Which Colleges are Best for Investment Banking?
Hi,
I'm a UK student currently planning their application to university. In the UK, I am planning to apply to Warwick, LSE, UCL, St Andrews and Trinity College, Cambridge (for either econ or land economy). However, I am also applying to US colleges, and am struggling to decide on the college to Early Decision to.
The situation is that if I applied to say Princeton, I could get some financial aid as they are need-blind. However, Princeton says they dont give advantages to people that early decision. So I could apply Wharton, which does give an advantage, but then I would have to pay full tuition (which is hard to justify given its only 10k in the UK as opposed to 50k in US). There are also others such as Yale etc. that look good. Also, I have Brown legacy (kind of) as my dad did his masters there.
I am very torn between these places so I was wondering whether you guys could recommend the best place for investment banking, from your experience.
International White Male Junior (UK)
Applying for aid if need-blind but no aid if need-aware
Major: Economics / Political Science
Stats:
GCSEs: 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 8, 8, Astar, Astar (an 8 is a low A star and a 9 is a high A star)
A Level Predicted: Worst case: Astar Astar A Best case: A star A star A star
SAT: 1560 Superscore (700/800 and 760/770)
Haven't done subjects yet but planning to get 800 in Math 2
ECs:
Co-founder and CEO of an AI news website that will have around 1 million visitors by the time apps roll around. We have 10+ student writers and have recently been accepted onto Apple News.
Reached number 1 in international investing challenge out of 5400 teams during the first stage, but then lost at semi-finals (Student Investor Challenge)
Accepted onto Oxford UNIQ Summer program (a free week-long summer program for state school students. Has around 10% acceptance rate)
Internships at Credit Suisse and the United Nations (at the UN I coauthored a report that will be presented at an OECD gathering)
Head of School Newspaper
200 hours volunteering with primary children and charity trip to Kenya where I lived in an orphanage
Highly commended in Cambridge Fitzwilliam Essay Competition
Thanks and I'd appreciate any feedback
Edit: Sorry, the main question I had wasn't very clear. The main thing I'm trying to ask is whether you believe paying full tuition for a school like Wharton would be worth it if there would be a much higher chance of getting in. For example, would say a 30% chance at Wharton paying 60k a year be worth it over paying 20K a year for 10% chance at Princeton, purely on a financial basis. I do not have much knowledge of US salaries but they seem to be far higher than the UK counterparts, and if I could expect something like 100K plus salary from Wharton it would seem that would be the right way to go?
Your grades and test scores look fine. Keep in mind that there are only a handful of US colleges that are need blind for internationals (Yale/Princeton/Amherst/MIT/Harvard and a few others). Brown unfortunately is not need blind.
So if you apply to Brown (or other non-need blind colleges), your app has to be really stellar. As you've probably learned, extracurriculars are extremely important for US Unis.
You could theoretically apply ED + EA to US colleges while simultaneously submitting UCAS applications. There are some top colleges which allow early action nonbinding. UChicago, MIT and Caltech are notable examples. However binding ED offers the best chance for admission.
I think I'm going to not apply for aid to need-aware schools for this very reason, as it seems to decrease your chances a lot. However, none of the need blind schools actually do early decision, so the only places I would get an ED advantage at would be need aware. The main thing I'm trying to ask is whether you believe paying full tuition for a school like Wharton would be worth it if there would be a much higher chance of getting in. For example, would say a 30% chance at Wharton paying 60k a year be worth it over paying 20K a year for 10% chance at Princeton, purely on a financial basis. I do not have much knowledge of US salaries but they seem to be far higher than the UK counterparts, and if I could expect something like 100K plus salary from Wharton it would seem that would be the right way to go?
Also, I have heard the ED agreement only excludes you from applying to other US colleges, so if I got into say Cambridge and ED Wharton I could just choose to go to Cambridge no problem?
I'm a little confused on why you would receive aid from Wharton, but not Princeton. Have you run the Net Price Calculator (NPC)? Each college has its own calculator, and will give you an estimate of how much your family contribution will be.
The NPC from the website is often a good estimate of how much aid you'll receive.
Wharton is need-aware, so it would be much more difficult to get in if requesting aid. While I would get aid from Princeton, it's theoretically possible for me to pay full tuition, so it would seem that is the best route to go if I decided to apply to Wharton. Princeton is need-blind, so applying for aid wouldn't make a difference, but there is a far lower chance of me getting in.
You need to go to college confidential. this is not the right website
Sorry, the main question I had wasn't very clear. The main thing I'm trying to ask is whether you believe paying full tuition for a school like Wharton would be worth it if there would be a much higher chance of getting in. For example, would say a 30% chance at Wharton paying 60k a year be worth it over paying 20K a year for 10% chance at Princeton, purely on a financial basis. I do not have much knowledge of US salaries but they seem to be far higher than the UK counterparts, and if I could expect something like 100K plus salary from Wharton it would seem that would be the right way to go?
I would not recommend applying ED to Wharton. While it's placement out of UG is better in terms of tot numbers than Princeton/MIT (Harvard and Yale are debatable), the experience you'd get there is not worth that much more per year. If anything, I'd argue that it actually has a worse experience than all of the others mentioned except for MIT. (For reference, I attend one of said institutions and have friends across the rest).
Having also spent considerable time with UK undergrads, I would prioritize American universities (unless you get into Cambridge). Harvard, Yale, and Princeton are in a league of their own for undergraduate opportunities, and any possible interest you have in doing something or meeting someone can be fulfilled from them. Looking at your stats, you have a halfway decent chance of making it in.y recommendation is to apply single-choice EA to Princeton, their math and finance (ORFE) departments are incredible, and their international aid is awarded quite heavily. If you make it in through that, then you can decide what other institutions, if any, you want to apply to as their decisions come out early December.
You seem to be misunderstanding how the financial aid system works in Ivy league schools. The ivy league schools do not give merit based aid, or athletic scholarships. Instead they give out aid based solely on need. Each school determines need differently. While the amount of aid may differ slightly from one ivy league school to another, they generally are close.
So thats why I'm confused why you would pay $60K at Wharton vs $20K at Princeton. The financial aid calculators on each school's website would be the best place to confirm. I find it highly unlikely that there would be a $40K difference between the two schools. Wharton is need-aware for internationals. This means that FA will be an all-or-nothing deal. Either you get accepted and get financial aid, or you get rejected. There are some colleges that engage in tuition discounting to lure candidates, but these are all outside the Ivy league.
Run the NPC for each school, and then ask your parents what is the maximum they would pay.
Don't have much to add here other than if financial aid is a factor in your decision, DO NOT APPLY WITH A BINDING ED AGREEMENT.
If one of them has a non-binding early action then do that if you really want to try to get an earlier decision. Also, once you start looking at the top tier of schools (USNWR top 20 or so/UK targets) I'd say just go to whichever you would 1) pay the least for and 2) would be a good fit for you personally. Personally, full tuition at Wharton is 100% not worth it if you can get into LSE or some other UK target. If you really grind from a UK target you might have a decent shot at a US bank or a UK bank then transfer to US after a few years, giving you an even greater ROI than wharton>US bank.
But I'm just an undergrad so what do I know
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