erahn1
As a current first-year student, I would like to note a few items that I think may be helpful to current applicants for 2018:
1.) The school has revamped its first year curriculum to what it sees as shift towards employers wanting managers with deep skills in data analytics. Aside from the standard general management courses (accounting, finance, marketing, etc), the first year program has 3 mandatory classes that focus deeply on predictive analytics and exposure to SQL. The strength of the program is still finance, but they have made a lot of investment in developing a first rate analytics competency as well.
2.) The undergraduate network for BC business students is very strong, especially in the Boston area. They are currently ranked #4 in the world by Businessweek (compared to #25 for BU) and are a semi-target for MBB. This network is wide open to BC MBA students and I think is a serious differentiator between the programs (BU vs BC).
3.) I have been told that the board of trustees for the Carroll school, overseeing both undergrad and grad level, met recently and are going to be making a push in the next several years to bring the MBA ranking at least into the top 25. There has been a lot of focus over the last decade or so to boost the ranking of the undergraduate program, and they are now shifting focus to the full time MBA program as well. I would expect substantial investment in this program in the next few years.
4.) Scholarship money. Relating to the drive mentioned above to boost the programs rankings, BC is serious about bringing in quality applicants. I was given a full scholarship with a 720 and another GMATclub member also received a full ride last year with a 740.
As a MBA candidate who is not very interested in MBB or I-Banking after school, I have found BC to make a lot of sense to me. If you remove PE/Consulting/I-Banking from the average salary profile of top schools, you will see that there isn't a huge huge difference in what you would be making out of a top 25 school versus a school like Carroll. There seems to be fairly strong access to a spectrum of general management and asset management jobs here, and if the industries that I am targeting pay nearly the same for graduates of either program, I would certainly take the far cheaper option (putting the networking factor aside).
Obviously I have some bias, but I do think the program is headed in a good direction and would love to answer any questions that you all may have about the Carroll school.
Thank you for your insights!
Could you comment on what are some of the most common opportunities outside the Boston area?
On a different note, the application just opened today (or yesterday), so I'll start writing the essays! Good luck to everyone else applying to Carroll!
Best,
kheown