Booth vs. Sloan

Good points (and congrats on the admit off waitlist!). I think you're right on the considering MIT largely because I'm from the area, but there's something to be said for liking the students and program overall a little more, having a better network/brand recognition from there potentially when I stay in the northeast the rest of my life (in all likelihood), and it's not like deciding between a T15 and M7--they're ranked pretty similarly in most people's/employers' eyes.

If I recruited directly for PE, I think Booth is the clear answer but I'd say that's only maybe a 25% chance. If I went with IB, I'm sort of hoping Sloan is equal for recruiting strength there, and my sense is they're pretty close even if only a tiny % recruit for it. from a career perspective Booth is clearly every bit as good and probably better which is why I should probably be leaning towards that (since that's what the MBA is for!).

Hi OP

So your goal is IB right? Booth of course sends more people to that industry. Same with PE. Those are facts and data you can gather from the employment reports. They probably have great resources as a lot of people go to Booth as anything finance is their strength and its ties to the finance industry are just amazing.

I can talk to you about IB recruiting at Sloan as 3 close friends (international) recruited successfully last winter. Basically few people are interested in IB at Sloan in general. About 30 people started networking when recruiting season started by heading to NY every friday during fall semester last year. After some time, many of them decided they didn't want to pursue IB anymore due to the commitment, time sink, etc. Out of everyone that continued networking, every single one of them got offers, pretty early too (most of them early January). So you are right when saying that whoever really wants it and puts the work, will get it.

As you say, PE is tough from anywhere. A friend of mine at Sloan with PE experience recruited quite successfully (international), getting more than one internship offer. I know others without experience that weren't as successful. My friend mentioned that there IS an advantage of going to HSW as some funds were straightforward saying that they only recruited from HBS or Wharton, for example. My friends that recruited PE from Sloan heavily leveraged HBS's events and job postings (which are accessible to Sloan students). I am not sure how it is at Booth and how easy it would be to transition without experience from there. Getting this info could help clarify your doubts.

So if you want IB, you will get it from both. If you want PE I would say Booth is the better choice.

Now, the fit/culture/where you will be more comfortable part, I think you shouldn't disregard. But think hard how important this is to you. Because the career outcomes were similar, I picked where to matriculate based on where I would feel most comfortable. Of course this decision was made after visiting the schools, talking with people, bringing my SO into the equation, etc. 2 years can be a long time, and you want to be where you will be most comfortable (of course once the professional part is sorted out, which as you say is why we go to school in the first place).

Happy to chat more about Sloan, feel free to PM.

good luck

Booth seems to be the clear winner here. I’d be willing to bet the difference in Booth alumni in IB/PE vs Sloan is significant. Look at Sloans most recent employment report and compare it to Booths.

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@Sdfn19--all excellent points. I think right now my heart is saying Sloan but my head is saying Booth. Career-wise Booth gets an edge, but culture and fit-wise Sloan feels better for me, and I'm just holding out hope in either case that the relative "deficiencies" (probably too strong of a word) on the one side don't cancel out the strengths I'm selecting upon--for whichever choice I do make.

This 100% Booth is silly to me as both are M7 and in basically the same non-HSW tier (although I take tiers after HS with a grain of salt). Sloan is going to set you up just as well as Booth in pretty much everything. Honestly, PE is going to be near impossible from both (unless you recruit for the lower middle market shops), and both will place you into IB if that is the path you want to go down. If your heart says Sloan, you are going to regret not going there.

Spot on--this is exactly where I am right now. Differences in IB and consulting placement across the top few schools are so negligible and especially among Booth/Kellogg/Sloan/CBS that fit does feel a little more important than being known as a finance/tech and entrepreneurship school.

I’m going to have to disagree with you because the facts don’t align with what you’re saying. Just from an employment report perspective, Booth sends a noticeable amount more per year into Private Equity/VC than Sloan. Additionally, the total alumni network in PE/VC and even IB is substantially larger than Sloans. So if you’re goal is PE/VC with a backup in IB, then objectively speaking, Booth is a much safer bet.

Please look at the past few employment reports for each school (and take notice at class sizes too). Also, do a LinkedIn search for alumni in these fields. You will see the difference.

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Thanks for your post. FWIW I've looked at the employment reports and LinkedIn extensively--when I was deciding on which schools to apply to, after I applied, once I was accepted, and especially in the last week.

Agree, in PE (disagree on VC though) Booth has far more alums. This is a product of more people in PE pre-MBA matriculating to Booth, and PE being a networking-driven field for post-MBA Sr. Associate/VP positions. However, two thoughts are that I don't want to live in Chicago long term (NY or Boston is best) and Sloan is not far behind Booth (if at all) in those markets. Also, I have a ton of difficulty separating the % going into PE from each from understanding my odds of placement from each at this moment. For me as an individual, are my odds at PE x% at Sloan and 2-3x% at Booth all else equal, if I put in the same effort? If so then I see the value of Booth. If they're both x%, and the higher % going into PE is just a product of pre-MBA experience being higher at Booth, then it's not relevant.

For IB, I totally disagree with you. For me as an individual interested in IB and hoping for GS/MS/JPM or an EB, looking through the employment report shows me my odds at placement at one of those is pretty equal (e.g., if I'm one of 70 at Booth recruiting for IB and placement at my desired banks is 35 people, odds are 50%; if at Sloan, maybe 10/20 for still 50%). Sloan may have less of a competitive environment even for those slots (though I wouldn't assume so necessarily).

The only key difference may be wanting to get place at Evercore (to a lesser extent) and Centerview/Qatalyst (much more so). Those may be my top choices and only accessible via Booth, but not sure I should place a school decision on that hope.

Some great points above and many congratulations for your Sloan and Booth admit.

I recently did some research for Sloan, and like someone mentioned above, it’s more of a tech school rather than analytical. Considering your ultimate aim is more on Finance side vis-à-vis PE and VC, Booth seems to be better choice here.

Also Sloan could be strong contender for a international student due to its international brand image but considering you would be in US, again Booth makes a clear cut bounce here.

Culture wise, I don’t think there would be too much of a difference in Boston & Chicago but again that would be a question for the alums.

At the end, both schools are great and you can’t go wrong choosing either of the schools. Good luck and do let us know when you finally decide.

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Congrats on two great options - good problem to have for sure. You shouldn't have a problem getting into IB from either school but as others have mentioned, Booth is a much stronger feeder into PE and has significantly deeper alumni ties. The brand is also stronger overall and especially on the finance side. Having said that, if feel strongly that Sloan is the better fit, I don't think it is crazy to choose it over Booth.

To address some of your points, Booth's flexible curriculum is certainly a positive, if you want a more "classic" curriculum, you can start with the foundational classes (micro, accounting, stats) and not take any of the advanced options. Furthermore, while Booth doesn't have cohorts in the same way some other programs do (eg take all of your foundational classes with them), cohorts do exist and you take LEAD with your Cohort and participate with them in a variety of social events. On the commuting front, 65% of Booth students live in a five block radius in downtown Chicago with 50% living in one building. I found this a great mix as if gave me access to the city while still maintaining a strong culture. From speaking with friends who went to Sloan, people tend to live a bit more spread out around Boston so it will have some of the commuter vibes as well. Unless you are at a Tuck/Kellogg where everyone lives on campus, commuting is a tradeoff you have to deal with. Personally, I ultimately preferred access to a world class city vs being on a college campus, but that is up for you to decide.