<p>Reputation (undergrad-overall)
- Cornell
- Georgetown
- NYU
- Washington University
I’d say Georgetown and Cornell would be tied for first among reputation, but Cornell does have the [Ivy</a> League Label](<a href=“Ivy Leaguers' Big Edge: Starting Pay - WSJ”>Ivy Leaguers' Big Edge: Starting Pay - WSJ). Georgetown and NYU are generally recognized as schools hard to get into, WashU doesn’t have such a national presence.</p>
<p>Reputation (undergrad-business)
- NYU - Stern
- Georgetown - McDonough
- Washington University - Olin
- Cornell University - Applied Economics and Management
The business program in NYU is most renowned just for location, but there is a heavy focus on investment banking and not much else on others. Georgetown gets good ratings for business school, especially for the fact that starting salary is $65,000, the second highest of all undergraduate business schools after Wharton’s $70,000. Olin is very good, but more so for its area in the midwest, while Cornell doesn’t have super special business program in my opinion, but you get to say you went to an Ivy League school (after I got over this fact, it made crossing Cornell off MUCH easier) and get the additional perks (read below: recruiters).</p>
<p>Quality of Program & Job Prospects
- Georgetown - McDonough
- Cornell University - AEM
- NYU - Stern
- Washington University - Olin
Georgetown has always placed greatly into NYC, though the rankings say otherwise. It has a very good emphasis on liberal arts and a significant Wall St. presence, plus the building is great and generally the workload isn’t as tough so you can focus on networking, activities and during-the-year internships to get the ball rolling job-wise. In contrast to what I said above, Cornell AEM is as good as Georgetown just because of the school itself being very good (as mentioned…Ivy), therefore having a good amount of recruiters. NYU is super competitive as everyone in Stern wants to be a investment banker, which I hated about it (plus the campus sucks) but it is in the city so that’s why I didn’t place it last. Olin is very good, but as mentioned, doesn’t place as well as others into NYC.</p>
<p>I’m going to Georgetown, and chose between all of the above plus Duke, UVa, UNC, USCalifornia. A few notes about why I chose Georgetown…
-Although BusinessWeek says otherwise, it is a large target for a lot of recruiters which shows by IB recruitment, starting salary, and [student</a> surveys](<a href=“Cawley Career Education Center | Georgetown University”>Cawley Career Education Center | Georgetown University).
-Has the best overall experience, not just looking at business. This means life is awesome on the hill, you have great access to the city, yet still retain a traditional, and most definitely beautiful, campus.
-Hoya basketball at the Verizon center is amazing. NYU has ice-skating team I think…?
-You can balance your business endeavors with everything else, from DI sports to becoming the CEO of the Corp or Georgetown University Alumni & Student Federal Credit Union (GUASFCU) as senior. These two are the largest student-run businesses in the world and it would look awesome to say you had upper-position in a credit union that has $15 million in assets and over 11,000 account holders.
-Georgetown name goes far, and places into the top MBA programs like Wharton [very</a> well](<a href=“http://poetsandquants.com/2011/08/07/top-feeder-schools-to-whartons-mba-program/"]very”>http://poetsandquants.com/2011/08/07/top-feeder-schools-to-whartons-mba-program/). Also does decently well to HBS, Columbia, Tuck, Booth etc. I will mention that some consultings firms (Bain) do not actively recruit as much as a lot of other schools similar Georgetown, so if consulting is your end-goal, try look into upper ivies (HYPW) that do well for MBA placement.
-after visiting all campuses except for Cornell and USC, Georgetown just gave me the best vibe. Weather isn’t as bad as way up north, people are beautiful and friend(lier), has the best surrounding town area of all campuses in America with tons of bars, amazing landscaping yet easy access to the DC downtown.
-I love being a Hoya.</p>