NYU Stern V. Northwestern

nwu

Depends on your intentions; if you're only concerned with getting into IB (especially if you're wanting to work in NYC), I'd go with Stern. Frankly though, I think NU is a better school and that you'll get a much more well-rounded education there (from what I can tell, business undergrad is limiting in that it is too pre-professional--economics majors seem to have much better general knowledge and can pick up the "finance" basics with only a few classes and can learn the rest on the job). If you perform well at either school, however, all options should still be open--congrats on your acceptances.

Chances are if you are the traditional male ibanking type you will enjoy Northwestern much more. Both give essentially equal chances of landing a solid job (maybe a slightly better job at NY BB from NYU), but you will probably enjoy Northwestern more, as it is more of the quintessential college experience. At Northwestern you have DI sports and a distinct campus, whereas at NYU you have a two dimensional campus, no sports, a bunch of artsy people, and ridiculous expenses. You can live in NY anytime you want after you graduate, but you can only have the college experience once, choose Northwestern.

NW

Strangely enough, I had to make the same exact decision about 3 years ago. PM me

Really depends on where you want to work. I'm originally form Chicago and tried so hard to get back there. Seeing as how I went to a school out east it was pretty hard and I will be in New York for the next few years. Personally, I love Chicago and plan on getting back there as soon as I can.

Northwestern is more powerful and in your face.

Northwestern is an excellent school. If you are absolutely 100% certain you want to do IBD in New York City, NYU may be just as good- perhaps ever so slightly better choice. But for any other area in business, NW wins hands down.

Evanston is a really nice place to be in the fall and late spring. You get to see things like trees and grass and there is a beach on Lake Michigan just a short distance from Campus IIRC. Evanston's cost-of-living is probably about 30% lower than NYC as well. Unless you are fabulously rich and plan on spending $60K/year on living expenses in Manhattan, I think you will enjoy college a lot more on a suburban campus.

Pure academia, Northwestern Kellogg et al is superior to Stern.. However b/c you're in NYC you will have more opportunities, presumably. I will say though, in NYC Columbia is the gold standard; then you got NYU in the middle and below NYU is Pace, Baruch, St Johns, etc... I think the difference btw Columbia and NYU is more significant than the difference btw NYU and the Pace/Baruch...

Pure academia, Northwestern Kellogg et al is superior to Stern.. However b/c you're in NYC you will have more opportunities, presumably. I will say though, in NYC Columbia is the gold standard; then you got NYU in the middle and below NYU is Pace, Baruch, St Johns, etc... I think the difference btw Columbia and NYU is more significant than the difference btw NYU and the Pace/Baruch...

You only have more opportunities for work in NYC because of the geographic comparative advantage, but even then, just barely. For London, Hong Kong, Beijing, San Fran, heck, even Philly, Northwestern students have a significant advantage.

I live in Manhattan, and go to school at NYU. My cousin works in IBD, and I currently work (at my internship) with someone else who's received an offer at UBS s&t that starts this May.

I don't know much about northwestern, but NYU Stern has a very powerful name on Wall Street from what I've seen. That being said, you need a 3.7+ GPA to get an interview because competition is fierce (every kid in Stern is gunning for an IBD gig).

However, I'd strongly encourage you to visit NYU before you attend. NYU is not your traditional college, and can be intimidating (as it has been for me) for some. There's no football games, big green campus, or school pride. NYU, from a social standpoint, is ALL about you - you can either make a community yourself, or not, but one will not be thrown at you.

That being said, Stern and Tisch, because their classes and curriculum is so segregated from everyone else, seem to have less of an issue making friends than us big old CAS students.

But I will let you know that every bank DOES recruit here, which gives you plenty of opportunities to do internships and make connections.

I had to make a similar choice between Cornell, Georgetown, Northwestern, and Stern. Let me assuage your fears by telling you this--job opportunities are relatively even across the board. Northwestern tends to emphasize academia and the sciences a little more than Stern (for obvious reasons). As a result, proportionally, less students end up going into management consulting or investment banking. However, this is due to students' interests rather than ability--if you wanted to do IB, going to Northwestern wouldn't be a detriment at all

I think the real choice is finding a good balance between 1) academics, 2) immersion (the 'real' college experience), 3) location, and 4) potential for crunkness. If you want to work in Chicago, stay at Northwestern. Your college experience will be much better. That's my take. If your idea of a good time is interning at some random no-name fund for 20-30 hours a week while going to class, then go to Stern.

Both are great schools, and good luck.

northwestern is the "better" school, but NYU stern has great recruiting.

one thing to think about is if you end up not liking finance and want to go into grad school, law, med, etc. NW might open more doors. you're a HS senior but interests could change.

i just went through summer internship recruiting season at NYU Stern. from what I have seen, we have great prospects for IBD. All the BBs besides DB recruit heavily from Stern, as well as boutiques including Evercore, Lazard, Moelis, Greenhill, you name it, we have it.

Not really sure about OCR at Northwester; admittly you will receive a better liberal arts education from NU, but if you are set for banking, I'd say Stern is a great choice.

Congrats on those acceptances. Don't feel bad because you are an ivy reject; it literally means nothing and you can go far in life with any education you choose.

