IU Kelley vs U of Florida for Finance

Compare College Acceptances
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For better community input, please provide the below details about your college offers:

Net price per year at each college, after applying scholarships and financial aid grants.

Indiana University: 55.5K after scholarship
University of Florida: 46.5K (scholarships info coming up in a couple of weeks)

Maximum parent contribution per year.

65K plus/minus 5k

Major/division admitted to at each college, if applicable to the college. Also, any special programs like honors programs or combined degree programs (e.g. BA/BS->MD).

IU: direct admit to Kelley business school, Hutton Honors college
UF: admitted to the university, AFAIK students can declare a major without having to be direct admitted.

Other notable admits which daughter is not interested in:
UW Seattle, direct to Foster business school (in-state)
Fordham (~72K after scholarship)
UW Madison, direct to business (~66K)

Still waiting for Emory.

If you applied to regular fall term start, specify if you were admitted to start at a different campus, in study abroad, in an online/distance or extension program, or other than in the fall term.

n/a

Desired major and post graduation goals (including if pre-med, pre-law, etc.).

Finance. Decent job after graduation.

If not a frosh admit finishing high school, indicate status (e.g. sophomore level transfer, junior level transfer, frosh after gap year(s)).

n/a

International or domestic student (and state of residency if domestic).

Washington state

Student preferences beyond the above (including weather, class sizes, campus culture, college demographics, fraternities/sororities, distance from home, etc.).

Not interested in Greek life, smaller classes are better, and the rest doesn’t matter that much.

Preliminary assessment of each college based on the above.

IU:
good business school, so-so the rest of the university. Very big business school, with a lot of internal competition. Got to get into a workshop (IBW) to get a chance at a decent placement, workshops are super competitive. Liked the campus and the town during the visit despite the cold.

UF:
Really good university, a less-known business school (more regionally known as I understand, at least not on the West Coast). Smaller business school, not competitive relevant clubs allow exploring different areas of finance. Got to get into the MSF program to get better placement chances (my daughter is actually excited about getting a master’s in 4 years). MSF admissions are competitive, but less than the IBW at IU, as I understand.
Better weather during the school year. Not sure if the hurricanes are a big disruption in the fall.
Will visit the campus in April.

Regarding the placement, as I understand:
IBW Kelley > MSF UF > UF > IU

I am not familiar with the finance world, and most of the people I know are in tech, like myself.
I’d appreciate a reality check from the community.

Why did you apply to each college you are considering?

Reputation, specialized programs (IBW/MSF); large enough universities to have a variety of opportunities and experiences, find friends, etc.

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Not interested in Foster as in-state? I know many who’d give an arm and a leg to be in your position… lol…
Kelley would be a better bet among your options; despite all the competitiveness around workshops, you can be assured of good placements if the kid puts in the work. Not getting into IB workshops (which is indeed highly competitive, and not just in Kelley btw) will primarily make it harder to land an IB internship/job at a BB/ prestigious boutique, but most students do end up placing well at Kelley.

Great options, many congratulations to you and your kid. We have similar options OOS as WA residents, except Foster.

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The problems with Foster are (as I understand):

Quarter system. Midterms/finals often, less time for class projects, and teachers rushing the class materials.

Foster is a very regional school. In CA it competes with UCLA/UCB/USC/Stanford/…
It is not well known on the East Coast or Midwest. Industry connections are limited.

Foster mostly places into corporate finance around Seattle (especially after WaMu closed). All these companies (Microsoft, Amazon. Starbucks, Nordstrom, etc) are laying people off and not hiring as much as before. Boeing HQ moved to Chicago. Microsoft and Amazon used to hire a lot of Foster grads for TPM or similar roles, but these roles got reduced significantly in the last few rounds of layoffs.

My daughter is not excited about UW as all the “slackers” at her school got into UW (some into Foster) and planning on going there. At least according to her, this is the case. I gave up on that topic.

UW is convenient. She can’t commute from home daily (about an hour’s drive in traffic) but can be home for holidays/weekends if she wants to. I think part of the story is her desire to not be too close to home.

