Help me choose: UMich Ross vs. Duke University

Duke student that secured FT IB. For what it’s worth, I had to make a similar decision and chose it over a large Southern state school with really solid placements (think U/V/A) that I actually preferred at first. I thought I’d give some insights followed by a recommendation that you can completely ignore.

First thing you’ll notice is our alumni are very receptive to networking (like 75% hit rate in my experience) and extremely loyal when it comes to batting for you. If someone doesn’t respond right away it’s because they’re working 90 hours a week so don’t take it personally. I’m typing this up for you because you’re a potential student, if that indicates anything. Don’t hesitate to start reaching out on LinkedIn early freshman year after doing a little bit of legwork yourself to ask educated questions.

The Duke Investment Club (DIC), along with an ex-Wall St Professor, manages the established pipeline into IB. Join the DIC your first semester, complete the 10 week training program, pitch a stock, pass the final exam, and then you’re certified as a member at the end of the first semester and have an extremely solid foundation on IB technicals and the financial services industry. Then your spring semester apply to be an analyst and maybe continue up the leadership chain. Lot of great placements for DIC members and officers (seeing is believing so check LinkedIn). The professor to know is Emma Rasiel, who was formerly a senior banker at Goldman Sachs. Get to know her once you’re knowledgeable about the industry and have made a little progress. There’s plenty of opportunities to take finance oriented courses but you’ll figure this out on your own.

Unless you’re intending to jump off a bridge if you don’t get a Centerview offer, you will get the job you want coming out of Duke. We’ve even people go directly into FT MF PE analyst positions. General grade inflation makes it easy to get a high GPA compared to many comparable state schools that are way more academically rigorous/competitive (I’m gonna get shit on for this one but it’s just what I’ve experienced).

A lot of students are very wealthy yet also down to earth. We pull a from a diverse pool of candidates including many international students. Everyone I’ve met here is either really smart, really rich, really lucky, or really athletic. At the end of the day people in all of these categories are fun to be around and good to know. I don’t identify as particularly smart or successful so my peers inspired me and still do. Don’t forget that at a school like Duke most of these people are pretty much nerds in the best sense of the word. 

You’re comparing a school with 50,000 students to a school with 7,000 students. If it’s clear that you want the big state school experience, go Mich and don’t look back. Otherwise, my biased opinion - go to Duke, make the most of your time, and enjoy the brand name recognition and sports team hatred for life.