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Tepper(no $) vs Smeal(free ride)- Intntl- SCM/Operations [#permalink]
 22 Mar 2013, 15:31
Hey all,
Hoping to get your thoughts.
I know this is fairly one sided. But would like to understand the reasons behind it.
Schools : Tepper (no $), Smeal (free ride + small stipend)
Target field : Supply chain management/Operations, if this doesn't pan out then Management consulting
Region: Northeast
Complication: International from a developing country, visa implications and debt post MBA
I have visited both schools and obviously liked CMU. However I didn't dislike Penn state either. The SCM class I was sitting in on Penn state was rather lively and interesting. I am willing to take the risk to get into debt and earn a degree from CMU.
But the assumption is, I will have to work for 10 to 20 years to pay off the debt. If both schools are going to get me into similar companies for SCM roles, is it worth to spend $150k?
Where do I draw the line between going to prestegious school vs financial freedom to take any job I want post MBA?
What do you think interms of Curriculum, Faculty and Network at both schools, keeping in mind that the costs associated with each option.
I really appreciate your inputs.
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Re: Tepper(no $) vs Smeal(free ride)- Intntl- SCM/Operations [#permalink]
22 Mar 2013, 15:51
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well there is a pretty big jump between penn state and tepper i think. I don't know much about that field, so i'd take a look at the employment reports. If penn state can get you where you want to be, then it might be worth it to go there. But I doubt there will be many opportunities for management consulting out of penn state.
the financial freedom of penn state doesn't mean that you'll be able to accept any job you want after school, in fact many companies that recruit at tepper likely won't recruit at smeagol. Also keep in mind that as bad as this sounds, penn state is still at a low point due to what happened with whats his name.
That being said, 150k is a lot of money. have you tried to apply anywhere else? maybe there is a happy medium. another program that is ranked a bit below tepper that would give you some money. Something like georgetown or similar. Unless you are only looking in pa. my point is that personally i wouldn't go to penn state over tepper even with the money. it's too big of a jump. But not knowing much about supply chain management I can't comment as to penn states ability to get you where you want to go.
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Re: Tepper(no $) vs Smeal(free ride)- Intntl- SCM/Operations [#permalink]
22 Mar 2013, 16:37
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My first thought when you mentioned SCM/Ops was Smeal. Penn State is really really good in that area, but like kason said if you were to change your mind and go a different direction (management consulting or otherwise), you might have a tough time coming out of Smeal. You sound like you want to go to CMU and you're looking for reassurance that taking on the debt will be worth it for you and your career. Have you tried going back to CMU and asking for $$, given that you have the Smeal $$ offer? They might be able to offer you something or potentially match the offer.
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Re: Tepper(no $) vs Smeal(free ride)- Intntl- SCM/Operations [#permalink]
22 Mar 2013, 17:44
Thanks kasonhills for your reply. kasonhills wrote: well there is a pretty big jump between penn state and tepper i think. I don't know much about that field, so i'd take a look at the employment reports. If penn state can get you where you want to be, then it might be worth it to go there. But I doubt there will be many opportunities for management consulting out of penn state. I was surprised to see the employment reports of Penn State, they place students in firms like E&Y and Deloitte for SCM consulting roles. kasonhills wrote: the financial freedom of penn state doesn't mean that you'll be able to accept any job you want after school, in fact many companies that recruit at tepper likely won't recruit at smeagol. Also keep in mind that as bad as this sounds, penn state is still at a low point due to what happened with whats his name. I agree. The financial freedom will buy me only SCM roles. As "aerien" mentioned Smeal does well but only in SCM. kasonhills wrote: That being said, 150k is a lot of money. have you tried to apply anywhere else? maybe there is a happy medium. another program that is ranked a bit below tepper that would give you some money. Something like georgetown or similar. Unless you are only looking in pa. my point is that personally i wouldn't go to penn state over tepper even with the money. it's too big of a jump. But not knowing much about supply chain management I can't comment as to penn states ability to get you where you want to go. Matter of fact I did. Wisconsin, which is another good but not great program with respect to rankings, gave me half of tuition fee, but I feel that's neither here nor there.
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Re: Tepper(no $) vs Smeal(free ride)- Intntl- SCM/Operations [#permalink]
22 Mar 2013, 17:48
Thanks for your response aerien. aerien wrote: You sound like you want to go to CMU and you're looking for reassurance that taking on the debt will be worth it for you and your career. You are right on the money. aerien wrote: Have you tried going back to CMU and asking for $$, given that you have the Smeal $$ offer? They might be able to offer you something or potentially match the offer. I haven't tried that and I think that's really a good idea. I just got the admit this Monday, so this will be a good next step I guess. Also I am planning to attend both admitted students week end to find out more about recruitment.
