Age Old Ross v. Fuqua Dilemma

Question

I have already gotten some feedback on here but I'm still stuck.

I'm a career switcher that was formerly a teacher.

I'm aiming for MBB, Big 4, and social impact consulting (Parthenon, Bridgespan). That is the big goal.

I like that I have a little more money at Ross (25% of tuition) and I seem to fit in better with the pedagogy (action based) and do-good-er-ness of the school. The BBAs Ross shares are annoying though. I don't see myself settling in the Midwest besides Chicago. Chicago is a gem. It has tough regional competition with Booth and Kellogg. Ross runs dual-degrees. I've been told I wont need a car at Ross. I have 30k more on scholarship aid than Duke.

Fuqua has enough opportunities to keep me occupied. (Ross has more than I could ever handle.) Weather is phenomenal. The school and students are pushing to ensure that Fuqua is a top 10 program. I'm a quick flight from home. (South Florida) Fuqua places well in the Southeast and just as well as Ross in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. I could do Atlanta, Miami, Houston, Dallas, and Charlotte more than any other Midwest town besides Chicago. I've been told I need a car at Fuqua.

Similarities:
Both schools party.
Both do well in consulting. 
Both have similar culture. Team based, etc. 
Cheap cost of living
Strength of recruiting in Northeast and NYC
Ann Arbor and Durham/Chapel Hill area

Ross Advantages:
Minor Scholarship
All the institutes (Center for Positive Organizations, etc.)
Dual-degree opportunities
No need for a car
Consortium Membership (opportunities for minorities in recruitment)

Ross Cons:
Arctic Winters
Strength of recruitment in Southeast is weak
Against Booth and Kellogg in the region 
Further from home

Fuqua Advantages:
WEATHER (can't stress it enough how much this matters to me)
Southeast recruiting is strong 
Competes with Darden and Goizueta (easier recruitment)
Close to home (direct and cheaper flights)
Seems to have a better reputation than Ross
No BBAs running campus

Fuqua Disadvantages:
No dual-degrees
A bit more expensive
I seem to have better fit with Ross students
Not consortium

The big criteria is where am I going to move further along in consulting. Also, which is a stronger business network overall.

Secondary criteria is where I will work post graduation and expenses. I believe living expenses should be comparable but I havent vetted that.

Hopefully that gives you a better picture of my criteria.

coby9999 · Answer

I'm biased since I'm a current student at Michigan Ross. Just to share my 2 cents here:

1, Reputation:
- Don't agree Duke has a better reputation vs Michigan. Historically, both schools were ranked in Top 10. While with the rise of Haas (with Tech in SF)/NYU and Yale (with Finance in NYC) in the last 20years, both school were pushed out from the Top 10 group. They two are quite stable as 11-13th schools recently, with a slightly higher position of Michigan.
- With about 50years longer history and larger class size, I would argue Michigan is better recognized in business world in general. For the "annoying" BBAs running in the same building, don't forget Ross BBA is a Top 5 program in the nation, which also helps in building reputation of Ross brand as a whole.
- In short, they are close in reputation. I might even argue Ross has a slight edge here.

2, Consulting recruiting:
- For MBB placement, Michigan placed 7.2% of total class during 2008 to 2013 in FT, and Duke placed 5.9%. For MBB+Deloitte/Booz/ATK, Michigan placed 13.6% during the same period, and Duke placed 12.0%. So Michigan has a slight edge in placing its graduates across major consulting firms.
- This study is certainly not the most accurate one, but it can give us a quite fair sense in terms of the school penetration as well as the size of network in consulting industry. Michigan is the strongest as a non M7+Tuck school.
https://poetsandquants.com/2014/01/17/wh ... sulting/2/
- In short, Michigan has a slight edge here.

3, Regional placement:
- Lots of people here are originally from Midwest, and they prefer to stay in this region after bschool. This is more a self-selection thing. Same logic goes to Duke for Southeast. While I do know some people here landed consulting jobs in firms that you're interested across Atlanta, Houston, Dallas and etc. So location should be fine here.

4, Career after consulting:
- As one of the best public university in the country, Michigan has the largest living alumni network in the world. Besides a Top 15 Bschool, it also has a Top 10 engineering school (which Duke doesn't), a Top 10 medical school, and a T14 law school. A lot to be leveraged for things after consulting as a Wolverine.

