08jkam

As a senior who is interested in Finance (also finance engineering, I-Banking, and perhaps accounting), I've applied to seven great eastern coast Colleges that all contain prestiged business programs. When the decisions come by, it seems that only McIntire (UVA), Tepper (CMU), and Goizueta (Emory) are my currently viable choices (I am not hopeful of getting off the waitlist from either Cornell CALS or NYU Stern). What makes this decision particularly hard for me are the following reasons:

1. Having spent 3 years in a Virginian Private High School (A really good one that is considered one of the biggest feeders to UVA), I am looking for a more diverse environment.
2. Although I do bear a strong interest in finance, I still want to engage in real college life, meaning that I want to enjoy sports, sunshine, friends hanging out, etc etc.
3. Even if I claimed not to have a preference over campus environments, I still prefer a pretty, green, suburban campus filled with sunshine.
4. I'm Asian, but I'm not a big fan of constantly hanging around with my peers with same ethnicity and speaking our language. (like Koreans, if you prefer).
5. Prestige is still quite a factor for my parents (and me to a certain extend)

Thank you--if your kindness ever take you through these lines--and please help me out in making decisions. As you can see, the 5 points are indeed hard to accommodate with given my choices; so please, if I may ask for you furthering your time and generosity, offer a few words and opinions to assist me. My appreciations once again!.

Sachmoney

1. It sounds like you don't want to go to UVA
2. I guarantee you that UVA has the most school spirit. I'm sure CMU doesn't, and Emory doesn't either. UVA has the best finance program as well.
3. UVA is rural. CMU is Urban. Emory is suburban.
4. I've heard that at UVA, races are very segregated...Don't know the truth about that. I could see the frustrations that you would have with that.
5. I don't think there's a big prestige conflict here, I think they're all around the same.

What else do you want from college?

08jkam

Well, I have to agree that being an outsider is not a very fun experience--and I hope it gets better in College (I have no doubt about CMU being diverse, but UVA and Emory? hmm...)

I guess in general, I want to receive a top-notched education in business with particular focus in finance, while at the same time engaging in exciting school activities like sports with diverse friends in a pretty environment.

Is there a school like that? I'm really not sure.

tetrishead

CMU will be the toughest socially, academics and location-wise. Assuming you're personable you ought to be able to get into Pitt parties. It has the worst weather, although I don't think Pittsburgh itself is as bad as it's made out to be. It has the best program out of the three, by far, if your interest is quant stuff (which financial engineering would suggest).

I'm not going to speak on Emory because I have no real experience with the school, mostly because Atlanta is hell and having connecting flights through Hartsfield is enough to give me a seizure.

UVA's business program is very good, I've always felt that at the undergraduate level it's seconld only to Ross amongst state schools, but you don't have guaranteed admittance to McIntire. I personally couldn't choose McIntire over Tepper without a guarantee from UVA, and that's a guarantee that can't be gotten.

I've always believed that Tepper is the most underrated business school, and their CIT students do amazingly well. And while it's tough academically, CMU students are much, much less obnoxious and grade-conscious than MIT kids.

Sports-wise, I'm pretty sure my 13 year old niece could be a starter for CMU's football team. I have to imagine Emory isn't exactly spectacular in that arena, either. You probably won't be good enough to play at an intercollegiate level for most UVA teams, while you will at CMU or Emory. The trade-off is that school spirit relating to sports isn't as high. I'd personally rather be a starter on a bad intercollegiate team in a laughable division than play intramural stuff because the real team is too good, though, so it kind of depends on how you feel about that.
USNews.com: America's Best Colleges 2008: Quantitative Analysis
It's pretty difficult to put a 1 year finance program (which is esssentially what a McIntire track is) over a school that has 2-3 years of finance electives available to students.

Calcruzer

C'mon, tetrishead, it's not that bad to fly THROUGH Atlanta (flying there and then getting on I-85 is the tough part).

Emory is very nice and "green" (rated most "green"--meaning energy-wise--campus in the US). It also is not too far from downtown, yet is in a suburban location.

It is not heavy on the finance courses, though. Only 30% of Emory's business students actually get a "major" as such. The basic program is concentrated on Strategic Management and Leadership skills--which is why Emory consistently does well in "case" competitions nationally. They are very focused on your ethical background as well as on being very well-rounded. It's sort of a business school in a liberal arts environment. They have some very well-known faculty (Jimmy Carter, the Dalai Lama, and Salman Rushdie) and are considered the top school in the southeast US.

Tepper (CMU) is quant-specific, like tetrishead said. About half the school is new and about half the school looks like it was built in 1930--which was what turned my son off about going to Univ of Pittsburgh and then taking lots of courses at CMU (they have a joint course option between the schools). Nevertheless, if you want top engineering and mathematical-based finance/econ, then this is the place along with MIT. (Univ of Chicago and Stanford are the other two really top math-based econ schools besides these two).

UVA is the top-rated school, but is in a very rural location. Despite that (or maybe because of it), the school tends to be a feeder school to the three big cities close-by (Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York)--although NYU Stern and Wharton send more graduates to the last two cities because they are located within the city limits.

Good luck with your decision.