UT Mccombs Honors vs. UPenn
Rising freshman seeking advice.
I’m currently split between UPenn and UT as the title suggests. I’m in state with a full ride to UT’s honors program, while I have a full ride nrotc scholarship to UPenn.
I want to pursue IB, but I’m not sure if i’m ready to serve 5 years in the navy by going to UPenn. My main concern is that I’ll be sacrificing my early career making it harder to succeed later if I go to UPenn.
I was also wondering what the difference between UT and UPenn truly is for placement, since at UT I feel like I could be at the top of my class, while at UPenn I’d be more in the middle of the pack.
Thanks so much y’all.
Lmao who cares what the placement difference is. Don’t go to penn if you’d also have to go in the navy
Because I could also just pay out of pocket if there is a large difference.
I’d reach out to servicemembers who operated with intentionality and had finance as the clear end goal. A lot of people know they want to do finance/something in business later and they’re very capable but they still decide to serve, sometimes after they’ve already broken into finance. I assume you’re very smart and driven since you competed for an NROTC scholarship and got BHP full ride.
So you have to decide what you care about more during the early years of your career — do you want to serve, forgo some of the early gratification/pay and break in as a diversity candidate with great leadership experience/soft skills or do you just want as much money as possible while spending as little as possible?
If you want bang for your buck and a well-drawn out route to working in finance, BHP is a great program and will give you access to things like WSFM. If you want probably a better quality of education and more career fulfillment/just a cooler story to tell your kids, Penn NROTC to Marine Corps would look super fucking impressive and you might be more fulfilled at the end too. Ivy league legacy, service experience, no debt, and a target school to boot.
Feel free to PM me since I had to make a similar decision and transferred out of a state school to go somewhere better + with a rotc scholarship.
As someone who went to UT for non bhp this is good advice^. However would you really want to be a 28yo analyst and be locked into banking for the long haul? Personally don't know if buyside recruiting is even worth it at that point.
Personally, I'd just go to UPenn and load up on the debt.
You typically wouldn’t be a 28 yr old analyst. Believe it or not a lot of officer roles will force you to get good at the foundations of being an analyst (MS Office/all the soft skills).
Also I’d assume he gets an MBA or MFin and either goes in as an Associate or directly into buyside. Just anecdotally I know a lot of vets who were able to transition straight into buyside analyst programs or get top MBAs and start at roles with better WLB.
Essentially you can forgo a lot of the analyst/bs work years, do something cooler/meaningful in the meantime, potentially save more money, while having a better story and tolerance/appreciation for the often mundane work in finance lol.
Although all things considered yes it’d be “behind” by traditional corporate hierarchy definitions. Essentially I’d advise/have observed— network throughout undergrad (easier at Penn and can tap the vet network), work finance over your summers if you can, and stay technically prepared/ready to transition with things like DoD skillbridge.
I'm an Army ROTC student at a state school with a 3 year AD scholarship and am Interested in taking a similar route as you did. I currently have a 3.9 GPA which puts me in a good position to transfer. I would like to end up in high finance after serving. Would you be able to offer any advice for transferring with ROTC?
Yeah coordinate with the ROTC detachment at the school you’re interested in to make sure they have funding and send it bro — I don’t think you have too much time left to send the apps so hopefully you’ve made some progress as far as professor recommendations and whatnot. Just be in communication with the admissions committee and let them know you’re on a scholarship and want to transfer it. In my case being ROTC was helpful in getting in as a transfer.
I go with Penn over some random state school where I’ve never met any one before.
Plus, there were rotc kids at my Ivy League school that dropped out of that program after a year and finished out their degree.
Very few times in life will you get the opportunity to go to a top echelon college or company, and I think you should take it. You’re gonna just meet and run elbows with a better quality kid, you can always quit the rotc if it’s too intense, and if you make it through, ex-military is like the only diversity I think is actually fair.
UT Austin is very good. You can literally get interviews anywhere at any of these places. Every single EB/BB interviews there for non-houston O&G roles. I have friends who worked at BX, EVR, MOE, etc. and know many kids this cycle interviewing at places like Citadel P72, PJT RSSG, etc. with relative ease at UTA. The Caveat (which in the case you are in the honors program) is that the WSFM and USIT are incredible programs that churn super sharp kids out, but the club is relatively competitive to get into. I've seen sophomores at UTA go to some nasty places for sophomore summer too without nepotism-- Advent international comes to mind.
