UNC Chapel Hill vs other locations

EconPop
Tue, 05 Nov 2019 08:01:51 +0000

fancypants2019:

UNC Charlotte although has the “proximity edge” to Charlotte does not have an edge when it comes to recruiting for Charlotte finance roles. Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler business is #8 in the entire country and one of the most prestigious business schools period. All else equal, a UNC Charlotte business grad will never have the “edge” on a Kenan-Flagler grad. Those are just facts.

Kenan-Flagler is a great school, no doubt about it. I agree it is much more highly ranked than UNC-Charlotte.

However, consider this scenario. Charlotte NC is the 2nd leading banking center in America. Multiple national and regional banks have headquarters in Charlotte. https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/banking/article221589840.html

Take two Accounting students, one at UNC-CH, one at UNC-C. The one at Charlotte works with Bank A during a Sophomore year project, interns at Bank A during Junior year, and is invited to intern again during Senior year because Bank A has been impressed with her work ethic and capabilities. The student at Chapel Hill has the same grades but does not intern with bank A because Bank A does not have internship opportunities near Chapel Hill.

Near the end of their senior year, both apply for the same position at Bank A offices in Charlotte. Who do you think Bank A is going to hire? The student who has a positive 3-year history with Bank A, or the student with the same grades, but whom they know nothing about except she went to Chapel Hill?

It’s simplistic to say location and internship opportunities never matter.

I’m not arguing which is a better university. I’m not debating whether or not UNC-Chapel Hill has better national name recognition. I’m just saying that proximity has its benefits, at least in some cases.

If both students apply for a accounting job in Minot SD, maybe the student who graduated from Chapel Hill would have an advantage.