How much is a business degree worth? Do I go to my dream school for an extra $100k?

College Search & Lists
21

@Knowsstuff Ah I didn’t get into all 19 my bad; it was these:
Michigan, UT, UIUC, Minnesota, Indiana, Wisconsin, Penn State, UMass (with honors), Binghamton (instate also will be 0 debt), Buffalo with honors (instate and 0 debt), Northeastern, Carnegie Mellon, Richmond, Tulane
I received scholarships from MN, IU, UMass, Buffalo, Neu, and Tulane

Rejected: UNC CH, Penn, Cornell, Vanderbilt, also rejected from PSU Schreyer Honors and UT BHP
Waitlist: WashU St. Louis - i took my name off

I included the 7 schools in this post because I am comparing all those and don’t really want to go to the others I got in, but they are not 100% out of the question.

Thank you everyone for replying I really appreciate it, I’m reading through them again then have some questions

22

You can attend SUNY Binghamton and a couple other great schools with zero debt and your parents are really willing to let you borrow $100,000 to go OOS? A month ago you were looking for private scholarships. You should sit down with them to find out if they’re still willing/able to pay $40k/year. Things have changed a lot in NY over the last month.

23

You received the commonwealth honors college too and isenberg.

That’s hard to do. Congrats.

The separate brand new facilities, dorms, resources and peer groups is a whole notch above. It really is a college within a college.

It’s not even close for me with that set of benefits. and being free.

24

You got CHC at UMass Amherst in addition to Isenberg and won’t need to take loans? Again, I’m biased, but what a wonderful opportunity. That would be my recommendation. Hands down.

25

Go to SUNY Binghamton and graduate with zero debt. I didn’t choose SUNY Buffalo because it was far and I’m now attending SUNY Albany and I love it.

26

What a great accomplishment!!

Also and you have heard this before…" It’s not what school you go to
Its what you do with that school once your there" . Make a name for yourself at any of these schools and you will be just fine.

27

So your debt<$27k options are the following?

Indiana ($20k)
Massachusetts ($0)
Minnesota ($0)
SUNY Binghamton ($0)
SUNY Buffalo ($0)

28

Honors College at UMASS is a Big Deal! And at no cost!! I’d grab that and not look back.

29

I feel like I can contribute to your conversation. I graduated from Michigan Undergraduate, then I graduated from Minnesota Carlson with an MBA.

These are all great schools, so you can’t go wrong. My daughter was just admitted to Michigan (not Ross); also got admitted to Wisconsin and ASU Barrett Honors. She’s likely attending Barrett, partly because it’s $200K less than Michigan for four years.

It really depends on the type of school you want to attend. A previous poster is right; don’t pay attention to the average salaries. Schools play around with them all the time to make their schools look better. Plus those that go in to finance and consulting (higher paid) will skew the average over marketing, accounting, and operations (lower paid). Stats tend to lie. Median salary is more accurate, and even then.

I went to school in the 80s and 90s, but still feel that a lot of what I am going to say rings true. If you are from NY, but do you want to stay comfortable with people you are familiar with? I’m from the Midwest originally (California now), so meeting a lot of East Coast people was a bit of a shock. People would ask me if I grew up on a farm, etc. Will you feel comfortable around people from the Midwest (Wisconsin, Indiana, and Minnesota), from Texas (90% in state), or prefer to hang with people from the East Coast (UMASS, and Michigan, which is heavily a mix of NY, NJ, DC, Chicago, and Detroit)? Michigan is a very Eastern school, more than people realize, and Minnesota had a surprising number of Californians (about 10-15% of my class) and people from the Upper Midwest. Wisconsin is somewhere in the middle, with a lot of people from Chicago, NY, and the Twin Cities.

If you hate cold weather, head to UT Austin. If you don’t mind it, then that’s another consideration. I actually liked the weather in Minnesota (cold, but sunny often) compared to Michigan (not as cold, but still cold, and big time gloomy, which depressed me the first two years). Do you want an semi urban campus (Wisconsin), a larger city (Austin and Minnesota), compared to a small town (Ann Arbor, Bloomington, and Amherst)? Can you live going to college with people you went to high school with, because that will be the case at the SUNY schools.

What do you want to study? Michigan and Texas are good in everything. Minnesota is strong in MIS and Marketing (lots of CPG companies in the Twin Cities). My friend went to IU for his MBA and he was climbing the walls by the end of his second year. It’s a heavily Greek school, and much of the social life revolves around that. People are very nice, but the town is small. UIUC isn’t the best town. Heavily ag and heavily Chicago (I love Chicagoans, so no issue for me) and small town Illinois.

