Yes I did this with several people who’ve graduated in the last 5 yrs. They all told me that UMD pushes for generalist roles into consulting that specifically center around government
My bad!
Thanks for the explicit direction, that’s helpful 
Call more - others say just because they say they are IB analysts it means nothing which I find hard to believe - but one search and I found a Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, B of A, UBS, Wells Fargo etc.
So they are clearly placing in some type of role.
But I cringe thinking of you at UCLA based on your write up. You like the food and perceived prestige and that’s it. Food is important - it’s fuel to get you through the day. But you still need to enjoy your classes and environment etc.
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OP did say they loved Bruins day, and that they thought it would be the best college experience, so assume it’s more than that.
OP - I don’t think you can go wrong at any of these. I agree (I’m on the west coast) that Fordham is well known across the country, and also that UMD has “enough” prestige. If finances truly aren’t an issue, then it’s totally up to you to decide what you like or don’t like about a place, and that doesn’t have to be the same as what anyone else thinks about it. Yes, prestige is not the be all and end all, but trying to pretend it’s irrelevant isn’t realistic either. It clearly matters to some people and it’s fine if that’s you. Being far from home (UCLA) may be more of an issue for some than others - it’s really a case of you deciding what’s most important to you and where you think you’ll be happy for four years.unlike the other poster’s impression, it sounded to me like you think UCLA is that school for you?
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Sorry if I misread. I saw quarters. Maybe Econ is too quant heavy for me. And hard to get in clubs.
As it is, if you want to study business, then Econ is likely not right for you. It’s not business nor a sub for business. It’s a social science. One should ensure they want to study Econ b4 studying it. I wonder why the school was even on the application list?
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True.
I’ll explicitly admit that prestige is a big draw but I do like the “big public state school” camaraderie like UMD, research powerhouse, strength of the econ department, and proximity to LA
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Again, something for OP to decide, I went back and looked at first post and they did not seem to be hung up on business. Listed their goal as finance with varying majors they had applied to. Many people change majors anyway. I have worked in “finance” for decades with many people who majored in economics, as well as a range of other majors.
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Like some other economics departments, particularly at schools without a true undergraduate business major, UCLA’s economics department offers several finance courses, presumably of interest to those in its business economics major and its regular economics major (although you may want to ask whether regular economics majors have the same versus lower priority to register for them as business economics majors.
Of course, determining whether a more expensive school like UCLA is worth the cost may be a situation of applying finance knowledge.
The parent contribution is actually <$40K/year on average without loans ($150 total contribution). Which means someone is going to be making loan payments on $160K+ for UCLA. And a job loss is probable in the near future. 
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Is it safe to assume IB remains your “dream” career? You were asked by another poster if you know what a banker does. I do know what they do. Having been an I banker for decades and in my capacity as a CEO (and other managerial roles) I do have “experience in finance recruiting” per your specific request. If you have questions I am happy to try and answer. I did discuss Fordham up thread and this is a link that may be of interest.
I would also consider and perhaps even ask others advising you about the extent of their first hand experience with IB if it is in fact your dream. Just as you are being challenged as to your knowledge others should consider the limitations of their experience when advising on careers such as IB that has a somewhat unique and prestige driven recruitment culture.
These are all spot on and if seeking a Wall Street job may be worth the relatively modest incremental cost when spread over a potential IB career. As always talk to your parents and no specific school guarantees or precludes IB success.
To be clear however, Fordham significantly outperforms your other two options in IB placement. I base this statement on my observed and lived experience.
Good luck and once again happy to share my experience and support.
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Deleted.
Please have the conversation about finances with your parents. Only they can answer the question about paying. It sounds like they have indicated that they will fund any of these choices. If that is the case, please give them a big hug, and a huge thank you. Some parents won’t do that even if they can.
I know Fordham is the most costly in your subject title. It is conveniently located in NYC, making internships a real possibility. @Catcherinthetoast can some of these spill into the academic year due to proximity?
