A little background info: D24 was originally admitted EA to Harpur at Bing. She was not accept to the SOM so she would have to do economics rather than marketing. Tho disappointed she moved on. Then we found St Joe’s and more specifically their Pharmaceutical marketing program that is very attractive to her. She is going to shadow a student in that program on Monday and I thought that would help with her final decision.
But then a couple days ago an admissions counselor from Bing called her to let her know that she has now been admitted to the School of Management (SOM). It’s like she got off a waitlist she didn’t even know she was on.
We did also tour Bing in Jan and it was meh. But was that because she couldn’t major in marketing and hated her tour guide or because the school itself wasn’t right for her? So now she wants to reevaluate with fresh eyes.
I know she is looking at rankings and that Bing (on paper) is a “better” school but I am not sure if it’s the right fit. The business degree there is much heavier on the math side and you only take 4 marketing classes for the marketing concentration whereas at St Joes she will have quite a few more marketing courses to round out the major.
Does anyone have experience with the SOM at Bing or the Haub school of business at St Joes? I am interested in availability of advising, class size, how well you get to know your professors etc. student life and residency info is also important.
With her merit, cost is about the same and they are both about 2 hours away.
We were so close to a decision! But if Bing is the better opportunity in the long run then she wants to seriously consider it as well.
If she goes back to both and prefers St. Joes (including that specalized program) and both colleges are comfortably affordable then St Joes would be the winner for me.
IMO having a student happy, comfortable, and in a program that is a good fit is more important than any ranking difference.
For my S doing the accepted student days for his top choices really helped him solidify his decision so hopefully that will be the case for your D. Congrats on the great options.
I would not get caught up in the rankings but she may want to explore career outcomes from both colleges.
Sounds like she likes St Joes better bur investigate Bing till Student Day in April - can you have a dedicated SOM visit?
Can you contact former students from her HS who might be willing to meet and talk in exchange for pie&tea/coffee?
Marketing these days involves a lot of statistics& data science so is the math at Bing along those lines and would the elective alternatives in this field be better at St Joes?
Thanks! Unfortunately nobody from her HS has gone to either college in the past couple of years. She does like St Joes but that was after she thought Bing was a no go. She really likes the Pharma marketing program and got a great feeling from the professors at admitted students day.
She was just sooooo excited to get into the SOM the other day. I am just afraid she is going to look at the wrong things when deciding. Accepted students day at Bing will be a must but I was interested in how advising works, class size etc. in the meantime. I wish we knew some recent students at either school!!
Congrats on the excitement - good for the ego. But everything you wrote in the last message says St. Joes, St. Joes, St. Joes. Feel good about Bing but she’s gonna be there four years, day after day after day.
The good feel of admittance won’t overcome four years of being somewhere she doesn’t want to be.
If her thoughts truly align with what you wrote, then it seems St. Joes is a no brainer. But congrats on the Bing admission.
I also recommend that your D look at the graduation requirements for the two schools – as a Jesuit college I imagine St. Joes has an extensive liberal arts core that includes coursework in philosophy and theology.