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I appreciate your POV, and 100% respectful of the personal preferences.
I’m quite stunned though to hear about all the “slackers” at your DD’s school getting into UW.
My DD goes to a very competitive school on the eastside, and many many high stat kids are rejected/waitlisted including my own daughter (not a slacker, I promise… lol)

I also agree about the lack of national recognition with Foster, even though it places quite well in many renowned management/business consulting firms as well, in addition to the big techs and Seattle HQed firms you mentioned. Also, the things with these big tech companies is that their hiring/firing is cyclic; it almost always rebounds with an even greater force after a slump, so I’ll not worry too much about it.

Net of it is that your daughter has some amazing options, and I’m glad you’re supporting her unconditionally… it’s possible our kids may end up in the same place this fall.

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Will UF require she attend A Summer semester? Does that matter?

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What does this mean? You mentioned Microsoft so you are not looking at I Banking.

I agree - if money is tight - Foster is the way to go.

If you said she wants out of state, not to be home, etc. I get it. But the worry of who is laying off?

That’s not a reason to choose one flagship over another - they are all solid schools.

And your comment about UF > Indiana (which is great for business but not as a university) is highly misplaced.

You are looking at US News which is selling magazines. The reality is - UWash (not in your set), IU and Florida are peers - certainly to employers and I’m talking the university, not the B School.

I’d argue the B schools are peers too - short of a few niche jobs where IU might win.

But today, you find jobs often on your own, via handshake, indeed, linkedin, etc. and you’ll end up where you want location wise. Kids might end up locally from UW because everyone LOVES Seattle. But you needn’t. Yes, some schools will list or show up at job fairs - but guess what - those companies are often still recruiting on line - even if they come to campus for a job fair.

My SEC kid ended up out west and my regional college SC kid is moving to Denver after May graduation - both employed.

In your case, because you’re not seeking an I Banking type job, I think either of the two is fine (is there a weather concern)?? But UW is just as good a choice if saving that money is impactful to you over the years. And your biggest concern may actually lay in getting there - you can fly to Gainesville but more likely both UF (from Jax, Orlando or Tampa) or IU (an hour from Indy) - even though it’s a few times a year, that’s another potential challenge.

And no one is ever going to say - oh, you only went to IU. UF is such a better school. We’d hire you if you went there.

That’s just not how the real world works - and IU is strong in so many areas (outside of business) that it’s crazy.

Choose the school she feels best - and that’s most helpful to your family.

That’s what I’d do.

oh, one more thing - competitive clubs, etc and you want a good solid finance job out of school - another reason to not pick or not pick a school.

Congrats on such great offers. All three (including the one you don’t want because tech companies are laying off) - are great offers. And that is NOT a reason to not choose a school - nor is - and they’re in competition with the UCs and Stanford, etc. The quarter schedule is though if that’s something you don’t want.

If you are full pay, Emory is highly unlikely to make cost. Of course, it’s also a much smaller school (smaller than IU Kelley in fact) so a different lifestyle.

Best of luck.

Here is some salary data. What I like about IUs is they show by geography - because that’s how companies pay - by where the job is - so a NY is $93K but Columbus Ohio $62K. Finance is skewed higher, likely due to IB, which doesn’t sound like your student is seeking. So they’ll likely be paid the same from all three schools.

For UF, you may have to redo - use the employment tab and then set college and even major. For finance, their top states are Florida, NY, Georgia, NC and Texas.

For UW, set to finance - the companies you mentioned are on the list - but not at the top - there’s a lot more geographic diversity then you think.

But again, all colleges are going to end up with some set of closeness - because most kids are from the state or region who go - and aren’t looking to totally transplant their lives. I think that’s more a sociological thing than an IU/UF/UW type thing. All three will get you anywhere - if you do in fact want to be anywhere.

Salary Statistics | Undergraduate Career Services | Indiana Kelley

2023-2024 Student Outcomes - Career Connections Center

Student Career Outcomes – Career & Internship Center | University of Washington

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Wrt to

Considering both are within budget, then IU Kelley+Hutton because Hutton has specific Business classes for Honors students which are smaller and slightly different (and less/not weedout) compared to “regular” Kelley, plus smaller Honors gen ed freshman classes.

In addition, UF will require online classes for some of the business classes as well as a summer semester (this makes sense to optimize campus use and keep costs lower for instate students.)

