Apologies for not responding, I didn’t see this. It is indeed direct admit and I got in.
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Hi all. I got my final results in 
Also got into UCLA, Wash U (eliminated due to location + price), and Northeastern (eliminated due to lack of fit after visiting recently + price).
It seems to be a 3-way tie between UMD, Fordham and UCLA (pre-business economics). My parents are willing to pay for UMD and UCLA but not so much Fordham since they didn’t like it when we visited, unless they can be convinced of its value.
I like UMD the most culturally, but UCLA is a serious close.
At UCLA, however, I’m seriously concerned about the competition and my major. It’s a “pre-major,” so I need to maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA, a 3.3 pre-major GPA, and a 3.3 primary score GPA (where certain econ classes are weighted). It sounds manageable, but almost everywhere I’ve heard that econ classes don’t have a curve, or worse, are graded on a deflationary curve, tanking my GPA. On top of that, I’ll be competing with stats, math, and CS majors for the lower-division courses, which are heavy in integrals and derivatives. From anecdotal sources – Reddit & Youtube – many people end up having to switch from Business Econ to regular Econ because they can’t meet the GPA requirements. That would be really disappointing.
Additionally, I’ve heard that getting into the business clubs is nearly impossible. This is a big issue, as the econ program is highly theoretical and can be hard to apply in the real world apparently for “finance.” UCLA doesn’t have an undergrad business school either.
I would consider saying no outright, but I’ll admit, letting go of the brand name and prestige will be tough. Plus, even though I’d like to be in NYC, UCLA has a huge alumni base, and it’s in LA, which is great for me since I have family in California, so distance won’t be as much of an issue and it’s a major city. Its econ department is also one of the best the in world, but I don’t think professors are as accessible and classes are huge compared to UMD scholars or Fordham Gabelli.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Help!
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If you want to study ‘finance, you can’t at UCLA. Econ is a social science. It’s grouped with others social sciences.
Off you started with schools at $30k and now you have high 70s. Hmmmm so you turned down WUSTL for money but not UCLA ?
You first started at $30k so odd you are more than double.
In the end, yes you can get to NY from UCLA Econ but do you want to study Econ or finance ?
Fordham is right there but your parents don’t like.
Why UMD over Bing or UConn ? Smith is fine but a lot more. Not sure the lift is there.
A real conundrum.
I wish you well.
Highly likely by June, at latest.
Thankfully, my parents have said I can go anywhere as long it’s not $80k (and if ~70k it has to be worth it with outcomes & reputation.
UCLA is more than $70k and the area is pricey.
Please please discuss the finances with your parents. They are the only ones who can really advise you regarding your college costs and how much they will contribute.
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They’re willing to pay for a name after I talked to them AND its where I have family. WUSTL is full pay, a school they hardly know of (not saying it’s a bad school! they’re just not familiar with those that aren’t big publics or privates in the U.S. educational system), and in the Midwest.
Ideally finance. They do have finance classes I can take at the graduate school though.
All my parents’ coworkers love the school and so we hear a lot of praise about it. I won’t get smaller classes at Bing or UConn and they’re rather rural too. I won’t go into detail since it may doxx me but when I visited, I was able to speak to professors and admin directly and got very positive vibes.
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Yes, I did. They said UCLA is OK.
I’m going to tag @Catcherinthetoast regarding UMD vs UCLA.
He already said UMD students, while represented, are less represented in his field than Fordham students, but at the time you weren’t talking about UCLA at all.
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Is UCLA worth more than twice the cost of UConn, given that you seem to have reservations about the major? Added distance and cost of commuting between home and school.
On the other hand, nice to acknowledge dean’s academy/HC achievements.
I think from a NYC opportunity standpoint Rutgers provides that and so do CT, MA.
Not sure Fordham justifies the added cost compared to these unless you are set on living in nyc and take 100% advantage of additional networking/event opps.
One income loss at this stage specifically when cash outflows shoot up is not to be taken lightly.
