Hi! I was accepted undergrad to Northwestern and Cornell (CAS but transferring to Dyson AEM hopefully) and I'm not sure which one I should go to. I guess my question is which one would more likely land me on the street?
Also is AEM difficult to transfer into?
Thanks!
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Cornell may give you a better chance of landing in NYC, but Northwestern is a much more fun school (and ranked higher than Cornell according to USNWR, but take that for what it's worth). Ithaca vs. Chicago/Evanston...I know which one I would choose.
For wall street and finance in particular, I think Cornell has the edge
Cornell if you're certain you want Wall Street. Or maybe for engineering.
Northwestern if it's possible you want anything else. Particularly marketing or consulting.
This is not an easy decision and they are both great schools.
I'm not positive, but I've heard that transferring into Dyson is a huge pain in the ass. Just something to think about.
Congrats on getting in. You have a shot from either school. I interned on the street at a top tier BB in IBD and we had 3 analysts from Cornell and 1 from Northwestern. This is only an example of 1 firm but it seems that these figures agree with the consensus above that Cornell might place a little better. I have no clue on switching into Dyson though
I'd add to my last comment about my belief that it is difficult to switch into Dyson, that Dyson does not get any special OCR-- that is, everyone school at Cornell gets the same preference for OCR. It's not like Ross or Wharton, where the rest of Michigan and Penn don't get the same opportunities.
Again, WSO is going to have a very NYC/Banking perspective.
This is one of the only forums on the internet where you can get certain answers on the decision between UChicago vs. Dartmouth, Stanford vs. Wharton, Berkeley vs. Vanderbilt, or Northwestern vs. Cornell. And it's because of regional hiring patterns and biases in sample sets. Some people here won't even consider the advice given on WSO all that controversial, but if you aren't some rich kid from Asia or the Northeast, you know that most people will give a very different answer on these decisions.
If your question is whether Cornell or Northwestern is the better school for NYC banking, the answer is Cornell and I agree with the rest of the forum.
If your question is which school offers more business opportunities overall, I think the answer may very well be Northwestern.
If your question is which school offers more prestige, that is a great way to start a fistfight between a group of bankers and consultants, or between people from New York State and elsewhere. In order to avoid starting said fistfight, I am not going to give my answer on that question.
Choose Cornell if you are pretty darned sure you want NYC banking. If there's any sort of chance you might be a different person in four years (the same way you're different from the way you were in junior high), ask this same question to a forum for people in Marketing or Consulting and think about the answers you get. The WSO consensus opinion is Cornell, but I suspect the consensus in marketing will be Northwestern.
Finally, a lot of the ivies have lost their individual cultural identity, individual system of values, and separate ways of approaching problems over the past fifty years. That hasn't happened quite to the same extent at Northwestern. So when you recruit for a job or recruit for an MBA, you may get a small boost from the fact that you don't have to compete against the Harvard and Stanford students to the same extent as a Cornell student would. Employers and b-schools want to get a room filled with people who think differently, and given schools of roughly equal prestige, being from outside the Ivy League gives you a bit of a boost on the actual hiring decision.
If it were me, with my 28-year-old wisdom but having the uncertainty on career paths of most 18-year-olds, I'd choose Northwestern. Landing GS NYC may be a little bit harder than from Cornell, but landing at a consulting firm or in a marketing role at P&G will be a lot easier. Chicago IBD and prop trading roles would also be easier.
But I do agree with the WSO consensus on Cornell if you're sure you want to work for an NYC bank or hedge fund.
I went into Stern in undergrad for banking/finance (I barely knew what banking was at the time). As I got older, A big regret of mine was that I didn't go to a school that had more opportunities in other areas (especially consulting). At 18, very few people know what they like or don't like, so I always recommend going to schools that give you a wide variety of options. I'd recommend Northwestern (Full disclosure, I'm about to get a MBA there), because it'll give you the options to work in consulting, marketing, etc....and also finance.
Which school should I choose? Gtown, Cornell and Northwestern (Originally Posted: 05/30/2015)
Hey everyone, please give me some advice as which school to choose. I'm transferring in as a sophomore and choosing between Georgetown, Cornell, and Northwestern. Interested in BB in NYC. I was accepted as a government major to the college in Gtown and Cornell, and I'm not able to transfer to the Bschool in Cornell and Gtown (they forbid transfer student to internal transfer).
Therefore I can only minor in Finance or AEM if I enroll at Gtown or Cornell. My next question is what major/majors should I choose to maximize my chance in IB?
Thank you so much! Any advice will be helpful!
Cornell it is a target school for more BB and MM than GTown and way above NE. I don't know if econ at Cornell is in the business school but if it isn't then major in economics and minor in finance. Cornell probably has a larger alumni network as well.
The modeling aspect that you will miss because you aren't a business major, can be easily made up with classes like Braking Into Wall Street modeling or some other modeling class.
I would suggest Georgetown for NYC, as Northwestern is probably stronger in Chicago recruiting, and Georgetown probably has a better network. Cornell is a miserable place, but it's probably on par with Georgetown... Finance is a fine major and won't close any doors, assuming you want IB rather than something more quantitative. And plus, with one or maybe two obvious exceptions, undergrad business majors are usually just as competitive as finance/econ majors.
Both Cornell and Georgetown would be great for NYC, Northwestern more for Chicago if that's what you want.
It's fine to not do bschool major, people get in because they went to a target school, not because they did a particular major. David Einhorn was a Cornell government major, just saying lol.
finance isnt a major at cornell
Yes I meant finance minor at Gtown or AEM minor at Cornell. Sorry for the confusion!
I'm looking to transfer also- would you mind sharing your stats?
Sure! Just PM me what stats you want to know.
Cornell AEM by far.
Thank you so much guys!
So Northwestern is out. I'm currently leaning to Gtown since Gtown has similar network and prestige compare to Cornell, but I can do school year internship at Gtown, which will give me lots of experience.
Am I missing anything about Cornell?
Go Ivy. not just for IB recruiting, but because Cornell gives you more flexibility in other areas. If you decide you want to venture abroad at some point Cornell also has a better international reputation than other schools, particularly in Japan( disclaimer is that this is something I was told, I don't know firsthand).
No way. It may be a close call for IB recruiting between Gtown and Cornell, but when it comes to international
anything,
Georgetown wins hands down.
Foreign Policy U.S. News
I mean, come on, the school is like a mile away from the State Department, World Bank, IMF, and about 100 embassies.
Northwestern is the best school on the list, don't know why you decided it's "out." Northwestern will open consulting and banking, whereas cornell will be banking only (and Cornell campus is super depressing).
OP -- All schools are good.....go where you want based on other factors , instead of where you can get the best job from. They're all about the same.
An ivy league school won't "open" consulting for an undergrad? Which planet are you on again?
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