UC Berkeley vs USC vs Claremont vs UVa McIntire vs NYU Stern

Hi Everyone, I need your advice on which school I should attend this fall. I was fortunate enough to be accepted by these schools:

  1. UC Berkeley: Engineering Mathematics and Statistics
  2. USC: Computer Science/Business Administration
  3. Claremont McKenna: Econ
  4. U of Virginia: McIntire
  5. NYU: Stern

Personally I am interested in both computer science and finance, and my goal is to get an MFE (Master in Financial Engineering) degree later and eventually work in the finance industry using my computational and analytical skills. Right now I cannot decide which school of the above to attend because of the following reasons:

  1. UC Berkeley: It is in-state for me, so cost wise it is the most economical one. However, I heard that Berkeley's engineering school is really tough and it may be easy to get good GPAs in order to apply to graduate school. I also worry that the issue with state funding may impact the ability to graduate in 4 years.
  2. USC CS/BA: I got the half-tuition scholarship, which is a big plus. I also like the school spirit and social scenes. However, it seems that USC's Marshall school has less focus on finance but more on accounting or real estate. Also, prestige wise (as much as I don't like it, but all I heard was that the financial industry looks at prestige of your school as a really really big thing), it is probably at the lower end in the business world.
  3. Claremont McKenna: Known for its government and econ programs. I also like its small liberal art type. However, from what I read online, it suffers similarly as Cal or USC in that, it is well recognized on the west coast, but not so much on the east coast. Also, I heard that the school is huge on alcohol and parties ("wet campus"), which I am not sure if I will feel comfortable.
  4. UVa McIntire: It will be OOS for me, so it will not be much less expensive for me. I know the McIntire consistently ranks high by Bloomberg, but when comparing with my other options, I am not so sure if it should be placed at the top of my list.
  5. NYU Stern: In NYC, highly regarded, second to Wharton in job placements etc. However, the negatives to me are, a) It has no traditional campus which I am not a big fan of, b) Its cut-throat competitive culture (if true) is kind of a turn off for me, c) It will be the most expensive one in the list for me (similar to CMC but traveling cost would be extra).

I do not qualify for any financial aid unfortunately (middle class that is right on the borderline to be disqualifies for financial aid). My parents said that they will support my decision regardless of cost. However, I do want to make sure that, if one school costs $140k more than another (e.g., NYU over Cal), it should better be justified.

Out of the five schools, the only one that I have not visited is UVa, which I would hope to visit this month (but not sure). I have a few other acceptances like Carnegie Mellon (Tepper not Computer Science), Georgia Tech etc.) which I already ruled out. Do you have any advice for me? Thank you in advance!

USC is on the lower end, business-wise? No. The “lower end” is schools like Kennesaw State, or Western Washington, or other small tuition-driven colleges and regional state publics. USC is an elite university, definitely in the top 50, I think in the top 30. It’s not on the lower end of anything.

I think you should eliminate UVa, because you’ve got other great options and it’d be better to go to Berkeley for in-state than pay OOS prices for UVa. Honestly, given what you say in your last paragraph, Berkeley and USC sound like the best options cost-wise. NYU Stern is great for Wall Street but you don’t seem to like it, and I wouldn’t attend a school you don’t like on the strength of one major.

Honestly, it seems like you are leaning towards USC but are only worried about the prestige. But think about this more holistically than the hyperfocus on only a small subset of schools. USC is one of the best universities in the world; it’s well-respected, and well-known for its name.

@juillet‌ Thank you very much! I know USC is still a really good school, it is just I felt like its strength is more in film and engineering etc., but not business especially finance. But still, it is a good school and I really like its social scenes. It is probably one of the colleges with the most pride. I agree with you on UVa, and you are correct, I didn’t really like NYU that much when I visited, even though its business school is one of the best, probably only second to Penn’s Wharton.

So I am leaning toward one of the three, Berkeley, USC and Claremont. Anyone else has any advice? Thanks!

I would drop NYU and UVA. Go and visit USC, Berkeley and CMC and go with the best fit. Any of them will prepare you well for a future career in finance. Remember that at CMC, you have all the advantages of the larger consortium, including taking computer science classes at Harvey Mudd.

As for partying… there will be lots of drinking and partying at all these schools. But there will also be plenty of folks who don’t engage.

