BU vs BC vs GW vs Maryland vs UCI vs Rochester

Question

Hi everyone,

I am in need of the communities advice/opinion on these schools that I have been admitted to / some expecting or hoping to be admitted to.
I have done extensive research on each program yet I am still unable to decide how to prioritize these schools.

For arguments sake lets just assume that scholarships are all somewhat equal or that tuition is a non factor as well as geographic location (although I guess proximity to a major city/market would be a small plus)

For career paths I would like to pursue consulting or as a plan B a wide array of opportunity placements into F500s. But also in general which of these schools (if any) have the most name recognition where you can have opportunities in a farther reach of areas outside their respective regions. And also which of these programs would be the most enjoyable / best social life or area to live in for 2 yrs and possibly work in after.

I would also like your guys take for which of these programs do you think has the best international appeal should one try to leverage to start a career internationally in the future.

Now I know this is a very general and broad question to ask as well as a lot of programs to compare. The general consensus would probably be that all these schools are all peer schools and too closely similar to compare as well as all being highly regional, but I would really appreciate any opinions feedback. Or even just voting in the poll would real help!

Thanks guys!

greenzie · Answer

So you haven't been accepted in these schools?

Hubris2015 · Answer

greenzie  I have been admitted to a couple and the others I was going to send last round apps to 1-2 of the 4 so I was hoping to get some feedback on how the community felt about how these programs stack up with each other but so far crickets ? heh.

greenzie · Answer

I see. I think with your original post, you gave the impression that you haven't been accepted to any of those schools and just listed all schools that you applied to. Normally you should be able to narrow down your list yourselves to a final 3 or 4 max I'd say.

Hubris2015 · Answer

yes I can do that in terms of setting up tiers of reach / spot on / and safety schools. However I find that its really hard to choose 2-3 schools out of 6 that are so similar in ranks / placements / and metrics. Thats why I made the post because perhaps someone could help shed light to differentiate between the programs or like have some personal information / anecdote / opinion that can't be found online or just through statistics =].

And also perhaps this thread could be of aid to others who might be in the same decision point between these programs as I'm sure there are plenty who are looking in the 30-50 rank range whether its for their target or safety.

And also perhaps this thread could be of aid to others who might be in the same decision point between these programs as I'm sure there are plenty who are looking in the 30-50 rank range whether its for their target or safety.

MBAstudent2018 · Answer

Hi Hubris2015,

I'm probably not the best person to comment here since I didn't go to any of these schools but here are my two cents from some friends and family that have...

If I had to narrow it down I would be looking at Maryland, BU & BC.

I think in terms of social life it definitely depends on what you're looking for, Boston is obviously a great city with tons of opportunities but College Park is a fun college town so it depends on which atmosphere you find preferable.

In terms of leveraging brand name I think Boston College wins out here. It has an outstanding undergrad program and the alumni base extends throughout the country. They have tons of alumni at F500 companies that I'm sure will help you land a position you're looking for.

Maybe someone who went to these schools can give you a better idea but hopefully that helps a bit

Hubris2015 · Answer

Thanks for feedback  MBAstudent2018  !

It just happens those are the 3 schools on top my
list so looks like we are on the same page.

I found BC vs BU to be a hard decision. I am aware that BC has the stronger undergrad both for business program and overall university rank and probably general prestige. However I noticed that the BU graduate program seems to be more well regarded? Not to be too much of a rank nazi but it looks like BC program has been on a constant downward trend since the mid 2000s and barely made it on this years top 50 and I'm wondering what the reasoning for this is.

My pros for BU over BC is the closer proximity to the actual city of Boston and the decently larger class size ( 150 vs 90 I believe ) and with stronger scores. I agree though it seems that for finance alone it definitely seems that BC is the stronger of the two but as it stands that seems to be the only advantage I can see.

AW2016 · Answer

I had a very similar list, and ranked schools in the following order:

Questrom/Smith
Carroll/Simon

I decided against applying to GWU because of their placement stats and didn't consider UCI at all.

I think you should visit all of the schools you are accepted to and see where you feel the most comfortable.

VeritasPrepDozie · Answer

I think the decision for me would be between BC and UMD, both are near major cities and have the strongest recruiting and networks of the bunch

Hubris2015 · Answer

thanks for the replies guys

AW2016  yes that is actually exactly how I ranked them for myself. I threw UCI in there because of the South Cal weather factor haha.

VeritasPrepDozie  what is the main reasoning behind Carrol> Questrom as I see that it is a big decision point among many people. I understand BC having more of the general prestige factor but almost all ranks and statistics (placement salary gmat etc.) show BU to have a slight edge so I am a little perplexed with that.

BU vs BC vs GW vs Maryland vs UCI vs Rochester

BU vs BC vs GW vs UCI vs Maryland vs Rochester

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