Dartmouth vs. SMU Presidents Scholar and BBA Scholar
I was recently accepted to both Dartmouth and SMU. If this were all, Dartmouth would be the easy choice. However, at SMU I will be a Cox BBA Scholar and a Presidents Scholar. The Presidents Scholars program is a full ride and is only offered to approximately 25 students year. Cox BBA Scholar allows you to start business classes your freshman year and gives you early access to advising service along with certain BBA scholar only events. Given this information, if I want to enter IB, what school should I choose?
You'd be a fool not to take Dartmouth. It would be different if you were measuring Dartmouth vs Duke or Rice or Vanderbilt, or even University of Richmond, but SMU isn't even close to being on the same level as Dartmouth.
If you care about setting yourself for the future at all then Dartmouth is a no brainer, even with the cost.
The only way I'd take SMU is if my family was wealthy to the point where I'd never have to work in my life, in that case I'd go and party with all the hot chicks at SMU...otherwise just go with Dartmouth.
I realize that this is an old post, but I gotta point out that SMU's Alt Asset Program beats the fuck out of any of those schools, Dartmouth included, in IB placement.
Does it really though? How many kids get into that program each year? 50?
So of the 50, even if most place into banking, there are probably only a handful that make it into top IBD groups and an even smaller percentage that make it into major markets. I'm willing to bet that you'll find more Dartmouth guys in NYC at BB banks then you will SMU guys/gals.
So even best case scenario, 10/50 make it to either New York, Chicago, LA, SF with the rest going to regional banks.
Dartmouth has ~4500 undergrads, so 1100 a class. Out of that 1100, even if only 10% of the class wants to do finance and half of those kids make it, that would place it on even ground with SMU.
The other huge variable you're not thinking of is the Dartmouth name and network. Dartmouth is an old money school, which means it ties in with all the other Ivies in terms of prestige, network, access, etc(well I guess it's a lower tier Ivey if we're being picky, but you get what I mean). So overall a much stronger network for future job opportunities whether they be in PE, HF, Banking, etc. You also have Tuck, a top B school, which also expands the network into high finance and has somewhat of a global presence, even if its a small one.
So the issue isn't necessarily can SMU Alt Assets place equally into banking out of undergrad than Dartmouth. Maybe it can, maybe it can't but even that I'm skeptical of. The real value for Dartmouth comes down the road when you're recruiting into PE and the fund you're interviewing at has a few Dartmouth alums. Or maybe you're trying to start a fund and some of the LPs you're courting at Tuck alums. Hey maybe they're even Harvard guys, but you graduated the same year and used to row against them and would see them at meets.
I don't doubt that SMU places pretty well into wall street and I bet SMU has a pretty good regional presence in Texas and a few of the other Southeastern cities, but if all else is equal, it's bad advice to tell someone that SMU Alt Assets program is a better decision from a career perspective than going to Dartmouth. If SMU is the better fit overall or better for an individuals circumstance, then I'm sure one can be successful coming out of that program. But as blanket advice, Dartmouth will be better, especially if the end goal is a long term career in Finance.
As someone who is currently at SMU and has multiple friends at Dartmouth I don't think the choice is nearly as black and white as a lot of people here think. While SMU does place a lot more in Houston (which it does better than any other school in the South) there are a lot of opportunities available in New York; however, you have to be in the Alts program to have a shot. Out of the 50 people in Alts this year I'd say about 40 have IB jobs and about 15 of those are in NYC at BB firms, 3 in San Fran, and one in London. You can look up the historic list of placements for each Alts class through the SMU website. A couple of my friends from Dartmouth had a tough time recruiting. Most of them are actually coming back to dallas for their SA stint. Where you go doesn't matter as much as you'd think. What you do when you're there is much more important.
With that said SMU does have a very particular culture. If you're not interested in Greek life it may not be the best place for you. I can't speak directly to the culture at Dartmouth. Anyways I wish you luck with your decision and I'm sure that it will work out.
Late to see this post... rasamman has probably made his/her decision already - but perhaps sharing my experience will help others seeking similar advice...
I had the same decision to make (Dartmouth v. SMU scholarship) a while back and chose SMU. Saw some SMU smear in here already, so wanted to balance it out to say that SMU ended up being a great decision for me. I was able to compete with Ivies for finance jobs my senior year (largely because of the http://www.smu.edu/Cox/CentersAndInstitutes/AlternativeAssetManagementC…</a">Alts program prepared me really well for interviews, I recently went to business school at Stanford, and I now invest in private alternative assets at a firm in Dallas.
SMU introduced me to a city I enjoyed enough to come back here from San Francisco and a few other places I've lived, so obviously the more regional reach SMU typically offers is perhaps the reg, but not the rule. Also, worth noting, that the depth of the SMU network in Texas is great, and being an SMU undergrad didn't prohibit me from attending a good b-school and achieving the career success I hoped for when I was 18. If anything, being a "big fish" at SMU was better than being in the "big pond" of Dartmouth if you want to use the big fish, little pond v. little fish, big pond analogy for business opportunity out of undergrad.
My n=1 sample was that going on scholarship to study business at SMU and being an Alternative Assets Center program student was a great opportunity v. the liberal arts education I suspect I would have received at Dartmouth... although I didn't live the counterfactual case, so who knows what I'd be up to if I went to Dartmouth - maybe a professional skier or consultant? :)
There were other probably more idiosyncratic contributing factors to my SMU decision, but this post is more than long enough already (Dallas v. Hanover; South v. NE -- and accompanying hobbies; ~1600 class v. ~1100 class; sure, pretty TX girls, etc.), but I found a great community, my passion for finance, and my wife at SMU, so I'm glad I chose the school over my alternatives. I understand that many folks would not have made the same choice. I'm grateful that I did.