Will Someone Rank These Undergrad Schools For Me?

I'd narrow the decision down between Virginia and Texas (Vanderbilt and Michigan are interchangeable with UVA but are more expensive).

You would pick UT or UVA even though I won't be a finance major?

The schools on the list are good, but still a long shot for ER / top AM. I'm partially expecting to start at a boutique, which usually look for finance majors over economics.

I would factor in where you want to work - some of these schools will have much better recruiting for certain regions.

Agreed with the others--your major won't matter once you have your first job, and you need to narrow down your location since some of these schools have better regional recruiting than others. Your major will only matter if non-business majors are forbade from on-campus business recruiting. You MUST, MUST, MUST find this out. If you aren't allowed to interview on-campus with the top firms then immediately narrow your list to the schools that allow open recruiting.

Considering the majors, general recruiting, and location (in terms of major market recruiting), and excluding cost (given that the differences are negligible in the grand scheme of things) here's my list:

1 UVA econ

2 NYU econ 3 Vanderbilt econ T4 Maryland finance (Maryland has good finance recruiting in the Washington, D.C. area) T4 Texas econ T4 Michigan econ

Would not consider the rest given the other options.

I DETEST UVa (my entire family went to Virginia Tech, although I went to W&M), but its reputation is simply phenomenal in the major east coast markets. It burns me to admit it, but it's just phenomenal.

I'd put UVA, NYU and Vanderbilt down as clear top picks, but I'm assuming you'd have relatively equal access to on-campus recruiting as the finance majors. And I've got UVA as the clear #1. You may know this already, but UVA, Vanderbilt, Texas, and Michigan all have great college scenes. If you're into a crime ridden cesspool then Maryland is for you, but I won't deny that its finance majors are solid.

My rankings are by no means gospel. I'm happy to be corrected.

Edit: purposely left off Villanova because I hate that area--HATE it--and don't know the culture of recruiting there very well (or at all). It's a phenomenal school with a great reputation.

I'd put NYU as the top pick - followed by UVA and Vanderbilt - because of its location in New York. If you attend NYU, you will have greater networking opportunities and be able to do semester internships for manhattan firms, which there are plenty of.

I appreciate your input, and you all have convinced me to be more open to majoring in econ.

Right now it's UVA=Vandy=NYU > UT, but I may end up at UT due to the cheaper price tag.

Here's an amazing thread just started about transfer students and finance recruiting:

http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/the-comprehensive-list-of-transfer-…

Please note that this guy's research found that UVA econ students do NOT get access to on-campus finance recruiting the way the business majors do. This is a critical piece of information if it's true. This is why I said that you MUST find out if non-business majors can access on-campus business/finance recruiting because it can completely change your decision.

when I was at Stern, quite a few jobs weren't open to non-Stern econ majors, something to keep in mind too.

I would narrow it down to UVA, NYU, or Michigan

I've narrowed it down to Vanderbilt or NYU. Will anyone else weigh in? Cost is about the same.

Vanderbilt:

Pros: Won't be overshadowed by business school, strong brand name, rising in rankings, good professors, strong group of students, less competition for finance OCR because the students are less focused on finance

Cons: Not known for economics specifically, I've read that students aren't intellectually curious, recruiting not very focused on finance

NYU:

Pros: I would love to be in NY, strong brand name, strong economics program, good professors, motivated students

Cons: Overshadowed by stern students, a ton of competition for anything finance-related

The quality of education and overall brand name are more important to me than OCR. I landed a good internship for my sophomore summer independently, and have an advance interview lined up with one of my top target firms already for next summer

I'd probably go with NYU at this point, although I'd go to Vanderbilt if I were an incoming freshman. Vanderbilt, in my mind, would be the kind of place that would be perfect if you were a freshman and were going to join a fraternity, go to ring dances, enjoy SEC athletics (football, baseball, basketball), have fun with the ridiculously hot and rich girls, and really make lifelong friendships among some really smart (and possibly wealthy and well connected) people. However, as an incoming junior who is pressing hard for Wall Street high finance and big city life, I'd go with NYU. You're not going to be able to just come into Vanderbilt and be part of the culture--you'll probably make few, if any, solid friendships as an incoming junior so I'd go with the "professional" school that gives you natural geographic access to potential jobs. Just make sure to crush your GPA.