PennHopeful89

Hey,

I'm having a lot of trouble choosing between NYU Stern and Duke. I want to eventually work in the finance sector (whether or not it is strictly IB), and I'd like to know which school would both prepare me best and open the most doors. Here's how I see it. Please feel free to add or correct any points:

Duke
+ "True" college experience with fun classmates and great sports
+ Prestige--consistently top 10 school (if I weren't trying to get into business I wouldn't worry about this nearly as much)
+ Strong recruiting and great opportunities for econ students (see: Duke in NY program)
+ Will learn a larger breadth of materials in a liberal arts sense
- Having to study economics (too much theory for me to handle)
- Not truly being prepared for the business/financial world

NYU Stern
+ Location--need I say more?
+ Highly recruited and recognized by bulge brackets
+ Will actually learn finance and not just econ
- I've heard it's not really going to give a good college experience. Maybe someone can elaborate
- NYU is not as admired or known as Duke (unless you keep tacking the Stern on the end)

Please tell me what you think and what you would do.
Thanks in advance.

transat

I think I saw your post on one of my threads.. well, I'm choosing Stern over Duke.. for following reasons: NYC, employment opportunity, practical finance education (I heard this can be very helpful during the interviews with the financial firms), and NYU's rise in prestige.

NYU, although it had been established more than a 100 years ago, was a communter school until recently and wasn't regarded not nearly as high as it is now. They have gained prestige extremely quickly over the last 10-year-period, and I think the trend will continue.

Oh well, you can't really go wrong with picking any of the two. They will both give you a great opportunity to get a financial job.

evenpace631

i would choose stern over duke.

although, if you really like duke's campus and sports environment and weather/south feel free to choose duke.
if you are more intellectual and academic based choose nyu definitely.

although i think the differences in recruiting from those two schools are minimal, a slight edge to nyu.

r3volut1on

Both are certainly respectable on Wall Street, so you shouldn't have a problem getting a job out of either, provided you have the right gpa etc. (and the pendulum swings back by 2010 hopefully). That said, the "practical finance education" that stern gives wont put you at an advantage to Duke. At least 90% of the technical questions you are asked in interviews you can just get out of studying Vault; quite a few interviews just go straight off the personal feel of the interviewer. Personally, I would go with Duke. They do have a higher prestige factor that NYU, and although NYU has the location, there is no shortage of recruiting on Dukes campus. In fact, some banks love that place. JPMorgan seems to have a fascination with Duke; I guess thats just Dimon being weird.

bsbllallstr8

Go to duke, and then do the program in NYC spring of your junior year. several of my friends are doing it right now and love it. they got to skip first round interviews, all of them landed kick ass jobs, and they are having a great time going to bars etc in the city.

thethoughtprocess

Go to Duke if you want to the consulting or IB, though you can't go wrong with Stern. Lots of Stern kids end up at smaller IB firms, while bulge brackets tend to go with more Duke kids.

Not having a finance major DOES NOT MATTER AT ALL. I'm a political science major with some econ classes and worked at a bulge bracket firm last summer (Not Goldman) and am working in consulting full time.

You learn everything you need to know on the job