College decision another round- Emory vs Tufts vs Wake Forest vs UCLA vs Tulane vs NYU CAS vs Boston University
Hey guys so here are my results for the admissions cycle. My stats were 1550 SAT and 3.92 Unweighted GPA. I want to get into Banking or consulting and I prefer the east coast or the south. Cost is about the same for all with Emory being the cheapest by a small margin. I'm not a huge partier but I do like some parties. I'm looking for a relatively chill college atmosphere with a good finance focus. To be honest my dream was to get into the Ivies not only for the prestige but also the environment, background, and type of setting. I'm Indian(from South Carolina) so I'm not sure if I'll fit into southern schools although I've heard Emory is very diverse and has a lot of Indians too so I guess Emory is not really southern. Any advice would be appreciated.
Good job getting into some very good colleges. I would personally eliminate Tulane, Boston University, and Wake Forest. Among your top 4 options of NYU, Emory, Tufts, and UCLA I would make a decision based on fit. My guess is that landing IB will probably be the easiest at Emory or NYU out of all of these. If you liked an Ivy League type atmosphere my guess is that means rich boarding school kids, ethnically diverse, small-mid size student bodies, very well funded schools etc. Tufts and Emory would probably fit this criteria. UCLA also has a fairly prestigious name. Emory seems like its a mix of the type of atmosphere you want along with strong recruiting and relatively less competition. NYU is a target but I'm not sure how CAS vs Stern plays into the picture. Stern itself seems very competitive and then you have to compete against that but also you see a lot of OCR. My guess is NYU will give you the best shot at the top BBs. Emory will probably give you the highest chance of breaking in and it has a solid pipeline to some EBs and these days even some PE. UCLA has a strong brand name and would be strong in SoCal but again very competitive. UCLA will definitely have amazing parties and girls. NYU doesn't seem like its a great college experience. Emory is very hit or miss but still has a college experience. All things considered I would pick Emory
Thanks for your reply
It would be great to hear more opinions. I'm still fairly confused. UCLA seems like a lot of fun and is very prestigious(#20) but is very competitive and is west coast when I'm more of an east coast. Emory is chilled out and seems to have the somewhat private school ivy like atmosphere that I enjoy and is ranked well(#21). It also has solid recruiting. However people don't know its name as much and does not have a Wall Street presence like NYU but still has very good presence. Target in the south east which I may consider. Also I've heard that college life there is hit or miss. NYU is a massive target but I'm not sure how CAS goes against stern. It also seems very competitive and college life doesn't seem great. It has very high name recognition. Tufts at this point seems like its basically like Emory but just has worse recruiting. Is this correct? Wake Forest is not diverse but has a great college atmosphere. I'm not sure how it stacks up to Emory or Tufts but I get the feeling that it is less prestigious than both. Tulane is just a lot of fun lol but I'm not sure it would be wise to pick it over the other options. I have pretty much dropped Boston University
Great job for tough admissions cycle. Drop BU and Wake Forest. Both are too challenging and just don't stack up to other schools and would require a significant cultural fit (i.e. location, culture) for you to attend one of these over the others. Now – Tulane, Emory, Tufts, UCLA. First, Tulane. Known for high merit aid. Great clubs for pre-finance and easy to get into. Top tier social scene for everybody. But only worth it if they gave you ~>40-50% off tuition. If they're making you pay near or full cost, disregard for potential ROI reasons. Second, UCLA. If you're not dead-set on living in Cali, I'd disregard. It'll be tough to break into any other location. Plus, speaking regionally in Cali, you're already competing against Stanford and UC Berkley, which will always have a priority over you. That makes three ultra competitive, high undergrad population field in which you'll be competing for limited spots in West Coast. Is doable if you're smart, sociable (big factor), but it's likely not the easiest route. Next, Emory >> Tufts all other factors considered. Emory edges Tufts out on everything (placement, clubs, location, academics, reputation, street presence etc.) imho. Emory vs NYU CAS is tough, and all comes down to culture. If you're a finance hardo, NYU CAS is probably best bet. Clubs are difficult to get into (especially not coming from Stern) and if you don't prep this summer you'll likely have a difficult chance getting in to the organizations you'll need to get into. Emory is likely less "hardo" and you'll get into clubs more easily and be able to be more involved in terms of leadership. But at the same time, you'll have to work harder to place into NY. Regionally in South East, you can't beat Emory. But NYU CAS edges Emory out in New York placement, although Emory --> NY BB/EB is doable if you get in right clubs and network.
You may have seen this post already on CAS but if you haven't - https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/school/nyu-cas-econ-to-bb
Thank you for that. These replies have helped me tone down the list a lot. Now I'm between Emory vs NYU CAS. It's a really difficult decision
Not knowing that much about Emory I can only look at the employment report and it seems you have lots of opportunity - https://goizueta.emory.edu/documents/BBAEmploymentReport.pdf in both the NE and SE regions. Of a class of around 300 35% ended up in NE. I don't see how going to school at Emory will hinder your chances of working in NYC. So asking yourself where you want to work afterwards may not be that important.
Maybe the main questions you can ask yourself....
a) Do I want a more traditional college experience with a campus or do I want to go live in a large city and everything it brings...good and bad?
b) Do I want to go to a smaller school or larger? NYU has many schools and between under and grad has 50k students between Manhattan/Brooklyn.
c) Where do I think I will get the best academic experience? Where do I think I will get the best education?
These are basic questions but seems like the differentiating factors. Maybe go with the first answer that popped into our head as you read them?
