@MWolf
That’s perfectly good info but what about getting onto Wall Street or private equity or hedge fund as a fresh grad out of school? Or even after a few years after school?
Check wall street oasis forum for an extensive discussion of target schools.
@ResidentEvilPS Fair question. If you were looking at a degree in finance, a top-10 would definitely be worth considering. However, as I wrote elsewhere, even much lower ranked schools than UT Austin are placing their CS students in good positions in top finance companies. Check where UT Austin sends its students for internships, because that is what, ultimately, decides where you’ll get a job. UT Austin is fairly high ranked in CS, especially in the fields you’re looking at.
BTW, if you’re looking at CS in business, as opposed to a business degree, UChicago isn’t all that great, nor is Wharton. CS has it’s own rankings, as befitting a geek field, and you can check which the best CS schools are for somebody who wants to major in your chosen field.
Wall Street Oasis is interesting & somewhat helpful, but not definitive & often incorrect. (Lots of bs & pettiness.)
OP: If you want to combine AI/CS & finance, then UT-Austin should be equal to or better than all of your listed schools.
Breaking into PE is a bit different than for IB. Many in IB claim to be working their way into PE. I know some from very wealthy families with excellent education who go directly to PE, but I wonder how much is funded by their families.
I have a family member who works with several IBs & PE firms and I think that familiarity with that person & that person’s work could enable a move if so desired.
Look at opportunity cost. If UT is free and the rest are full pay, run the numbers on going to UT and investing the difference of what it would cost to attend one of the others. After a 40 year career, that will be a nice little nest egg, like multiple million dollars nice…$3,700,000ish to be specific. Posters always like to say “you’ll be able to pay back the difference if you choose school X.” They lose sight of the fact that the money is spent and can’t be used for anything else. That $250,000 give or take is gone, invested in your education. If you chose UT, you get the education, sure, MAYBE a slightly lesser education, MAYBE less connections, both are arguable, BUT, you still have $250,000 to do something else. In short, any full pay private will have to make you $3,700,000 MORE than your UT degree just to break even.
Can someone please explain how UT is free? From OPs previous posts he is not val, won’t get any need based FA based on parents income, UT gives little to no merit money so how is it free???
I agree with your parents. That is a very difficult decision for every full pay family. I think there’s a very short list of schools and majors worth this kind of investment. And it absolutely not worth it if it involves loans.
And not worth it if it involves the study of finance as UT-Austin is commonly ranked among the top 5 programs in the country. Okay, #5, but this is one of the reasons that it is an IB target school.
The real difficulty at UT is the need to specialize immediately, in either CS or business. They are supposed to have a new cross over program to bridge that gap,but taking courses in the other, non-major can be very hard. An honors program, like BHP or Turing, would help a lot there in both classes and career outcomes. Nearly 2k graduate in business every year. They do not all get their preferred outcome.
One way it could be ‘free’ is if the OP’s parents bought into the guaranteed tuition program when he was a tot.
I am unaware of any ‘guaranteed’ money at UT based on PSAT, get through the hoops to become a finalist and maybe score a small NMS Corp one, but don’t know that UT sponsors any. OP may be overestimating the flow of money to come his way.
UT has some full tuition and fees+ scholarships that get awarded very early. That still leaves room and board. Only full rides are 40 Acres and Terry, as I recall.
@ResidentEvilPS If your parents can pay for HYPSM then they can pay for other peer colleges as well. It’s okay if they don’t want to because it’s their money hence their decision and it’s a very difficult and life altering decision unless one is very wealthy.
UT is a fine option for people who don’t get scholarships elsewhere and want affordable options but high achievers who can get in any top ten school can just go to TAMU, UTD, UNT, Baylor, TCU, UTSA, TxTech etc for free. If difference between Harvard and Duke doesn’t matter than why would difference between UT and UNT matter?
These are very personal decisions but if you are paying sticker price for Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT and Stanford or Johns Hopkins, CIT, Rice, Duke and UChicago, if aim is good education then it’s all the same.
UT full scholarships aren’t merit based and usually go to rural, athletes, artists, community leaders etc. Just like other holistic decisions no one can tell how much connections matter or not.
@noready Well, buying guaranteed tuition isn’t free or a scholarship.
UT doesn’t participate in National Merit Program so even if you are a National Merit Scholar and National AP Scholar with a perfect GPA and SAT, they don’t care and rather spend money on athletes or financial aid.
@Riversider
That’s fair. However, I’m looking for Wall Street prestige as well. I’ve read on Wall Street oasis and other forums on the internet that university prestige does matter in investment banking, management consulting, private equity, hedge fund, etc.
With that said, I believe HYPSM + Wharton and maybe Columbia and maybe UChicago and maybe Duke are worth paying for whereas the others may not be.
The top schools place better. UT is a good enough school that you can get into most of the IB programs if you do well and network though. PE/HF are a different ballgame (especially HFs), but that’s only really Wharton/Harvard, and you have to do very well at either of those places to fully skip IB.
Not enough information given by the poster to give sound advice. Full rides at UT are pretty rare due to the fact they really don’t have to offer them. Not knowing OP financial situation makes giving sound advice pretty difficult. Can your parents afford to pay full price. Do you have plans to get MBA in the future. Need more information to give advise.
Last word should be advice not advise.