Biggest Decision of My Life: Undergrad B-School

Hello Wall Street Oasis Community,

As a senior in highschool, I have one of the biggest life decisions ahead of me: where to attend college. As a preface i'm a pretty motivated student as I have engaged in equity research and co-foundend a VC backed start-up.
I have never been faced with such a crucial decision.

In college I want to pursue Finance (with a qunat emphasis). I am deciding between the following schools:

Georgetown Mcdonough School of Business
Pro: Very strong placement into Wall Street (Specifically, quite phenomenal into Bulge Bracket, 15+ to Goldman each year)
Con: Not very good relationships with HF or AM industry. Do not offer quantitative finance. Do not have an alternative investment fund club. Very cliquey

UVA
Pro: Decent relationships with AM and HF industry (Tiger Clubs), good relation with EB and ok with BB. Lots of investment clubs varying from Stocks and Trading Club to AIF. Also I am in state.
Cons: I have to apply to McIntire my second year (66% acceptance rate)

Michigan Ross
Pro: Was a direct admit to Ross. Strong alumni network. Lots of clubs. Pretty similar to UVA (slightly better) and I know that I am already into their business school. Offer mathematical risk management.
Cons: Big class size meaning harder to be a top student. Located in mid-west so harder to network. More so better for consulting

Carnegie Mellon Tepper:
Pro: Best quantitative finance program (computational finance) in the country. Unparalleled research opportunities for finance especially as finance becomes more technical. David Tepper graduated and created whole new business facility. On the come up
Con: Semi-target for IB and not heavily recruited from. Most CMU Tepper grads decide to go to west coast.

Right after college I don't really know if I'll go into IB(the buy side, TMT, or FIT, I don't know) or HF industry as I like both. My only concern with the IB field is that it is a cyclical industry and when I graduate (22') the economy will probably be bearish (especially true for M&A). Where as for the HF industry as long as there is volatility, there is a profit to be made.

Im not looking just to make it, but to thrive and do well.

Thank you for your time, consideration, and helping a brother out!
Any insight would be invaluable!!

 

UVA/Ross/Georgetown all will have amazing exits to Wall Street

I don't think having to apply to McIntire is as big of a deal as you think- just pick one of these based on other school factors (do you want to live in a big city: georgetown, do you want to be at a huge school with good athletics: michigan, do you want to take a break from all the noise and live in southern virginia: UVA)

CMU's isn't as good as the other 3 for recruiting, will have to network heavily and all of that jazz

 

They do have some relationships with AQR, oaktree, point72, and blackrock. But tend to be rare - 1 grad for each. Compared to Gtown, better finance faculty for HF and slightly more grads in those fields.

 

Interesting, AQR sounds like it fits your interest. Depending on the position at Oaktree, not sure the others are really any better than banking. UVA does have connections with Hound, but they probably wouldn’t consider direct from undergrad.

I don’t know a ton about Georgetown, but they do have a GPS chapter there. If you get in (big risk and not a reason to choose the school alone by any means) then you’ll be connected to a lot of people at good funds.

 

As long as you believe you could be one of the 66% that gets into McIntire, I'd save the money and go to UVA as it's equally as good as Ross and Gtown. With your background and based on past performance you shouldn't have an issue getting into McIntire and you'll go to a target while saving a good deal of money. However, if you're extremely risk averse and want to go with the known, take Ross.

 

Thanks for the suggestion and advice! I really appreciate it. I found it interesting that you picked Ross higher than Georgetown if I was to decide between the two. I was wondering why you thought so?

Thanks!!

 

Since the placement is about the same, I factored in the overall quality of life(social life, parties, sports, events, etc) and the alumni network is one of the best in the US at UMich. You really can't go wrong either way though as GTown is in a big city and that has its own perks.

 

CMU, you'll fit in with the student body because of you're interest in quantitative finance.

Plus, you said yourself that you created your own company with the backing of a VC. You'll be going places for sure, so make sure you surround yourself with bright kids that think alike. Carnegie's kids are probably just as tech savvy as you, and you could probably start a company toegther

 

Look, these are all fantastic schools. Investment banking is not the world. You should decide on where you can see yourself developing into the best version of yourself, regardless of on campus recruiting opportunities. If you are meant to be in a "wall street" type job, you will end up there regardless of this choice of schools. Do not base 4 years of your life on whether or not Blackstone recruits on campus at your school for 2 positions. They are all great academically.

 

All those are 'good enough' schools if you're as serious about what you want as you think. And given you're in high school, you haven't a fucking clue of what that is even if you think you do. If you have no change in mindset from the time you leave high school to the time you leave college... you're not only doing college wrong, you're doing LIFE wrong.

With that said, don't use Investment Banking as your pre-requisite and benchmark for making this decision. You will be a very a different person 4 years from now, whether you ultimately do IB or not. So do your future Self a favor and simply make sure that whatever school you do decide on, you work in a way that doesn't limit you in your attainment of whatever it is you do end up deciding on, professionally-speaking, at the end of college. Whether it is banking, Gender Studies professor, basket-weaving, etc. etc.

Specifically with reference to all being 'good enough schools', choose the one where you'll get a social experience you wouldn't otherwise. Coupled with a great academic track record, THAT is what will set you apart. Regardless of what field you go into. Provided you're not drinking beer and just motorboatin' sorority titties all 4 years. You'd still learn more about how life works doing that, however, than some loser who never leaves his dorm all of college hoping for perfect grades.

Understand people. Not spreadsheets.

Good luck.

 

If you want to position yourself for the future, go to CMU and either get into computational finance or at least do a minor in computer science and put that on your resume in BOLD FONT. You can get any job you want if you network hard enough w/ that degree, from quant positions to Ibanking. And if you ever want to do VC you won't get a better network for life than at CMU.

I'll tell you right now, even my buddies who are senior analysts at HFs or PMs at HFs are taking time out of their busy days to learn Python.

 

This comment doesn't provide much value add from an academic or professional standpoint, but if I had to do it all over again I'd have gone to Georgetown. Absolutely beautiful campus, ton of fun, and all of my friends who were interested in being placed at top IBs were. That said, a number of friends also ended up in MBB. As has been mentioned several times above me, I wouldn't be concerned about placement, you seem to be more than capable. Go with where you feel the culture best suits your personal and professional growth.

 

i am a ross student and I can say this- it is a big program, but it isn't hard to be a top student in the pool if you set your mind to it. I chose ross over georgetown, ND mendoza, northwestern, and others. granted, i am an in-state student, but i think that michigan is worth the money out of state as well. also the school culture and alumni network are incredible. you can have a top-tier business education and have fun doing it too

 

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