These replies have helped me tone down the list a lot. Now I'm between Emory vs NYU CAS. It's a really difficult decision
I would take Emory in a heartbeat if I were in your position. Among all of the options, Emory has the best recruiting by far. Wouldn’t be as clear cut if it was between Emory and Stern but CAS just doesn’t have as many recruiting options. Also, based on your interest for a chill, somewhat academic school with a decent party scene, Emory seems like the best place for you.
Random comments on other schools in the list: UCLA- minimal recruiting presence for such a highly ranked school
Wake- minimal recruiting presence, place a few people into BBs every year
Tufts- Best recruiting outside of Emory and NYU but still nowhere close to the same level of recruiting. Not much of a social scene.
I'd take Emory based on what you on said in youur post. There are a few posts on WSO trashing on it but I highly doubt it's that bad.
Side note:
nice job on getting into those schools. Did you have any interesting EC's and/or essays were really good?
Thank you. I went to nationals in science olympiad and mock trial. I also talked about how I had to overcome health issues in high school and my annual trips to India with my great grandfather who was a reasonably influential person. College admissions were honestly pretty random this year especially. Acceptance rates were crazy this year UCLA was 8%, Emory(I got into Atlanta campus and rejected from Oxford) was 9%, NYU was 12%, and Tufts was like 10% so I'm honestly grateful. I was bummed about being waitlisted from Duke, Dartmouth, and Northwestern but I'm happy that I got in wherever I did. No one from my school got Ivy+ this year which is crazy
very nice. Best school I got into was Notre Dame but I think that was because of not-so-great essays even though I had the stats. Still made into a BB tho.
I would narrow it down to NYU and UCLA
Trust me take UCLA and don't look back.
Going to be a bit biased because I'm a current Emory student but I would lean toward Emory. If you had gotten into Stern, that would've been a clear choice over Emory but it's a tough decision with NYU CAS. Take a look at the target school lists on WSO and you can eliminate the rest of the schools because Emory and NYU are a good step above the rest in terms of recruiting. Can you transfer into Stern after being at CAS? NYU is already such a competitive school that I don't think it would be worth going to CAS. If transferring to Stern is possible, then that may be the better choice. At Emory, you're pretty much guaranteed to get into Goizueta sophomore year. Because it's a big health/pre-med school, there isn't a big hardo/cutthroat culture like I hear at Stern. Emory has a strong pipeline at Lazard and there are a decent amount of kids going to other EBs. Even a few guys going to MF/UMM PE shops. Good amount of on campus recruiting and if you just put in a little effort, you'll definitely land an IB gig from Emory. Huge pipeline at Truist Atlanta and could easily land a gig there. Just put in some effort and you can have a decent shot at EBs and MFs. If you’re set on deciding just based on IB placement, look at LinkedIn and placement results from WSO and other sites. Peak Frameworks has a placement spreadsheet too.
UCLA no brainer! Great school, actually fun, honestly not super challenging so very high GPA with less effort. Really though, go with the best fit between NYU, UCLA, and Emory. Honestly those three are so different the gut-take shouldn’t be too tough.
I didn’t even know what banking was in high school though so going on fit was much easier .. plus I didn’t get into any good schools lol
Isn't business econ known for big time grade deflation?
UCLA for social life
NYU for recruiting (even CAS) if you are a good hustler and can network well
Emory if you like the south/warmth/if you want another chance at getting into a BBA program. Goizueta places pretty well. and is probably better than UCLA in this aspect but its marginal
the rest I wouldnt bother with
I'm in so much decision paralysis now. This thread shows how divided the opinions although there seems to be a minor lead for Emory. I'm just confused since this is a difficult decision
Currently a senior at NYU. While I did enjoy my time here (despite Covid taking 2 years of my academic career), I always wonder what it would have been like to go to a big traditional school like UCLA and have an actual campus (yet have access to the city). As people noted above, it's possible to break into IB from CAS (from BB to MM) but it does require a lot of hustling, competing with Stern kids, and having to answer the question "Why x major and not finance?". Although I've enjoyed the people I've met at NYU, I wonder what my experience at a school like UMich, UCLA, USC would have been like. I also have no doubt that I would be in the same position as I am right now (graduating with a returning offer). Maybe I said a whole bunch of nothing lol but look beyond just finance recruiting. If you're good enough to get into those schools, I'm just you'll do fine during recruiting.
Emory. NYU if you’re not super rich and can blow money at the clubs and bars are nightlife will be shit. Also unless you like Big schools which I think it sounds like you don’t. I would go to Emory. 
Current Emory student. As for IB after college, you’ll be able to get offers in the south easily and have pretty good chances at offers in NYC and Chicago. As for the college experience, you’ll have a great time at Emory. It is not a huge school but also not super small it fits perfectly in between. Campus culture is pretty good and is very diverse. And for partying the fraternities decently throw often and heading in to Buckhead for the night life is always a great time. 
Thanks for the insightful inputs everyone! I'm thankful to this community and look forward to using it over the next few years. Making this decision was fairly difficult but I have decided to go to Emory.
Emory is a great school, my sibling attended and is crushing it.
is the SAT still out of 1600? Those are solid stats, some kid with similar stats basically had rice as his best option recently, take Emory and don’t look back.
1. In no world is Emory over Rice in anything.
2. I was just accepted off of a top LAC waitlist with another coming next week. Also good shot at getting off of a lower Ivy waitlist at the end of the month.
You got into PE, so congrats, you’ve been successful and I’m glad your sibling enjoyed Emory, but you can’t parade the place around as if it’s an Ivy+ and expect people to treat you as an objective source of information.
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