Hey guys, I'm currently in real estate finance and I'm looking to transition to IB and eventually the buyside if I get super lucky. I'm from southern california and I would like to move back to southern california eventually. I'm totally fine living in NYC for 5 or so years.

Is there any point in going to USC over Cornell when cornell is a stronger national and global brand and better in finance and IB recruiting?

Or is the USC network that strong that I'd have a shot at a BB and live happily ever after in so cal. Thanks for any info you guys can provide.

Congratulations on your dilemma!
Those are two great schools and USC has a strong foothold in the Real Estate, as you probably well know.
The main question is - are there any IB opportunities in LA and Southern California? I don't know well enough the industry but I think it will be boutique shops mostly?

Marshall MBA is a more local brand, though Trojans definitely help quite a bit with brand awareness and the undergrad USC name helps but I think Johnson is going to give you a much better shot at IB and being in Northeast is going to make it easier to look for options in NY. (This is just probabilistically speaking obviously; even a broken clock is right twice a day, so you may score well with either program but the way odds stack up, Johnson is looking better for your professional goals).

P.S. If you are even considering going to Johnson, I guess you are not a die-hard Tojans fan, so perhaps that's good enough reason to spend some time away from Southern California.
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I mean I just think for my career Johnson would be better but I wanted to double check.

I would love to be a trojan. USC has some great perks including great weather, attractive girls, great sporting events, and USC dominates so cal from what Ive heard. Theres no question in my mind USC would be more fun but thats now whats most important. I've never met anyone whose gone to USC undergrad and not loved it. But the MBA might be a different story.

I'm trying not to make an emotional decision and base it completely on career opportunities/OCR/network.

I get the sense Johnson is a surer bet. Also my brother is at Cornell undergrad so I would get to spend 2 years with him and we would suffer in the cold together.

But I'd love to hear more opinions on both schools.

Have you considered applying to Anderson? Similar rank to Cornell but socal focus, definitely has bb ib options, and definitely regarded much higher than USC MBA. As someone who's been working in LA for the past few years I'd say USC is OK...not great, and there's a pretty big divide in perception between UCLA and USC at the MBA level.

I've decided on Cornell MBA for sure but If I still want to do a Masters in Real Estate Ill try to go to USC MRED afterwards. Both networks then. YEEEEHAW.

Congratulations! and Thank you for posting your decision! That really helps for folks looking to choose down the road.
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If you're still interested in real estate you can do a dual degree through the Baker Program.
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