Georgetown McDonough vs. USC Marshall

I'm in a similar situation. Accepted off the waitlist from both schools but going to Georgetown. I am not a big fan of giving advice (I'm probably wrong half the time anyway), but here's my thought process.

I've already lived in CA. AMAZING place. Women are beautiful, weather is great, dress code is casual. No better place to live (in the U.S.) in terms of overall lifestyle. There are some downsides, of course. It's ridiculously expensive, they tax the **** out of you if you make any money, and you have to drive everywhere and sit in LA traffic. LA is probably the weirdest "big" city in the way it's so spread out. Some love that aspect, others hate it. Washington, D.C. is nearly the opposite. Women are not beautiful (okay some of the international women are), the weather sucks, and the dress code is more formal. You can pretty much get around anywhere in the city with the metro or bus systems.

Marshall is a fantastic school to go to if you plan to live in LA or SF (guess you can throw in SD too) after graduation. Georgetown is similar for the mid-Atlantic region and NYC. Marshall has the advantage in Asia, Georgetown in Western Europe. Beyond those regions for each school, you have to do the work.

Here's what did it for me. Initially, I was all in for Marshall and living in CA again. But, the admissions team really irked me throughout the entire application process. First of all, the way they schedule interviews (you sending them an email with available times) was the oddest thing I'd ever seen. After my first time didn't work, I had to follow up with another time before finally accepting a time slot. All 4 of the other schools I applied to had a very good online system for which I could just select an available time and call it a day.

Second, I heard nothing from Marshall from December until the day I was accepted off the waitlist. Georgetown updated me at every round's decision date, which was much appreciated. These are obviously very MINOR issues, but when you combine them with Georgetown's top notch facilities, higher rankings, an ambitious dean from Harvard who is putting it all on the line, and a very similar international trip component, why not go to the higher ranked school?

You only have one chance to get your MBA. If you want to work in CA, you can find a way. Will it be easy at Georgetown? Nope. But we're all smart people here.