My daughter applied to UIUC Gies as a backup in case she didn’t get into UMD Smith School or VA Tech Pamplin. But I’m reading more about Gies, and they seem to outrank the Smith School and Pamplin everytime I google them. Is Gies really that great of a business school, or is it just the Smith School and Pamplin of the midwest? Trying to decide if we should make the 11 hour drive to visit on admitted student’s day.
UIUC is well known for accounting but truth is accounting is recruited from everywhere.
In my opinion, the three have a different environment but forgetting a rank, I would call these three schools substitutes.
One can easily make a case for attending any of them over the other two.
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If you’re going on rank alone, Gies wins. If rank is a major deciding factor for you, then you should visit. They’ve built some really nice new facilities there.
I also wouldn’t worry about rank. Have you looked at outcomes for the 3 schools and the majors she is interested in?
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I think the outcomes are going to be similar. If she decides to stick with accounting, I think each school focuses on getting the student licensed in their state. So that outcome will be different. The Big 4 accounting firms recruiting will be the same. The private industry recruiting appears to be slightly different. The federal opportunities might be different. That I need to check. Thanks for reminding me. I’m a bit skeptical about rankings because they can change based on a simple change in criteria. I think some IVY school was upset over some changes in the U.S. News rankings because they dropped like 10 spots or something.
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I agree accounting outcomes will be similar, certainly at the big 4. What are you seeing that suggests private industry recruiting might be different? I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a regionality to things but if someone from UMD wanted to look in Chicago or out west, that would work, and same if someone from Gies wanted to look on the coasts.
Maybe check if any of the three have a path to an accelerated route to the 150 hours needed to sit for the CPA test? (that might be different by state too)
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No specific list. I was just haphazardly googling each school’s career fair information and looking on their websites to see what companies they mention.
It looks like all three have some form of accelerated masters program. They all look very interesting. It looks like the major has really evolved into a STEM field. I’m really surprised and very impressed. Gosh, I want to go back to school. I really think the 150-credit rule makes much more sense now. I didn’t realize accounting could cross over into a science like this. Wow, I’ve got to tell my daughter. I wonder if this is why UVA is going to start letting the kids fight for a spot in their business school a year earlier.
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FWIW the 150 hours to become CPA is a national requirement.
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I would take into account where she might want to live after graduation. There won’t be a problem getting a job in the big 4 but they do recruit regionally. My accounting degree is from a school in PA, so the jobs were recruiting either in Philly or NYC. I had to send resumes and interview because I wanted to live in DC.
But this was 35 years ago before the internet, so I’m sure it’s changed.
I think that is a good point. My brother-in-law lives in a Chicago suburb and said he works with tons of people from UIUC. And I meet a lot of VA and MD graduates.
We are a family of CPAs. H and I worked at Big 4 firms (then the Big 8 LOL) years ago and my S worked at a Big 4 firm until recently. Recruiting is national, not regional. Typically the first interview is on campus and if you get a follow-up interview it will be at the office in your desired location (this was pre-covid…it may be more online now - not sure). In any event, both H and S were at a Midwest college and both got multiple offers in NYC. Location of the college was no issue for them.
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Honestly it doesn’t matter. Which campus does she want to be on for 4 years. Not much happening around UIUC except the campus.
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The travel time to UIUC seems to be putting off my daughter. This seems to have really been a back up in case she didn’t get into her top 2 choices. I always thought kids wanted to go far for school, but she’s leaning towards the school that’s only an hour or so away, which is surprising me.
Kids will surprise you. I assume the local school is cheaper also and that can be a win. Our daughter was under 2 hours away. It was great. She could bring friends that have never been to Chicago and take them all around downtown etc and we could go to her school for a Sundays farmers market, lunch and back home the same day. She was far enough that she felt she was further away if that makes sense,but close enough she could come home for whatever. Made the whole changing from winter to spring /summer clothes a breeze. Lol.
Unfortunately, it’s not cheaper for us. Our in-state equivalent school is 4 hours away in the mountains (VT). The school she wants to go to is an hour or so away by the city (UMD). It’s close, but not close enough to commute to either.