Vandy or Notre Dame for MSF decision help

I was recently admitted into both Notre Dame's MSF (Not the Chicago one) and Vanderbilt's MSF. I am stuck deciding between the two. 

Here is what I am weighing for both:

Notre Dame: 

  • $35,000 scholarship
  • Smaller class size
  • More quant heavy 
  • New, no proven success in getting into IB in New York. (I talked with admissions and they said they did not know anyone from the program who was going into IB after graduation for the current year)
  • Parents will pay for it all

Vanderbilt:

  • Expensive as hell ($80,000) 
  • Proven success for getting people into IB in NYC
  • Much more established
  • More prestigious school
  • I will have to take out a $30,000 loan + use $20,000 in savings to pay for it, the rest will be paid for by my parents.

Is the Vandy program that much better? With the Notre Dame program, there seems to be so much more uncertainty that I could get into IB right after graduation. 

Any information or advice is much appreciated. 

4 Comments
 

I got waitlisted because I didn't have any professional experience. I applied to all the IBs and PEs in my city until I got an internship. I then had to meet with a career coach at Vandy and have a discussion about my career interests and how I think I will be able to achieve these interests which wasn't too stressful. What I think also helped was that I emailed the admissions person twice a week for two months giving updates and restating interests. What I have heard is if you have average stats + a good internship you would be an easy admit.

 

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