lawgirl27 wrote:
Hey mgh234, I think you are overthinking but I guess it is normal, as choosing what b-school to go is a huge decision! anyway, any of the schools you are considering would be an excellent choice!
Being said that, here are my two cents: all of the schools you are considering will offer you the opportunity to enter consulting or finance, I truly don't think that you will be in a worse position in any particular school.
Particularly about UCLA, I have spoken with many students that made a career switch to consulting (entering McKinsey and BCG) or to finance (landing excellent jobs in banks such as JP Morgan). They told me that they did not find it more difficult than some friends they had in other schools like Booth and Columbia. The good think about UCLA is that less students will be interested in pursuing careers in finance and consulting (as most people are interested in entrepreneurship and Media and entertainment) which means less competence. Also, I do not know about consulting but UCLA is really strong in finance.
Of course, if you prefer any other schools for other reasons, that is a completely different story!
In my case UCLA has always been my first choice mainly because of personal fit with the school and its community
Hope this helps.
Thanks! I actually work at JPMorgan investment bank now, but in a non-front office project role. If I attend UCLA, I may consider trying to jump to FO finance since UCLA is stronger there. Although, I wonder what % of the finance jobs are front office...I was speaking to a friend from Duke MBA, and some of the people they send into consulting are "human capital consulting" not management consulting, and some of the people they send to Citigroup/JPMorgan are consumer bank rotational programs and operations, not the investment banking. It's tough to get an accurate picture from the employment reports I guess. I'm just very concerned about the ROI overall, since I'm very close to the post-mba starting median salaries at a lot of these schools, and certainly would be above them by the time I graduate if I stayed on my current path (while having a 40 hour work week). Wouldn't mind it if I can get a better long term career path, but not even sure if that's the case anymore. I'm worried I'll graduate with $100k+ in debt, same pay I would've made, worse hours, and further away from VP than I am now (I'd get VP in my current job in 2 years). Plus, I've gotten pretty serious with my girlfriend and leaving for 2 years will be difficult.
On the other hand, I'm not very happy on my current career path and feel like I could do a more prestigious/interesting job (I graduated during height of financial crisis, and lost a front office offer I thought I had), and I've been in NYC for 9 years and really want an opportunity to live somewhere else. I've wanted to live in LA for years, and I have a lot of good friends who live there. I just wish I could get some more clarity around what % chance I'd have at getting a pure front office finance or management consulting job. The employment reports only tell you company (which isn't useful) not the divisions, and they only throw their most successful students at you for discussions, so it's tough to get a good gauge.
Hey, I hear you on that. I am in a similar boat as you, have been doing either IBD or equity research in the bulge bracket for the last 7 years, made A2A and will make VP this April. Seems like the increasing experience requirements for MBAs have kinda dislocated typical finance career trajectories. This is my two cents though, the Anderson level schools will give you a shot at front office, but its not going to be lev fin at GS, something more like industry group at Wells Fargo or something like satellite BofaML (not judging either one either way, but I think everyone can recognize they are two different lifestyles/trajectories). That has been the experience of my friends at Tepper/Ross as well. PM me if you wanna chat on these topics as I am trying to wrap my head around career trajectory/switching as well.
12 Feb 2014, 13:27
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