I would choose Berkeley, perhaps even if it weren’t in-state for you. Given that it is the least expensive option, and offers superior academic resources, Berkeley would be hard to turn down. I’d consider CMC as a second choice, but only if you truly feel you are a student who clearly benefits from a LAC-type of atmosphere (some do, some do not), and the CMC costs can be brought down to a reasonable level. If CMC costs are much more than Berkeley, it would be hard to justify.

@harvardandberkeley‌ Thanks for your response. I will visit USC, Berkeley and CMC again this month, attending the admitted student days at each. Then hopefully I will have a better idea on which one is a better fit. Thanks.

@anhydrite‌ Makes sense. Logic tells me to go to Berkeley, but I guess I am not confident enough to know that if I will be able to maintain a higher than 3.5 GPA at Berkeley. I have many friends’ older siblings who went to Berkeley, and almost all of them told me that they had to study extra hard, even harder than high school, staying up to 2am and stuff, just to keep up. The warnings of the posts on the Berkeley board scare me too. After the last couple of stressful years, I want to enjoy college life while still being able to maintain a good GPA, and don’t get burned out in college.

I wouldn’t attend Berkeley in the hopes you that you won’t study hard. But the payoff may be worth it. If, for some reason, you had less than a 3.5 at Berkeley, would the costs at CMC then be similar? I don’t think that’s a great justification to choose CMC, honestly, but it could be a factor worthy of consideration.

I don’t think you should go into college being scared – but I mean that in the sense that you ought to have some confidence that you can make the grade at Berkeley, not necessarily make a different choice. Consider that you may come out of Berkeley with more rigor and better prospects as well. That’s not a conclusive statement – I don’t wish to be flamed for it – but it is a possibility.

Hmmm, seems that your choice of major varies, since you have two business majors, one business-flavored economics major, one combined CS and business major, and one engineering / math / statistics major. These have varying levels of math intensity; do you want to go into more quantitative finance?

If you want to go into quantitative finance, consider additional advanced math and statistics courses at the non-Berkeley schools; at Berkeley, you may also want to consider the IEOR and ORMS majors, or the economics (with math-heavy economics courses) or business major plus additional advanced math and statistics courses.

@ucbalumnus‌ Yes, right now my goal is to find a job in either finance or CS after college, work for two to three years, then try to get in to an MFE program, and later work as a quantitative engineer. Thanks for your suggestions! I really appreciate it.

@anhydrite‌ I guess part of the reason that my self confidence is pretty low right now is because of all the rejections from Ivy schools last week. :smiley: That’s why I am kind of trying to look for an “easier” school to go to.

Looks like you probably want to take some CS courses (of the kind that CS majors take) as well, regardless of which school you choose.

Don’t let rejections affect your self-confidence re: academics. And don’t diminish your capabilities, either. You don’t need an “easier” school – you need a school that will serve you best in your life right now.

Yes. It looks to me out of my options, USC is most heavy on CS, Berkeley is most heavy on math, and CMC is most heavy on econ/finance. And I think I need all three. :slight_smile:

@anhydrite‌ Thanks for your kind words and encouragement!

Another reason I am not so sure about Berkeley is that, although it is a top school, but that seems to be mostly reflected in its graduate school. As far as undergrad education is concerned, it may not be as good as its reputation would suggest. I particularly don’t like the several-hundred student classes, lack of access to professors, and the less-than-diverse student community. I will visit again on Cal Day and see what happens.

None of these schools is worth that much more than the others. In my opinion, none of them is worth even ~$40K more than the others. Visit the 2 or 3 most affordable, then choose the best “fit”.

Keep in mind, you cannot learn everything you will ever need to know (about CS, math, econ/finance) in 4 years. A reasonable goal is to build a good foundation of knowledge, skills, and experience in a fairly well-focused area of interest. If employers want to hire a polymath expert, they don’t look at college students, they try to rob talent from the competition. When looking at college seniors or recent grads, employers (or prospective grad school mentors) should see demonstrated potential to succeed in the areas you (and they) care about. A high GPA by itself (even combined with school prestige) may not quite convey that potential. So in making your final choice, consider internship and research project opportunities (as well as the quality/variety of courses or majors).

@tk21769‌ Yes, you are absolutely right. Thank you very much for your advise!

I used to develop trading systems on Wall Street. While areas like Investment Banking and Mergers and Acquisitions might care about which school you went to, for anything computer-related, your school didn’t matter that much. I worked with techies (and traders) who went to little state schools I’d never heard of.

I was suspecting about that too but just didn’t really know. How about quantitative analysts or ‘quants’? Are the ‘quants’ in between the IB or M&A types and the techies? Or are they more similar to the techies than the financial people?