Welcome back to Which School Wednesdays, a column meant to highlight content from blogs, our wiki and various discussion boards in which applicants, students and even alums are sharing their reasons for applying to or attending various MBA programs. Our objective is to identify valuable sources of school-specific information and help prospective students better understand the factors they should consider in making their decisions.
For many admitted students choosing which offer to accept and even applicants deciding which programs to target, a school’s ability to provide preparation and the necessary networking for success in one’s future goals is the primary consideration. In a recent business week post about choosing between Duke and NYU, one banking-bound applicant lists this as the most important factor and possibly the most significant difference between the two programs:
“Stern has got a better reputation for Finance. Duke scores in the overall reputation and is excellent for marketing. Even from the recruiting stand point, you can see that the top 41 recruiters at Duke offered around 180 full-time offers last year out of which only around 40 were in Finance field and 40 in Technology/Consulting. Rest of the offers were mostly in Marketing.
One of the current Indian students at Stern has informed me that this year, all the Indian students were successfully placed including many engineers who have got into I-banking. Banks are on the campus during pre-term itself. So if you want to get into Finance, Stern is the school for you.
On the other hand, one negative aspect with Stern is that despite the school‘s best efforts, Stern is still known as a Finance school and this may be a problem if you plan to get into Consulting at a later point in time… Mckinsey gave out about 3 to 4 offers and other consulting firms such as Deloitte, Booz Allen gave out totally about 10 offers… Marketing, Technology and Media & Entertainment are the other strengths. Duke on the other hand is a well-rounded school and can open doors in any field you wish to get in.”
As this discussion shows, conducting some research on which firms hire at which schools – and to what extent – can be a very important consideration when thinking about the feasibility of securing a certain type of job out of a particular program. Meanwhile, applicants who are confident that they could achieve their career goals by attending any of their options are in a less black and white predicament. One business week poster, responding to a plea for input on a Michigan vs. Duke dilemma, poses some great questions that, given careful consideration, might point an admitted student toward an answer:
-Which school will YOU want to stand up and sell as a student and alum? What are your main selling points going to be (magazine rankings, # of McK hires, environment, alumni network, etc.)?
-Hopefully you’ve met students and alums from each program by now…which group would you rather have as team members, employers, or employees?
-Which program makes you more enthusiastic and will inspire you to perform?
-In which environment will you prefer spending the next two years?
-How important is a school’s ranking/prestige to you? Will it matter to you personally in 1, 2, 5, 10, or 20 yrs if the school you declined is now 1, 3, or 5 spots higher than your alma matter in US News/BWeek/Forbes/etc?
That concludes this week’s edition of Which School Wednesdays. As always, those applicants looking for personal advice on where to apply or enroll based on their priorities and goals are welcome to contact us directly or post an inquiry in our Business Week thread or the Studylink forum. Meanwhile, those of you who have made up your mind are encouraged to contribute insights and thoughts to the School Choices section of the Wiki.
