omwtobschoool wrote:
Hi everyone,
New poster here - been lurking for a while. I'm a Class of 2010 from the University of Chicago and am thinking about applying for Kellogg MBA program. I am currently working as a strategy consultant in a boutique firm and am taking the GMAT soon in order to apply in the upcoming year. As an undergraduate, I studied Economics and took 5 classes at Booth (undergrad and graduate sections) so I am familiar with Booth's well-known rigor and focus on economic theory.
After meeting various Kellogg alums I am sold on the school, with its friendly atmosphere and emphasis on teamwork. In my experience Booth students do not lack those qualities but I wanted to hear other people's opinions. I intend to advance in my consulting career (Kellogg seems like the obvious winner if so) and possibly move into the healthcare or education space later on. B-school hopefully will help me figure that out. Booth is known for finance but has an extremely flexible curriculum, rigorous academics, and a higher ranking.
What other perks about Kellogg sell it over Booth, and vice versa? On the other hand, would a flexible model such as UCLA FEMBA Flex or UNC Online MBA offer as enough networking and prestige?
Thank you in advance.
Hey, Kellogg PT student here, hopefully I can help a bit.
The things that made Kellogg my first choice by a wide margin were its emphasis on teamwork, the Accelerated Option/curriculum flexibility, and the incredible student body and faculty.
Most classes have a teamwork emphasis, with some making up as much as half your grade in the course. Some people don't like this approach, but I see it as a great opportunity to learn from classmates through hands on projects throughout the program. Some projects are external consultations for other companies, which definitely makes the subject matter even more interesting as it's immediately applicable.
Since you have an Economics undergrad degree, you can apply for Kellogg's Accelerated Option, or at least waive some of the core business courses. As a recent grad myself ('12), I didn't see a lot of value in retaking courses I took just a few years ago (ex. Intro to Accounting, Intro to Econ, etc.). This option alone saves $6k per course waived, or up to $40k+ in tuition if you waive them all...not to mention the time savings. If you want to go through the more traditional cohort, you can still apply to the regular program option. AO students have a lot of immediate flexibility to plan courses that meet your interests without all of the core courses, but there's already a strong group of us that are taking similar courses, so there's still that "cohort feel."
Lastly, the student body and faculty are both excellent. My current professors teach across the FT/PT/Exec programs, and all are top notch. The students are excellent as well, as backgrounds such as audit, corporate finance, engineering, sales, medical (at least 1 MD I know of), etc. are all represented. Roughly half the class is international as well, either here working/residing in the US now, or traveling in from Canada. The Saturday program has people coming in from CA, Canada, Texas, PA, NC, IN, OH, etc. If you're interested, there are also numerous international short term (1-3 week) exchange programs and global trips.
I have been very impressed by the experience so far and highly recommend you look into one of the visitation options. An additional side note is that Career Services is granted for life. All alumni that I've contacted have been incredibly supportive as well.
PM me if you have any other questions I may be able to help answer!
-B