Undergrad: University of Illinois or University of Rochester?

Hey WSO,

So I need some advice. I've been accepted at the following universities:
- University of Illinois (College of Business)
- University of Rochester
- University of Minnesota (Carlson School of Management)

And I've been wait-listed by the following:
- University of Chicago
- Emory University
- Michigan University (Ann Arbor)

I need to enroll at one of the admitted universities by May 1st, and I'm currently debating between UIUC and Rochester. I plan on majoring in finance and economics, and my goal is to break into investment banking after college. Yeah, yeah, I know it's too early to decide on my career, but i-banking is pretty intriguing and I would rather know the general direction I'm headed into than wander aimlessly.

Admittedly, U of I has a pretty solid business program. They consistently rank very high and the recruitment/networking opportunities there are incredible. On the other hand, I feel like Rochester carries more prestige. They seem to be very well connected in the Northeast and their students have access to remarkable internships and study-abroad programs. I also love the fact they have an open curriculum. Their economics program seems very reputable, too. However, to be honest, I've never really heard much about University of Rochester, but maybe that's just because I'm from the Midwest. What do you guys think? Which would you choose and why? I'm having a really hard time deciding between the two, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

Should be between Illinois and Minnesota.

Minnesota has fantastic placement into F500 in the Twin Cities areas. Also, they place well into Deloitte Consulting, as well as MM Investment Banks such as Piper Jaffray, Harris Williams, and Lazard MM.

I know that UIUC places very well in Big 4, but you don't plan on majoring in accounting so that is irrelevant. Also, I think UIUC places some students in IB Chicago offices. I dont know about F500 placements.

I recommend Minnesota.

 

I'm a graduate of University of Rochester... and I hated it. If you want a job in I-banking, you'll need to network for it. Two banks recruited through the school, but not on-campus. I have very few fond memories of that place. The professors in the economics department are about 50/50 ratio of good/bad. I felt every year at school the social life and academics got worse. If you do decide to go to U of R, go there for a year and transfer to an ivy.

 
Best Response

For investment banking in Chicago, it's hard to beat UIUC. Might even argue that there are more UIUC alums than Northwestern or U Chicago in Chicago banks because 1) UIUC students who study finance (and preferably accountancy as a double major) have a leg up on Northwestern's liberal arts focus. 2) from what I've seen, U Chicago kids are usually more focused on hedge funds or NYC. Kind of the same with Indiana and Michigan, who have better finance programs than UIUC and so typically will shoot for NYC instead of Chicago. UIUC also has a new Investment Banking Academy, modeled off of Indiana's, to increase banking placement. The alumni network in Chicago for UIUC is also quite strong.

Humbly disagreeing with the above poster, UIUC is the much better option for banking than Minnesota. UIUC has recruiters from most of the major bulge brackets, boutiques, and MM (at least for Chicago).

If your goal is NYC or elsewhere, than perhaps Rochester is the better option, I'm less clear about analyst recruiting in NYC.

Good luck and congrats on your school admissions. Don't forget to enjoy yourself for your quick four years!

Also, feel free to PM with additional questions.

 

Thanks for your input everyone, I really appreciate your time!

@DoctorAndre I like Carlson and I was definitely impressed by their F500 placement; however, it's going to cost me more than UIUC, and at that price I would rather go with U of I.

@superandy241 I checked out Rochester's career services page and while their on-campus recruitment was pretty dull, I was amazed by the companies attending their off-campus events in NYC/Boston. And then the study abroad programs caught my attention when I saw that the students were studying economics at Oxford or business at London City University (Cass) and the costs were covered by Rochester. The social scene, weather, and the location are definitely disappointing, but if it was worth the education/opportunities I was willing to make that sacrifice. It seems like transferring to Ivies is even harder than their regular process, so I can't really count on that. Please let me know how you feel about the off-campus recruitment and study abroad programs there.

@South Sea Tulip I am from the Chicago area, so having access to a vast network of alumni in banking in Chicago is definitely advantageous for summer internships and job opportunities. This is the first time I'm hearing about the Investment Banking Academy at UIUC, I'll be sure to check it out! I currently don't prefer any city over another; I just want to make a choice that will open up the most opportunities for me post graduation. Thanks for the honest input, it was really helpful!

@State of Trance Seems to be the consensus. Thanks!

 
eatsleepdreamsurf:

@superandy241 I checked out Rochester's career services page and while their on-campus recruitment was pretty dull, I was amazed by the companies attending their off-campus events in NYC/Boston. And then the study abroad programs caught my attention when I saw that the students were studying economics at Oxford or business at London City University (Cass) and the costs were covered by Rochester. The social scene, weather, and the location are definitely disappointing, but if it was worth the education/opportunities I was willing to make that sacrifice. It seems like transferring to Ivies is even harder than their regular process, so I can't really count on that. Please let me know how you feel about the off-campus recruitment and study abroad programs there.

