The thing that makes Simon quite famous is its Pricing program. If you intend to make career in this regard, do come to Simon. It is good and employers love it.
The main criticism is the career center support. You practically have to network/research on your own. They do not even provide the list of the companies that do/do not sponsor. Each student has to make one of his own. Besides, Rochester is a small city which means for networking you have to travel and again on your own. Simon is target school for too few companies. So, unless you have connections in some specific company you are targeting, your job hunt is a challenge.
Has some other drawbacks but not significant such as very very cold classrooms. Let me put it differently. They have AC on in the winter! Do they freeze us on purpose or some one just like it cool is a mystery to me but I have to occasionally leave classroom to get warm which of course affects academics. Moreover, many b-schools subsidize public transportation costs and it is a very big deal for those that have no car. Simon does not do it, which is annoying. Another thing the school needs to work on is providing housing for international students. You are practically on your own here. If you are lucky (literally - it is a lottery) you get a room in dorm (3 dorms, at least in one of them expect mouse and cockroaches to be your friends) if not live off campus but it is super hard to find anything decent before coming. I rented a basement for super expensive price just because I had no idea how else have some roof over my head. However once you are here, it is manageable to find something, but again when you arrive it is peak season, so expect to pay extra.
Curriculum is fine but faculty is a little tricky. In my year the school hired bunch of new profs and not all of them were good. Now I understand why the school rankings have dropped. They did so for a reason.
On the good part, well. I have not been in other schools, so can't really compare but from what I heard from other school students, I find it hard to find some really good parts. Of course the school is better than the average but around its peers, it loses. What do I mean is that for instance Olin B-school pays for your visit for National Black conference (where there is a real chance to get a job), Simon does not. However, it worth to say that Simon preps its students quite well for such occasions. It is also cheap in terms of food however expensive in terms of housing. In Olin, a friend of mine pays 300 per room in 2B1B, here expect to pay 600 and above. So make your own judgement. Rochester is a boring city and some part of it is really really dangerous.
To end it on a good note, if you are careful, well-planned about your recruitment, the school does provide good resources (wall street prep, peer review, etc) to succeed. But you have to work extremely hard.
Overall BSchool experience (3.0)
Schools contribution (3.0)
Classmates rating (2.0)
Student body, diversity
Alumni Network
Pricing
Curriculum, Classes, Professors
Career opportunities provided by school
1. Simon's ratings have improved from #36 to #33 in the last few years according to US News. Rankings obviously differ based on which publication you are looking at, so it is not a useful metric, beyond a certain point. The "brand" created by the university has a larger and more sustained impact especially for recruiting.
2. The Simon website explicitly states that shuttle rides are free for university students.
3. Unsure what weather you expected while planning to move to upstate NY, if not harsh winters.
4. Unsure how the cost of living, especially housing, can be compared between Missouri and NY state.
Hi UVrays- if you are a student, welcome your review!
Or are you an admitted incoming student?
PS. I would say that part of St. Louis are also very very dangerous. That is an accurate statement about almost any major US city unfortunately…
Thank you dear @uvrays for your insightful comment, however not accurate to my statements. Let's try to clear them:
1. I have no clue what's your point here, so skipping
2. Please read carefully; I am speaking about PUBLIC, transportation, not shuttle.
3. Please read carefully; I am speaking about classroom, not outside
4. Dear, only in NYC housing is expensive, in the rest of NY state it is cheap. Even in ROC (further than College Town) you can find very good housing for very good price. I was trying to refer that housing near school is costly, while housing near other b-schools may not be so.
Again, whether you accept my review or not, up to you. But read carefully before making your judgement.