Help!! Tepper vs Kenan-Flagler vs WUSTL Olin ($) vs Owen ($)

Question

Hi

I am in a big dilemma. I have to make a selection from the above choices very soon.

I am a 26 year old international applicant with 4 years of work experience in an internal consulting profile for a fortune 500 company.

My post MBA goal is to transition to external consulting (Management/Strategy/Operations).

Scholarship is important to me as I would be funding the entire tuition fee through loans. Also, I do not have a work permit in the US so the risk is higher.

Is paying up full tuition at Tepper or UNC KF better than taking the full rides at Owen or Olin ?

Requesting fellow GMAT clubbers and admission consultants to help !

EDIT: Decided on Owen

Hammerhead2015 · Answer

Owen seems to be getting the most votes

Any input/perspective will be helpful !

Thank you !

Neverbackdown · Answer

I would first bring my choices to 2 schools. Lets see. 
If you are even thinking about UNC, then might as well prefer tepper over UNC since you dont have scholl from either. So among these 2 schools, lets remove UNC for the time being since tepper is way better when it comes to consulting/ranking/MBB placements.

Now among, owen and olin; i would place both these schools at par although olin enjoys better placement percentage(almost 96%) compared to owen(90%). But i dont think its that big a difference to force you choose olin over owen. Owen is an upcoming school and is on the rise and is located in Nashville which is a wonderful place to spend your 2 years compared to St louis. So aomng these 2 schools, i would choose owen, provided you have full rides from both these schools.

Now, the equation comes down to Owen(full ride) vs Tepper(no $). If you are a die hard fan of MBB and want to just get into these firms, then you might as well give tepper a try. But if you are ok with Deloitte/Pwc, I think you wud do great at Owen.

Plus at tepper you will have a bigger class than owen so if you are a fan of smaller class, then owen is the school for you.

Sareen21 · Answer

As correctly mentioned by Neverbackdown, you should narrow down your choice to two.

I too will recommend choosing between Tepper and Owen

For Tepper
- Better brand value + CMU is a very reputed university internationally
- You will have smarter people around you and it is engineer friendly 
- Although not very high in absolute numbers, MBB recruitment is much stronger than Owen
- Better alumni network. Extremely useful if you are targeting consulting

For Owen
- Rising school in a great city (Nashville). I believe it is an underdog in rankings
- Does not place well at MBB but has very good employment statistics overall
- Awesome ROI with $$. You should be better off financially even considering the difference in mean salaries

Mo2men · Answer

Hi, Congrats for all offers you have received :cool

If it money matters so choose between Olin and Owen, if not choose between Kenan and Tapper. All what posted about Kenana and Tapper are correct. However, do not underestimate the power of Olin at all. I'm like you in my field. Honsetly, Tapper and Owen did not convince me its operation courses. On the contrary, Kenan and Olin are stronger and operations courses in both will complement your strategy focus also. Strategy are strong in all of them. If ranks matter to you, I think you go to any rank to see that Tapper comes first then Kenan then Olin. You need to study your options carefully.

Hammerhead2015 · Answer

Thank you guys for such interesting perspectives.

Thanks to you guys, I have narrowed it down to Tepper vs Owen. I have ruled out Olin because it is very similar to Owen in most factors but Owen has a better location, Nashville, which will be a great place to spend two years.

But between the two though (Tepper & Owen), I am absolutely confused.

Tepper definitely has better reputation/network/prestige but I am still not sure if it is worth the $100K debt I will be graduating with. I also have to consider the fact that I am an international without a work visa and the risk associated with it. Is the extra debt worth it ?

On the other hand, how much more difficult would it be to recruit for tier 1 or 2 consulting firms from Owen ? I am willing to do the leg work but consulting firms do look for "b school prestige" factor.

Any thoughts from people who have faced a similar dilemma would be really helpful !

Mo2men · Answer

Hi, I have attached below link for comparison between Tepper & Owen https://issuu.com/vanderbiltowen/docs/mb ... 09/5992306 .......go to last page to see recruitment list https://tepper.cmu.edu/prospective-stude ... s/industry ..................choose consulting list. I hope you can review the consulting firms.

bjb5228 · Answer

My opinion, is it is absolutely NOT worth the extra $100k. I'd take the $ and run so you can pursue any option you'd like once you graduate without having to worry about a $120k+ loan bill for a school that isn't hugely better. Plus, what if you get to school and decide you don't want to do consulting? Then that loan bill will become much more daunting. The peace of mind alone is worth it! Plus, Nashville is awesome

This coming from a Pittsburgher.

Neverbackdown · Answer

Being an international student myself, even i would have chosen Owen in the end because of the $.

Sareen21 · Answer

I agree with bjb and Neverbackdown. Take the $$ at Vandy ... or try negotiating with Tepper :gl

Hammerhead2015 · Answer

Thank you guys. Your inputs are really helpful.

I have being doing my research on Tepper and Owen and I am leaning towards Owen as well.

An interesting perspective for choosing a school is Brand * Hard work = Result

It would be relatively easier to recruit at Tepper but I am ready to do work hard and let go of the debt. If Tepper gave me any scholarship I would go ahead and consider it but the value proposition of Owen is currently higher for me.

I am yet to make the final decision (I have some R1 waitlists as well) and will update once done.

Meanwhile, if anyone has any further inputs at all, please share !

farful · Answer

Reach out to some current students from both Tepper and Owen, specifically those recruiting for management consulting. See how the consulting clubs differ and what resources exist that may not in the other school.

dontquixote · Answer

I would go to Temper

MBAschooled · Answer

If your goal is to do management consulting I'd say Kenan-Flagler or Tepper. If it's $$ that is important I think Owen might be a good compromise - they seem to place in consulting but also are giving you scholarship

Sareen21 · Answer

Have you made a decision ?

Hammerhead2015 · Answer

Yes, after a good amount of information overdose and analysis paralysis, I have finally decided to go for Owen. I guess that's what the votes say as well.

Thank you all for your valuable inputs!

Help!! Tepper vs Kenan-Flagler vs WUSTL Olin ($) vs Owen ($)

Which school to choose ?

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards