Hey everyone.
I have been making lists of schools and find one school I like in particular...Then I read up more on it and have to change my mind.....Basically indecisive..and I need your inputs.
Anyways, a little about me I am a finance major residing in San Diego.
Currently a 3.65 cumulative, Phi Thetta Kappa, at a cc. Taking one more semester at cc to finish business prereqs and should boost GPA.
Working full time while going to school, Insurance Internship, Finance and Investment Society Club, President's List.
I have a huge interest in trading stocks using charts, and just the global world..how it all comes together in markets.
The List I came up after revising it almost 8 times is:
Tulane University- Trading system, Burkenroad reports. Con-Lots of crime
CUNY Baruch - Cheap, super backup plan. Con-considered by many a dumb school...
Northeastern University- Good co-op, good clubs. Con-expensive, not strong finance school.
Bentley University- Great trading system, manage real money. Con-expensive
University of Delaware- Found out about this school through its online videos, and loved the trading room they had...seems like a school I can grow with and cheap. Con-low ranking, not much diversity
University of Washington/Foster - Great campus, great diversity. Con-not that strong of a finance background?
Univ. of Maryland–Smith - Cheap, ranks 22 in finance...
University of Illinois–Urbana Champaign - Great rep!, Cheap
Georgetown University (McDonough) -Still researching on this school but almost similar to NYU. Con-Expensive, Can only apply for fall?
NYU-One of the schools you go to as a finance major. Con-expensive, not too sure about NY life for me.
Villanova- Trading system, great recruits Con-lack of diversity, expensive, pay 18grand for lesson on ethics and religion.....
I know there are a lot better schools for finance such as Wharton, McIntire...but I probably wont get into those Tier 1.
California wise, UC schools in general don't have majors for finance other than the great rep at Berkley, and SDSU currently doesn't accept spring transfers due to state budget(lucky me)... and University of San Diego.. I don't want to spend 18grand to learn about religion and ethics...
To sum it up, I am looking for the best possible school I can get into that has a strong finance program such as a trading platform as well as good recruits. From there, the diversity and also location would be a plus but not as important as the ranking and strength of program.
I would appreciate everyone's input a lot.
baruch, is a top school for financial engineering but hard to get into.
You want to be a trader right? So you better look at mathematical/quant heavy finance programs/financial engineering If not forget my comment
Frankly I can tell that you are worried about expenses, however, I would still apply to most of these schools and see how much money you are getting from them as Fin. Aid/scholarships.
My first suggestion would to do Maths or Engineering if you can. Nothing beats that. But if you want to do Business: 1) NYU 2) Baruch 3) Georgetown 4) Tulane 4) University of Illinois
Caveat: if you can get into one of theUC's and can do Maths there, it would tromp anything here Far behind the rest
Virginia Tech has a top-40 business program and its finance program is its flagship program. SEED is the $5+ million student-run equity investment program and BASIS is the $5+ million student-run bond investment program. If you can get into SEED or BASIS, you can basically guarantee yourself a really good job in the industry when you graduate (and a 2007 finance grad is at HBS right now).
Con: out-of-state tuition, room/board for you Con: if you don't get into SEED or BASIS, finance recruiting is marginal
Virgina Tech sounds very interesting... Havent looked into it all. I am a finance major....unfortunately my math skills have suffered once I stopped using it.
Is Baruch really that great of a school? I hear both good and bad things about it and can't decipher the truth. I heard there are really great alum, almost no social life, but good program especially if you succed in your class...The cost to go there is also tempting.
Does Baruch or Virginia have a trading system in their classrooms or something similar? I am currently studying TA on the side and love it.
I trade independently and use some software available in my schools trading room. I go to a small liberal arts college in NC that's growing rather quickly but I wouldn't suggest it quite yet if you're looking for trading. Of the schools you listed, I would suggest Bentley.
I actually came across Bentley about a year ago and saw that their trading program is taught by a former hedge fund trader. Not only could that help for having connections post-graduation, but you would learn things that are used in the "real world" instead of general information taught in undergrad that isn't worth shit the day after you graduate.
I did a summer program at Bentley a few years back, and know Rich Gibble (the trading room director) personally. He wasn't a trader for a HF, he was an analyst for a fund of funds, but that being said, he is still really smart, knowledgeable, and an all-around cool guy. He does have good connections though, I was talking to him about a career in trading and he talked about how he got some of his students into S&T at BB's, all of whom apparently did really well with the training they got from Bentley.
Also, a cool resume builder and knowledge gainer is that as a student (undergraduate and grad), you can work in their trading room and help people with the software while playing around with it yourself. Seems like that's a pretty solid extracurricular to have.
All that being said, I chose Villanova haha.
Just checked out Virginia Tech and their SEED program sounds sick, but unfortunately they are not accepting Spring Transfers anymore.....NOOO...man talk about bad timing out of all the years.
send me a message if you want to know anything about villanova
I heard Villanova has great recruits, and I liked their trading lab but the lack of diversity and having to fork out 18grand to learn about ethics and religion...really isnt my fortay.
I was just checking out TA's of the year awards and the winner was from Concordia University and when i checked out their program, they surprisingly had a trading lab....Interesting..
Dang, that sucks, man. I'm sorry to hear that. But best of luck to you in this process. Where you go to school will have a lasting impact on you as a person.
Just want to make it clear- Illinois has a solid reputation in Chicago and an extremely strong global reputation as an accounting and engineering school, but it is merely a decent flagship state school at an investment bank. It's got an exchange program with IIT (India) and more global name recognition in engineering than Harvard or Yale, but it can't get you the time of day at an NYC investment bank on its own. :D
If you have your heart set on a finance degree, Michigan, Berkeley, Northwestern, Notre Dame, and Wharton offer stronger programs. If you have your heart set on Illinois or UT Austin, consider studying accounting instead.
illiniprogrammer....im wanting to go to UIUC for trading, not investment banking... Also though accounting is a secure field, its the most boring job i have ever seen(internship) total image of office space. not my thing. i love the risk of trading and how everyday is a new day.
You're still young. When you move off-campus after a year or two of school, you'll have the experience of having to pay rent every single month- and needing to have that check clear. All of a sudden, a steady job that pays $70K/year +bonus that's at least more interesting than working as a lifeguard doesn't sound all that bad.
When I was 18, I was sure I wanted to be a programmer. I was going to start my own dot-com and get rich like everyone else in the tech boom. Today, I am happy as a quant- clearing the rent check doesn't depend on how much ad revenue comes in, and I get my risk on MY terms with hang gliding, tech diving, and motorcycle racing.
There's a good chance you're going to change your mind on trading- just choose a degree that gives you plenty of options if you change your mind. At Illinois, Accy majors and Finance/Accy guys have more options than pure Finance majors.
how deep do you go tech diving?
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