Choosing UG School (UVA vs. UCSB)

I recently got off the waitlist at UVA and now need to decide between UVA and UCSB. Obviously, UVA places much better in financial jobs overall than UCSB, but there are some other factors making this decision difficult. First, I'm from CA so total cost of UCSB will be ~40k/yr and UVA will be ~75k/yr. I have a college fund so no need for student loans either way, but I'll get to keep whatever money is leftover in the fund so the UCSB cost would be nice. Also, both schools seem to have a good social life, but UCSB's location, weather, and party scene are hard to beat. If I were trying to solely optimize for breaking into IB then UVA would be a no brainer, but having fun in college is a big priority for me. Another holdup I have is that I'm not dead set on a career in finance, let alone a career in IB at a top bank (one career path that interests me is commercial real estate, if anyone has any insight on that). A career in finance is probably at the top of my list right now, but this could 100% change over the next few years, and I understand that the prestige gap between UVA and UCSB is smaller for non-IB jobs, though still real. Also, I don't have much of a preference between working on the West or East coast. If anyone has any advice or insight into this decision I would love to hear it.

6 Comments
 

UVA and it isnt even close. 

You already know UVA is going to set you up better for anything versus UCSB. From there, you're underestimating the amount of fun you'll have at UVA. I've heard very very good things about the social life there. 

 

I went to UCSB, as far as the experience I don't think many schools can top it. However for IB/high finance in general go to UVA. UCSB does send kids to IB, 3-5/ year and maybe 1/year to RX, but you going to have to work much harder for much lower tier opportunities. PM me if you have any questions about UCSB or CRE

 

Depends on your goals and what matters to you. I'm in CRE and I would be a lot better off if I went to UCSD bc they have an RE degree. Not sure how their IB/PE/whatever else placements are though, but I'd imagine similar, maybe minimally better. Can say for sure from going to SB and friends at SD you will have a much better time at SB. 

 
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