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There’s been students on here before that have denied this, that say it’s a choice (the forced online). Surprisingly, at both my kid’s schools, kids choose asynchronous over lecture/in person when both are offered. So perhaps that’s what’s happening at UF.

Even my kids, in certain classes, shocking me, both chose this option - one at a large public similar to the three here. And perhaps those are options at IU/UW too - I don’t know.

So I’d research more - just based on pushback others have made on the CC over the years, to that comment.

I’m sure the b school itself could easily answer that question.

It might be as many have said this, but others have pushed back on that, so I’d want to validate. With Covid, most schools moved online and I think even today, many record lectures - so you can re watch at your leisure - in case you missed class or just to catch up.

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What is the career focus? An MSF is quite different than an undergrad in finance. MSF is pretty technical/math oriented and is really part of the track to a PhD in finance which again is very different path than MBA. An MSF can be very useful in finance and even preparation for the CFA exam. CFAs are most commonly found in equity research. In investment banking you won’t see many CFAs. You could also consider an MSF at an urban school like Boston College or a Fordham. My husband has a MSF from BC and an MBA from Columbia. Very different degrees and both helpful for what he does. A strong, motivated student will do well no matter what. I started out as an investment banking analyst. I was a finance major from Clemson with a ton of internships and ECs. My husband got there with an undergrad from Alabama in accounting and the MSF from BC directly after. We worked with kids from Harvard and Princeton who had degrees in things like history. We had 6-8 weeks of intense training and we were all really on the same playing field. Obviously that was 20 years ago but much of it is still true. Kids need to figure it out on their own too. I would not assume a kid needs an MSF just bc they went to UF.

What is the career goal at the moment?

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If UW is off the table (personally, I would revisit the school) then Kelley (with honors) would likely be my choice.

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Yea, her definition of “slackers” might be off a bit, hence in quotes. All of them are in IB diploma program, like her.

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I haven’t seen anything about the summer semester in UF. At least nothing explicitly said in MSF or regular bachelor’s plans of study.

I know that UF will give her a lot more credits for IB classes because it gives credits for standard level classes in addition to the high level ones.
IU will give credits for math and English HL classes (business HL won’t help with any pre-req/gen ed).
UF gives enough credits to knock off quite a few core ed requirements and basically have about a year worth of credits overall.

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This is for all Florida public college students. There are waivers for things like internships I believe - but many start in summer - for this reason. Two I know who went there (one business, one some sort of science) both started early. I put a link below.

Note - having “credits” to knock off time may or may not be helpful, depending on the course flow. My son started a sophomore but still took 4 years in engineering (with a minor) due to the course requirements. My daughter went in with 33 credits but when you remove all the duplication (some counted for the same), only could use 9. So both started a 2nd years but both still took four years. Yes, some graduate in three or 3.5 but having credits and necessarily moving ahead aren’t one and the same.

Summer requirement - Undergraduate Student Affairs

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Thank you!

The reason I talk about Microsoft is because it is one of the major employers in the area.
I cannot talk about IB in Seattle because it has not exist since WaMu went out of business in 2009 (or 8?).

AFAIK, UW Seattle de-facto locks 80% of kids into corporate finance with few fighting tooth and nail to get into anything else. As I understand, both IU and UF have more options due to the variety of companies in regions they have close connections with.

My daughter is 17, I don’t know what she’ll want to do specifically in a couple of years. Maybe she’ll decide that corporate finance is her dream, but now she read about IB and that it is the most interesting area of finance.
Had she decided to go into accounting, UW would be a no-brainer.

The whole finance education is bizarre to me - workshops that aren’t just a normal part of the major, etc. IBW has a rather non-deterministic admission criteria vs more deterministic MSF. I agree that schools are peers in general and I have no illusion of them competing with UPenn, hence the question - how much these nuances with clusbs etc matter really?

Even the whole honors college thing. At IU it doesn’t give priority registration. Smaller classes typically are gen ed ones, as I understand. Business honors require extra admission later during the year, and BH classes are smaller. Hutton is the university honors with requirements for a minor from another area of study etc.

