UNC Kenan Flagler vs. Cornell Dyson and other B-Schools
I recently committed to UNC Chapel Hill for undergrad and was interested in their recruiting for NY IB relative to other schools. I was offered the transfer option to Cornell ILR but if advised, would plan to attempt to transfer to Dyson and join a friend who committed there. Would it be advisable to transfer or is the difference negligible? UNC seems to be ranked higher on undergraduate business rankings does anyone know why this is? When I asked about this on a subreddit, I was berated and told if I want any chance at IB I would transfer. I tried researching the placement and Kenan-Flagler statistics seem to be competitive with Cornell although Cornell has better Wall Street Placement. I love UNC but what matters most is my career following undergrad. I am unsure if the following information matters but I live on Long Island and will be attending UNC as an out of state student in the Fall. I appreciate any help on this topic.
Hey jjmeah, I think you deserve a response...heck, everyone does. We're listening, sorry about the delay ...my best guess at places on WSO that could help:
I hope those threads give you a bit more insight.
Think you'd have more luck if you posted about this in the IB forum. Interested to hear an answer.
editing this cuz i was wrong as fuck chief, go unc
EBs don't recruit at UNC
Yeah they do, I know firsthand peers at UNC that got recruited to Guggenheim/Lazard/PJT. Maybe not full fledged (meaning every BB comes to UNC) but select firms definitely do-- if you go there and don't know that guess you're hella outta the loop fam
Bit of misinformation here...I spearheaded recruiting for Cornell recently and my colleague is very involved with UNC's process. Your assumptions are a bit backwards: while every BB/EB/etc does NOT recruit at UNC, UNC students will have an easier time placing as compared to ones from Cornell for the banks that do recruit. "the numbers" don't tell the full story and you would think that nyu surpassed princeton if thats all you looked at. Cornell even has more alumni at our bank than harvard does but I will be the first to admit that we aren't immediately tossing harvard resumes in the trash. If you do a kids who place/kids interested, UNC will have a slightly higher percentage across the board. However, more banks recruit at Cornell and there are more buyside opportunities. UNC alumni also tend to have the ability to be more helpful - my inbox is constantly loaded with Cornell students and I don't have time to respond to all of them. UNC and Cornell are essentially state schools, with the latter having way way more kids interested in IB and therefore more being more hypercompetitive for receiving an interview.
To OP, Cornell is an absolutely excellent school. However, since you will be attending UNC for your first year, I would suggest staying there if all you desire is a BB IB job. Your network will already be in place, your classes may not transfer, and the year of recruitment is not a year you want to adjust. If you can somehow take a gap year and start at Cornell a year late, that could be a good option. I loved all four years and wouldn't change a thing. The workload that people complain about made the transition from college to banking much easier for me. If you are set on Cornell then have fun but make sure you hit the ground running - I might see you on campus sometime. Feel free to PM any questions. Go Big Red!
My gut feeling is that it's kind of a 6 vs 1/2 dozen type of argument. UNC can get you to where you need to go if you can end up at Kenan Flagler and are a strong student. Placement might not be quite as good as Cornell, but with that being said, the alumni group is pretty broad and would pull for you if you were top of the class.
Cornell is an Ivy and also has decent placement, but I wouldn't consider it a powerhouse by any means. Cornell is the weakest Ivy and I feel like they get a lot of competitive students who didn't make the cut anywhere else.
With that being said, if you're paying full boat at either place, Cornell probably gives you more bang for the buck. UNC is great, but if you're paying ~60k a year for either, I'd probably rather pay for a Cornell degree vs a UNC one.
Last piece and I literally say this to everyone, at the end of the day I'd go with where you're most comfortable. If you think you'd be happy at both, I'd lean towards Cornell. If you love UNC and can't wait to go to UNC games, have good weather, be part of a big student body, etc then there's probably enough in terms of job opportunities to stick with UNC.
At the end of the day the question isn't UNC vs Harvard or Wharton where the placement will be wildly different. My anecdotal feel is that opportunities from a top public Ivy will be roughly similar to those offered by Cornell. It wouldn't be worth it to suffer for 4 years in the Ithaca weather only to end up at a mid tier BB whereas UNC could probably do the exact same thing for you.
Just my opinion though.
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