Last but not least, you have a better fit with Michigan, and you get scholarship from Michigan but nothing from its peer Duke. So I would say just take the money and enjoy Ann Arbor.

jbotero08 · Answer

Thanks for the response  coby9999 . I agree that my dislike of the BBAs is more of a function that the winter garden is packed with students. That will be fixed by my second year in which BBAs will have a building to themselves or more so offset the space issue on the building. In other words, that is a petty dislike.

Great analysis of reputation. That makes sense. Duke also hurt itself by making the class a bit bigger. It would make sense for recruitment purposes if the school was on its own but with KF down the street, Duke did not need to enlarge its class.

I know trends are irrelevant but I do feel that Fuqua is gunning to improve its standing and be a solid top 10 or at least break into it more often. I believe that Fuqua can be more nimble given its private school ties and still relatively young age.

To be honest this is a complete toss up which is what makes the decision difficult.

Coby what do you like about Ross? How has the school treated you?

kingfalcon · Answer

Do you want to live (and have your network in) Chicago? Ross.
Do you want to live (and have your network in) the Southeast or Mid-Atlantic? Fuqua.

Otherwise, choose based on fit.

PTK · Answer

Hi, 
First of all, I have seen a lot of Ross vs Fuqua heated discussoin here on forum, you may want to research and read. I remember a thread where guys deeped dig and tokk into account not % but the the nu,ber of people who get into tier-1 (MBB) or tier-2 (big4, and others). After deep research you will see that both schools are on par and you cant go wrong when choosing one school over another. 
I think your decision will be based mainly on preferences and where would you like to be after MBA rather than on hard data and statistics, which is pretty similar as both schools strong enough.
I would suggest you asking yourself several questions.
1) Do you plan to visit admit week-ends in both schools? Do it, i think it will help you to make a weighted decision.
2) You mentioned that you are a career switcher and that you are aiming at MBB, Big 4, post graduation. Now imagine you are competing for consulting jobs with 1) Booth and Kellogg graduates 2) UNC, Darden and Goizueta. For a career switcher like you it would be easier to compete with 2) rather than with 1) group.
3) Ross runs dual-degrees. So what? do you need second degree? why? 
4) Will you still consider Fuqua and Ross if you be accepted into Tuck or Booth? 
5) How much do you weight Consortium? If not very much, then it seems you dont have many disadvatages points in Fuqua. 
6) have you negotiated scholarship with Fuqua?

coby9999 · Answer

For the ranking trends, I also feel that the school of Fuqua has been more aggressive in this regard. And some ppl here have been mentioning on the rise trend of Duke. While the fact is that Duke has been sliding from a Top 10 school during 90s/early 2000s to a 11-14 school since then. It hasn't been ranked in Top 10 since 2004, and has been in 13/14 in recent years. Let's see how it goes for the on the rise solid Top 10 thing.

I like Michigan Ross for these reasons:
- All schools claim that people there are nice and supportive. While I really feel that people here help others out genuinely.
- As a career switcher landed a job in one of MBB, I find all the resources and support, including Major firms on-campus recruiting activities, Consulting club, Career group (FACT group), MBA2 peer coach and etc, are super helpful in my consulting recruiting.
- The school pride of Michigan is a really unique thing. And people here take it very seriously.

jbotero08 · Answer

1) I will visit both admit weekends. 
2) I rather go up against the southeastern schools vs. Booth/Kellogg. 
3) I like the dual-degree in public policy. If I will finish up my formal education with MBA I rather have the option of pursuing another MA to round out my education. I can take extra courses that will help me towards my long term goals in the social sector. In the short term a dual-degree might not help me, in fact, it might hinder recruitment momentum etc. 
4) If accepted at Booth everything is out of the window. If accepted at Tuck I believe I would most likely enroll at Tuck. The consulting opportunities are too strong at both programs to pass on over money. 
5) I'm trying to figure out the weight of the Consortium. Weight is proportional to how much it will help me during recruitment. I'm still trying to figure this out. 
6) I have drafted an email. I'm trying to figure out if I should mention Ross by name or not. I know they compete head-on, but it might be tacky or unbecoming to mention Ross.

Thank you for the feedback  PTK .

PTK · Answer

I know a person at Ross who is a a dual degree student MBA /public policy, pm me if interested to connect.
I googled the web and found that Duke also oofers dual degree , take a look
https://www.fuqua.duke.edu/daytime-mba/j ... e/mpp-mba/
https://sanford.duke.edu/academics/maste ... ess-mppmba

Age Old Ross v. Fuqua Dilemma

Ross or Fuqua for MC, "prestige" and placement in Northeast, Mid Atlantic, and Southeast.

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