Choose between Georgetown, UNC or NYU

From the brief description of your situation, I am thinking this is not a school vs school issue. Rather, it's you vs your family issue.

Let's break this down:

Let's forget for a second that all 3 schools are great options. Let's just start off by where you would probably want to spend next 2 years based on your career goals, mentioned above.

1) Your career goals: Perhaps the best school that matches your career ambition is NYU Stern. Whether it is location, reputation , curriculum , alumni, etc - NYU attracts a lot of future and current Wall St aspirants to their program year after year. If you take everything else out of the equation, it sounds like you would take this option without a doubt. Sure, the cost of living issue concerns you. But NYU places most of its students in the northeast, especially NYC area. Compared to mid-atlantic and southeast region, your internship and post-MBA job in the northeast will reflect this cost of living adjustment, reflect higher salary + compensation package.

2) Your family: UNC and GTown are viable options because of your family. As mentioned, you have a 1 yr old child. Perhaps it's not the best time to pursue FT bschool education at this time, but life has its own plans. You got into top schools and maybe you said to yourself, "Maybe I should postpone my education for now and work on other important things..." But who knows if you will have this chance 2-3 yrs from now? Your situation and qualification might alter your candidacy as a FT bschool student. You will be little older and wiser, but some bschools are not kind to older applicants, etc.

Also, you don't want to complicate your husband's career. A move to NYC will complicate everything, and some say that NYC might not be the best place to raise a toddler, especially when one of the parent will be a FT student, while the other may or may not have a job in the new city. Therefore, why not consider UNC and Gtown. They may not offer certain things that NYU may offer, but certainly, they are great programs. Students at those schools find jobs on Wall St year after year. Why not you?


So here's the tough part. Do you choose NYU and do what's best for your career, or do you choose Gtown or UNC and take one for your family? There's no easy answer, but the fact that you are hesitant to choose the first option indicates (to a degree) that you are not the type to choose work over family.

Here are some options to consider:

1) If you had an extra year to sort out your issues, would that give your husband a chance to sort out his situation at work (and maybe relocate to NYC area)? The fact that your child will be little bit older, would that make it little easier? Would it be a big deal to stay in your current job for another year? If not, why not ask NYU for a def-feral? Schools don't like offering such option unless more admits commit to that school than expected, but given your situation (especially the fact that your child is only a yr old), I am sure you will find someone in the admissions office who can empathize. If that attempt fails, well - you will be in the same situation that you are in now. You won't lose anything by simply asking them if such option is available. Bottomline - if NYU is your preferred destination (ignoring other factors involved), do yourself a justice, and fight for what's best for you.

2) If NYU says no such option is available, you are down to 3 options. Option 1 - choose NYU and complicate everything else, but it doesn't sound like you are that kind of person. Option 2 - defer bschool plans for another yr by asking your other schools for deferrals or apply again 2-3 yrs from now......which probably doesn't sound like something you want to do. It sounds like you have support from your husband to pursue MBA and it sounds like you want to get MBA yourself. Option 3 - take one for the family and go to UNC or GTown. As mentioned before, plenty of students get to Wall St from those 2 schools. It's not like you are choosing to go to dental school when you wish to become a heart surgeon. Simply, you are trying to find a middle ground that will work for your family. Yes, you may have to put in extra effort to find opportunities in equity research but you can say the same if you choose to attend NYU Stern. Competition for coveted jobs is fierce in bschool. You have to beat out your classmates for first round of interviews on or off campus, and then beat out students from other schools in latter rounds. One may argue that NYU can probably offer variety of opportunities compared to Gtown or UNC, and also presence of alumni in those companies (alumni factor may or may not help in getting you the final offer but the recruiting history between the firm and the school over the years count a lot) also can not be discounted. But for every top bschool student who gets the job of his/her dreams, you will meet another one who didn't. I've met few students from other schools this past summer at the firm I worked for. They didn't receive FT offers from the firm at the end of the summer. Few of them ended up with FT offers in finance in the fall. But others could not and now they are looking at other opportunities that they have not considered before. Plans change sometimes because just like we can't all get into HBS or Stanford, etc, not all of us can get a job of our dreams regardless of our talents and qualifications.

So in the end, if it works out with NYU, great! Living in Greenwich Village can be quite fun for 20-somethings. I spent my undergrad years around the Washington Sq park and in general, I loved every minute of it. If NYU does not work out, it won't be the end of the world. Strong people with determination to achieve what they want to do will more often find success than not. In the end, most people find jobs that he or she can live with. Besides, I forgot if it was rhyme or 3underscore who said this, but they can't believe how many people changed their jobs already only few yrs out of MBA programs. Your first job out of bschool won't make or break your career.