Hi! I’m a high school senior graduating this spring and intend to enroll in fall 2025. To preface, these are the top choices that I currently have. I am grateful for my parents being able to cover the costs of attendance for me. I want to get into finance for my career.
I am an in-state student for UT Austin, so that is the cheapest option for me. Unfortunately, I did not get into McCombs and instead got my second choice, a BS in Economics. If I attend, I would probably grind to do an internal transfer to McCombs or just do an external transfer if that doesn’t work out. I know that finding jobs/internships and even getting into finance/business clubs would be a lot tougher as an econ major.
I got into UVA, but I know that you have to apply for the commerce major after the first or second year, and that is pretty competitive with a 50% acceptance rate. While UVA would be my best option recruiting-wise, it is quite risky, and my parents are not too keen on paying the hefty price for a risky option. I do like Virginia’s campus the best out of the three however, as well as the smaller class size.
IU Kelley might be my safest option, but I know it is also highly competitive, and I am not too sure how I will fare there. I got an 8k/year scholarship, so my yearly cost would be in the 50-55k range. I also got into Hutton Honors, but I don’t think that is very beneficial in terms of career outcomes.
Overall, I like the campuses, social life, clubs, and other factors of each pretty equally, so those don’t factor into the decision as much for me. I’m honestly pretty stuck with my decision and would appreciate any advice from ya’ll. Thanks in advance!
If you want to study finance, then IU. Econ - UT from a cost POV but UVA for a better chance to get into finance. Is it worth it over IU or UT - not in my opinion - but that’s subjective.
UVA is your best recruiting wise for what?
You can get to the same from all three places. And that’s a lot of extra delta at UVA for “maybe”. That said, if your family can afford it and that’s where you want to go, it’s a personal call.
IU removes all your first year stress, etc. So I’m going there if I want finance.
All of these schools will be competitive. What gives you the sense that Kelley would be more competitive than UVA(with its holistic hunger games secondary admission process to McIntire?)
I generally prefer direct admit options to the major that one wants. If you for sure want to major in business/finance, Kelley is your only option assuming it’s affordable for your family.
UT Austin could also work in terms of job outcomes, but you would most likely be an Econ major there. Studying Econ is not like studying finance. Have you looked at the required for the major course descriptions there? How do they look to you?
If you decide to transfer out of UT Austin entirely, and go to a college that has a business school, you may not be able to finish in 4 years because your UT Austin classes might out fulfill the business core. It doesn’t matter if the new school accepts all your credits if they don’t fulfill the core courses…I’ve personally seen this happen with many transfer students I’ve worked with. Also, transfer students tend to get less merit aid and there aren’t programs like Hutton honors.
What type of finance are you looking to get into? Where do you see yourself living immediately after college?
Econ is not the same as business. I was an Econ major many years ago. MBA later.
Did you take AP Econ? Do you like math?
Econ paired with math/stats is an employable combination.
UVA doesn’t make sense at full-pay and a 50/50 chance of business. Essentially the same scenario at UT but much less expensive. It looks like UT has a Finance minor with Econ.
It’s really a choice of Kelley guaranteed vs UT. Which one do you like better? Which one feels like a good home for the next 4 years?
I think your outcome will be similar at either school, it’s just the paths might be different. Both are excellent schools. Good luck.
A few things to triangulate. Do you have a strong school or location preference? Where do you think you will be happier to attend school (usually will yield better results).
In terms of job prospects for finance, if you are talking big city bulge bracket type employment, McIntire (if you get in) and Kelley will give you equivalent opportunities. It will be driven by how well you do and where you can land internships, especially summer junior year. You can also get there from UT, more easily from McCombs (and on par with Kelley and McIntire) but also possible through an Econ major. But realistically, the big bucks jobs in finance are very difficult to get, even from tier 1 target schools. If you think you will be happy to live in Texas, UT anything has huge cache in state, maybe more so than Kelley or McIntire.
The real choice is UT Econ (with a DS or stats or math minor?) vs. IU Kelley (direct admit+Hutton - although Hutton won’t help directly to get a job, it does offer some more interesting or non weedout special sections of requirements+better advising& opportunities). So it all depends whether you are interested in Economics and could handle a statistics minor, or would rather study Finance. Both paths can potentially lead you to jobs in Finance but would be very different in content and experience.
Did you apply to any other schools in Texas? Texas A&M? University of Houston? UT-Dallas? Texas Tech? You can get a business degree at a well recruited school for far cheaper than you can get paying triple the tuition to go to UVA.
Just so you know, the chances of getting into McCombs as an external transfer is about 25%. And that’s with a 4.0 GPA. Most of the “rejects” for McCombs end up transferring to Texas State University or UTSA.