Brown vs Stern Undergraduate

I’m a transfer student at NYU Stern who got into Brown this cycle. I was wondering what which school would be the best choice for career optionality, investment banking recruiting (my plan right now), academics, and social life?

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My two cents, assuming this is price agnostic…

Career optionality: you see a much more diversity in jobs out of undergrad at Brown (IB, PE, HF, MBB [I haven't seen many Stern grads in MBB], government, tech, etc.) You might decide you hate banking, so it's good to have more options. Brown name also goes much further, and it'll matter for PE recruiting, MBA admissions, the rest of your life.

IB Recruiting: Stern lets you intern part-time in the city obviously but Brown does great in IBD recruiting and the quality of exits seem to be higher. In addition, recruiting at schools like Brown is much less cutthroat and competitive.

Academics: So much easier to maintain a high GPA at Brown and you can actually take interesting classes and learn to critically think vs. trying to memorize accounting concepts for four years. Also, less cutthroat and more collaborative. The Pass/Fail system is great for recruiting.

Social life: Depends on who you are, but if you want a more traditional college experience with Greek life, house parties, etc. go to Brown, especially if you're low income. However, you might have money and like clubbing at Le Bain and all those classic spots, so this is up to you.

I have no issues with Stern but the unfortunate fact of the matter is that the Brown name just hits a lot further and your school name really does matter for the rest of your life (for example, your PE recruiting experience will largely be dictated by your school, GPA, and SAT scores).

That being said, if you did two years at Stern already and only have two years at Brown, I would considering staying. It's a hassle to make new friend groups and you would have missed sophomore spring recruiting for junior summer. Otherwise, I'd probably pick Brown, all else equal.

EDIT: I just saw that this would be your second transfer? So you'd be going in as a junior? Unless you can somehow do 3 full years at Brown, I'd recommend staying at Stern.

 

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