Help with college decision!
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Anonymous
| Our DC got into many schools 3 years ago. We went with the big sis package and never looked back. |
Anonymous
| OP here. Thank you for all of the suggestions and insight. HS Senior is very indecisive (hence the # of schools applied to), but will probably choose WashU, with the hope of getting off the Dartmouth or Notre Dame wait list. I personally think that UVA and Vanderbilt are somewhat equal to WashU, so no need to keep hoping to get off the wait list for those schools (please let me know if this is an incorrect judgment), but HS Senior prefers Nashville over St. Louis, so we will see what happens. To answer a few questions that came up, HS Senior will not have any debt no matter where she graduates from (so that is not a factor), and she seems to really like both big and small schools. |
Anonymous
Please it is a family decision when $300,000 is involved. |
Anonymous
Not correct. The above are excellent in math and Purdue, science. IU is an excellent all around for liberal arts and music. |
Anonymous
Visit??? But yes, Purdue is great for engineering. Nice quiet town. My alma mater. |
Anonymous
It positively screams “over-invested and overly involved helicopter mom” but whatever, not my problem. |
Anonymous
A mother taking part in her child's life, the horror |
Anonymous
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Out of those listed:
Boston College - Great humanities, probably good for business, not sure if they even have engineering Indiana University - Great for business only Purdue - Great for engineering only UW - Madison - Probably decent at either UT - Austin - Great for both business and engineering Washington University in St. Louis - Great for business, not so sure about engineering Waitlisted: Dartmouth College - Great for business, no engineering University of Notre Dame - Great for business, no engineering University of Virginia (OOS) - Great for business, mediocre for engineering. Vanderbilt University - No idea |
Anonymous
OP here again. Thanks for the opinions. However, Dartmouth and Vanderbilt do not have undergrad business (only econ.) so she would most likely do engineering and then pursue MBA if admitted off WL at either of those colleges. At Notre Dame, HS Senior accepted into engineering, but could switch to Mendoza if admitted off WL. As stated earlier, if WashU is decided on, HS Senior would double major b/w Eng. and Business (not too difficult to do at WashU due to AP, dual enrollment credits) to hopefully have more post-grad career options. UT-Austin looks great on paper, but worried about % of in state students. Is it difficult for OOS students to "fit in" at UT? |
Anonymous
My senior was also admitted to UT Austin OOS and is most likely going to commit there (choosing between three schools). My senior was admitted to a science major in the College of Natural Sciences, but wants to minor in business so one of the reasons driving their decision is the quality of UT's business school, and the fact that students from any of the undergraduate colleges can minor in business without being admitted to McCombs. Regarding fitting in, my DC worried about that as well since about 90% of the student body is in state. However, DC has already connected with a lot of seniors from Texas, New York, CA, and the DC area via social media, has picked a roommate, and hangs out with them virtually on a regular basis. Texas is a huge and very diverse state (we lived there a long, long time ago!), and I think with such a huge school, kids will find their kin. My DC is super excited to have been accepted (a HUGE deal if one is OOS), and excited about the programs, location, and school spirit. Unfortunately we weren't able to visit over spring break as planned, so DC has not seen the campus. But virtual tours and connecting with other kids who are attending as well as talking with friends who have visited, has given DC a lot of info about the school. As a PP mentioned, UT is excellent in both business AND engineering, and is extremely difficult to be accepted in those two schools from both in and OOS. Our DC also has a lot of diverse interests and who knows, can change mind about major more than once. I think being at a large university with a lot of options is a good choice. Best of luck with DC's decision!! These are good problems to have. |
Anonymous
Thank you for the insight on UT, and congratulations to your DC! Similarly, that is the only college our family has not toured in person. -OP |
Anonymous
Although Dartmouth doesn't have undergraduate business, its still very well-respected in finance in particular. A lot of top investment, private equity, and management consulting firms recruit from Dartmouth. I believe there is a concentration that students can do in finance along with whatever they choose to major in. I'm not sure how Dartmouth is for marketing though, but I have to assume its decent. The advantage of Dartmouth is that while for many of the listed business schools - UT, UVA, Indiana - the students have to be top of their class to be recruited into a good investment firm, at Dartmouth that's not as important, since its a small college and already has high entry requirements so firms assume the kids are already smart. There's also supposed to be very good alumni networking, but frankly I wouldn't base decisions on that since its still very much of a personal connections game, and wealthy kids will always cloister together with other wealthy kids. UT-Austin is a massive school of 40,000 students, so I wouldn't necessarily worry about not being in-state. I think the bigger issue with UT-Austin is the massive class sizes, especially in introductory classes. McCombs (the business school) has 6,500 undergraduate students - that's the entire size of some of the privates you have listed. But again for undergraduate business its among the best along with UVA/Indiana although caveats apply - like with UVA/Indiana the student has to be in the top of the class to get into the top firms. For electrical/computer engineering, UT-Austin's degree is pretty much only behind MIT/Stanford/Berkeley/Cal Tech in rigor and respect and in the same league as Georgia Tech, Cornell, Michigan, et. al. But again they would be competing with a lot of undergraduate students for the same top jobs so they have to be top of the class to get the top jobs. |
Anonymous
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Of your schools, Texas is the best for the intended majors of business and engineering. Both are top notch.
It isn't difficult to fit in there if you are OOS. Austin is a happening town, UT is huge and diverse. |
Anonymous
| WashU--your DD could pursue both interests. Anything related to bio at WashU is outstanding---including biomedical engineering. |
Anonymous
UT has more like 4,500 undergraduate majors. 6,500 would include graduate. Graduates are in their own building. The business school and engineering aren't to far apart. It you are looking at combined quality of undergraduate and engineering programs, I think only a few schools would be as good or better (Berkeley, Michigan, etc.). Engineering and Business seems like an awful lot to bite off. UT is also excellent in computer science. Dartmouth would be a different type of experience. Tiny in comparison to UT, Purdue, IU, Wisconsin, and UVA. You could major in a non-business field and still potentially get a position that only top business majors at other schools could get. It would also be much more of a liberal arts type of experience. I would go there if admitted off of waiting list. The others, unless there is something uniquely compelling (e.g. some people just love Notre Dame), don't really add anything to prestige over WashU or aren't as strong in both business and engineering as UT. I assume there are some differences in finance here, but not commenting on that. |