Re: Booth vs Columbia
[#permalink]
02 Apr 2012, 19:43
My background is finance.... IB, PE, and HF.... I applied to both schools... and what I am about to share is what I thought of both schools when i decided to apply as these were neck to neck on my list.
Both are great schools and you can't go wrong BUT I will vote for CBS.
1) NYC advantage is huge when it comes down to finance (especially when you are recruiting for PE, IB, HF)... i have friends at Booth making weekend trips out to NY to recruit on their own expense... That's really painful when you have coursework and social events to attend. Your 2 yrs may be full of recruiting trips, missing out on all the good social stuff. I did a run on employment report for 9 top schools on HF/IM recruiting... CBS tops even HBS and Stanford in HF/IM jobs purely based on % of graduates entering into these fields. HBS may attract the hottest PE/HF but, by numbers, CBS places more of its MBAs to HF/IM than any other top schools. Booth came in at 5th after CBS, HBS, Stanford, Wharton... (This is just on HF/IM placement).
2) Booth seems too technical and quanty.. let's face it, unless you are going for some phd level finance and etc, you are not going to need the rigor that Booth teaches in the real world. Come on now, I've work in PE, HF, and IB for 6 yrs combined now and we don't use that fancy theory shix that textbook teaches at work. Practical focused teaching of CBS is better and comes more handy when it comes to the real world
3) Ivy and general reputation can be ignored (true that ppl who hire you know that both are awesome schools) BUT I've seen a lot of ppl put a ton of weight on these things and I don't blame them. If you went to crappy undergraduate, it's fair that you want to tone up your pedigree with some well known school name. I don't blame you folks. That's probably why MIT Sloan gets more hype than it should get. Most updated Poets and Quants reflecting USNews ranking puts MIT at #7 among the M7 (not yet updated on P&Q site) but a lot of ppl think Sloan is better than that. A lot has to do with the pedigree of its parent university brand, not Sloan's. Sloanians, thank your fellow MIT engineers.... Frankly, the brand Columbia is more well-known and better than U of Chicago's brand. My cousins who live in Chicago for 30+ yrs knew Kellogg's MBA rocks but looked a bit confused when I was so gungho on Booth. They knew Booth but its reputation was no near Kellogg's. My cousins are not avg. Joes either. One is a SVP at a renowned magazine company and one runs his own tech start-up. I think this has to do with Kellogg's clout in the MBA circle dating from wwaaaaayyyy back (since 1988 when BW first published MBA rankings... Kellogg came in at #1 for the longest time) vs. Booth's momentum has been a recent phenomenon... It could be different 10-20 yrs from now if Booth can maintain its current ranking status (although I see this extremely tough as they have pretty much maxed out their potential in ranking as #1,2,3 will most likely be HSW, Booth will go as high as #3 but Booth is at a spot where they can't move upward anymore. HSW would be just too tough and established to beat. So Booth has room to decline in rankings as Kellogg, CBS, Tuck, MIT, Haas can be a legitimate threat at a solid #4 spot in pure ranking terms).
Sorry for the long post but give it a thought between B and CBS. you are really splitting hairs but if you are a finance guy (especially IM/HF), you are better off going to Columbia. For PE and IB, both are strong with a slight edge to Columbia given its NYC advantage. Guys, this NYC advantage is huge... and it makes recruiting that much more accessible and easier...and cheaper since you don't have to fly out and book hotels... tuition and forgone income are already pain in the neck.