I am considering ed2 NYU stern vs Uchi vs waiting for RD (basically every top school) after getting deferred by wharton ED.
I much prefer stern as a school, I’d rather grind networking than spend 6hr a night getting cooked by uchi rigor (although I know I can handle it if I end up having to). But for the industry I know I want to go into, which is finance specifically I-banking out of college then HF/VC, undergrad prestige is hugely important. I am also a pretty smart guy and I will be able to handle the Stern curve and be top 30% of my class especially optimizing my schedule for easy courses the first two years.
So based on all this the obvious choice seems to be Stern, but then I get to WSO (wall street oasis), which would seem to be the most accurate source for wall street info, and all of them hate stern and say its basically a decent school with a bad recruiting experience (yes they send the most but the actual placement percent is not that good and is very competitive for top seats) and zero prestige. So I am here asking… how much is the prestige gap between Stern and Uchi on wall street and beyond?
Please miss me with the prestige doesn’t matter, fit does - I will find a way to fit and have fun anywhere. And if you don’t really have knowledge in some way of this industry, just trust me that prestige and school name matter a lot.
My main question would be- what are the peers of stern in terms of prestige among employers (again not asking for raw outcome data) and is it comprable to Uchi? I know when people think of uchi they think of smart kids with intellectual interests…is the stern rep just finance hardos that couldn’t get into wharton like it seems on WSO?
I have not attended U. Chicago. I did get my bachelor’s degree at a similarly academically challenging university (specifically MIT), and a good friend of a daughter did attend Chicago. What he said about it reminded me of my time at MIT. This is not something that you do because you think that you should nor to please someone else. This is four years of very tough classes. This is a lot of tough problem sets and tough exams. This is four years of studying alongside and competing with students who were very close to being the strongest student in their high school. At least in my opinion if you go there then you should want to do it. You do it because you are driven to do it. You do it to prove to yourself that you can. If you don’t want to do it, it can be a very long 4 years.
However, from what I have heard the people who work on Wall Street are smart and are driven. You are not going to fool them nor impress them with bluster. The hours are long. The pressure is intense. Again, this needs to be something that you do because it is in your blood.
My take on this is that you do what is right for you, and do it well. Then you find out where this takes you. Keep an open mind and something appropriate will happen.
Which brings up the question, which is the right school for you? It looks like…
You should go where you want, not where others want you to go
Both will place but Chicago doesn’t have business per se - has business econ. School size drives raw placement #s but if you believe college transitions, Chicago performs better (per capita).
You don’t need to ED. You’re choosing to. Feeder wise they show Fordham is as good, if you trust their data. Good luck.
