chicago vs wharton

Sorry, just looked it up. The 2003 acceptance rate was 28%. At the time, no M7 was even above 20%. Even if it has dropped to the low 20s at this point, it is still the easiest M7 to get into. I do not know whether to believe the USNews figure, but it sounds "ballpark".

Haas, NYU, Tuck, and Yale all have lower acceptance rates than Chicago.

https://www.angelfire.com/ny/netesin/top5mba.pdf

So it's higher than the schools you listed, but I wouldn't refer to it as "very high". The USNews figure may be ballpark, but given that it's coming from a respected publication that currently serves as the foremost authority on rankings/MBA program statistics, I'm willing to put some confidence in it.

Thanks agold. I was feeling your pain on Wed when the call was not coming in. I was so pissed I went to bed earlier on Wed night than I can ever remember. The WL felt a little better and then the Wharton admit just confused the hell out of me. So many gmatclubbers seemed to get into Booth and not Wharton. I am not complaining of course, but it just changed the whole game. Hard to say it but I would probably trade for a Booth admit at this moment since I already know I would love it there and in Chicago in general (from there originally).

For me, when I went to Chicago I honestly loved the school....before that point it was Wharton > Chicago (I've been to both), but afterwards it was Chicago > Wharton.

The money matters as well. I got a decent scholarship, I imagine you did too- the money wouldn't probably be enough to move my decision if I got into say, Stanford, but it matters a lot when looking at Chicago vs. MIT or Wharton (in my opinion). Another friend of mine who got into Chicago with the same merit scholarship as me and Wharton as well is choosing Chicago. If you think about the money and what that represents after taxes, it helps out a ton, especially for two schools which have very similar opportunities coming out of them. If you were good enough to get into Wharton and Booth you already have a strong background which will land you a great job no matter what.

I know what you mean. Before I visited the schools, Wharton was far and above Chicago on my list. But, once I had the chance to check both schools out, I couldn't decide which one I would pick if I were to get into both.

I'm so happy about this thread. These two schools are the only ones that I have, or will apply to. Full disclosure, I'm accepted at Chicago and WL at Wharton.

I've held Wharton as my top choice b/c of the slim edge in prestige. (I work in private equity, where this differential might matter ever so slightly, but I intend on recruiting for investment management positions post-MBA, and I truly believe there isn't much of a discernible difference for recruiting in that field.)

Apart from the brand/prestige, however, I like almost everything else about Chicago's program better. Additionally, I'd prefer living in Chicago to Philly for two years. I have to say that I've found the students that I've encountered at Chicago to be down to earth, laid back (I'm from CA), and quite honest about why they're at Chicago and the pros/cons.

This is a tough choice, and I've told myself in the past that I would take Chicago over Wharton if there was any $ offered from Chicago. Alas, I probably don't have to make that choice. This is my honest assessment (trying not to be too much of a Chicago cheer-leader since I have an admit in hand) and I felt this way prior to results.

Thought I'd chime in with a couple of additional considerations. I agree with everything that has been said so far, but would also put forth the the size of the schools is a big difference. Whether you prefer a large school (Wharton; more clubs, larger number/diversity of electives) or a smaller school (Booth; more focused attention from administration), it was a big factor for me. Also, from what I heard from Booth students, a lot of Booth students waive portions of the core, more so than at Wharton (where it is still a possibility, but not necessarily encouraged). This was big for me, since I really wanted to be in a core with a group of my classmates.

For full disclosure, I expected to love Booth when I visited, but (for some reason) didn't click with any of the students I met (few of them actually seemed jazzed about the school) or the classes (for some reason, low energy). Could just have been an off day. Just wasn't what I was looking for. Applied and accepted to Wharton.

Just in Wharton's defense, I actually loved 8/9 students that I met there. A small sample size, I know, but they definitely defied any stuffy/arrogant stereotype that Wharton students might have. It's a huge student body, so if you're looking for diversity: it's there. People of all types, and you're likely not to be in love with a couple.

great post Audio +1. Wharton is one of my top choices as well, and your perspective definitely helps!

Excellent stuff Audio and kwam!

Audio: DC is more like 2-2.5 hrs from Phil. Not a big deal but I just wanted to clarify.

Wharton and Booth were my top 2 choices. The only disadvantage of Booth in my opinion was that Chicago isn't a drivable distance from any other major city (sorry, Milwaukee doesn't count) in case I want to get away for a weekend. On the plus side, I did find out that there's an Indian casino a couple hrs away in Michigan where I can play poker to my heart's delight, so it's all good now

Now you've got to tell us the difference between an Indian casino and a Western one! You have to.

Sonibubu you don't even have to go that far. There are a few riverboat ones that are closer in Elgin...

Not to derail the topic, but you can drive to Milwaukee for a poker game at a casino, too: https://paysbig.com/gaming/tablegames/poker.htm

Thanks for the post. I think some of these issues on the blog resonates from the large class size at Booth.

I will definitely have to consider the class size as factor before enrolling somewhere.

This blog entry is useful and interesting and is certainly worth reading. But it's important to take it with a huge grain of salt. If you read the other postings within the blog (I read the entire thing), the writer tends to be extremely negative - about absolutely everything in life. The writer even acknowledges this negativity in one of the postings and calls herself "Ms. Curmudgeon" at one point. Plus, note the 40 postings in the "whining" category and the 9 in "griping", both of which are extremely accurate category names.

Nevertheless, after reading the blog I was a bit concerned, so I actually discussed specifics gripes from the blog with a couple of current students last week. Their perspective was sharply different and far more positive. I got their perspective about bidding on courses, and they seemed surprised by the blog writer's bad experience. It doesn't sound hard at all to get great classes with great professors. That's what I've heard from other students as well, so their comments were consistent with what I've heard everywhere outside of this blog.

Bottom line, I recommend reading the blog to gather more information about Chicago, but I'd be very skeptical of the particularly negative parts.

great stuff Audio and kwam. This thread has been added to the Knowledge Vault. I'm sure future generations will benefit from the discussion here.

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Audio, Kwam - excellent input (impressive as well). Thank you! +1 (and additional +1 if system allows