poem wrote:
Dear Gmatclub readers,
I've got offer from Wharton (w/o $), Booth (w$60K), Sloan (w/o $).
Profile: female, Asia, Singapore, Vietnam, engineering, hi-tech industry
Post MBA: internal strategic planning (or consultant -- not really like) in hi-tech for short-term, entrepreneurship & trading for long-term
Post MBA location: does not matter. I stay where the opportunities are.
Financing MBA is a pain, and $60K means quite a bit to me. However, I know that $60K is negligible for long run. If any school of the 3 schools much better suits my career, I'm willing to overlook the scholarship. Actually my first choice is Wharton. And the old historic "H/S/W" trio at the top. I'm not brand concious, but I know brand-name may have huge impact to my career, my opportunities and network. Any comments/opinions are greatly appreciated.
Disclaimer: I'm not trying to create any hostility among students/alumni of these 3 schools. All schools are great, and I'm so lucky to be accepted. Please make this thread a friendly discussion. Thank you so much.
Pls forgive of my slow response (if any) as I am travelling.
Poem.
There should be no issue getting all the funds you need from either of the 3 schools through loans as an international student.
I have visited and interviewed at all 3 programs on campus as well as networked heavily with students from all 3 programs.
First off, I would recommend you download their career reports for each of the programs. You will see the same top firms recruit at all 3. Wharton and Booth send about 40% of their class to finance related careers. MIT sends 20% of their class to hightech and internet based careers. All three send 20-30% of the class to consulting careers.
How do you like the campus atmospheres?
I found Wharton to be very nice. Right next to the large UPenn campus, lots of activity. No dedicated space for MBA students as the Ugrad and grad wharton business students share the building and study areas. Very large class. With a large class comes tons of activities and interests to explore. Tons and tons of travel opportunities. You can take a semester at the San Francisco campus to study entrepreneurship your 2nd year. You can take a semester at INSEAD and live in Singapore or France for a semester.
Chicago's Campus is beautiful. Dedicated space for graduate students, lots of study areas and you also have the downtown campus to meet up. You will most likely live in downtown Chicago in the "Dorm" highrises. Chicago is the cheapest of the 3 areas to live. You will live like a king for what it would cost to get a studio at either Philly or Boston near the campus. Also Chicago is a great city. I currently work in Chicago. Top notch facilities including a huge gym and fitness building 10 minute walk from Booth. Chicago is also has more entrepreneurship activity than Boston or Philly. Booth works with "1871" with is a huge start up incubator and work space that is famous in Chicago. The polski center for entrepreneurship is also solid.
MIT is located in a nice area. Boston is the most expensive of the three areas. Smallest class size out of the 3 schools. MIT offers tons of lab classes which is a huge plus for me. School is more tech focused, opportunity to tap into other MIT departments. Very strong in entrepreneurship (Booth and Wharton is also quite strong). A good 50% of the student body come from Science Engineering or Technology backgrounds.
Overall, you honestly can not go wrong with any of the programs. There are statistics you can find on how much on average graduates make 5-10 years out of business school, Most of the top 5 -8 schools are within a +-10% variance from one another.
A 60,000 scholarship. Say you attend Wharton or MIT and took 60,000 in additional loans, after interest that would balloon to close to 75-80,000 with the interest. Saving that much money will potentially allow you more financial freedom to start a company of your own sooner. I know A LOT of people who have picked Booth over Wharton even when money was not in the picture. Booth is a great program and is rising very quickly in brand value. The last 5 years Booth has done all the right things.
Good luck on your decision. There is no wrong choice you can make with your particular career goals.