UPenn is basically the flagship school for someone interested in finance. But the thing is is it really worth it to shell 320k of debt to go to a school or having to serve 4-5 years in the army? I have some friends who did the Westpoint/Military academy route and they explicitly told me going to military school was the best financial option, but set them back many years in the finance world. Obviously opportunities wont be the issue but rather if you are cut for these roles since (like at UTA) these roles are extremely competitive to get. Honestly, as competitive as IB recruiting is, being mediocre at UPenn should still give you enough looks at Lower BBs/MMs without much difficulty, which I can't confidently the same about UT Austin for NYC non o/g roles.
Overall up to you. I know many people at UTA and seems like that school has the best balance of strong academics and good social life. Can't say the same about Penn but the tradeoff is the slightly better placement (which shouldn't matter to you) and the better "name brand," but if youre either shelling 300K+ for the school or forced to do 5 additional years after college towards military service, I feel like that would be a big waste of time.
Depends on if you think military service is a waste of time or not — ask your west point friends if they regretted it. Side note — UTA is UT Arlington, UT Austin is just UT.
Everything else here is spot on though! If working in finance asap is the goal you can really have a great time at UT and get top placements especially out of BHP. Also OP, if you’re not set on military service the 320k of debt isn’t worth it — you should be sure of what you want with regards to serving, everything else can be ambiguous at this age.
In my opinion, you are better off paying for UPenn out of pocket or choosing UT. Penn is probably the best place period that you can go with your career aspirations, but giving up 5 years on an IB track is a long time. Upenn is great, and probably even if you are top of your class at UT, you will have to work a lot harder to get the opportunities you get automatically at penn. That being said, it depends on your opinion of the cost benefit, but either way I don't think serving 5 years is the best option.
My dad had a great time at Penn and played football all four years there and went on to become a Navy Pilot. There is a lot of Penn pride in our family. I think you should strongly consider this route. I did ROTC as well and it was a solid experience.
UT BHP is a great program with excellent placement; no need to attend Penn if finance is your goal. Do not join ROTC if you do not wish to serve.
As everyone has said, the biggest determinant is whether you want to serve in the military or not. Both schools are free for you and both will offer similar opportunities in the finance/business world if you apply yourself correctly. Both schools will have sharp people, especially if you're UT honors and potentially in BHP. At Penn, there is a minor difference between UPenn and Wharton, so something else to consider.
If you want to serve in the Navy, go to Penn, as others have said in this thread, there's a lot of be said for some military experience. At the same time, completely get that you might want your life to start a bit quicker and if you're fretting about the military service, then go to UT.
Pay out of pocket for Penn (assuming Wharton), it is literally the TOP school in the world. I wouldn't sacrifice 5 years of your life on a ship that's going to get hit by Chinese hypersonic missiles reentering the atmosphere at Mach 10 when you could be spending those 5 years at APO/BX/KKR/CVP/PJT/LAZ.
The opportunity cost of 5 years in the Navy is immense (~1.5MM pretax income differential) and the cost of going to Wharton is going to be paid back a thousandfold throughout your career. If you calculate the IRR, it'd look something like this:
Year 0: ($200K)
Year 1: $250K
Year 2: $300K
Year 3: $350K
Year 4: $450K
....
....
....
....
....
Year 45: $25MM
Year 46: Retirement
Also the intangible social/prestige benefits of going to Wharton over a state school is more than worth the tuition IMO, especially if your parents are well-off (think the gilded halls of Exeter/Andover/Eton/Deerfield)
I'd think long-term regarding this. Are you going to be making 300k at 28? No, but you have a 50 year career. It is completely reasonable to realize you do not want to go into military, but I hope your decision is not based off of feeling behind your peers. A Penn grad who served in the Navy is not going to have an issue finding a role.
Sacrificing 5 prime years of your life on a 8000 ton floating steel deathtrap when you could be at APO/KKR/BX/CVP/PJT/LAZ tearing through 20yo fashion week girls in Tribeca every weekend is insane
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