UNC or William and Mary?

I am a transfer student who has been accepted to both of these schools. I plan to attend their Business schools concentrating on Finance. I also plan to major in Economics. I was looking for some advice on which school would seem better on a Resume. I want to have the best possible degree that I can attain. I only have 10 days or so to decide so any and all help would be great!

I am simply concerned with the academics and strength that the overall degree will give me and not so much with the social atmosphere etc.

Hi,

I'd say it depends on a couple of things. If you are a good networker, I would go to William and Mary because their are a lot of people there who will go out of their way for a former school mate. If you're not, I'd say UNC because a lot of people in the SE and Midatlantic regard it as a really solid program in finance (not so much for econ) and will interview you even if they know nothing else about you. It's not that employers think William and Mary isn't a fine school, but they are more likely to view you as a hard-working, self-made and industrious person if you do well at UNC then at William and Mary because a lot of William and Mary student get through because the school doesn't want to lose paying students--Carolina is happy to lose people, and those who get through tend to have been more serious.

In the South and East, more people have affinity for UNC than for William and Mary simply because there are more alumni. If you want to work in the Midwest or in the West, the schools are about equal in reputation and alumni population.

If you need to work on your writing skills, though, go to William and Mary--UNC cannot remedy writing problems (I've personally seen them worsen writing problems), and William and Mary turns mediocre writers into good ones. Nothing will hamper your career worse than poor writing skills.

If you want to go to graduate school in Econ, I would recommend William and Mary because graduate schools, including UNC, respect William and Mary more as preparing good writers and researchers. If you want to go to an MBA program, UNC prefers it's own alumni to alumni from other schools, but most other MBA schools would rank them equally.

Hope this is useful.