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Re: Tepper(no $) vs Smeal(free ride)- Intntl- SCM/Operations [#permalink]
22 Mar 2013, 19:18
Go to Smeal if you are really serious about SCM. It is really good in that area (only). If you do, forget about MC. However, if you can arrange for the money, get a loan or something and are risk averse ($100k is huge money) - choose Tepper. It would any day top Smeal in most fields by a good margin, better network, higher starting packages and a much respected brand. Amazon and a lot of other tech/operations firms are big recruiters at Tepper. You only have to decide whether you can afford Tepper, somehow. Good luck. PS: I voted for Smeal.
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Re: Tepper(no $) vs Smeal(free ride)- Intntl- SCM/Operations [#permalink]
22 Mar 2013, 19:43
boothcornellrock wrote: Go to Smeal if you are really serious about SCM. It is really good in that area (only). If you do, forget about MC. However, if you can arrange for the money, get a loan or something and are risk averse ($100k is huge money) - choose Tepper. It would any day top Smeal in most fields by a good margin, better network, higher starting packages and a much respected brand. Amazon and a lot of other tech/operations firms are big recruiters at Tepper. You only have to decide whether you can afford Tepper, somehow. Good luck. PS: I voted for Smeal. Thanks boothcornellrock. I like the way you transformed the question. I see, albeit different questions you too are in a similar situation.
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Re: Tepper(no $) vs Smeal(free ride)- Intntl- SCM/Operations [#permalink]
23 Mar 2013, 10:31
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gtvisa2002 wrote: Thanks kasonhills for your reply. kasonhills wrote: well there is a pretty big jump between penn state and tepper i think. I don't know much about that field, so i'd take a look at the employment reports. If penn state can get you where you want to be, then it might be worth it to go there. But I doubt there will be many opportunities for management consulting out of penn state. I was surprised to see the employment reports of Penn State, they place students in firms like E&Y and Deloitte for SCM consulting roles. kasonhills wrote: the financial freedom of penn state doesn't mean that you'll be able to accept any job you want after school, in fact many companies that recruit at tepper likely won't recruit at smeagol. Also keep in mind that as bad as this sounds, penn state is still at a low point due to what happened with whats his name. I agree. The financial freedom will buy me only SCM roles. As "aerien" mentioned Smeal does well but only in SCM. kasonhills wrote: That being said, 150k is a lot of money. have you tried to apply anywhere else? maybe there is a happy medium. another program that is ranked a bit below tepper that would give you some money. Something like georgetown or similar. Unless you are only looking in pa. my point is that personally i wouldn't go to penn state over tepper even with the money. it's too big of a jump. But not knowing much about supply chain management I can't comment as to penn states ability to get you where you want to go. Matter of fact I did. Wisconsin, which is another good but not great program with respect to rankings, gave me half of tuition fee, but I feel that's neither here nor there. Ok I see, well like I said I don't know much about SCM but it sounds like Smeal has decent placement there so if you are dead set 100% positive that you want to do that, then yeah I could see it being worth forgoing the brand and recruiting of CMU. But if you think you might want to explore other options I'd definitely go to Tepper. It's a big investment yes, but the long term return will likely be much greater. Let us know what you decide to do and good luck.
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Re: Tepper(no $) vs Smeal(free ride)- Intntl- SCM/Operations [#permalink]
24 Mar 2013, 21:24
kasonhills wrote: Ok I see, well like I said I don't know much about SCM but it sounds like Smeal has decent placement there so if you are dead set 100% positive that you want to do that, then yeah I could see it being worth forgoing the brand and recruiting of CMU.
But if you think you might want to explore other options I'd definitely go to Tepper. It's a big investment yes, but the long term return will likely be much greater.
Let us know what you decide to do and good luck. Thank you, I will definitely keep you all updated.
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Re: Tepper(no $) vs Smeal(free ride)- Intntl- SCM/Operations [#permalink]
09 Apr 2013, 12:47
Just to update you all, CMU reviewed my scholarship request and said they cannot offer.
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Re: Tepper(no $) vs Smeal(free ride)- Intntl- SCM/Operations [#permalink]
11 Apr 2013, 01:24
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Have you looked at U Pitt (Katz)? Is that even an option? From my memory they do well in MIS and Operations and place well in firms like Deloitte for SCM consulting. I could be wrong.
