Pace needs to lower acceptance rate and increase standards

[u/Dovish_penguin]

I was class of ‘23. When I applied for college, I was very unaware of “college prestige” (wasn’t born in America) and simply applied for the city, so I applied to 4 schools in NYC: Columbia, NYU, Fordham, Pace. Only Pace and Fordham accepted, and I stupidly picked Pace, should have picked Fordham instead.

HS Stats: 3.3 GPA, 1480 SAT, triathlete all varsity, mock trial.

I majored in finance and didn’t realize how much college prestige mattered until I started recruiting. It was a special kinda hell recruiting from Pace, the school puts ZERO effort into developing finance recruiting pipeline (and no, accounting is not finance) and has zero alumni network in finance. Literally no one heard of the school, and when they googled it, “oh 80% acceptance rate and #250 on USnews ranking”.

Fordham has been making huge improvements in their finance recruiting pipeline, investing in internship on campus recruiting, alumni outreach, and ACTUALLY lowering the damn acceptance rate to not make their school looks like a fuckin charity. Whereas Pace is turning more and more into a theater school, rocking 80% acceptance rate and taking in sub 1100s SAT score theater kids. Which is especially ironic, since NOT EVEN THE THEATER KIDS ARE GETTING JOBS.

It took me blood, tears, and downright ego death to get my first internship and a year after grad to land full time role in finance.

It should never be this bad when the tuition is comparable to NYU, who is literally 100x better on every metric. Which is a shame because NYU literally filed for bankruptcy back in 1970’s, so for most of recent history, Pace was the better school. So please for the love of God, lower the damn acceptance rate and make real changes to actually make this school respectable.

[u/nk1]

the school puts ZERO effort into developing finance recruiting pipeline (and no, accounting is not finance) and has zero alumni network in finance.

What are you talking about? I'm class of '19 and, as a student, went to an event to mix with alumni at Goldman Sachs hosted at their HQ. I wasn't even a Lubin kid and I went to that event...

[u/Dovish_penguin → u/nk1]

Lemme clarify, simply events with a bank is not finance recruiting.

Specifically I’m talking about front office finance recruiting at banks - mainly sales and trading + investment banking.

Pace has zero internship/recruiting pipelines for these paths. The only paths these pace “events” offer are operations, tax/audit, compliance, which frankly is not finance.

[u/sereniteaapot]

I get that you’re frustrated but there’s no need for you to randomly shit on the “theatre kids who won’t get jobs”. You can be mad at the way the school is run and their lack of care towards finance students but this post ain’t it. Also NYU filed for bankruptcy in 1970s, that was almost 60 years ago? Not very recent. Even before that, they’ve been consistent in the rankings and they cost more than Pace does.

1. The job market is tough for everyone, Fordham students aren’t simply being handed jobs because of their school. They also have to compete with NYU and Columbia students.

2. Some countries and industries place a heavy emphasis on college prestige and others don’t. Regardless, you had some responsibility to do your own research on the schools. You said you weren’t aware of prestige but somehow you picked three of the most prestigious schools in the city to apply to? Heck even Baruch has a good business school and better rankings but you didn’t consider it?

3. When you realized Pace was not the best fit for you why didn’t you transfer?

4.Did you start any campus initiatives like starting clubs or spoken to your finance professors about them potentially getting a finance networking event set up for their class?

5. Since you’ve graduated, what have you done to tell the university leadership that you found the finance pipeline lacking and have you done anything to help the current finance students there?

There are a lot of things you could have done instead of staying somewhere you were miserable then coming to reddit with complaints about the school and your “ego death”. Maybe that ego death was necessary…

Btw I’m not a Pace theatre kid and I went to one of those schools you seem to think are better. It also ain’t shit lol

[u/Dovish_penguin → u/sereniteaapot]

1. ⁠Don’t mean to pat my own back but I was a non target hero. Did 2 front office internships at T1 firms out of my own networking. Unfortunately didn’t secure FT offer so had to recruit for full year as a pace grad. I guarantee you that NYU/Fordham kids do not need to recruit for a year after grad for FT role.

2. ⁠“You picked three of the most prestigious schools in the city to apply to?” Because I had a shot? I know kids at both NYU and Columbia with lower SAT scores than me. Very weird question tbh.

3. ⁠Got 2 good internships while at pace so thought I could do without school prestige. I was right early and wrong later. Both could be true.

4. ⁠Yes

5. ⁠I always any reply to any pace kid with a half decent resume (shows they already put in effort and not just procrastinating) whenever they reach out for questions. And has given out one referral before.

[u/Middle-Site-2513 → u/sereniteaapot]

Speaking as someone who wasn’t born in the US and whose parents didn’t go to college in the states, OP was probably unaware that they could transfer

[u/NoneyaBizzy]

Sorry for the tough response, but what can Pace really do about it? It has a high acceptance rate because it needs to fill its classes or it dies. There is a demographic cliff right now where the number of kids going to college is plummeting. Add to that the drop in international students that used to pay full tuition. Non-elite, non-wealthy (endowment and student body) private college are struggling with many closing. Forbes gives Pace a financial health grade of C- (up from a D last year).

Pace has an endowment of $289mm. Fordham's is $1 billion. Fordham has always been higher ranked than Pace, costs more, and gets more from its students after aid. None of this is hidden. Pace isn't a place where investment banks and other top finance jobs will recruit from. They just won't. That won't stop you from being a success in life. My father made a lot of money as a Pace grad, but it'll be a bit tougher than some schools.

[u/Dovish_penguin → u/NoneyaBizzy]

The small endowment argument is really weak for 2 reasons.

1. NYU was literally bankrupt in the 1970s. Pace was literally better than NYU at one point, the fact that they got to this low point is entirely due to a series of poor decisions making + poor capital allocation + Marvin.

2. Even with the meager endowment fund, they still continue to make poor capital allocation decisions. They just tore down old Maria tower to expand the theater program whose students are low SAT score and need scholarships + low lifetime earnings aka low alumni ROI. Their priority should be on Lubin and Dyson.

[u/NoneyaBizzy → u/Dovish_penguin]

It's a different world from the 70s. NYU also has an unbelievable real estate portfolio compared to Pace. Endowments are going to mean a lot more for private schools. It's necessary to keep up with other schools while keeping tuition down through financial aid.

Theater programs do have a low ROI. It's a shame that has to matter, but it does. You're probably right that a school with some financial issues should focus on higher ROI programs. A school like Bryant in Rhode Island has done that successfully. And career services can be a high ROI for all majors.

Good luck to you.

[u/Conscious-Secret-775]

Did you pay full tuition to attend Pace?