I was admitted to both Tufts University, where I will study Quant. Econ., and Lehigh’s IBE Program, where I will study Industrial and Systems Engineering and Finance. After college, I would like to head to NYC in hopes of entering banking. Does anyone have any idea which program is more reputable between Tufts and Lehigh IBE?
The bigger issue seems to be the academics - one is partial engineering and finance vs. a social sciences education.
Here are outcomes from IBE. Just click on a year and you can see what people are doing. It’s interesting. Many on this website say it’s a great program for wall street - but I don’t see a lot clicking on names. You might even ask the school.
Neither are on the target list.
I think they are different kinds of schools - and in your case different curriculums - and perhaps that should be the difference.
Two fine names overall - best of luck to you.
I’m sure whichever fits you best will give you a wonderful education.
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You can get a banking job from either of these schools/majors, as long as you are open minded about the type of banking job.
I agree with tsbna that you should look at the curriculum and classes and decide which you like best. Do you like the relatively heavy foundation and distribution requirements at Tufts? Requirements | Tufts Admissions
If you do want banking, why IBE where the focus is product development and entrepreneurship? It’s a great program…but does it fit what you want to study and the career you want? (Knowing you might change career goals). https://ibe.lehigh.edu/
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Superficially, IBE does not make quite as much sense for banking, but as they point out, you can major in anything in Business, which includes Finance, which apparently is their most popular major. So I am sure that would be fine for banking. Necessary? No. But if you found that engineering component interesting and were confident you were up for the challenge (see below), then I am sure it would be fine.
So I would advise making this decision based on other factors, including cost, where you think you would be happiest and do the best (usually the same answer to both as happy people tend to do better), and where you would still be happy if you changed your mind about what you wanted to do, which in fact happens to many people.
As for being happy and doing well, you should probably take this page seriously. Again, you might think this sounds great, just make sure you do before leaping into IBE:
https://ibe.lehigh.edu/prospective-students/curriculum
Curriculum Outline: Not for the squeamish
With a rigorous requirement of 137 credit hours in only four years, the IBE Honors Program is not for the squeamish – it’s intended for the University’s brightest students who are not afraid to work hard and who are interested in being uniquely qualified to become leaders in business and industry. The program is created in the Lehigh tradition – admit very good students; challenge them to work hard in a demanding and innovative environment; graduate men and women with the skills and talents that are necessary for success in today’s rapidly evolving workplace.
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In my opinion, this is not an issue as both are reputable and well respected in the real world.
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Look at the salary data on freeopp. They calculated the ROI on tens of thousands of college degrees. That, and data from the wall street journal where they use outcomes as part of their rankings. My son found both of those sources very valuable when looking at colleges.
He is attending Lehigh as a finance major this fall.
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