If that's not an option, I would probably take Smeal to be honest. A full ride is no joke and sure, Tepper/CMU is a more prestigious brand, I would probably like to live in Pittsburgh - but if you can get into your desired post-MBA career role/industry, then it's a no-brainer.
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Re: Tepper(no $) vs Smeal(free ride)- Intntl- SCM/Operations [#permalink]
11 Apr 2013, 02:53
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How sure are you about SCM ? I would agrue that you can easily stand out in Smeal and probably will get job in Big4 SCM. Once you get your foot into the door its all about how you perform there. If it was Cornell or Duke, then it was worth the risk. However CMU still has to catch up with Duke and the high tuition will only make things tougher for you.
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Re: Tepper(no $) vs Smeal(free ride)- Intntl- SCM/Operations [#permalink]
15 Apr 2013, 09:06
westsidah408 wrote: Have you looked at U Pitt (Katz)? Is that even an option? From my memory they do well in MIS and Operations and place well in firms like Deloitte for SCM consulting. I could be wrong.
If that's not an option, I would probably take Smeal to be honest. A full ride is no joke and sure, Tepper/CMU is a more prestigious brand, I would probably like to live in Pittsburgh - but if you can get into your desired post-MBA career role/industry, then it's a no-brainer. Thanks westsidah408. No, I haven't looked into Katz. I was there at both welcome weekends. Penn State (Smeal) exceeded my expectations and CMU wasn't even considering my requests. During the finacial aid session at CMU, the answer I got is "No, we don't have a loan option for international students without a US co-signor". How can a reputed school tell me that I am qualified and I would be a good fit and say they cannot help me arrange the funds??? (Interest rate in my country to get a loan is anywhere from 11.25% to 13.75%) To sum up, Penn State does a good job (not great) in placing SCM/Operations roles (companies such as Apple, Sears recruit for traditional roles and Deloitte, E&Y recruit for consulting roles) and I am leaning towards Penn State. I need to put in my deposit for CMU today. I will update this post later in the day.
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Re: Tepper(no $) vs Smeal(free ride)- Intntl- SCM/Operations [#permalink]
15 Apr 2013, 09:13
AbhiJ wrote: How sure are you about SCM ? I would agrue that you can easily stand out in Smeal and probably will get job in Big4 SCM. Once you get your foot into the door its all about how you perform there. If it was Cornell or Duke, then it was worth the risk. However CMU still has to catch up with Duke and the high tuition will only make things tougher for you. This is exactly what my concern is, at this moment I am 90% set on SCM. But what if I rethink and would like to chnage, at Penn state there wouldn't be a lot of options and at CMU I would be ok. It all comes down to Flexibility vs Money (short term, anyway). No one can say that it will be impossible to change industries at Penn state and will be absolutely possible to get the job I want at CMU.
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Re: Tepper(no $) vs Smeal(free ride)- Intntl- SCM/Operations [#permalink]
16 Apr 2013, 02:41
gtvisa2002 wrote: AbhiJ wrote: How sure are you about SCM ? I would agrue that you can easily stand out in Smeal and probably will get job in Big4 SCM. Once you get your foot into the door its all about how you perform there. If it was Cornell or Duke, then it was worth the risk. However CMU still has to catch up with Duke and the high tuition will only make things tougher for you. This is exactly what my concern is, at this moment I am 90% set on SCM. But what if I rethink and would like to chnage, at Penn state there wouldn't be a lot of options and at CMU I would be ok. It all comes down to Flexibility vs Money (short term, anyway). No one can say that it will be impossible to change industries at Penn state and will be absolutely possible to get the job I want at CMU. Better get in touch with couple of CMU graduates and get a picture from them regarding career changers.
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Re: Tepper(no $) vs Smeal(free ride)- Intntl- SCM/Operations [#permalink]
19 Apr 2013, 14:53
I have decided to enroll in Penn State. It's sad that I will not be able to go to CMU but I did not want to assume the financial burden. Especially being an international student and having already used up 5 years of my 6 year H1B limit, this is the most sensible option. I have started looking for an apt in state college.
Though I have reached the end of B school application process, I will be happy to help current and future GMATClubbers.
I thank those who provided their inputs and wish you good luck!
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Re: Tepper(no $) vs Smeal(free ride)- Intntl- SCM/Operations
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19 Apr 2013, 14:53
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