regional vs national business school
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20 Jan 2007, 11:02
Hi,
I’m curious in hearing everyone’s thoughts on the value of going to regional vs national business schools.
I applied to four top-15 schools and to my hometown regional school, the U of Washington (29th in UW News). If I get into any of my top 3 choices, I will definitely go. However, I’m beginning to wonder whether it would be better to go to my #4 choice, NYU (if I get in!) or UW, which I’ve already been admitted to and received a scholarship.
Here are some more details: I work in finance now and would like to work in research, trading, or portfolio mgmt for a buy-side firm after getting an MBA. Also, I will most likely live in WA or CO immediately after school. Finally, my wife’s a lawyer, which makes leaving WA tough for her because she may have to take another bar.
NYU is appealing because is has a strong national rep (though not on the level of a Chicago or Stanford), it has a top finance program, it’s a bigger program with more students (800 vs 200) and finance electives, it probably has higher quality student body, it has some great clubs and a student-run investment fun, there are good summer internship opps in NY, and I like NY (but I don’t want to live there long-term). Big drawbacks are the cost, the difficulty in making WA and CO contacts, and the general wife crankiness with having to move across the country and look for a new job.
UW is appealing because it has a good regional rep (it’s really the only decent b-school in the whole NW), there's more opp to make regional contacts, yearly tuition is way less ($8k vs $40k), housing costs and moving hassle are way less, my wife already has a great job lined up, and I like Seattle and wouldn’t mind living here long-term. Big drawbacks are the tiny size, the lack of a student investment fund, and the lack of prestige.
So what would you do? Do you think WA and CO firms would make a big distinction between an NYU MBA and a UW MBA?
Thanks in advance!