Boston Questrom vs Carnegie Mellon Tepper vs UCSB (UNDERGRAD)

Hey Monkeys.

I have received admission into Boston University's Questrom School of Business and the University of California Santa Barbara (Financial Mathematics and Statistics Major), and have been given the option to be placed onto the priority waitlist (meaning I must go if accepted) at Carnegie Mellon Tepper. These seem to be my three best options at the moment, but I do need some help with the decision. For CMU, I basically have to decide if I want to go there as if it was an option, since it is a binding contract that I attend if I am accepted of the waitlist.

Some background on me : I am very interested in upper finance, and Private Equity is a career that I am very interested in pursuing. I understand going through Investment Banking is the usual route, and probably required in my case since the schools mentioned above aren't exactly targets. I understand that networking is required regardless. I have built up a solid network of PE/IB professionals and plan on expanding that network later this year. I am very motivated and driven and I know I can network like a ninja, however having some ease in the process would be nicer, so I would like to see the school with a good reputation as well.

Here are my pros and cons for each: BOSTON UNIVERSITY: PROS: -Admitted into a Finance major -Living in Boston (I prefer city anyday over a beach) -Social life seems pretty good, and that is pretty important to me. I am a very social person and I'm looking to have a good 4 years. -Questrom is up and coming. The new dean is a former MD from KKR (which might not be a big deal but sounds huge to me). From what I have read on WSO, they are on the rise.

CONS: -Not an extremely prestigious university. Brand name won't carry me far. -Cold (From California) -OCR minimal, if none (from what I've heard. Please let me know if I am mistaken) -Expensive, would have to take out a 30k/year loan if I am unsuccessful in financial aid negotiations -Linkedin search shows a few alumni at BBs

CARNEGIE MELLON PROS: -If accepted, would be admitted into a Finance major -Academics have proven to be great in engineering, and solid in Business -Brand name is there -From a linkedin search, recent alumni have seemed to have landed up at solid EBs and BBs. Not sure if anymore than BU.

CONS : -Social life is abysmal. It's 70% dudes and I doubt anyone has even heard of TCB, let alone made it on there. -Too academic oriented. I go to a HS that is a top feeder into CMU, and I definitely don't want to be in a similar situation as the HS I am at. I want a work-hard, play-hard attitude. -Also expensive (same 30K/year loan needed) -Not sure how I would adjust to Pittsburgh -Unsure on how well established Tepper's name is

UCSB PROS : -Social life is amazing -Warmer -Closer to home -Cheap (Won't need any loans) -Accepted for honors

CONS : -No business school -Not in a city (this is huge) -Wore-down campus -Academics for finance, are unheard of. -Barely any alumni with IB/PE jobs out of grad.

So you can kind of see my thinking here. It really is between BU and CMU at this point, since I am not in love with UCSB's culture/academics for finance. The question is really, how much better is CMU academically and how much more help would it give me when it comes to SA/FT recruiting over BU. Because if it would only marginally help me, I would rather take BU because I am in love with its campus and social life. I am leaning towards BU because I feel like it'd be a great fit for me and I know I have the drive to network and learn things. I've already been building lbo models and networking with people from MFs, so I know I can push myself forward without the help of a school. But if CMU would put me a lot more ahead career-wise, I might want to take that.

Thanks in advance.