Re: Chicago or Kellogg
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28 Mar 2008, 09:42
Congratulations on your acceptances, jw1584!
I was in the same situation as you about a year ago - I got into both Chicago GSB and Kellogg and could come up with good reasons to go to both. I ended up deciding to go to Kellogg, but I have coworkers attending UChicago that are very happy there. They are both fantastic schools, and I agree you'll be fine, careerwise, whichever one you choose to attend. There are some significant differences in atmosphere and focus between the schools, though. Kellogg is very social and group-work focused - I'm 10 classes in and every class I've had has included group work. There is a lot of emphasis on interacting and working together on everything. Obviously, you know that Kellogg is great for marketing, and those classes are intense. Kellogg is also very good at strategy/consulting, I believe. My classes in stats, finance and accounting have been good as well - I will sometimes wish they were a little more rigorous, but they are not cake-walks. I also know that in terms of career changing, Kellogg will allow you to participate fully in on-campus recruiting your final "year" if you complete the Professional Development Series and you have permission from your employer (if you have taken money from them).
My impression of Chicago is that it is much more analytical than Kellogg, without the emphasis on working with others. My coworkers there are amazed at how often I have group assignments. We've found that the same general topics are covered in our classes, however - the difference is the level of detail and difficulty of questions on the problem sets/exams. Mine tend to be harder for the qualitative classes - strategy, marketing, etc., while theirs are more difficult in finance and accounting.
I chose Kellogg because I work in an area of consulting that is very group-focused, so all this group-work has been invaluable. There were also particular classes that I wanted to take that Kellogg offered but Chicago did not. The level of analytical knowledge I've gotten from my stats, accounting and finance classes have all been more than adequate for my job so far, and I plan to continue and get concentrations in Management and Strategy and Finance.
So, I guess it boils down to - if you want a more rigorous quantitative experience, Chicago is stronger. If you want a more rigorous qualitative experience, Kellogg is stronger. Not to say that Chicago is bad at the qualitative or that Kellogg is bad at the quantitative - just that each excels in one area over the other.
Feel free to PM me with any specific questions about Kellogg - I'll try to answer quickly since we're on break this week. Best of luck with your choice!
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