I would seriously consider graduating with no debt. It will take you at least 5-6 years to make up the $100K, and Michigan almost always hikes its tuition by 6-8% a year like clockwork. So it could end up being not $100K in debt, but $130-$140K, making your break even longer. And I doubt a salary difference is that big from one school to the next. Same with the other schools. You don’t have that issue at Minnesota or UMASS if you’re on a scholarship.

For school spirit, you can’t beat any of the Big Ten schools. UMASS doesn’t compare, but Texas certainly does. Michigan, Minnesota, and IU all have great school spirit.

They’re all great schools, so go to where you feel most comfortable with the least amount of personal debt is my opinion.

I love the friends I made at Michigan and Minnesota, but I’m much closer with my Minnesota friends than Michigan ones. And the Twin Cities are a great place to go to college. If you want a city for the last year or two, it’s there. If you want a campus at the beginning, it’s there. Ann Arbor for me got old after my junior year.

One last thing…have you looked at ASU WP Carey? They have the #2 supply chain program in the country. My daughter is considering it. ASU has rolling admissions, so it’s not too late, and they throw around money. Barrett Honors is an excellent program. https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/business-supply-chain-management-logistics

30

@sbdad12 I agree with much of your post. But Massachusetts is a smaller flagship than many in the country and the school spirit is pretty strong.

If you were at last’s years frozen four ncaa men’s hockey final or at the hockey games on campus you’d agree. Massachusetts competed for that national title last year and were in the hunt this year too.

Basketball has had its moments. Women’s sports this year. Football oh well. You can’t have everything. Lol.

31

I forgot to say that if you’re a National Merit Scholar, ASU’s scholarship covers all out of state tuition.

32

@privatebanker , UMASS is a great school, and it’s reputation keeps going up and up. My friend played baseball there years ago. It’s primarily a regional school, but a very good one at that.

But you would have a hard time convincing me that a school with a 1-11 football record last year, that plays in front of fans at a 17,000 seat stadium, has lots of school spirit. In the days of John Calipari, UMASS basketball was awesome, but that was 25 years ago. Hockey is good, but it doesn’t really qualify for being a huge sport, the Bean Pot Tournament aside.

Considering the offer this student got, I would definitely throw it in to the mix, especially considering the honors college.

But if she is looking for a place with big time sports, it might disappoint. You’re right, you can’t have it all. But she has some good choices, and if this is important, then it is what it is.

https://www.masslive.com/opinion/2019/11/umass-football-program-is-a-disaster-letters.html

33

LOL If you want to go into business, why not start with a good business decision. With what you think you know and what others have discussed, you shouldn’t have any trouble greatly narrowing your selection. If you can’t narrow to a short list of three than forget business. Go into politics and put the flip-flopping into your work. Do you have trouble pulling into traffic??

34

The federal limit for student loans is $27k. Everything else above that has to be co-signed by your parents as private loans. If you have to do that, then you can’t afford the school. It’s that simple. I’m seeing debt of $60k, 80k, and even $104k. That kind of debt is not worth it for a bachelors degree. What you need to do is scratch those schools off your list and choose something affordable.

Plus starting salaries mean absolutely nothing. It’s just a reflection of the local market. A 60,000 salary in Indiana is going to go a lot further than a $100k salary in L.A. simply because you have much more purchasing power in Indiana. A school in the east/west coast ALWAYS has a higher starting salary…because it’s on the east/west coast with the highest cost of living.

35

Indiana - a no brainier for prestigious business school and reasonable amount of debt. UMASS if want to be in the Northeast.

36

Thank you everyone for your thought-out responses.

I’ve narrowed it down to Minnesota, Indiana, and UMass, but I’m leaning towards UMN and IU bc i love the football culture and the big 10’s gonna be as close as i can get to michigan lol. it just kind of sucks ive dreamt of ross and mccombs and they’re just out of reach, but i understand trying to be an entrepreneur with 80k+ debt isnt reasonable. maybe one day for an mba! of course i am very grateful to even go to college regardless so it’s really okay.

37

@saltypretzel , you’ve made your first wise business decision. My daughter is in the same position. She likes Michigan a lot, but picked ASU Barrett business because it’s a much better deal and it just feels right for her.

Whether you pick Minnesota or Indiana, you can’t go wrong. I was really mad when I didn’t get in to one of my top MBA programs, Texas, because I thought I couldn’t afford to go elsewhere. Minnesota came through with a great offer and I really am glad it all worked out. Two of the best years of my life, even when I look back at Michigan.

Now the choice comes down to bigger city and campus, or smaller town and campus. And UMASS is great too, just a different experience.

Best of luck, it will all work out better than you imagined.

