NYU Stern Vs. UMiami Herbert for undergrad Finance

Hey guys, I'm a current high school senior looking to go into finance. Specifically, I want to work in IB->PE. I'm seeking help/advice because I'm stuck between UMiami (full cost of attendance scholarship) and NYU Stern (6.2k/yr COA w/scholarship). I've tirelessly researched both schools and created pros and cons for each, but I'm still unable to decide.

UMiami Pros:

  • Full cost of attendance (no major financial worry)
  • Because I don't have to worry about paying for school, I can focus my time on academics, extracurriculars, networking
  • Has an actual campus
  • It's my favorite college football team.
  • I live in FL so it's close to home and my family
  • Better weather than NYC
  • I really like Miami. I visit once a month and skate around. I'm Hispanic and enjoy the amount of Latin culture in the city.
  • Smaller school, much-less competitive, can standout much easier, more personal connections with profs (for grad school)
  • Read somewhere that UM is good for LATAM finance and I feel I can excel in this.

Cons:
- Brickell is not as good as Wall St. for IB/PE
- Almost no chance at getting hired on Wall St from UM.
- Nowhere near NYU in the rankings
- UM prestige is not strong outside of Southeastern US, so if I ever decide to move that might complicate things.
- It doesn't feel like the best choice career-wise
- Lower salaries than NYC

NYU Pros:
- I've been granted the opportunity to attend such a great school, at a low cost.
- Target school (Can work for bigger companies, gain better job experience)
- Competitive, and that's a strong motivator for me
- More independent experience
- I can work during the school year (gain related job experience)
- More opportunity and resources
- Ranked higher
- Better program
- I'll be surrounded by more motivated peers
- The diversity: so many people with different stories to them
- NYC= always something to do. Also, Rolling Loud NY, New Year's Eve, Governor's ball, Electric Zoo
- I don't think I'll have a problem finding a job if I ever move anywhere with an NYU Stern degree and Wall St. job experience.

Cons:
- Competitive, this is also a con because it looks like I'm going to be competing with Ivy-level kids, 1500+ SAT students, rich smart kids. I've never been exposed to students like that. I'm from a small rural HS and I'm low-income. I'm confident I can compete, but the way others have made Stern sound- oof.
- I heard NYU gets more expensive as you go, which I don't know if it's true or not. Based on my financial package, I would graduate with 14k in loans, but I also have a 3rd party 10k scholarship to help that.
- I've never actually visited NYU/NYC in person, which feels risky (but I like it)
- Not as good of social life as in UM (Greek, Tailgates, Parties, Ultra Music Fest, Miami nightlife)

Help, please :/

 

Wait so after 4 years you'd only have 14k of debt for Stern? That's really good. You'd be getting a top tier education for a fraction of the cost. I'm from the Southeast as well and considered UMiami when making my college decisions too. I would 100% take Stern over Miami. The opportunities are so much better. Even worst case you have to take significantly more loans to cover everything at NYU, plus living expenses and whatever and you end up 50k in debt. If you do IB, which you have a phenomenal shot in at Stern, you'd be making 150k after undergrad. You could literally pay off your debt in a year if you want.

Compare that to Miami. I bet the average top student gets a job that makes maybe 80k, 100k at the very most. Thats a 33% - 45% pay cut. True they have more of a campus than NYU, but when compared to other schools that are more rural, Miami doesn't really have much of a campus either. You'd probably have more of a hispanic community there over NYU, but in terms of the snobbiness, I think you'd find about the same. Miami is a school known for people out of state who have money but couldn't get into high ranked schools (like Stern) go when they want to party in Florida for 4 years. My cousin went there 5 yrs ago and his dorm's parking lot was full of Audis, BMWs, Mercedes, etc.

 

Are you sure you've got your living expenses properly factored in? NYC is pretty expensive and I've seen that sticker shock surprise more than a few of my friends. You'll also find that the bulk of students at most private universities are from wealthy and upper middle class families, so no real difference there, except for the level of competition. In any case, Stern at $14K is a steal.

Dude you want to do IB. It's a no-brainer. Might as well get used to living and networking in NY now. Enjoy NYU.

