Business School (undergrad) Recommendations

[Anonymous]

My kid was not really ready during the college search process (had no idea of major or the type of school wanted, etc). She is a freshman at an ok, but not fantastic, school (that I don’t want to name because I don’t want to start drama). She wants to transfer to a “better” school. She has now settled on a finance and accounting double major but would drop to just finance at a more rigorous school.

What colleges would folks suggest? She wants smaller <15k students, strong in business/finance. With a decent placement record. She knows about Penn, but that is a long shot. I’m trying to give her other strong (but not impossible to get into) schools to think about.

[Anonymous]

Georgetown
BC
Villanova
Fordham
Providence
Elon
Ithaca
NYU
Bentley
BU
Northeastern
Tulane
Bucknell

[Anonymous]

The first question: you say she wants finance or accounting, is there some basis to know she can handle it? Has she taken a couple courses and done well at her current college?

If not, or even if so, make sure the next college is less a weed out factory and more a teaching place. I could recommend UNC, UVA, Wake, etc. that all fit your credentials - but their business schools are both challenging and require admittance - in some cases after spending a couple semesters there. Conversely, a school like Villanova has no pre-reqs but you need to maintain a GPA and know that Villanova for example turns out a lot of accountants for the big 4.

Larger schools like state flagships may not offer the intimacy, but they sometimes are more forgiving - just keep a 2.0 and you keep going.

[Anonymous]

Babson

[Anonymous]

Without more info about her current school, how would anyone know which schools are better ?

[Anonymous]

How are her first-year grades so far?

[Anonymous]

Indiana University Kelley School of Business (IU over 15,000 students) has about 10,200 undergrads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How are her first-year grades so far?

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The first question: you say she wants finance or accounting, is there some basis to know she can handle it? Has she taken a couple courses and done well at her current college?

If not, or even if so, make sure the next college is less a weed out factory and more a teaching place. I could recommend UNC, UVA, Wake, etc. that all fit your credentials - but their business schools are both challenging and require admittance - in some cases after spending a couple semesters there. Conversely, a school like Villanova has no pre-reqs but you need to maintain a GPA and know that Villanova for example turns out a lot of accountants for the big 4.

Larger schools like state flagships may not offer the intimacy, but they sometimes are more forgiving - just keep a 2.0 and you keep going.

This is a good question posed. She's a freshman, so only a couple of months into college. Is she in an accounting class now? Did she take an accounting class in high school? My DS is a junior accounting major and you have to really love it/be good at it, to keep going.

[Anonymous]

Richmond

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are her first-year grades so far?

+1

So far As in every class. Taking Econ, Stats, English and German

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Without more info about her current school, how would anyone know which schools are better ?

Others have done it. I’m just hoping for ideas and she can determine if they are “better.” I just don’t want to start a tangent about the quality of her school.

[Anonymous]

https://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/rankings/poetsquants-best-undergraduate-business-schools-of-2023/5/

[Anonymous]

In April, the WSJ named UVA top public in the nation for finance. What state are you in? https://www.wsj.com/articles/top-colleges-high-paying-finance-jobs-e6742bb8

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The first question: you say she wants finance or accounting, is there some basis to know she can handle it? Has she taken a couple courses and done well at her current college?

If not, or even if so, make sure the next college is less a weed out factory and more a teaching place. I could recommend UNC, UVA, Wake, etc. that all fit your credentials - but their business schools are both challenging and require admittance - in some cases after spending a couple semesters there. Conversely, a school like Villanova has no pre-reqs but you need to maintain a GPA and know that Villanova for example turns out a lot of accountants for the big 4.

Larger schools like state flagships may not offer the intimacy, but they sometimes are more forgiving - just keep a 2.0 and you keep going.

This is a good question posed. She's a freshman, so only a couple of months into college. Is she in an accounting class now? Did she take an accounting class in high school? My DS is a junior accounting major and you have to really love it/be good at it, to keep going.

She is not sure about accounting and may drop it. Knowing her, I suspect she will be good at it. We have family members who are accountants so we know what it entails. But you are right that it’s hard to tell until you get into the coursework.