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My son, now a sophomore, was accepted into many of the schools you are deciding between. Ultimately he decided against Fordham because he didn’t want to live on Fordham’s campus and he wanted a Big10 college experience. Fordham will probably provide better opportunities for a finance major but many of his friends majoring in finance have good internships lined up. He decided to major in accounting and had an internship lined up by the end of his freshmen year.
He’s involved in many business clubs and he’s in a business fraternity. The skills he has already learned and the networking opportunities are outstanding. I suspect this is true at many schools provided the student pursues them so wherever you go, get involved. The scholars programs at UMd are good, they’ll make this big school seem smaller.
Thank you for sharing your son’s experience! If you don’t mind me asking, where is he now?
Oh, I forgot to add that he attends UMd. Again he’s involved in a business fraternity, a few clubs, he enjoys sporting events and goes into DC every once in a while. He’s able to easily come back to NY to visit family and friends.
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I’m going to use student:faculty ratio as a shorthand for estimated class size. The smaller the number of students per professor, the greater the likelihood of having small classes and the lesser the likelihood of having large lecture halls.
19:1 - UCLA
18:1 - Binghamton
17:1 - Maryland
17:1 - UMass
16:1 - UConn
15:1 - Rutgers
13:1 - Fordham
7:1 — Wash U
You may want to share this with your parents.
You mentioned more than once whether or not you or your parents have heard of a school. There are lots of factors that determine that - sports, T-shirts, number of students & alumni, etc.
None of those factors has anything to do with the quality of the educational experience whereas class size has a lot to do with your undergrad experience. None of those factors has anything to do with the success rate of their students in gaining job placements, but we’ve seen posts in this thread of the success of students from a school like Fordham. Professionals in the field are certainly familiar with graduates of schools like Wash U. (By the way, I was down at Fordham today to see my grandson’s Lacrosse game. He’s at UMass. Fordham won. Haha. Beautiful campus and we had great Italian food nearby in Little Utaly.)
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I used this aggregator (updated November 2024 based on 2023-2024 Common Data Sets) to see some general class sizes for the schools you’re interested in: Class Size and Student-to-Faculty-Ratio – College Transitions
| School | % classes under 20 | % of classes 20-49 | % of class 50+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| UCLA | 48% | 28% | 24% |
| Binghamton | 48% | 39% | 14% |
| Maryland | 47% | 36% | 18% |
| Umass | 47% | 34% | 19% |
| Uconn | 51% | 31% | 18% |
| Rutgers | 40% | 41% | 19% |
| Fordham | 50% | 49% | 1% |
| WashU | 66% | 25% | 9% |
Since you’ve been accepted to the honors program at Rutgers, it’s likely that there would be smaller honors classes to substitute for some otherwise large classes.
If you look section I-3 of the actual Common Data Set for each college, you should be able to get more granular information in terms of enrollment for class sections/subsections.
So you can see number of classes with 2-9 students, 10-19 students, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-99, and 100+ (as a class with 20-29 students will feel different than a class of 40-49, even though the aggregator above groups them in the same category). Subsections are things like a recitation or lab, like a lecture that meets 2x/week (the class section) and then you have a recitation 1x/week with a smaller group.
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That’s a good point regarding smaller classes when in honors or scholars peograms. Nevertheless the basic econ, math, and science classes might have 200+ students.
Hi all, I’m not sure if anyone will see this because it’s buried in this thread at this point, but I’m finally between Fordham (my parents have been convinced to look at it), UCLA, and UMD.
Here are my pros/cons (again) for each…
Fordham University (~$63K/year)
+Strong business school
+Small class sizes = close relationships with professors
+Bloomberg terminals and hands-on finance exposure
+Prime NYC location with easy access to internships and networking
+Social clubs like SWS are good Wall Street feeders
+Already know people there
+Only 45 minutes from home
+Powerful alumni network in NYC finance
-Culturally homogeneous, less diverse experience
-Not well known outside the tri-state area
-I got commuter school vibes, can feel a bit disconnected and lack of spirit?
