Hi
huffleclaw, congratulations on what appears to have been a stellar application season for you!
I really like your balanced analysis of all the three programs, and agree with everything you've mentioned. A few additional thoughts:
- From my conversations with Boothies, what I gathered was that big-tech recruiting is fairly structured at Booth, and plenty of mature startups also come for just-in-time recruiting. I also doubt that anyone in the tech industry would doubt your credentials if they came to know you're from Booth. It has long been known as the finance school, but from my research, they have a pretty robust ecosystem of resources for tech, VC, and entrepreneurship.
- Ross tech salaries are quite competitive from what I know. As per the 2020 employment reports, the median salary and median bonus in tech at the three schools are 140k+40k at Booth, 130k+40k at Ross, and 125k+30k at Anderson (Anderson published mean salary though). Also, I feel there's some correlation with school brand/ranking here.

- In terms of getting experiential learning to break into a new industry, MAP at Ross is probably the best resource among your three options. (Not sure if you already know about it and just missed accounting for it.) From my conversations with students at Anderson and Booth, students do go for those in-term internships but they need to largely work by themselves or get some support from Career Offices to land those gigs. Whereas MAP projects are sourced directly by Ross and you get to bid for them based on your priorities. I don't know much about the summer startup internship program at Booth, but that sounds a lot like MAP and if so, that's great!
- Chicago and LA will be totally different experiences from Ann Arbor, and I think you already know that. Just like you, I also got the commuter school vibes when speaking to a few Anderson students about life beyond the classroom (a red flag that popped up for me was when one student quipped how people would just work on group assignments over Zoom - and this was pre-covid - because everyone lives far apart and the crazy traffic and commute times in LA)
You have a very interesting situation where you have schools from three different tiers (imo), and also three different debt burdens that come along with. It's a classic trade-off ladder! I'd like to add that the 100k at UCLA is practically equivalent to the 80k at Ross because of the higher cost of attendance and lifestyle expenses in LA vs. Ann Arbor.
For me, you should be choosing between Booth and Ross. It looks like Ross could be a nice middle-ground where you're getting a great community, a more portable brand and a wider alumni network than Anderson, and a better ROI than Booth thanks to the generous scholarship. But then, Booth is Booth, and in the long scheme of things, 80k shouldn't matter that much.
Good luck, and let us know where you eventually decide to go!
huffleclaw wrote:
Hey all!
I'm really grateful to have gotten into some great programs in a competitive year, but I have a tough decision ahead. Any thoughts/input is helpful.
I have been working in financial consulting for five years and I'm looking to make a pivot into tech (Product Mgmt. or Strategy). My main focus is to be able to successfully land a role in the tech industry (open to big tech or established start-ups ideally on the West Coast) and to be at a school with a good sense of community. I've had conversations with students at all of these schools and all seem to speak positively about both these factors so it's been tough to narrow down my list.
Here are my thoughts so far:
-Booth:
Pros: Strongest brand name, increasing % of students going into tech, flexibility to take the courses I want, start-up summer internship program before school to help with career transition
Cons: From talking to students seems like tech recruiting is more through clubs/individual efforts, lack of core classes can mean lack of community, not sure if the Booth name/network provides an edge in tech industry, full tuition (I'm willing to make this investment if Booth and its network make a significant difference)
-Ross:
Pros: Strongest sense of community/school pride, strong in tech recruiting, 80k scholarship, Consortium community
Cons: Location (same issue as Tuck), lower salaries in tech based on employment report, less academic flexibility
-Anderson:
Pros: Strong tech recruiting/placement, best location (can intern during the year to gain experience and would like to work in west coast post-grad), Consortium community, 100k scholarship
Cons: Not as strong brand name, less academic flexibility, have heard it is more of a commuter school/lacks community
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