Please Help a Kid Out

Hello,
I am a senior in high school and now it is time for me to pick a college. I have narrowed my choices down to 3 schools. Fordham, Indiana, and Penn State. I have written a little about my financial situation down below.

Penn State: In-State so total cost will be around 37K. Around 43K of debt total. Won't join frat because don't want to die.

Indiana: Directly Accepted to Kelley School and Hutton Honors College. Awarded Deans Scholarship. 39K total cost but have to think about flights from PHL about 3-4 times per academic year and frat dues but I'm fairly confident my parents will take care of that part. About 51K of Debt.

Fordham: 57K per year. Awarded Deans Scholarship. 123K of debt. I am leaning away from Fordham because based off of what I read on this forum it places about the same as Indiana and Penn State so I do not think that the extra cost is justified.

So I guess what I am generally asking is Indiana worth the 9k more than Penn State? I think it probably is but if my opportunities are the same I will stay at Penn State. Watching PSU football is also much better than watching IU basketball, even though Romeo Langford is an animal. Any advice you guys can offer would be much appreciated.

Thanks in Advance.

 

Just go to Indiana dude. There is a huge difference between the opportunities you will get at Kelley versus Penn State.

Indiana will regularly place multiple kids into places like Evercore, Moelis, etc. Penn State has never placed someone at either firm right out of undergrad. You basically are comparing a target to a non-target. In terms of clubs, workshop graduates like 80 per year (and is honestly a lot easier to get into), while NLF graduates 20.

 

https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/comprehensive-list-of-target-sch…

Penn State a "non target" ? Confused…

IU is a feeder to boutiques if that's what OP is going for, so definitely would say IU is a target for that. Plus most IU end up in Midwest, with few ending up in NYC per a lot of the forums I've read on WSO.

NLF graduates 20? For what, the senior class? NLF has little over 40 students this past semester. Plus per their last report, all reported jobs/internships in BB's, several EB's, and even one Rockstar who got a PE internship.

Interesting comment though.

 

Yep, NLF graduates ~20 people every year, and I wouldn't base what is a target / nontarget from a WSO poll or whatever. Do you actually know about how recruiting out of Penn State works? Obviously this is an anonymous forum, but you are giving some HS kid potentially career changing advice.

 

Actually, yes. I do know how recruiting works out of PSU. NLF Seniors whom get senior placements I would suppose are roughly ~20, however, the fund itself hosts 40 or so students ranging from sophomore to senior years. With 20 leaving, they host a new 20 so that can roughly mean almost 50 or more at one time.

BAML is a target for PSU, sorry if you don't want to hear that. Mainly BB's religiously take these PSU kids. Last report I was forwarded showed BAML, Citi, GS, MS, and a Private Equity company taking on the senior graduates of NLF.

 
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So when I said do you know I meant have you actually done it yourself. It seems like you have not. BAML is a "target" for PSU because of the connection built back when Bill Schreyer was alive. Them and Citi are the only ones who you can count on to take at least 3 kids per year for both IBD and S&T. The only EB that has regularly taken kids in the past is PWP, but today they take 1 girl every other year from PSU while taking much more Indiana kids.

All the other BBs take kids sporadically. GS and MS take kids every other year (this is the first year kids have gone to MS for IBD and not GCM in half a decade). The PE firm you mentioned is BDT Capital Partners, which as you can probably tell is not the same thing as the analyst programs at Silverlake or Vista. In fact, MF PE recruiting for PSU alumni in banking programs is absolutely brutal. One guy has gone to Carlyle out of BAML, one girl to GS PE out of FIG. That's it.

The placement really isn't even close unless we're talking about BAML or Citi. I don't say this with joy or anything, just trying to help an HS student make a good career choice.

 

update, I messed up some of the calculations as it seems college boards tuition numbers are different than the ones reported on Penn State's site. Penn State would leave me with about 20k of debt while Indiana will leave me with 57K of debt. Not sure if it changes much but I am beginning to lean in Penn State's favor.

 

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