I'd recommend Northwestern. Job opportunities will arise at either of the schools, and you can certainly break into NYC with some networking. Go for the real college experience: a campus, sports teams, etc. Your environment has a tremendous impact on your social development, and being in a community like NW will allow you to become closer to your classmates and really develop as a person. NYU is a sporadic mess of buildings strewn about downtown and its community is nowhere near as cohesive as NW.

It really depends what you are looking for. I go to NYU and I feel like building up contacts and living in New York puts you at an advantage. Also. you get to know the city well and the jump to analyst (if you're trying to be in NYC) will be an easier transition. I've seen kids get jobs in IB/PE outside of the formal recruitment process through networking and internships, and there can be a good social scene if you seek it out. Northwestern would probably be a better college experience, via a better social life, beautiful campus, comraderie, etc. While we can intern during the semester at NYU, that also means that it's harder to devote all your time to studying. If you're trying to maintain a 3.7 in Stern and a 20-30 hour internship, be prepared to work your ass off. I'm currently skipping my statistics class to work on a spread sheet....exactly. Really comes down to what type of person you are, and if having a traditional college experience matters to you. .

Nothing good to contribute, but gave you a SB for the humble tone of your post. Network in that tone and you'll get into IB from either school.

OP, you are BradyHoke's doppleganger...

let me know your decision when you decide, as I am also considering nyu stern.

i will probably have a similar comparison post in the near future ;)

go where you think you'll have more fun and a better college experience. It only happens once

if you're really cut out to be a banker (in the sense that you'll network, and work hard), there should be no difference in whether you go to NU or NYU in terms of recruiting.

Just go where ever you think you'll be happier.

I'll give you my personal experience, since I'm an UG at Stern right now. Basically, if you don't have a 3.7+ GPA and stellar job experience, getting banking interviews at elite boutiques and BBs is going to be incredibly difficult. Each bank offers around 16-20 interviews through OCR, out of maybe 150-200 applicants. It's incredibly cut-throat and competitive, so unless you plan to be at the top of your class and actually make the most of your experience, Stern probably isn't for you. The name is indeed powerful, but its not equivalent to say Wharton where just the name and a 3.5+ GPA will land you solid OCR job opportunities, and where not everyone is gunning for an IBD gig like at Stern.

I feel that given your situation, I would pick NW, even though I'm currently at Stern. I had a similar choice a few years back (Ross vs. Stern), and picked Stern because of the Finance reputation it has. After being here a few years, however, you really need to be a top-level candidate to land interviews, as its ultra-competitive and if you don't have the drive EACH AND EVERY SEMESTER you will be disappointed through OCR. Hell, I have a 3.7 and decent work experience and networked like hell and still don't have anything lined up for the summer. So take that as you will. I think you'll enjoy NW's culture a lot more and still have a great chance at landing the job you want. Good luck!

A lot of misconception going on right now, my little brother is a Junior at Stern. He has a 3.8+ and landed everything he applied for and his best friend has a 3.5+ and got almost the same number of interviews except for Blackstone, Greenhill and Lazard. So the idea that you need a 3.7+ is wrong. What you need is a lot of leadership experience and a good relationship with young alumni.

He personally loves Stern, thinks its the greatest thing ever and constantly pushes the school. Its certainly a different experience and you have to visit to see if it works for you. He has loved his classes but in Stern and outside of it (Finance, Politics major). Him and his friends have made the city their playground.

I think both NW and NYU are similar so it depends on what you want and think you can handle.

agreed, the expereince you have at stern really varies from person to person. but this applies to every single school you go to. the top candidates always land on the best opportunities.

i think we should give a fair judgement not based on personal experience, but on stats, i.e. how many kids land on BB offers etc. (im not exactly sure about the number though)

Smitty you got a megafund job out of college with a 3.5?

NYU sort of a joke. NW is a better school. Get the best educatoin possible, then get the best grades possible, then get the best job possible. In that order order.

NYU will offer better front office opportunities in BB banks in NY. NYU does not offer the college experience and will only be fun if you have a shit load of money.

NW will offer decent opportunities everywhere but mostly in Chicago banks and maybe some Fortune 500 firms. NW has much better college experience.

That's your choice.

I have to say, if you are set on banking – and ready to give up a good education for it, which is sad but understandable – NYU looks pretty ridiculous in terms of OCR based on this thread. I'd still personally choose NW though if in your position, as if you are a top candidate there (meet GPA bar + a few points, have good experience and a good personality) there is no reason why you would be excluded from opportunities. In other words, you'll be able to land something there + you won't be studying "business" as an undergraduate, which as I've said before is lame IMO. Just my two cents – and again, I'm studying business currently myself and, had I had the same resources otherwise would not have (even though OCR is school wide, you see mostly b school kids at the interviews – some I think is self selection, which is unrelated really, and the rest I think is based on alumni).

northwestern has two honors programs that you should look into. MMSS and the Kellogg Certificate. MMSS is a adjunct major (you have to do it with another social science degree) and the Kellogg Cert is a four-course sequence. A lot of firms that recruit at Northwestern specifically target the students in these programs, so it helps you stand out among the hundreds of other students who are also applying for jobs. They sometimes say "we only recruit MMSS" or something.

And I think an equal proportion of NU students go to NY full time as Chicago.

I'm not sure what programs NYU has, but I'd really recommend looking into the different honors programs at each school because these programs help you differentiate yourself.