All things being equal, if he’s excited to play his sport, I would think about the relative travel commitments. Wesleyan mostly competes against New England schools so it’s generally an easy bus ride away. NYU, Chicago, and Case are much more dispersed so the competition part takes up a lot more time.
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Yes it is. I wasn’t favoring W&L. I was saying they’re so different - whichever side.
But to your point, it is subjective and maybe someone sees all as good.
Maybe they can look further at other things - like Greek life, and more as W&L is 75% but I know others say that’s misleading too
Then the final thing is - if CWRU is $125k less, does that matter to the family ?
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Is there a reason you’re not saying what the sport is? There may be folks in here with insights into team culture, coaches, philosophy, etc., that could be useful.
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It’s a smaller sport with only a few recruits each year and I was trying to keep some anonymity for my son. It’s not mentioned often here. We’re not really worried about the sport. He has spent time with the teams and coaches and we have been to several matches and seen the coaches in action. His club coach has also been a good resource. We think all of the schools are good fits athletically.
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A lot to like about each of these schools/departments, and many pathways to IB. Among the LACs you mention, however, W&L>Wesleyan for IB. Its IB alum network is helpful and passionate.
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I asked the question because Stern would hands down be the #1 recommendation for IB for a student who can actually get accepted there. NYU is so big and has so many other departments that he would seem to have a number of other options if he changes his mind.
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You’ve said your son has had positive prereads, which is great. Has he received any offers and given full support through admissions? Coaches often give way more prereads than they have offers to give so unless he has actual offers, you may be putting the cart before the horse. Can you clarify if he has any offers from the schools you’ve mentioned?
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While NYU commits very many athletes, very few of them get the ok for Stern. Is OP sure they can commit to stern and not just NYU?
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Am I sure about what?
tweaked my writing
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I have a child that attended UChicago and went into IB. UChicago does very well with IB placements.
But it can be a pretty intense college, and I recommend against it for someone who is primarily interested in a sport as opposed to someone there because they love learning and being challenged. It was ideal for my child, but a poor fit for other classmates.
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Just to be reminded of the (approximate) student population numbers @ko82870 :
Case Western, 12,000
UChicago 18,000
NYU Stern 65,000 (29,000 undergrad)
Washington and Lee 1,900
Wesleyan 3,200
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“Where fun goes to die”
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I am with @tsbna44 – this student has to have a preference for a type of school. While someone could thrive at both W&L and NYU, there must be a preference between the two.
Also second @UltimaCroix ‘ post re W&L and Wesleyan.
All the schools have good outcomes; I would choose the one with the best fit.
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I see no one has addressed this post re: schools being cutthroat. Guessing none are cutthroat. Certainly W&L is not – it’s a very collegial and friendly place. That said, every school’s investment banking club, and management consulting club, will be competitive to join, and not everyone will be able to join.
My son was an athlete at W&L, and also worked in the career center. He has said that office is very attuned to/skilled at/supportive wrt investment banking recruiting. Feel free to pm me if you have W&L questions!
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What major? Many IB shops hire a wide variety of majors. My D attended an LAC and was a neuroscience major, to take one example. Other non-business, non-econ common majors include math, stats, and data science. English and philosophy majors also represented. I agree with the poster who said IB shops tend to hire smart people with strong critical thinking skills. My D didn’t know much about finance, although she did have to learn enough to pass the technical interviews, which she learned on her own.
There are negatives to all jobs/industries. What matters is the fit.
I would counsel your S to focus on fit, not necessarily IB placement…he will have to be near the top of the class to get an IB internship after junior year, and that interview process will start late freshman year and for many go into sophomore year.
Regarding Chicago, he should specifically ask his potential teammates about the work/life balance. He really should be asking that everywhere, some D3 coaches have time expectations that are quite high, even in the off season. Another potential issue (sport dependent) is where the practice/game facilities are and how far of a drive it is from campus. There are some urban campuses where some teams (e.g., golf, baseball) have 20-30 minute drives each way to the course/field.
I’m not sure to what degree he must contribute (and you don’t need to answer), but it can be difficult for student athletes to work during the school year in addition to playing their sport and do well in classes..
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True story: This took place while I was standing in line at the Wesleyan grocery store. I was staying overnight in Middletown and popped in just because it was the closest place to pick up a bag of bagels. My gray beard needed a trimming and I was clearly the oldest person in the entire store. When I got to the cashier, she informed me that one of the students had bought me a bag of chips.
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I actually think one can fairly describe Stern undergrad as pretty cutthroat, as in hyper intense. The competition for IB jobs is severe. Lots of jobs, but even more candidates. Some networking functions are mob scenes.
We know of 2 athletic recruits who were enrolled at Stern (as mentioned by @heavyweightcollege , it can be hard for an athletic recruit to also get into Stern), and left the team after freshman year. They said it just wasn’t feasible to do both, especially with the athletic facility a hard back and forth commute.
Also, as CM1212 points out, some industry specific clubs are very selective to join. I would hazard that as an athlete, it would be a bit easier to join W&L’s competitive finance club than Stern’s/Chicago’s. Athletes at LACs often get a leg up in joining these clubs, and they are extremely helpful for recruiting and training purposes.
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I work with college bou d students and parents. Last night I chatted to a mom whose D is tyring to pick a school to ED to. Mom went on about one being ranked higher than the other. That it was harder to get into so she should ED there. I had to stop her. I said she was comparing one kind of apple to another kind of apple. Rankings might matter if you’re considering East Podunk U to Harvard. Mostly, they don’t matter and I’d say that’s true here.
Just take the ranking out of it. Let your son apply to the one he feels most comfortable at. And if he isn’t sure which one that is, get rid of what it isn’t. Narrow it down.
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I think that for most majors and careers it doesn’t matter where you attend.
The exceptions are for competitive careers that hire a small number of people nationwide, including IB. In my child’s IB cohort, almost everyone was from top-10 colleges or their LAC equivalents.
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