My older daughter did honors college at Purdue and loved it but it didn’t affect her CS classes (her major) and Linguistics classes (her second major) at all. She had early registration, a better dorm her first year, some awesome classes not related to her major, an advisor she wasn’t excited about, and required quite a bit of time for her honors thesis which was fun but required rigorous time management. I guess it helped with the grad school but not a single employer cared about it during her internship interviews, nor for her peers who didn’t do university honors.

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This is true - if even finance.

I think Honors, to your point, and both my kids are - each program is different. A U of SC or ASU, you are integrated. At my son’s school, they have the largest program in the country and they have great enrichment - if you want it. Most don’t - they want the dorms and early registration and drop Senior year. My son, in fact, didn’t apply to Honors at Purdue because for him, the requirements didn’t work. But then you have others, including @momofboiler1 student, crushed it there in Honors experientially. For my daughter - she has so much enrichment - and she takes advantage - that for her it’s awesome.

So for everyone it’s different - some may love the IU Hutton program and others not. My daughter didn’t even bother with the app. And on job apps there’s no place to write about it - so to me, it’s more about the experience - is it worth it? And you noted the same in your blurb about your daughter and Purdue. It’s definitely an “interview” topic but is it getting you the interview - highly unlikely. But can it make someones experience better (or worse) - 100% absolutely. All Honors programs are different.

I can easily find UW grads who show investment banking analysts roles on linkedin - recent grads too - in NY and other places. Perhaps your daughter can reach out and ask what they’re doing in their role, how they found it, etc. In fact, she can ask each of her big 2 or if you put UW back in the picture, the big 3, to speak with student ambassadors who aspire to that area - and ask - how are the opportunities at the school and besides handshake (job listings), how are the schools helping to link you.

I wouldn’t assume “partnerships” that the school has based on region. Sure, one may have more than others but I would find out vs. assume. And I would assume, even at IU, that few of the IB wannabes end up in IB - same as other schools.

So you might do more homework in that regard.

But I don’t think going to one school (let’s say UW) shuts you out of opportunities whereas another school on your list opens the door widely. I think from all, a lot of student legwork will be required - but it’s clearly happening.

So perhaps more research to find the right “fit” should be done - vs. just making assumptions. After all, the student will be on campus four years, day after day.

Just my opinion.

Best of luck.

Here’s one more link for you:

HOME | UWIBA

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Unless things have changed, there will be a summer semester requirement for all undergrads at UF https://www.eng.ufl.edu/students/faq/summer-requirement/ (that link is from the school of engineering but speaks to the requirement). She can petition to waive that if she qualifies https://registrar.ufl.edu/assets/pdfs/summer_enrollment_waiver.pdf

I agree that overall, UF is a more competitive school than IU, but I don’t feel this holds true for finance. Please also don’t make decisions based on possible post grad salaries. So many things can change (including her choice of a major). Thats just not a reasonable compotent to guess and factor in, IMO. Has she considered, separate from weather, the “way things are run” (if you know what I mean) in FL vs Indiana? Does that matter to her enough to factor into her decision? Even though I did my graduate work at UF and you’d think that might bias me, I don’t know that it does (in fact it doesn’t) in your situation. Keep us posted about Emory too! For now, since you are asking only about Kelley and UF, hopefully the discussion can stay on topic for your questions.

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IU Kelley has a considerable advantage over the other schools you mention in my experience when it comes to IB. Kelley has become a target for many large CIBs.

If IB is her chosen profession the incremental access can easily justify the incremental cost when amortized over an IB career.

Keep in mind a solid newly minted IB VP (5-7 years post undergrad) will draw a base salary of approximately $250k and earn a bonus (performance dependent) of 100 to 150% of that base. The amounts you are talking about are hardly relevant juxtaposed against that earning potential.

Getting there however is hardly guaranteed so it is of course a very personal assessment.

Perhaps of interest on the topic…

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OP: With respect to personal growth, I understand and appreciate your daughter’s interest to study in a region outside of the PNW.

MSF outcomes for U Florida Warrington students:

UF & Indiana U. are solid options for your daughter as is U Washington-Foster.

U Wiscosin’s business school has the nation’s top dept. for real estate. Real estate finance can be a meaningful asset for one who intends to ultimately become an attorney in a major law firm.

U Florida should be a fun experience, but classes tend to be quite large.

Ask your daughter to review the MSF curriculum/specialization options at UF Warrington to IU-Kelley:

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