Umich LSA or BU?

Hi guys, I'm a transfer student who got accepted from both Umich LSA and BU. In Umich, I probably will major in Financial Math and double in Economics, and minor in business (Ross) if I could. Besides, I would like to ask that is it still necessary to minor in business (Ross) if I will double major in Economics? In BU, I probably will choose Statistics and double in Math and Economics major. Since I'm an international student, the tuition fee of those schools are kind of the same to me and Umich is about $5,000 cheaper than BU per year.

I know Umich(Ross) is a target school for investment banking and consulting, but I'm not sure if Umich (LSA) is, too, because I know the career platform of Ross is not open for LSA students. Comparing with Umich, BU is not a target school for investment banking and consulting, but a lot of students of BU will go to Big Four. I found on Linkedin most alumni of Umich is in Detroit, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and BU has alumni most in Boston, New York and San Francisco.

I preferred to find a job in investment banking and consulting after I graduate, I would like to ask which school is better? I know Umich has a lot of alumni, but its location is a bit remote comparing with BU which is right in Boston. Will the geographic location effect finding job a lot, such as the opportunities of interviews (as I need to take flights to go to the east coast)? I am now preferring to work in east coast, probably either New York or Boston, (probably will consider west coast also in the future), will BU students have a better reputation in the companies of these two cities? Does BU have a large job search advantage due to its location than Umich? Or actually, for banking recruitment, school and its reputation on the wall street is more important than its location?

I need to decide before June 1st, so any advice and suggestions are welcome. Thank you very much!

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I was an Econ major at Michigan, so obvious caveats apply, but you should go to Michigan. I can't speak to the curriculum at BU but you will be given phenomenal opportunities to learn from some of the smartest minds on the planet, both at Ross if you elect to take some BBA classes and also across the university. Separately, If all else fails, the UM network is so incomprehensibly large that you'll be able to find an alum anywhere who will at least give you a conversation (myself included) and, if they can't help you directly, connect you to someone who can.

Campus life is also fantastic between the party/bar scene and if you're ok with the football team shitting itself against Ohio State and at least one or two other times during the season, you'll have an amazing time, make some great friends, and leave with a lifetime of memories. Hockey and basketball teams are also great and there's something to be said about taking an easy elective and sharing a class with someone who's going to be an NFL or NBA draft pick.

Also like why would you want to go to college and live in an urban environment, Ann Arbor and just about all of the Big Ten's college towns are some of the loveliest places in the country.

Go Blue

Joshua Friedman, CFA @yoshfriedman
 

Hey, current Umich student here, so I can kind of speak to the Michigan half of your question.

I think in general, Umich is more of a target than BU. LSA IB recruiting from Michigan is relatively common, and I know of people with BB/EB/MBB/Big 4 offers and LSA econ/financial math/whatever majors. The Ross career platform is helpful, but LSA students can more than make up for it by joining Ross clubs (either finance or consulting), and putting in a little more effort into networking. Honestly, my club alumni/older members are way more helpful than random Ross alums, so LSA students in competitive clubs would be fine.

Location-wise, Michigan is in the midwest but most people doing IB end up in New York. For consulting, I think it is true that most MBB people end up in Chicago, but there are plenty of Big 4 people in NY. Most banks and consulting firms all have OCR at Michigan. So I don't think location advantage would be that much, if it even exists at all.

 

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