Yale vs Duke vs UF full ride
Hi! I'm a high school senior who was fortunate enough to have been admitted to many top schools this admissions cycle. I'm looking for a career in Investment banking or consulting and was wondering which of these schools would be the best option for me.
Yale Pros
- Most prestigious
- Happy student body
- Grade inflation
Yale Cons
- full pay (roughly 85k a year). My family can pay, but its not easy -- I will likely have to pay back ~half of the cost after I graduate.
UF Pros
- Full ride (covers room, board, everything, and even gives small stipends for research/study abroad)
- close to home?
UF Cons
- Gainesville
- less prestigious (not sure how well it places at BB/EB firms)
Duke Pros
- I like the sports culture
- also grade inflation
Duke Cons
- same cost as Yale (85k a year)
Thank you in advance for your input!!
Easy Yale unless you absolutely love basketball scene
I went to UF but definitely go to Yale lmao
Congrats!! All amazing.
What would constitute as getting into Yale for the wrong reasons?
As someone who got a full ride to UF and took it.... I loved my experience. I could write on and on about how many good memories I have. Great sports, Greek & Social life is awesome, and you're going to be outside all year long.
With that said... if I could go back I would take Yale in a heartbeat. It's nice to see UF mentioned with these other two schools but not many people will think of UF as more than a party school for another decade. Take Yale and never look back.
Edit: PM me if you want more specifics.
Do not pick UF you will regret it for the rest of your life. Yale undergrad will carry you very, very far. Even if it’s half and your family can afford it, a couple years in IB will be enough. Take Yale and don’t look back.
As someone who went to Duke and had the option to take the less expensive choice, I have never regretted going to the more expensive school. It hurts more in the short term financially, but having a degree of the caliber I do absolutely enabled me achieve early career goals (getting a good job) and especially network with a much wider array of people than I would have taking a full ride to one of the two universities nearest me.
Great options, and I'm going to tell you if you want to do finance that you should pick Duke, but Yale is pretty tough to turn down (that said, I know many Duke students who turned down Yale for Duke and would pick Duke again in a heartbeat).
Cap, no one's turning down Yale for Duke
Yale if "you likely will have to pay back half" and you aren't having to take out loans right off the bat, you are rich enough to afford. Prestige that comes with university like that can not be beat.
Do UF its free lmao
Yale so your children gets legacy status. #Belongtermgreedy
+1 for Yale
You don't really know what you want to do yet as that often changes once you learn about the details, take classes, meet people, etc. The optionality that either Yale or Duke will provide nationally (globally) via network, resources, alumni. world class professors, reputation, etc are hard to beat.
I've always thought go to the best school possible provided it's affordable/doable. Your peer group will make a big difference. The resources you'll have at your fingertips (you still have to be proactive but they're there) will blow away anything from UF.
An example - go to the McKinsey website (I know you want IB but just an example). Look under careers / students/ find your university. Enter UF and you'll be taken to a generic page without any contacts on the recruiting side. Enter Yale and you'll be taken to a Yale page with 4 Yale alumni recruiters at M to start your journey. Things like that are invaluable. Again, it's still about you but it greatly helps.
Speakers and companies that come to campus are on a whole different level. Most importantly, there is an ecosystem of success. It's an expectation.
Can you do well from UF? Sure. Will it be harder? Yes. Will you have the lifetime cache / network, street cred? No. If it's affordable without too much pain, I'd go to Yale (or Duke). Yale blows it out of the park.
Yale or Duke are your best bets here. I don’t think Yale has the same name value as it did a decade ago, but it is still one of the best schools in the world. I’ve seen some phenomenal folks from Duke and the Duke name carries you just as far in most industries and further in others such as tech. Congrats and best of luck to you.
Yale because the preftige of HYPS will get you more career opportunities and high caliber, high social status pussy
This is a no brainer…Yale all the way. This is coming from a UIUC grad.
Yale 100%, it benefits you in a lot more ways than "breaking into" IB as an Analyst which you could do from any school you mentioned. It's everything else across your entire life that will make a bigger difference.
I went to a public undergrad and public MBA btw.
Yale or Duke. Whatever is your personal preference. I was looking at Columbia, Wharton, and UF (platinum scholarship + bright futures). You’ll have way more options at Yale or Duke. I took out low 6 figures in loans to finish Wharton and it was the best decision I ever made
Go to Yale, what it isn't referenced is that an MBA becoming less relevant to American finance (alr is largely unneeded in EMEA), so going to Yale in a way gives you solid credentials and a stronger ability to avoid an MBA (plus the accompany $200k tuition + $500k lost earnings) if you want a longer term PE career. In that sense, Yale is long-term cheaper than UF (just one scenario out there).
Given your admits, I would assume you will work hard and fare well (and not slack off). Go with Yale. The $150K it will cost you (since rest is paid by parents) is a worthwhile investment for the Yale brand and network if you want to aim for top tier IB/ Consulting.
True, but then again no saying if they would enjoy burger flipping more. So they may as well start in a good job and, if they hate it, hang in there until the loan is paid off or leverage the education to change fields.
Yale hands down. 20 years from now, people will always find that degree impressive and it will continue to open doors, regardless of what you want to do.
Certain colleges you do not turn down. Yale is a superbrand. A literal golden ticket. Easiest decision you'll ever have to make.
YALE
Full sail ahead for Yale.
Have to lean towards Yale purely because of the name but Duke is also a good choice (and more fun).
100% Yale. Even if you have to pay it back, you'll be able to do it within a few years if you're going to work in investment banking. It's one of the few schools where the name carries a lot of weight for the rest of your career. It would probably be more of a conversation if it were UF vs Duke.
Yale 100%. Hell, Yale is one of the few schools where the PE Megafunds will recruit summer interns from. You will have many more opportunities there than Duke or UF
lol why are you so bh about people suggesting this kid go to Yale? Who tf cares what his neighbors and HS classmates' parents are doing? He has a golden ticket to go to one of the world's premier universities. The network this kid can build just from UG is hard to beat. So what if he doesn't get a MF gig? Ops for IB, consulting, politics, grad school, etc. will be amazing even if he doesn't channel his full potential
Go to Yale. Duke pales in comparison for MBB recruiting imo.
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