I'll be a MS-1 at AE this fall and was looking into Chase, Citbank, and First Union. Chase and Citibank are pretty ubiquitous throughout the city and First Union is a little less common, but it's good for Philly too. All of the above banks have checking accounts, but if you want to avoid fees, you're going to have to go with First Union because they are a little more student friendly.
Chase- $9.75/month fee. You can avoid this fee by maintaining a $3000/month average balance.
Citibank- $3.00/month for student banking. You can avoid this fee by maintaining a $1500/month average balance. (However, this includes an average balance across savings, CDs, mutual funds, and something else.)
First Union- NO FEE, but it has to be a student account.
Good luck choosing a bank. I may go with Citibank and First Union.
P.S. Merlin, did you decide to go to AE. I know you were wavering. PM with your concerns and stuff. I'd be glad to give you some objective advice.
