pdwall361 wrote:
rjdunn03 wrote:
pdwall361 wrote:
Just out of curiosity, I'm wondering what factors others are weighing that received a scholarship from McCombs? I got a similar call to others late last week and its certainly weighing on my decision.
Congrats on the admits, and the scholarship! What are your goals after graduation? CBS and McCombs seem like very different programs to me. If you want to go into investment banking, or finance, Columbia is much stronger than McCombs. But for other things it really depends. Take a look at the employment reports for McCombs, if the companies that you are interested in recruit at McCombs then the scholarship and difference in cost of living could certainly make coming to McCombs worth it.
If there's a particular strength that both Austin and NYC share, it's high tech start-up business. While Silicon Valley still is king, these two are 2nd and 3rd in the country. Essentially having the community exposure to these companies (knowing full well my time to get involved would be several years after b-school) was something I sought in my applications. So far I'm reweighing the factors which led to my applications in the first place (student community, network, brand, etc.).
I don't know much about Columbia's entrepreneurship/startup focus, but McCombs is very strong. You nailed it, Austin is an awesome place to get exposure to start ups and tech. A big draw to McCombs is the Venture Fellows program. From what I understand you work closely with Venture capital firms throughout your time in the program, and then you are placed in an internship with one of them as well. That would give you excellent exposure to the Austin startup community.
For tech ventures I'd say McCombs is one of the best programs you'll find. Columbia has a stronger overall brand and reputation, but finance is really their bread and butter. Plus its hecka expensive, both for tuition and cost of living, with the UT scholarship the difference is even bigger. Also, I know they are working on this, but Columbia seems like more of a commuter school, rather than a tight knit community like McCombs. Again, these are differences that you should weigh. It just depends on whether you think the benefits of McCombs are worth the drop in brand reputation. Some surely wouldn't.
You say it would be several years before you really got involved with the high tech start ups, what do you plan to do directly after school? Will you be attending preview weekend? Might be a good chance to see what you think and how you feel about the program.