[UNDERGRAD] Which business school should I pick?

I am currently a high school senior deciding between a few business schools to attend. My options are the Moore School at University of South Carolina, the Kelley School at Indiana University, and the Stern School at NYU. I would really love to attend Stern, as I am a finance major and interested in investment banking, and feel the opportunities at Stern exceed those at my other options. However, Stern is really expensive at $69,682 of direct expenses (tuition, fees, and room and board) and an estimated $4,772 of indirect expenses (books, transportation, etc).

I received the following financial aid from Stern: $1,000/year scholarship, $3,000/year in potential federal work study, $3,500/year subsidized loan, $2,000/year unsubsidized loan, and the rest of the cost of attendance over my parent's contribution would be a Federal PLUS loan.

My parents are willing to contribute around $40k a year, meaning deducting the scholarship and not considering the work study as that is not definite, I would have to take out loans of approximately $30k a year, not considering indirect expenses, which my parents would be willing to cover. Therefore, I would have about $120k of student loans ($3.5k of which would be subsidized) coming out of college. Kelley's direct costs are around $48k, meaning I would only have $8,000/year, so about $32,000 in student loans if I attended. I received a significant scholarship at South Carolina, so the cost of attendance would only be $14,000 a year, which my parents would cover completely.

I'm really conflicted whether $120,000 in student loans is worth the education at Stern. I know if I want to have any shot at getting into investment banking, I should go to Stern over Kelley or Moore, but it is a lot of debt to take on before I even start working. Any advice?

 
Best Response

" I know if I want to have any shot at getting into investment banking, I should go to Stern over Kelley or Moore"

I would say that is not true. If you can get into the IB workshop (google it) at Kelley, you'll have a very, very high chance of getting into IB. I didn't go to IU and don't know what that application process is like for the workshop, but I do know a lot of IU/workshop guys in IB/PE in Chicago. From what they tell me, NYC IB is pretty common too.

I don't know these schools well enough to give a recommendation considering all factors, but I did want to say 2 things:

  1. What you want at the age of 18 is not necessarily what you will want when you are graduating (or even in one year), so be careful about locking yourself into a path just because you chose it at 18. Personal anecdote: a high school buddy got into an 8 year undergrad/med school program, kept following it because well shit, he got in, might as well see it out. He's now a resident and miserable.

  2. $70k/year for tuition is INSANE.

 

So normally I'm a semi-troll on these boards, but I actually transferred from South Carolina my freshman year and I would advise you to stay far far away. The school is in a re-branding process and they're trying to get the Moore school on the map, but they're so so far behind. No one goes to Columbia, SC to recruit for IB, PE or AM. The only really solid connection they have there is with BAML but even the top students that get internships/jobs with them are still only doing WM or corporate risk/audit type roles. Aside from that most of the students are really unmotivated and the work is not challenging at all. Great place to get laid on any given night of the week though.

Go to IU 100% and don't ever look back.

 

NYU > IU investment banking workshop - in terms of IB placement.  IU IBW places its top 80-85% members into solid FO positions (BBs, EBs, or top MMs).

 Chances are you won't be going to goldman/MS/JPM/Evercore/Blackstone though, if thats your ambition (maybe 5/70 kids per year go to firms of that caliber).

But I doubt that NYU placement is better enough to warrant an extra $60K a year. 

On the social front, IU destroys NYU - unless you are not into the whole Greek/partying scene AND/OR you are wealthy enough to fully enjoy NYC (which i assume you are not given that cost of attendance is a big factor in your decision making).

Summary: Go IU, unless you seek the top opportunities AND you can comfortably afford NYU.

 

Sorry, I glossed over your cost comparison and wrongly assumed it was 70k/yr (NYU) vs 8k/yr (IU). total student loan diff would be 120k vs 32k after 4 years, which is much obviously much closer than my scenario.

Swings the pendulum closer to NYU, but my original advice still stands - depends on how much that ~23k/yr means to you. Thats 23k/yr less to invest/have fun/drinks at the bar/spring break trips/etc.

 

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