the clear bias in that, since clearly both schools clearly place into top banks. Looks like BC might have better BB placement while IU has better EB placement. I'll admit I don't know much about buyside placment post-IB though.
if i were you, i'd go BC. it has a better brand name and there are fewer kids gunning for IB so your shot at breaking in is way higher. banks generally allocate a certain number of slots to each school so you're competing against kids in your own class. objectively speaking, i think anyone would rather compete with fewer kids for the same number of slots. with IU, its IBW or bust. at BC, it doesn't really matter if you're in the investment banking club because the carroll school has all the resources.
location wise: what is there to do in bloomington? BC is it's own campus and a 15 minute train ride into boston and lots of other schools in the area to meet people and network. bankers/investors/etc. are always in boston so great for networking opps. on the weekends, people go into the city to catch bruins games, alot of bars in allston/fenway area, beanpot hockey against harvard/neu/bu (we have a killer hockey team), football tailgates are really big and draw tons of alumni come to games just to tailgate, we also got a new head football coach from OSU. i could not be happier with BC and i think it comes down to where you see yourself thriving
See below for IU placement. Did a quick search on BC for a view of placements and unfortunately the school does not hold a candle. But as the poster above mentioned if you want a city school go to BC, but if you want a true campus with Greek life / Big 10 sports, and a strong pipeline into banks then I’d go IU.
BC
I'm a BC student going into IB SA. Seems like other people have hit on the Carroll Schools' resources but I can also help answer the question of how Catholic the school is. BC is basically as Catholic as you want it to be with the minimum amount of religion you can experience being an orientation mass, priests on campus, and a couple of theology core classes. I myself am religious and BC definitely has stood out to me in terms of the resources I get for that side of my life whether that be philosophy/theology classes with great professors, numerous priests, retreats, daily masses, or a number of Catholic groups you can join on campus. I also chose BC as the more expensive school and do not regret it at all for the experience I've gotten here. IU has a great program too but it seems to me like BC is probably the better fit for you in terms of what you're looking for. If you've got any more questions on specifics with the Catholic nature of the school or anything else, feel free to PM me.
where do you want to end up/see yourself working? if Midwest/Chicago, go IU. if NY or Boston, go BC. either way, both great schools
NY is the finance hub of the world and way stronger for PE recruiting/exit opportunities
Because they don’t want to pay $2000 / month to live in a shoebox when you could live in a high rise penthouse with the same kind of money in Chicago? It’s all personal preference lol, but guess as a student you wouldn’t know would you?
Regardless IU sends more to NY IB than Chicago IB.
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