As I mentioned in my first response here…for IB, Fordham is your best option. I will add that IF you change your mind, this is a college with lots of other options from which to choose. It’s not like finance is the only thing they offer! You will be able to switch majors there, if you so choose.
Please let us know your final choice.
I see that there are two folks who work in this field responding to you (they have self identified).
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Thanks for circling back to let us know your current thought process.
I would urge you to go back to read my post upthread that posed questions for your parents to think about and about your own risk tolerance. Additionally, has the recent performance of the stock market changed their responses to any of those questions?
Those with firsthand experience in IB have indicated that Fordham is the best institution you’re considering for that future path. If you end up in IB for your career, then the loans needed for Fordham could be quite manageable. If you change your career path (which many people do), then those loans could be extremely burdensome.
In addition to reflecting on the questions I posed in post #14, I would give serious thought to how certain and committed you are to entering IB, as that is another component of risk tolerance that I did not pose in that earlier post.
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It sounds like you really like UMD’s environment but worry about your professional prospects.
Fordham is by far the best choice academically and for your professional prospects, not just for IB. It also sounds risky financially considering your parent’s expected job loss.
UCLA may be prestigious but prestige doesn’t land you a job; at double the cost, plus you wouldn’t study what you want, even to get to your substitute major you need to take courses that are more quant-heavy than you’d like, etc. All in all, not very good value for money. IMHO, you should target UCLA for your MBA and leave it aside at the undergraduate level.
Curious as to why Rutgers is no longer in the conversation? With proximity to NYC for professional prospects and Honors offering small sections of your core classes, it’d be a great set up. The split campus is a big humbug but that’s the only downside I see to your situation.
Before you talk with your parents, try to figure out how exactly they’d secure a loan for you if one of them loses his/her job, which you said is highly likely by June. Most students in this situation would have to transfer at the end of their first year. Your parents want you to be happy; if their budget out of pocket is 40k and you add the federal loans (5.5k)+a job, but that’s with their current budget, what would it be after one becomes unemployed? Parents want to “find a way” so their kid’s dreams are not hobbled but, while meaning well, they turn out blocking them because at the end of freshman year, with the changed income, they simply can’t afford to pay for the second year. That’s the question asked in #14 because it’s alas a common occurence for a student whose parents are in a financially precarious situation and had to take on loans for the first year but the bank won’t renew the loans or they simply can’t afford to continue due to less cash flow - they have to admit defeat, which feels awful for all involved, and now the student has to transfer, without access to freshman merit scholarships. So pretty much you’d have one freshman year and then the choice would be UConn or community college. How comfortable are you with taking that risk? (It does mean UConn is out of consideration since you can always go there after your first year, though maybe not at that cost).
Rolling the dice for Fordham might be justifiable if you really are on a path toward a high paying job, though it means tremendous, constant pressure.
For UCLA, it doesn’t and ROI would very low even if you made it through the secondary admission process (a 3.3 is NOT easy, the meaning of that GPA is very different from high school’s.)
Rutgers and UMD may be close enough budget-wise though it’s likely to stretch your parents’ budget. I would show how invested I am in attending UMD by looking for and securing any part time job I find, saving all the money earned from day you start (hopefully next week) till right before college starts. That should be about 4 months of basic part time salary to have a bit of a cushion.
There’s nothing wrong with UMD BTW and it’s clear you like it the best. Smith is a solid business school and if you can secure that part time job it would be affordable.
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To be clear to everyone, I’ve pushed and pushed both of my parents to give me a straight answer a couple times, and they said “yes” they can pay for both if they have to.
I do want to be careful on where I choose because I will feel some guilt if I choose the more pricier options since there will be sacrifices yet getting a good job and frugality is a cultural expectation.
To answer some questions:
- I eliminated Rutgers because I don’t like the campus strongly.
- I applied to UCLA because I have family nearby and as a fun “reach,” not because of prestige – I wasn’t expecting to get in honestly.
- Regarding job loss, I’m blessed for my parents to have some savings and thankfully there are interviews; again, they’re telling me to choose where I want to go and they’ll substitute with some cash flow. I just want to be intentional with my decision as college is a big expense.
