As the title suggests, I’ve been admitted to Cornell Nolan (Hotel Administration School), Notre Dame Mendoza, and University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. I’m hoping to break into high finance/IB after college and have an internship every summer in the field. Each school is so different in experience, but I was wondering which school (and specifically the program I was admitted to) would give me the highest chances of achieving these goals.
Price is NOT a factor. Parent contribution is NOT a factor. All are fall term 2026. I don’t necessarily have preferences, obviously the weather at USC is far superior to Ithaca & Indiana. As for placement, I know USC does better on the West Coast. For context, I am from the East Coast, so between Mendoza and Nolan, I’m not sure which does better for NYC finance placement, although if Marshall could get me a high-paying West Coast job I can’t really complain.
To cut to the chase, Notre Dame is a recognized IB “target” school with a national network, and I would think it is fair to say more of a network specifically in the East Coast, and even more specifically in NYC, than USC.
So is Cornell Dyson, but I am not so sure about Nolan.
I believe USC is more in the “semi-target” range, which is still good, but it does seem like their network is much more West Coast biased.
Personally, I would suggest you seriously consider the likelihood that going straight into IB will not in fact end up your path, such that you should think about where you would want to be for college anyway.
But I believe the answer to the question you asked is likely Notre Dame. The other options might still work out fine, but Notre Dame is a “safe” choice in the sense it is unquestionably one of the top choices for people with your stated goals.
It might depend on what kind of environment you want to be in for the next 4 years, I went to Cornell (the Hotel School specifically) and I have an ND grad and a current Cornell student. Both are excellent schools, but ND is definitely a more fun, friendly school. The dorm system at ND is really cool, at Cornell the greek system is big for socialization. Do you want big sports? ND has everything and really fun football tailgating, Cornell has hockey - but the school spirit is nothing like ND. The weather is equally bad at both, ND is closer to a city. You might want to look into the competitive nature of the business clubs at Cornell.
Notre Dame Mendoza would be a solid choice; contact Cornell Nolan for job placement information and restrictions regarding on-campus recruiting.
USC is also a decent option, but may place regionally rather than nationally so best to communicate with someone at USC Marshall.
Check out the IB & management consulting clubs available to undergraduates at each school. This may be a weakness for Cornell Nolan since it is not a business school beyond the “hospitality business”.
P.S. When you contact Notre Dame, ask if they have a football team.
Unless you want to work in the hospitality industry, I’d take out Nolan. I’d go with ND if you want more of an East Coast presence (for full disclosure H and S are ND alums). Don’t know enough about USC to comment.
BUT please do not choose based on getting into “high finance/IB” after college – those jobs are few and far between regardless of the school you attend. Consider which college feels like the place where you can be happy and successful over the next four years and go there.
Cornell places well in NYC. When adjusted for size of each school, Cornell edges out Notre Dame. The issue is how restrictive is recruiting at Cornell by undergraduate school. (Otherwise, Cornell is ranked among the top 5 universities in the nation for finance/Wall Street placement.)
Nolan is a business school, but it is a niche business school. 34% of Nolan graduates place in “financial services”.
I don’t think a first year internship expectation is realistic - no matter where you go and what major. Could happen - but wouldn’t expect it.
Here is a job sheet from Mendoza for 2024. I didn’t pick a major It’s two biggest states are NY 148 and then Illinois 147.
Suffice it to say, both will work for your desires.
USC too but I agree, forgetting it’s more West Coast, the first two seem to place better overall. Of course, there’s a lot of jobs banks hire for - not just IB. Good luck.
As noted in my post, I was specifically talking about Nolan where the specialization of hospitality, hospitality management do not traditionally feed into high finance/IB. Of course some can and do get non-hospitalty jobs post-graduation. But why attend a program that doesn’t pique one’s interest when other traditional b-school options are available?
Yeah, with the OP’s other options, I am not sure why they would be considering Nolan. Again, it could potentially work out, but sometimes doing the obvious thing is in fact the right thing, and in this case it seems obvious why Notre Dame would be a better choice.
At least assuming nothing else is in favor of Nolan, and that is how the question was framed by the OP.
The problem with Nolan is the focus is on hospitality management. Students can go into finance roles but they’ll be competing for those jobs with the Dyson students. They also have much different course requirements that reflect that it’s the HOTEL school.
As such, I’m another who is voting for Notre Dame.
There are tons of jobs that are hospitality adjacent, not just hotels and restaurants. Back in the day if one wanted business at Cornell you had to choose Hotel or ARME, but now there is Nolan. If this student was interested in hospitality adjacent I’d say it would be fine, but otherwise I’d say ND. They might also want to consider the many other differences between Cornell and ND. My son chose ND over Cornell and was very happy, my daughter is at Cornell and does like it, but it has its challenges with culture, weather, grade deflation etc.
I’d consider Cornell and Notre Dame 1a and 1b here, with perhaps a slight nod to ND because admission is to their (traditional) B school. Nolan is Business-adjacent, and may place fairly well in Finance/IB (as Cornell does generally…), but it is not a traditional business school/program per se.
And – this isn’t all about placement. I would consider the curricular differences between a standard B school and the hospitality-centric model at Nolan. Nolan might get a kid to Wall Street as well, or perhaps even better, than Notre Dame… but it will not likely provide the same breadth of traditional business education. What you are taught and leave the school knowing matter quite a lot as well. So I would be looking at program requisites to identify which school comprises the superior academic fit.
Other than that, obviously the settings, cultures, and locations are different and should also be used to inform the decision.
I don’t mean to ignore USC, as it too is a fine school and Marshall is well respected. But if the goal is a Wall Street Oasis-type job, Cornell and Notre Dame likely provide a somewhat more well-worn path.
Notre Dame’s b-school has just jumped into elite territory, something that was most definitely NOT the case back in the day. Goes to show that these things are somewhat fluid and can change. ND really places well in business.
Will vary by year, but almost identical placement per undergraduate. College Transitions listed Cornell at #5 overall for placement into 13 elite investment banks; Notre Dame was listed at #14.
When adjusted for undergraduate enrollment, Cornell was at #16 and Notre Dame was next at #17.
Dyson enrolls about 700 undergraduates; Nolan enrolls about 900.
Why assume when both Nolan & Dyson publish their respective placements.
Nolan Hotel School is part of Cornell’s SC Johnson School of Business places about 53% in “financial services” (its’ top category) with 46% of the 53% in IB; Dyson places 66% in “finance” with 33% of the 66% in IB. However, these percentages will vary year-to-year.
So, both Cornell Nolan & Notre Dame Mendoza place well; the main difference is that almost all of Cornell Nolan’s students head to New York City, whereas Notre Dame Mendoza are split between Chicago & NYC.
Again, percentages can, and do, vary by year.
P.S. As noted below in a post by the moderator, it is important to examine course offerings and, at Cornell, whether or not cross-registration is permitted as well as whether interviews are segmented by school or open to both Dyson & Nolan undergraduate students.
A bit off-topic, but Cornell is highly respected in New York City as I follow placement of Cornell Law School grads and placement in NYC Biglaw is quite strong. (For the class of 2024, Cornell Law had the highest percentage among all law schools (78%) of its graduates place in Biglaw–almost all in NYC.)
