<p>@patriotsfan1 - the comparison was clearly stated to be at the graduate level. And yes, at the graduate level, NU is, by a good margin, the superior school for economics. Rankings can’t always convey meaningful differences; this is certainly true for a field such as economics, which is dominated by a small number of schools. Some even draw distinctions between the quality of the econ programs at Princeton (top 3) and Stanford (top 5), even though both are top 5, as Princeton is still clearly the superior program. There is a significant difference between the quality of the programs at Northwestern and Duke (at the graduate level). However, I have already said that graduate program strength is less relevant to undergraduate education in a particular field:</p>
<p>" At the undergraduate level, most top universities have the resources to provide their undergraduates with an excellent education in nearly any field. "</p>
<p>Actually, mergers and acquisitions is a secondary role of the typical investment bank; underwriting and trading securities is an investment bank’s principal service. I’m not denying that economics is related to investment banking and that a fundamental knowledge of economics is necessary for success as an investment banker. Your internships, however, do not seem to relate enough to investment banking for you to make many qualified statements about IB as a profession. If you haven’t actually worked as an investment banker, you won’t have a feel for what the job really entails. Anyone can describe what an investment bank’s function is by reading up on the field or by talking to those with experience as investment bankers, but no one can actually relate to the field without having experienced it first-hand. You don’t KNOW that you want to do investment banking until you’ve actually DONE investment banking (i.e., through an actual IB internship). The same applies to most other careers. You need more experience with an actual field before you know that it’s your true calling; that’s why Pancaked and I have argued that it’s silly to decide between schools based on an edge in OCR. Most people change majors throughout college…it would be silly to make better IB placement the primary reason for choosing one school over another. </p>
<p>I agree that this discussion has really become bad quickly. Let me make reassure you that I hold Duke in very high regard, and that I acknowledge that it does have its advantages over Vanderbilt. If I were deciding between the two for a graduate degree, I would almost certainly choose Duke. However, I believe that, for the purpose of an undergraduate education, one can achieve what they want at either.</p>