UVA ($) vs Berkeley Haas ($$) vs Northwestern ($$$$$)
I was recently admitted to UVA, Berkeley Haas, and Northwestern, and have been going in circles trying to decide. I’ve seen a lot of helpful posts here, so I figured I’d throw my own situation out and see if anyone has advice. For context, my goal is to work in IB (preferably NYC) for a few years after undergrad, then pivot into PE, HF, or possibly VC. If the opportunity came up to go buyside right out of school, I’d definitely take it.
UVA (Pre-Comm): Basically no debt. Seems to have strong placement in NYC, and I also like the more traditional college experience, campus, and culture. Just wondering if it has the same “prestige” weight as the other two, especially outside the South.
Berkeley Haas: Would require some debt, but not too much. Strong program, and the undergrad business curriculum is definitely a plus. One of my issues though is that I’m from the Berkeley area, and I’m not a fan of the Berkeley culture. It feels too competitive, familiar, and I don’t love the general campus vibe either. That being said, the name and recruiting pipeline are hard to ignore.
Northwestern: This is where it gets tough. I love the brand, and NU carries a ton of prestige, but it would put me ~$200k in debt. I’d be in Weinberg, so no undergrad business degree, but I know people go Econ + Kellogg cert and still place well. Still, I worry about the lack of a business undergrad and if the network holds up vs McIntire or Haas. Is the brand worth that kind of debt?
Would really appreciate any thoughts on how to weigh the tradeoffs between cost, fit, and placement potential. I know people always say "you can't go wrong," but that almost makes it harder. Just trying to make the best decision I can with the info I have, thanks in advance for any help.
UVA in every aspect - no FOMO in party culture or opportunities. Overall, it's not even close.
Go to UVA, assuming you are a 18 year old American.
UVA.
Northwestern places lights out with 1/10th of the competition of an undergrad b-school. Traditional placement includes your top banks like GS/MS/EVR/CVP (core school for all of these banks) and buyside like BX/KKR/Bain/Ares. If you want a job in IB or on the buyside from Northwestern, you'll get it.
True but not worth it when you have offers from UVA McIntire and Berkeley Haas which are just as good for NYC IB and way cheaper.
I had no idea Northwestern did this well. Do they really send people to Goldman, Centerview, KKR out of undergrad regularly, to the same extent of HYP etc?
Yes, fwiw we’re sending 7 to GS IB and 2 to CVP this year (which is huge considering only 50-60 kids actively recruit). 2 kids a year generally get KKR PE through an established pipeline. Blackstone comes on campus and takes anywhere from 5-9 kids a year for REPE, Tac Opps, Corporate PE, Credit, and Infra. Other buyside that regularly takes from Northwestern include Bain Capital, Ares, BDT, Vista, Point72, GTCR, GA, Roark, Audax.
Point here is that placement is extremely strong and I don’t know of any schools outside of HYPS that send the majority of kids who recruit (80-90%) to top 3 BB / EB / Buyside, and the rest to lower BB, MM, etc. If you put in the work from here, you can place anywhere you want.
As a current Northwestern student I would go with UVA - being able to graduate debt-free is a huge blessing and I don't think the Northwestern brand is worth $200k worth of debt.
Didn’t go to any of the schools but UVA is the probably the best choice here. NU and Berkeley places well but UVA is on par if not better for NYC placements. I have met a lot of sharp impressive people coming out of UVA. You will have great alumni network and strong pipelines to top programs like HL Rx etc.
The three schools will likely get you to similar outcomes and it will boil down to who you are rather than the school you attended, so why put yourself in significant student debt
Went to a different private school but this reused state school rhetoric regarding placement is so inaccurate. Yeah no shit Ross, UVA, Haas, Kelley place well in aggregate because they have a million kids recruiting but AVERAGE placement at any of those schools is worse than an average student at an Ivy/Ivy+ school. You'll always have a higher ceiling placement-wise (buyside + top groups) and better brand at an Ivy/Ivy+.
Went to your so-called private Ivy/Ivy+ schools, but don’t think UVA gives anyone a lower ceiling than people I went to school with. The OP clearly does not have 200k to throw around and the incremental gain in prestige from a school like NU isn’t worth the debt. Just my 2c
Would recommend Northwestern if you can afford. If not, UVA.
Currently at an Ivy/Ivy+, definitely go UVA. If you are a stellar student, you'll succeed anywhere and you will get no less opportunity at UVA than at Berkeley or NU. IMO, UVA places better for buyside roles than NU. Berkeley just has too many people. Culture wise and weather, either UVA or Berkeley.
Go UVA. Review(ed) resumes for my bank (EB) and PE fund (MF) and if I see UVA I immediately think you would pass the airport test and are smart enough to do the job. If I see Berkeley I assume you have purple hair and bad hygene and Northwestern gives nerdy hardo with chip on their should from not actually attending an Ivy or whatever Ivy+ is that people are making up to cope. No one asked, but from what I have seen, UVA / Duke / Michigan / Georgetown / Notre Dame are top schools outside of the Ivys that place really well and still have a blast as a college student which makes for a more enjoyable human being.
And no, I did not go to a target school or any schools mentioned so no skin in the game here. Just seen enough resumes and conducted enough interviews from this side of the table to know a thing or two.
Mostly commenting on UVA because that's where I went. But I think the top 3 factors are recruiting advantage, social experience, and academic experience.
Recruiting advantage: these 3 schools are similar enough for IB that you are splitting hairs (assuming McIntire. Otherwise, I'd say NU = Berkley Haas > UVA. Will discuss McIntire admissions in a sec). People like to break down recruiting tiers microscopically, but when you have schools ranked similarly for business/econ, it comes down to the individual applicant. Not familiar with Berkeley and NU's buyside placement, but a ton of McIntire students place. TLDR: for IB, would say it's a wash. Not qualified to talk about NU or Berkeley buyside.