38

I don’t know about MN, but wanted to add the IU has a pretty vibrant greek system. This may be appealing to you, or a total turn off. If being someplace with a super active Greek system isn’t your cup of tea, I’m putting in one more plug for Isenberg. UMass’s Greek system is present but definitely not the sort of thing that you will feel left out of if you don’t want to join in. My ds20 got in to IU as well, and only backed out because of lack of merit $. It’s a great school. You really can’t go wrong. Congrats on your accomplishments!

39

UPDATE!!! I committed to Carnegie Mellon University at the Tepper School of Business!!! I want to address my reasoning for others to read and for myself!

  • My DREAM was always Michigan or Texas. I was so excited to be lucky enough to get into both of them and their business schools! I always wanted that big school with lots of spirit and a high ranked business program.
  • Unfortunately, neither school gave me any aid or merit money, despite lots of calls and emails. I also applied to scholarships from both and didn't get them, as well as outside scholarships that haven't been released yet.
  • I didn't look at cost while applying bc I've heard such great stories of people being surprised that a super selective school gave them a huge scholarship! Well, since the majority of schools I applied to were state schools, this isn't really the case. After my sixth email to Michigan, to the third department I had been referred to, they told me "We are not obligated to meet the need of non-residents" among other things--they also said if I submitted a Finacial Aid Appeal it wouldn't be looked at until July...well that kind of defeats the purpose bc I'd need to know by May 1! That email (which was also worded negatively and kind of shocking) put everything into perspective. This may sound dumb, but it made me realize how all of these state schools' #1 priority is their own state students. I'm sure lots of people know this, but when I was applying I wanted the Big 10 spirit, while failing to notice the implications of a state school.
  • So basically, Michigan and Texas told me (on multiple occasions) sorry, we have no money for you.
  • Then, in late March, I got into Carnegie Mellon. At first they didn’t give me any aid but then I appealed and showed them a competitive scholarship from another school and they matched it!!! This big scholarship made CMU very appealing.
  • At that moment, I looked at my options. The expensive dream schools that told me I need to pay full price vs. the small, completely non-athletic private school that instantly met my needs. I also was really considering Minnesota at this point because they gave me a big scholarship as well, but I don't think their program was right for me.
  • Then I needed to delve into CMU. I'm going to business school for entrepreneurship! A big thing I'm looking for is that business technology merge. That was my major at UT (Science Technology Management) and there's a program you can apply to at UIUC (Hoeft Tech & Management), but at CMU, the entire curriculum is based off of science, technology, math, and quantitative thinking in business. It was literally exactly what I was looking for.
  • Tepper has 140 students per class. Texas McCombs has 960 per class with the Business Honors (which I was rejected from) that has 120 students. At CMU, there's no segregation/prioritization with honors because everyone is practically in honors.
  • Also 12:1 ratio at Tepper!
  • Basically, I saw a great size, perfect curriculum, and affordable price (I'll graduate with ~$17K debt. Under the federally mandated amount just like you guys told me to!)
  • So yeah! I'm a Tartan. It's nuts. I didn't think I'd get in, then I got in and it was so expensive. Then they gave me $$$ and I did research. And now I'm going. I would NEVER have guessed this is where I'd end up. Literally 2 weeks ago everything was different bc I didn't have the scholarship. Crazy how them granting my request has changed everything.
  • I don't even know how many HOURS I've spent on UT, UIUC, ivy, AND ESPECIALLY THE FREAKING MICHIGAN THREADS. I SPENT SO MUCH TIME WITH THOSE MICHIGAN ENROLLMENT CONNECT PORTAL CONSPIRACIES! College confidential has been an awesome support system. @sushiritto @Knowsstuff @Publisher I have seen you guys in 500 different threads and you've all been instrumental parts in answering my questions and helping me through this process. Even though I am nowhere where I thought I'd be, you definitely eased the stress among this process. Thank you all and to everyone else that has answered on my several frantic threads.
  • And this isn't supposed to be a negative thing towards Carnegie. UT McCombs and CMU Tepper are literally tied for #5 in the country. I just wanted to point out the flexibility a private school may offer and the unprecedented obstacles I experienced with big state schools. But it totally ended up working out in a way that I didn't expect. Like I reallyyy thought I was heading to the midwest, but getting that big scholarship and exploring a new option changed EVERYTHING.
  • Oh and I have a friend at Penn State 2 hours away from Pittsburgh so you bet I WILL be getting my Big 10 football fix!
  • Thank you, everyone. Xoxo, I love you collegeconfidential. #saltypretzelout
40

@saltypretzel , congratulations! I’m sorry my alma mater, Michigan, didn’t give you money, but they didn’t give money to my daughter either. Anyway, you found a terrific school to attend. Pittsburgh is a great city. Best of luck to you.