These are my top three I’ve narrowed down to but still cannot make a decision. I’ve visited all three as well. I have four days to make a decision. I’m looking for opinions, pros and cons, and anything that could help me out of this situation. I am a Singer Scholar and Foote Fellow at UM as well, giving me a full tuition scholarship and entrance to their version of the honors program. University of Virginia and Wash U would make sense for me financially, I may add.
Meaning your family can afford both of those other options?
What do you intend to major in?
Yes they can afford both those options. I’m interested in undergrad business but I’m mostly undecided in what to major in
See my previous comment
Did you make it into the business schools?
Didn’t apply to it, would switching from arts and sciences be easy?
It is very easy to change majors at WashU. I don’t know about UVa or UM though. I would think it would be easy at UM but not easy at UVa.
It depends on the school/major at UVa.
You’d have to apply to get in to McIntire at UVa.
I would guess most people either love or hate u of Miami and the whole Miami.area. if you are. a warm weather/shorts/palm tree person, then go to Miami and don’t look back.
If u like classic college towns and traditional college looks and feels, then U.Virginia.
Only If neither of those gets your juices flowing, W.U.S.tL.
Regardless of looks, McIntire is a Wall Street target (but you have to get in first, which is not assured). Olin is less of one. UMiami isn’t.
Why is it assumed everyone on the planet wants to work.on Wall street?
P.T., Point I was making in post #9 is that academically these 3 aren’t nearly as ddifferent as the vibe and surrounding area of each are.
Moooop I agree. Talked to a wash u student today on the phone and the classes are punishingly hard. Vibes are totally different but I like them all
I wouldn’t say classes were punishingly hard (yes, there were a few, like Gen Chem that were). There was a lot of academic support with study groups and help sessions though.
For business, WashU is a four year program so you don’t have to apply again. I don’t know about the other two, but some schools you have to apply for entry into the program as a junior.
It’s also a school known for a lot of flexibility- it’s fairly easy to change between divisions, and you can always take classes between divisions. I knew a lot of business and engineering or busi. and arts & sciences double majors. Not every school has that flexibility, so that’s something to consider if your mind isn’t made up.
Although I think it’s silly to assume everyone busi. major wants to go to Wall Street, Olin is becoming more of a target every year.
@moooop, not assumed, but for someone interested in business but undecided (though the OP isn’t sure about that), whether a school is a Street target shouldbe a data point. Whether they get in to other industries is more about them than their school, so that’s not a differentiator.
If you are more broadly interested in business you can major in anything; you don’t have to major in business as an undergrad. Miami does have a bevy of undergraduate business majors, though; UVa and Wash U obviously do, too. I do agree that the difference is whether you want to work on Wall Street or not - business doesn’t automatically mean Wall Street investment banks or hedge funds. If you just want to generally work in business any of these three is an excellent choice. Wash U and UVa are probably more Wall Street target schools than Miami, but I’d be surprised if you couldn’t end up wherever you wanted from Miami.
Besides, though, I don’t think it’s a good idea to choose your college solely or even primarily on the basis of that major, especially since you are undecided (and it would rely on you being able to transfer into a school of business). Any of these three colleges will have excellent post-college opportunities. So this is more going to be based on fit and feel, as well as whether or not you’d be in debt at UVa or Wash U. I know that you said your family can afford it, but does that include taking out loans? I think some modest loans (<$30,000) can be worth it if you definitely have a clear preference for UVa or Wash U over Miami, but if you’re simply unsure, no debt is better than some debt.
I’ve never been to any of these places but just given what I’ve heard/my own opinions, I think I’d choose Wash U. You get an excellent education at a well-known, well-respected university with smaller classes and more personal attention, it seems, than you would get at UVa. Not that UVa and Miami aren’t great schools, but there are so many good things I’ve heard about Wash U - both important (class sizes, quality of professors and classmates, the campus and surrounding town) and not so important (excellent food, great dorms, lol).
This might be worth your perusal: https://olincareers.wustl.edu/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDFs/WCC/WCC_EmploymentReport.pdf
Chose UVA, felt like the best fit and the kind of school experience I wanted. Thanks for help all who contributed
Plus, living in south Florida UMiami felt a little close