UC Berkeley CS vs Vanderbilt CS vs UIUC CS + Stats for Trading

I am currently a senior in high school in Illinois and have been accepted to UIUC for CS + Stats, UC Berkeley for CS, and Vanderbilt for CS. I am planning on pursuing a quant job (maybe IB or Tech). The cost of UIUC is 37K, Berkeley is 63K, and Vanderbilt is 74K. Which of these schools do you guys think would provide me with the best chances of getting a quant/IB/Tech job.

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If you're interested in CS/Tech go to Berkeley and never look back. Going to school near the heart of the valley will help you immerse yourself in that scene, and Berkeley is a top target as far as Bay Area recruiting goes (second only to Stanford). Given you'd still have to shell out a fair bit of $$ to go to UIUC, the marginal cost of Berkeley is well worth it here.

 

Current Berkeley Student -- would echo previous comments encouraging you to come here. if you're thinking about going into finance consider doing a CS + Haas double, I have a few friends doing it and it'll 100% set you up for a lot of success. Recruiting for West Coast IB is really strong, and the CS program is a top target for every single tech company in the world

 

I'm a junior at UIUC. Came here for engineering but switched to a more quantitative major(non-Gies, non-Eng) thats applicable to S&T which I'll be doing this summer at MM in NY. Honestly the only way to get into IB out of here outside of being well connected is through Gies IB program and 99% of those guys never make it out of the Chicago scene. If you're really set on tech banking I also say go to Berkeley. That being said, the CS program here is top notch and if you play your cards right it can really prepare you for a quant/trading focused role. If you are still thinking about a tech role outside of finance, both Illinois and Berkeley would be great choices. Also it is hard to take Gies classes if you're outside of the school unless you are doing the business minor. In conclusion, you should probably go to Berkeley.

 

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