 

I went to university of Miami and transferred after freshman year. Its the best time you will ever have in college but finance opportunities are not available besides in south Florida. If you are set to work in Florida after school go to Miami. And if you are driven you can network and get a good job in finance in Miami.

But Stern is a target and you will have ocr opportunities. If it was me I’d go to Stern for sure. DM me if you want to talk more about my experience at Miami

 

I also want to let you know that you have to decide at some point to just put the work in and go for it, even though you’ll be studying alongside rich smart kids as you say. at a target school like stern you can’t be afraid of the competition, especially since you want to do ib to pe or whatever

you can’t be a gladiator if you never step foot in the coliseum.

choosing u Miami is like avoiding the challenge of recruiting and competing because you’re afraid to fail. the odds of placing into the track you want from it is that much less. no hate on the school but I’m speaking probabilistically.

 

If stern costs you like 25k a year with living expenses it’s still a steal. I love partying and would look for every excuse to go to Miami but in your shoes I would’ve taken stern for the IB placement.

"Truth is like poetry. And most people fucking hate poetry."
 

I’d say this is a really big self qualifying decision too. You might hate the weather, but if you make the most of it you’re going to have the time of your life in college either way. idk if everyone at stern is antisocial or nerdy or something (no offense i just mean in the worst case), but you should be able to make friends with people in NYU and all around the massive amount of people that just go there in general. if you make this decision to commit in order to get into IB, your life is better framed around getting into IB and you will probably have that in your face to motivate you when competing with all the other tryhards there. How you frame your experience going in and while as a student is how you will end up acting, making decisions, living life, etc. and how you’ll live the rest of your life. Do you want to work hard now and then retire in Florida? Or work just as hard and not get the same opportunities? don’t shoot yourself in the foot and also realize you’ll have some FOMO either way when you see your friends going to UM and having fun or Stern making $150k out of undergrad. Either school is big enough to make your own opportunities but Stern will get you there easier and faster, it just might not be as pretty, and that’s basically IB in a nutshell too. You can always get a PT job on campus to spend on anything and everything. good luck either way and sorry for the long post - I had the same sort of decision to make out of HS, went to the non target, then transferred to a target. Now I got a PE role out of undergrad when that would just be a dream from the non target. I think breaking into IB is changing from non targets, but you will literally have to be insane - I know a group of kids who came and did stock pitching competition at my school (the ones who pitched SRG if anyone’s familiar) and one of them went to evercore but the entire team were 4.0 students getting 1/1 outstanding student achievement awards and getting first place at stock pitching competitions at the best schools in the country over all the best schools.

 

To provide you with a counter argument, Miami has been slowly making noise in terms of IB recruiting. Are you at better odds of getting an IB internship from NYU? Yes. But to provide you with a solid counterargument, you'll be able to distinguish yourself from other candidates when it comes time to recruit full time. I'm a senior right now at UM and almost every interviewer is so curious to hear about the Miami experience -- great conversation starter. In addition, it's considered a target for BB like Citi and BAML. The only reason why you don't hear about bankers coming from UM is because not many high school seniors go into the their freshman year at Miami thinking about IB. In addition to beach, beutiful girls, and football (who I pray can at least be ranked top 25 by the end of this year) theres a lot to enjoy. There is certainly a path to IB, and the fact that its a priority for you as a HS is huge fact.

DM for any questions

 

As an NYU student, I can truly say that the advantage of coming to NYU is a bit overrated. EVERYONE wants to do IB here, and if you really want to go through the Stern struggle of being one of many, then go ahead and try your luck. You did mention you’re into LATAM, so I’m assuming you have some Hispanic/Latin roots. That definitely will give you a leg up in recruiting, honestly, so consider that this advantage applies from everywhere.

But do not make your decision based on investment banking. Make sure you are truly okay with everything about NYU, and how it’s different from every other college, before making the decision. College is not all about getting a job, you should enjoy the experience and learn and grow a LOT. If you think NYU is the place for all of that, while accurately weighting the financial cost with respect to your financial situation (and knowing you’ll spend A LOT getting lit in the city) THEN you should consider choosing this school.

Moral of the story career should not be your only factor because you’ll end up failing if you can’t thrive here. And you’ll realize that there is nothing worse than wasting your time. That’s not to say that this school sucks or anything, I love it, but it’s only meant for the people who fit.

 

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