-Campus felt small and a little stifling
-Expensive, with tuition rising yearly…not sure if I’ll be getting the best bang for the buck
-General education requirements are heavy, especially without AP credits
-Rankings have been declining
-Students seem somewhat unhappy (the people I know there say it’s gets the job done but otherwise dreary); poor admin reputation
-Food is notoriously bad and expensive
University of Maryland (~$50K/year)
+Admitted to Scholars Program (Business, Society & Economy) = great way to build community
+Easy to double major within business school (finance, info systems, etc.)
+Strong school spirit and campus life
+Sports culture is big, and tickets are free
+Business clubs are less competitive, more collaborative compared to other schools, will maybe find this the “easiest”
+Cheapest option overall
+Takes most AP credits
+Close enough to home for comfort, but far enough for independence
-Doesn’t carry much prestige, which could be limiting for high finance
-Strong D.C./government/consulting pipeline—less NYC finance focus
-NYC placement is weaker than in DMV area
-Out-of-state tuition, so some cost increases expected
-Not highly selective, which might be a drawback for recruiting
-Seriously nervous with strong presence and dependency on gov’t for recruiting at the school right now (Fannie/Freddie/how Deloitte & co. usually recruit for gov’t at UMD specifically rather than commercial)
UCLA (~$70K/year)
+Beautiful campus and amazing area - Westwood
+Tons of prestige and national/international recognition
+Food is best-in-class (literally top ranked)
+Locked-in tuition (won’t increase over four years)
+Close to family in California (aunt/uncle nearby by basically 1 hour! distant family member also attends)
+Solid West Coast investment banking recruiting
+Might regret turning down the UCLA name
-Far from NYC and East Coast finance hubs (this is the most concerning thing to me!)
-Travel, area, and general tuition is most expensive; visiting home will be rare
-No dedicated undergrad business school or finance major
-Pre-biz econ is competitive and very math-heavy—might need to switch to regular econ
-Competitive atmosphere, especially in clubs
-Large lower division classes
-Quarter system can feel overwhelming
I was convinced I was going to UMD but I’ve been told by so many people that investment banking or not, it obviously feeds into government consulting, which has been completely paralyzed. I also visited UCLA on bruin day, which I found myself loving.
Professionally, I know Fordham is the best choice, but obviously UCLA would have the best college experience and I’m not too familiar with finance in LA…so I’m stuck if not panicking as May 1st is coming up. Any input—especially from people with experience in finance recruiting from these schools—would be super appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
Don’t you have a $50k parent contribution?
So why are we talking about a $70k and $63k school?
You have one you say is $50k.
I would never pay for a UC OOS and it’s quarters and you can’t study what you want.
UMD is the only choice here and Smith is well thought of.
Regardless of what people want to believe, there’s not a you can only get there from this school but not that. And even at the targets, odds are not large. And you might decide it’s not even what you want.
Did you look into the Wall Street Fellows at UMD ? There’s plenty of UMD alums, per LinkedIn and yes b4 others say don’t trust LinkedIn, why would someone lie ?
You’d have to take massive loans for UCLA. And for 99% of roles it’s no different than UCLA pedigree wise.
Good luck.
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My parents say they’ll pay for either though. Can’t update that on earlier posts for some reason.
I have! Unfortunately placement doesn’t look to be the best though…hard to tell in general
Is placement the best anywhere ?
Maybe reach out to a UMD grad on linked and ask.
You note Fordham has the best track record. You don’t even know if you’ll want this as a career.
You have to be somewhere for four years, day after day.
It’s clear from your write up that you like one place best.
Personally I’d go there. Going to where you don’t like for a scintilla of a hope at a job you may or may not want - I mean do you even know what a banker does ?
Maybe you can informational interview someone.
At one you say clubs are easy. The other not. One you say you can go home on occasion. The other not. You are stuck on UCLA prestige. When you’re out in the real world, it’s another big flagship for 98% of people.
Btw you make a lot of assumptions. Fordham isn’t well known outside the East. I’d say it’s a heck of a lot more well known than, for example, Colby or Middlebury etc.
UMD is not selective - hmmm - it’s more selective than Fordham. It is, in fact, very selective.
Best of luck whatever you do but based on your write up it’s clear to me you should be at UMD.
It’s not too late to apply but ASU Carey would have been better. They have IBIS. But it might be too late for applying to that.
Good luck.
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