Which of these would you choose for business, and why?
If tuition didn’t matter would your choice change and why?
I have lived on both coasts so I have an idea of what the general atmosphere of both places is but have not visited UMass campus. I am currently in Southern California.
I’m interested in knowing about everything: networking opportunities, internships, level of challenge, what professors are like, pros/cons that are unique to each place, etc. Also, I don’t plan to live on the east coast after school.
The $ numbers are median earnings for recent graduate business majors from College Scorecard.
NYU: how difficult would it be to change into Stern after enrolling? $136,908.
Pepperdine: is the religious environment a plus or minus for you? $91,408.
UMass Amherst: what appeals to you to make it more attractive enough over UCI to be willing to pay the presumably higher price? $91,248.
UCI: seems like a good default option if it is the least expensive (as an in-state public). $89,501.
NYU’s median earnings are probably due to Wall Street proximity. But if you are not in Stern, then the business majors may not be accessible, and if you do not want to stay on the east coast, those Wall Street jobs may not be as attractive. The others seem to have similar pay outcomes, so from a strictly financial ROI standpoint (that is more likely to be important to business majors than other majors), any which are significantly less expensive than the others comes out favorably. Of course, your other preferences in a college may matter, but you have not mentioned them.
Very (although easier than an external transfer). Chatter has the internal transfer rate into Stern at about 15%. Unless you specifically want to do something like music business, which you can do at Steinhardt, i agree it makes very little sense to attend nyu for business if you’re not at stern.
Umass is known for the best food of all schools. And many kids struggle with eating well in college. And is in a college area. My co worker who went said she’d choose Umass dining over nice restaurants.
UCI as a commuter school, same as when I grew up there.
NYU is uber urban. No campus. You have to want that.
Pepperdine is gorgeous and religious. Always has been. Note the religious part.
According to UCI’s 2023-2024 common data set, 81% of frosh and 48% of all undergraduates live in campus housing, so that does not look very commuter-ish.
However, some of the resident students may have “suitcase” patterns, as in heading home to their families most or all weekends. This is not captured by the common data set.
Why UMass? My son attends and loves it (and the food is great). He is in the business school (Isenberg) which is direct admit (about a 30% admit rate I believe, maybe lower); you can not transfer in. It would be about $60k for OOS but they do give decent merit for OOS students.
He likes the classes and professors. Isenberg has it’s own career services and they are on top of them. He says the students are motivated but not cutthroat. He generally enjoys the school and says it’s fun. If you are looking for a big football/basketball school, UMass is not it but their non-football/basketball sports do very well. They do like to tailgate but a lot don’t actually go to the game.
If you don’t plan to live on the east coast but Southern California, you would want a local school for internship connections. Apply to both see what the cost is, Pepperdine gives great scholarships and can be really cheap. Pepperdine is not very religous at all, most students are either not religious or casual christians, but there are some very devout students. you have to take some religion classes for gen eds but it’s like Bible history stuff never any conversion. there is a really big jewish student population now. Pepperdine and uci are two different schools are small classes or lectures more appealing for you?
Staying on the west coast does make sense for internships if I’m going to live here after I finish school, and if the west coast schools tend to have more internships with companies here. Do the east coast schools not have any connections with west coast companies? Does anyone who went to either east coast school have any experience getting internships with west coast companies? I am aware that there are regional relationships but am just curious to what extent.