Cornell Admit! 1 DOWN, 3 TO GO.

When were talking about #1 or #3 on rankings, I don't think were talking a big difference here in terms of prestige.

There are a couple of reasons the decision would be tricky:

1) GSB, cut it however you want to, is more of a quantative school. Kellogg is far less so. I know the GSB goes a long way to dispell this myth, and to an extent I believe them, but I still think thats it more of a quant school, and I've never, nor never will be a strong quantatative individual.

2) I know Kellogg well, and have strong connections with several professors there. I would have a distinct advantage of knowing the school, the culture, and being close enough to a few professors that I could possibly become involved in certain things there that I might not at the GSB (i.e. co-authoring a paper) - at least not as easily. It's hard to consider all the possibilities here - but having powerful and famous individuals in their fields as contacts could serve me very well for both my internship and for my eventual job placement.

3) From a cultural standpoint, I've always thought Kellogg was filled with more down to earth people than GSB. My experiences at Fall Preview made me think otherwise, but I honestly dont know.

4) Generally speaking Kellogg is considered stronger in Marketing and Entreprenuership - two of my interests.

5) Location - I'd rather live on the north side of chicago and commute to evanston than live on the south side and commute to hyde park.

On the other hand, Kellogg looses in some respects too:

1) It's facilities are a trailer park compared to GSB. Truly, there is no comparison.

2) Their curriculum is not flexible and I'd be stuck taking classes I might not want to take. This is a pretty big one.

3) Knowing the school as well as I do means that its got a bit of a "meh" feel to it - there's nothing new to me there, and there's a bit of a feel like I'm not trying something that I don't already know if I go to Kellogg.

4) My professional network in Chicago is made up of a lot of GSB grads and few Kellogg grads. I'd come out of the GSB with an established network of alumni who are in the field I'm already interested in. There's at least an argument to be made that I could pick up the phone and say: "Hey Tom, It's me. Listen, I need an internship." and I've have one in a week. I don't know if that would change with my going to Kellogg, but as a GSB student, with an established GSB network, I'd likely have a stronger shot at pulling tricks like that.

5) GSB does not disclose grades. Kellogg does.

Thanks for the detailed and interesting (as always) reply.

I'd like to refer a Pro No 3 - personalties of the students. Of all the alumni I met, the GSB guys and gals seemed the most open, friendly and encouraging of all. On the contrary, every K person had something (some thing) about them that I did not quite like. Of course, this is not a representative example, but still...

And to counter...

I went to a GSB evening presentation and the alumni I met were boring, had difficulty communicating ideas and one or two even seemed nervous. The Kellogg alumni I met at their evening presentation - on the other hand were amazingly friendly, full of smiles and basically seemed like the kind of people I'd want to invite over. Then, I went to GSB's Fall Preview and the people I met there were incredibly nice, open and friendly. Yet, I've also met many Kellogg students years ago, and they were all cocky and arrogant, abrasive and absolutely full of themselves (with a few exceptions). Maybe it's different if you are part of the "club".

So, to recap:

Kellogg event: Great Alumni
Other Kellogg experiences: Arrogant Students
GSB event: Boring Alumni
Other GSB event: Great Students

is that a trend we see here?
does MBA change people that much?

What do you guys think of the choice between Wharton and Chicago? Tough question, but I am just wondering about general impressions. Obviously, anyone should be so lucky to have to pick. I am making the assumption that academic rigor is standard. I am thinking of MC or IB afterward, boring I know. Beside the employment statistics, I wonder if the opportunities are largely the same??

Wharton:

1. its wharton
2. largest alum network
3. I like the learning team and cohort concepts, ensures that you get to know a group of people very well


Chicago:

1. Build your own curriculum
2. My interviewer said that the network wasn't all that great?!?!?
3. I wonder about a lack of cohesion and everyone jumping around a great deal, not getting a core set of individuals to mingle with

I would go to Chicago because I promised my friend who recommended me to the adcom to go there But that is too personal reason to be taken into accont in general discussion.
Apart from that flexible curriculum is a benefit for career switchers like me and allows for more networking possibilities.
However, I would not dispute that Wharton is generally a better recognized brandname than Chicago.

I would - any recruiter worth their salt is going to know the name Chicago, and, least round these parts, anyone would know the name Chicago and a few people might not know know Wharton.

edit: When did this thread go sticky?

I don't know. I just noticed it myself and was wondering why.

So Rhyme, you think Chicago has just as much "prestige" as Wharton?

I think it depends who you talk to and where you are. Anyone familiar with MBA programs will know both schools. People unfamiliar with MBA programs will be instantly impressed with a Chicago MBA in these parts, but may not recognize the Wharton name.

I think they are, honestly, equally prestigious.

This is not true, at least from the prospective student's perspective. For most students Wharton is considered the better school. Go to admissions411. Under the Schools tab, click on 2008 and pick Chicago. You will see that many students that were admitted to Chicago got dinged from Wharton. In the case where students were admitted to both, almost everyone chose Wharton over Chicago.

Really, I think that says it all....

I wouldnt put too much weight on Admission411. The samples there are relatively small, and probably skewed.

Actually, I think the admissions411 data is very valid for school comparisons. Yes, the sample data is skewed in terms of GMAT scores, and this is understandable; people with high scores or stats will be more willing to post their data. However, the site does not show bias toward any particular school, so in this area the data is valid. For example, Harvard has much higher yield rates than Chicago, therefore I would expect students who were admitted to both schools to chose Harvard over Chicago, and guess what, the admissions411 data, supports this. Now, if the admissions411 data shows that admitted students for both schools would mostly chose Chicago over Harvard, then a case could be made that the data on the site has a bias towards Chicago. I have done enough comparisons to believe that no such school bias exists in the site's data.

I think Wharton is slightly more prestigious, but I believe that Chicago can be more useful depending of ST and LT goals. Really no anser to this question, it is just interesting. I am not sure where I would go if I got into both school, hopefully I have that dilemma in 3 weeks!

I'd like to go to a quant score because I am not a quant person. It would go a long way to dispelling the impression that I am a quant idoit.

I just don't know how many people come to really update their profiles there - i mean if you look at cornell R1's there are a lot of unknowns, but all of those have been dinged or accepted by now. Yet, only a handful have updated. So what I meant is, given the poor overall response rate, I'd question how many people go somewhere and never report it or, people who report a school choice but then change their mind.

Hey guys,

I got into the part time programs at NYU, chicago and Kellogg... i had to make my choices between chicago and Kellogg... a large reason i choose chicago was that I had met a great group of alumni that LOOOVED the school in Los Angeles (mind you it was a full time info session as they dont have part time sessions worldwide). They were extremely enthusiastic and one of the alumni that i kept in contact with was always willing to help me out.... Then came the time for a visit to the school... since i was a part-timer i had to make seperate visits...w hen i contacted chicago they made a special appointment with me and welcomed me with open arms... northwestern on the other hand just emailed me and said that they're too busy and that i could email them questions.. so this kind of tells u that even though kellogg really didnt accomodate to me AT ALL even when i explained that I was coming all the way from Los Angeles and I have a lot of constraints to overcome... also i just liked the flexibility around the chicago program but this applies more to the part time program as kellogg max's you out on the number of classes chicago allows you to instill a full time curriculum if you choose to do so because either u choose to quit your job or u got laid off or u jst have a easy quarter that u can pick up one extra class... so these are my thoughts hope it helps even though im JUST a part timer...

**** GREEN WITH ENVY ****