- Yes, IB is ideal! Again I know it’s a long shot for everyone but given the conflict between my head and my heart on where to go, my main concern is whether “finance” out of L.A./S.F. is really a thing. People say it’s a semi-target for the west coast at least, but assuming the worst and most likely (I can’t break in) I want to see what my other professional options are.
I’m going to likely revisit Fordham’s campus and see if I like it more (especially as it’s getting warmer!) At the moment I won’t be heavily active since APs are coming up and I really need to focus but any comments are welcomed! Thanks all
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I’ll ask again - do you know specifically what IB is/does or the many areas of the industry ??
Someone pushed back on that question because I’m not in IB - but I’m not the one chasing the career. I think we’ve learned often from people in school and even in the career cycle that it wasn’t for them. I hope you can get a sense from some in the field of the actual opportunities and do they fit your desire since you’re choosing a school based on it. You’ve seemed to talk to a lot of people so perhaps you have.
In other words, if you prefer UMD to Fordham but take Fordham for one reason, validate that reason up front. Sort of like all the kids who start pre med but decide - eh it’s not for me.
I’d just want to triple verify that goal remains, once you learn more about the career paths and duties. That way you pick the non favored school for the right reason vs for ultimately the wrong reason.
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I’m sure both would be happy to answer any questions you have with their first hand experience in this field.
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You seem to be contradicting the advice you gave OP upthread about why they shouldn’t choose UCLA because of the major. Regardless, Fordham has many opportunities well beyond the fact that it’s a business/finance target. (My D19 had it in her top 5 choices despite the fact that what she was studying nothing to do with business.) So, even if OP decides she wants to change major, that shouldn’t be a limitation vs something like a UMD. I would encourage OP to visit again because I know students who have been very happy there.
I’m also just going to point out that “finance” encompasses a whole lot more than “investment banking”. And that prestige can matter sometimes. Without wanting to distract too much from this (I typed out then deleted a long post) I have two examples from people I personally know, working for financial institutions whose names you would all know, where it was definitely the foot in the door. That doesn’t mean it should be criterion number one, but it also doesn’t mean it should be dismissed out of hand.
I can’t figure out OP’s parents’ financial situation so yes, all above discussion is subject to realistic finances.
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If you can’t eliminate UCLA right off the bat, at least ask their career center and people you know what type of jobs students with the regular Economics major got - they may or may not get a job in Finance (there are many interesting jobs for Economics majors but you have to make sure that they’ll be interesting to you.)
The secondary admission criteria are not a piece of cake so ask the Econ/Business Dept what % admitted freshmen actually get into Business Economics from the premajor.
A question for your parents wrt loans is do they expect you to pay them back after graduation?
(The federal loans are capped at 27k because that’s 31k at graduation and what on average a college graduate can expect to be able pay back over 10 years, with variations depending on post-graduation disposable income of course.
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Can you define what I am saying differently ? Thanks. The thread re-started yesterday so maybe I missed what you are saying.
What I’m saying now is OP clearly didn’t love Fordham - saying it’s culturally homogenous, has commuter school vibes, feels small and stifling with excessive GE requirements,
pricey and bad food and unhappy students.
So if going to choose Fordham ( the wrong school) over UMD/UCLA for a reasonable reason - best odds to get the career they believe they desire - that they should dig deeper into the career they think they want to validate, if possible, that they truly want it. Otherwise it might be a long four years.
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@thegirl1 many students don’t have a great first visit to a college. I’m glad you are going to visit Fordham again. Perhaps the second visit will better clarify your feelings about the school.
Really, it doesn’t sound like you are drop dead in love with either of these colleges, so…you need to just do your best in choosing. Worst case…you do a year at one of these colleges and transfer. (Keeping in mind that your aid as a transfer student might be less).
Honestly, I don’t think you can go wrong with any of these options. You will find a group of friends, things to do, etc at any of these options.
Please let us know your choice. Really it’s up to you. Clearly folks on this thread have their preferences for any number of reasons. Plus, what you are writing here might not actually be your whole point of view…and that’s OK too.
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