Social experience: this is underweighted by hyper-competitive students gunning for top roles. Your social experience is going to improve or hurt how well you can communicate, relate, and command executive presence relative to others, all of which is already important, but will become paramount as AI levels the technical playing field (imo). Also, recruiting ops are heavily impacted by how many 'soft connections' you have (For ex, your 10 closest friends are unlikely to get you a job, but the 3 dozen people you networked with, plus the connections of the 70 other guys in your fraternity have a much higher chance. There is empirical evidence of this). I'm not qualified to talk about NU or Berkeley's social scene, but UVA is absolutely top fucking notch. Greek life is legitimately awesome (30+ houses, so there's somewhere for everyone and people tend to be friends across houses), solid bar scene, a ton of clubs that are very active, good sports. Those are the things I lvgd, so there are other options out there. I built amazing close friendships, but UVA helps you make those soft connections (another ex, you take 21 credits with the same 50 people in your commerce 'block' across 2 sems. I meet up with people from my block routinely for drinks).
Academic experience: IMO, you want a balance between a liberal arts foundation (teaches you how to think) and econ/finance (practical knowledge, except for the BS parts of econ that are purely theoretical, which is more akin to liberal arts). Seems like NU's Weinburg would do a great job here. Idk how much LA you have to take coming from Haas. UVA does a good job balancing this (McIntire is going to 3 year instead of 2, but you still only take 2 years worth of credits, some credits are just offered earlier to help with recruiting). Also, on McIntire admissions: if you are truly a serious candidate, you have no need to worry. People will point to horror stories (3.95 gpa, 1550 sat, 3 comm clubs, rejected). But of people who 1) succeed academically (3.9+, pre comm is really achievable) 2) succeed socially (interesting clubs/activities with leadership outside of business (sports, greek life, coding, whatever) and communication skills) 3) have a demonstrated interest (comm clubs, entrepreneur, business competitions, internships), everyone gets in. There just aren't 350 students like this gunning for McIntire every year. Also, notice these requirements for virtually gaurenteed admission could easily describe requirements for getting an excellent job out of college. So don't let McIntire admissions put you off; it's a litmus test for your ability to succeed for the real thing.
Editing because I forgot to mention cost: AI is likely to disrupt job markets over the next few years (already happening to an extent) and we could experience sustained US stock multiple contraction (it's inevitable, stocks are historically expensive rn and we have introduced a ton of uncertainty politically and economically). This means you have a TON of uncertainty in hiring environments. Add that to historically high interest rates (~6.5% and I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for interest rates to fall; we could easily see inflation get a second wind) and my conclusion is taking out a large principle is historically risky. If your fam isn't funding this, do yourself a favor and graduate with little to no debt. Conventional wisdom (NU at 200K is worth the brand name) doesn't apply in unconventional times.
i would not say nu = haas
It might sound cheesy but I say follow your heart. 200K seems a lot right now but when you have 5-6 years of experience at a high paying industry, that 200K loan that you took will not be as much as you think. I had a friend who went to UIUC with full ride who was also accepted into Yale. He really regrets it and feels annoyed when he has to tell everyone “I was accepted to Yale but went to UIUC due to money”. Some don’t even believe his story.
I know Northwestern is not Yale but if you like Northwestern, you should go there and enjoy the 4 years! It is a wonderful school.
That says more about your friend than it says about anything else. That's weird to make college acceptances a normal conversation piece. UIUC isn't bad and the top students there do just as well as decent Yale students.
Valid point. Maybe he kept talking about it because he regretted his decision. But yes, I agree with you that UIUC is a great school, especially in engineering and accounting!
My two cents here as someone who doesn’t know much about these schools.
This forum is biased towards debt, arguing greater certainty of placement is worth a couple hundred grand. While this approach is fine comparing Harvard to SUNY Albany, when the schools are comparable, price starts to really matter.
$100k+ debt equates to 2, 5, maybe even 10 years of life dedicated to pay it off. And that’s assuming you get a solid job, no negative life events, and you’re disciplined to paying more than minimum. No nice cars, gambling addiction, or extravagant travel allowed in that equation.
Why waste your entire 20s paying debt instead of saving for a down payment, traveling, etc? For what, a 10% better chance at landing at UMM/MF straight out of school?
From someone with a tiny bit of life experience, this seems like an easy decision. You’ll sleep much better at night.
All the best.
I can't speak to any of these schools but I'd generally echo this sentiment. When I was in High School I was convinced reading WSO that debt didn't matter and that I should just take the best school possible. Ironically me being a dumbass and having bad grades led me to going to my state flagship (IU/UIUC/UW) instead which ended up being a massive blessing in disguise.
I was able to graduate debt free, and its a lot easier to stand out at a state school. I was getting banking, buyside and MBB interviews fairly consistently junior and senior year (granted this was 2021 so economic conditions were different). Ended up in banking sitting in the same bullpen as analysts who went to targets and took on 6 figures in debt. I have way more freedom with my money and the freedom to leave for a lower paying job if I decide to without worrying about massive debt payments.
You may not get a GS TMT offer or MF PE offer, but getting a very good outcome from UVA is almost a guarantee if you put in the work.
UVA and it's not close.
If the $ situation was equal, it would be UVA by a little bit because McIntire is in the same general tier as NWU/Berkeley but on the margins, a bit more core to NYC IB than those schools. That would be a close call.
With the money also favoring UVA, it's not close
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