Thoughts on IU/Kelley, UT/McCombs, and SMU/Cox

Admitted student to all three schools seeking advice on how their Finance major and placement compare. At Indiana was offered their Kelley ACE program for Freshman (pitched to me as a cohort, small honors classes, only 72 Freshman invited) and SMU was given their BBA Scholars (direct admission to Cox, Freshman b-school classes, small cohort). SMU has also already mentioned their Alternative Assets flagship program as a decent option if I can keep a 3.9. UT Interviewed for the BHP and initially was aggressive with personal recruiter outreach, but then everything stopped and was declined, so nothing special there beyond direct admission to McCombs. I'm an Austin native, so obviously UT in state is a great value, but with scholarships the cost difference is ~$5,000 between all of the schools. UT at 25, SMU at 27, and Indiana at 30.

SMU Seemed VERY aggressive when it comes down to career prep and internship placement, but that may have been an individual experience. My top criterion are:

• Path to work in IB or Consulting on the East Coast (ideally Boston)

• Strong internship placement

• Alumni network (not too worried about any here)

• Focused, personal business-school curriculum

I'm also waitlisted at Notre Dame and WashU, but don't expect much from either institution at this point. Advice from anyone with experience dealing with these schools would be really helpful, as this combo seems fairly uncommon.