U Oregon, U Denver, U Richmond

Is this undergrad or grad?

Undergrad

Richmond is better, but try and go back and say I'd love to attend if your COA could match that of my other options

Richmond is way different than Oregon and Denver, and Oregon is going to feel way bigger than Denver and Richmond. There are definitely Spiders that make it to Wall Street and shops in Atlanta, Charlotte, and Richmond.

Richmond denied my request to sweeten their financial aid package. So it will remain 60k of debt for four years of Richmond. So is graduating with that extra 35k worth going to Richmond over U Oregon or U Denver?

Oregon if they win tomorrow.

Richmond. No question.

If you work hard, get a 3.5+, take advantage of career connections, you will be fine at UR. It is a very different school from the other two (not even remotely on the same playing field) but you can do quite well from UR assuming you take the right steps. I know a lot of UR guys across the banks (NYC, RVA, CLT, ATL)

Would exhibiting that same work ethic at U Oregon or U Denver yield similar success? Or are they simply too non target for me to have any realistic chance?

I really have no idea. I can't say I personally know anyone in IBD or S&T from Denver/Oregon but I could be wrong.

OP, I have lots of friends who go to one of those schools you mentioned and am very familiar with it and it's business school. If you still need info, feel free to send me a private message and I'd be happy to answer questions for you.

oregon has good visibility because of sports and decent school. id say what is more important will be your GPA and if you know you want to be a trader, start a real portfolio and if you do well with it, you will be able to prove your prowess.

plus, it would totally make sense to me if i was interviewing you as to why you chose oregon over richmond. i chose one school over another because i got a large annual academic scholarship at a 1.5 tier instead of paying full price at a 1 tier (saved me over $60k in loans). it is easy for me to say though - if you don't have the network, no one will be listening to you in an interview. so idk, but i'd still say less debt and experience in managing real money portfolio is more legitimate.