I did not attend any off-campus events (except for NY minute, which I had to buy a plane ticket to fly to NYC and take a cab to a hotel), but I believe the rest are all co-sponsered with other schools. The alumni database has minimal IDB people who are willing to talk to undergrad students.

Tranferring to Warton from Rochester may be hard, but I know some one who transferred to Penn. I was friends with 3 people who transferred to Cornell.

I didn't do student abroad, but study aboroad tends to be a semester of partying in a foreign country. The one big plus of study aborad is all classes show up as pass/fail on the transcript, so you can take the harder classes for your major requirements and not have them affect your GPA.

 
IlliniProgrammer:
My advice: take UIUC (barring admission at UChicago- then we need to talk), come down to Urbana with a willingness to operate at everyone else's level; make a lot of friends both IN the college of business and outside, and have a college experience that grounds you- that shows you what NORMAL is. Stay away from the drinking as much as possible, at least until you're an upperclassman. (This will be easier in engineering than business.)

That's the plan! Thanks for all the help man I really appreciate it!

superandy241:
I did not attend any off-campus events (except for NY minute, which I had to buy a plane ticket to fly to NYC and take a cab to a hotel), but I believe the rest are all co-sponsered with other schools. The alumni database has minimal IDB people who are willing to talk to undergrad students.

Tranferring to Warton from Rochester may be hard, but I know some one who transferred to Penn. I was friends with 3 people who transferred to Cornell.

I didn't do student abroad, but study aboroad tends to be a semester of partying in a foreign country. The one big plus of study aborad is all classes show up as pass/fail on the transcript, so you can take the harder classes for your major requirements and not have them affect your GPA.

I think UIUC is a better fit for me. Thanks for taking the time to write about your experience there, it was very helpful!
 

Rochester and UMinn have their pluses, but I am obviously a UIUC proponent (see username.)

A double-major in Finance and Electrical Engineering would be a pretty powerful combination. Citadel, Jump, GETCO, DRW; most of the big Chicago prop shops hire traders from the College of Engineering and many also hire from the College of Business. Illinois is a top five school at Engineering and beats every single Ivy League in the rankings. Having done my graduate work at an Ivy with a fairly strong engineering program, I can also say that the caliber of Engineers and the rigor of the courses at UIUC is going to be a bit stronger. (The kids in the business school are probably just as good, though.)

Don't forget to apply for the Campus Honors Program, Business Honors, and James Scholar. These aren't exactly easy to get into, but well worth it if you can.

However, if you get in at Chicago, and you want specifically Wall Street, not LaSalle Street, or you're not getting in-state tuition at UIUC, take it.

UMinn is also a great choice for those getting in-state tuition there. They have an awesome Econ program, 2nd only to Chicago in Freshwater Economics.

 

@packmate Surprisingly, Rochester is gonna cost me less than U of I by a few grand. Nonetheless, the exit opps at UIUC seem better and there are other benefits of being in-state.

@IlliniProgrammer I've been considering a double major, but I can't really decide on it. While it will make me a strong applicant and open up new doors for me, I'm afraid it will bring down my GPA and I don't know if it will be worth it. I loved econ in high school, but it doesn't seems like a degree worth pursuing at UIUC. A lot of people have been recommending a double-major in accounting and finance, and the accounting program at U of I is one of the bests in the nation. I'm really good with computers and math, so I was even considering computer science as a minor. For other engineering programs like electrical engineering, I don't know if that is something I would like or even excel in. I'm definitely gonna try to enroll in the honors programs though. Let me know how you feel about the computer science minor or accountancy double-major. Thanks for the advice!

 

UIUC has a great accounting program that could one day make you a partner at a Big Four firm or a CFO at a smallish firm (not one paying million dollar bonuses) if that is what you want to do.

A success story from the College of Business, however, would be considered landing at RW Baird or William Blair, not necessarily landing in IBD at Goldman.

The EE/CS program will either get you an interview at Google or Palantir (and an offer if you're in the top 25% of the class), or it will get you to a Chicago prop shop, or maybe into a quant role at a hedge fund or a BB, or a job at an IBM, Microsoft, or Expedia.

The Accy program at UIUC is amazing, and it's a lot of fun. But if you want specifically Wall Street- NYC BB front office work, you have a 10% chance out of Engineering and a 5% chance out of the College of Business.

 

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