B.school strength and potential weak points?

Question

Hi all,

Just wondering, since I don't live in the USA, what is each B.school strength and potential weak points? for instance, how or why Chicago booth is good in finance? or why is Stanford good in entrepreneurship?

In the same regard, I'm considering a future role in consumer product industry such as P&G, Unlever, Pepsi....etc. Which B.School would you consider to best prepare you for such roles?

Thanks.

bsd_lover · Answer

Hi sontawilla, in fact most schools are trying their utmost to move away from such stereotypes. For instance every time I've mentioned the words strong in finance to Columbia folks - they mention their super strong MC placement numbers. The Wharton presenters tried to demonstrate how strong their marketing faculty was.

These stereotypes have built up over time and there are some historical and geographical reasons for these to exist. For instance Stanford is located next to Silicon valley so finds it easier to place students in startups - so it gets the reputation for being strong in entrepreneurship. Similarly University of Chicago's history (ever heard of the Chicago School of Economics?) and its faculty + placement reports suggest that Booth is strong in Finance.

But to be honest, there is little to separate most of the top schools (unlike what businessweek forum posters would have you believe). So, for your aims best do the following research :
- Do your dream recruiters hire from your target schools ?
- Would your school place you in the location where you want to work?
- Do you fit well within the student body?

FMCG is an area that I dont know much about, however, most strong GM schools should fit the bill.

Sontawila · Answer

Thanks bsd_lover for your reply

How would you find specific and detailed information about a school that is relevent or can be used in essays? In addition, how would or wouldnt I fit with the student body? I'm sorry if my questions seems too $#%# but I was planning to prepare for applying to business schools (GMAT, Essays...etc) and so far the only thing that makes sense to me is the school name and reputation. That is until I stumbled upon this awesome forum that led me to rethink my whole approach. Thanks again.

Jerz · Answer

The schools' websites will have a lot of information about the program: concentrations and academic programs, employment information, class profiles, etc. Also if you look around here, the B-school application forums have topics for many MBA programs, where applicants - and some current students - talk about the schools as well. Last, once you've narrowed down your target school lists a bit, you can contact students at the schools you're interested in by looking up club officers in relevant clubs to your career goals (i.e. consulting club, IB club, marketing club, etc.)

bsd_lover · Answer

Yup pretty much what Jerz said. There are advantages to being located physically closer to recruiters in niche fields. For instance if your target is the entertainment industry / hollywood, UCLA, USC, Stanford and Haas would give you better access to the West Coast companies. But I dont think this would apply to FMCG.

You may determine fit by assessing the student body - raw numbers such as average age - some schools like them younger, incoming industry - although these tend to be pretty diverse across the board, class size - a smaller class size tends to foster stronger bonds. Although nothing beats visiting the school itself and interacting with the students. Alternatively try to meet alums in your region. Don't be shy about it. Alums are usually pretty easy going and eager to help (I've noticed this about alums from all schools).

refurb · Answer

I found this difficult at first, but figured it out eventually.

It's important to make your essays very personal. What I did was go through the course listings and look for courses that were directly relevant to my post-MBA career goals. You can also do that with the clubs, conferences, institutes, interdepartmental collaborations, etc, etc.

So basically look at everything a school has to offer and see what interests you! It makes it much easier to write if the topic is of interest to you!

In terms of fitting in with the student body, the best way to is to connect with current students and alumni through email, telephone calls and school presentations. Once you talk to enough people you'll start to hear the same thing over and over again and you'll get a sense of what the school environment is. Then you can talk about it in your essays!

Good luck!!

RF

OhThatMBA · Answer

Ditto this. And the more you dig into their websites, learn about their course offerings, talk with their students, etc., the more you'll find that the schools have many subtle, but nevertheless important, differences. Those differences had a huge impact on my essays and on my school preferences. It takes a fair amount of time and effort, but it was actually a lot of fun to imagine being at each school and to anticipate what it would be like to get an MBA. The more research I did, the more excited I became.

Sontawila · Answer

Thank you all for your valuable inputs. I sincerely appreciate all the advise giving here.

Now..time to get cracking

B.school strength and potential weak points?

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