Admitted - Darden ($$$) vs Booth ($)

Question

Hi everyone, I would very much appreciate your thoughts on the following dilemma - I've been accepted to Darden with a full-tuition scholarship and to Booth with a 20k/year scholarship. I visited Darden and loved the students/faculty/case method. I never visited Booth, but I like the culture of the program very much based on the conversations I've had with current students/alumni.

Ultimately, I am looking to go into IB (elite boutique - Evercore/Lazard). Potentially considering a move to London in the mid-term future (5-10 years).

Darden (+)
- case method

Booth (+)
- international brand recognition

Everything else seems on par - no strong preference between the two cultures/locations/IB recruiting opportunities, etc.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts!

ArtichokePizza · Answer

My guess is Darden could get you into the elite boutiques - you should double check however by talking to current students and looking up alumni on LinkedIn. I don't know if it is as strong a brand as Booth internationally though. Can you negotiate with Booth using your Darden offer?

jessepinkman · Answer

Booth is much stronger for IB, Darden is more known as a feeder into consulting. Would go with Booth here despite the money from Darden.

Nikhil · Answer

Tagging current student at Darden  kromay  for his/her inputs

Posted from my mobile device

kromay · Answer

Hey,

Great question. We are core school for Evercore, that's for sure. Lazard is also hiring, but I am not sure how they are doing now because I dropped from IB in November and was recruiting to bulge bracket predominantly. For most boutiques we are core school for sure, Williams Blair, Piper Jaffray, Jeffries (more middle market), Harris Williams. Not all of them have offices abroad though. iBankers love Darden students because of the case method and the rigorousness of the program. They all come on grounds and HUGE advantage is that you won't have to fly to New York every freaking week. Miss classes of course. All networking chats are via phone and all close list events are on grounds. Darden has a policy that prohibits companies make students miss classes. We have 95+% attendance rate.

Booth is obviously a great school and for finance specifically, but full-tuition is a big deal. And second of all you will not be a great deal better off at Booth even internationally with banking. That's my opinion.

I don't see a single reason why you would choose Booth over Darden in your situation. But grain of salt here, I am biased obviously.

teleste · Answer

IDK if you've already made your decision/deposit, but I would definitely follow that money. Darden wants you too!

Admitted - Darden ($$$) vs Booth ($)

Which bschool to chose?

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