Johnson Cornell (between $ & $$) vs Tepper CMU (between $$ & $$$)

Question

International student, Post-MBA Goal: Open, Inclined towards Consulting, No Location Preference

bb · Answer

Consulting is an ambitious goal for international applicants without prior consulting experience. You will have your entire class applying for consulting positions in the first and second tier companies. Do you need a reason to be picked from 100 resumes so they could have 25 interviews. Do you have some thing on your résumé that would help you get chosen?

Ideally you would have a strong brand that is recognizable or consulting experience. That gets you picked to do an interview. Then it’s up to you to perform at the interview. There are 50 more steps in between with coffee chats and multiple interviews and all that good stuff so forgive me for oversimplifying.

I would caution you, from personal experience, that keeping your options open will hurt you and will hurt you recruiting. I had the same mindset of being open and partially I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, I am still not extremely sure what I want to do to be frank but you have to put that behind you and zero in on two options. Consulting is a good start. Think of a Plan B. That could be tech, finance, or operations/supply chain management. It will help you tremendously during business school if you have your goals fixed. Don’t confuse this with putting anything in concrete. I’m not saying that you have to choose your future right now. What I’m saying is that you can change your goals and your plans later on, but you have to have to very strong goals that you can tell everyone about and why you want to pursue them and why you’re passionate about them. This will help you network and recruit a lot faster rather than saying I want a job of any kind. 😎

So, if your goal is consulting, I would recommend Tepper. That is the dominant industry placement and where are you will find strength in numbers. It is closely followed by tech. Johnson on the other hand is prominent in finance followed by consulting.

Taking into consideration that you got more aid from Tepper, I would choose Pittsburgh without reservations.

Congrats!

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RafZaf · Answer

Thank you  bb . I have some background that I think may help me in long term - frontline work experience in corporate clients division of a global bank (+ project management, people management, promotion)
Please do share your views.

Also, do you have any suggestions on how I may explore different career pathways to figure things out better before starting MBA?

bb · Answer

Similar to you, I was under the impression that when I start my NBA, it would help me figure out what I wanted to do. It would almost like guide me into a certain channel. That is not the case. Nothing becomes more clear. So my suggestion is start connecting with current students in the ones to in the industries you think you may want to pursue and start doing informational interviews. Reach out and tell them that you were thinking about entering into consulting or tech p.m. or finance or whatever. And ask them questions about their job and what they love about it and what they dislike about it. You will not have this time later. So if you choose Tepper, you would then find people who are in consulting who graduated from Tepper and talk to them…. This will be super valuable. Also, start researching your potential employers. Start researching consulting companies, what kind of consulting services they provide, what clients they focus on, start talking to current students about who recruits on campus and best opportunities to recruit or net work and what they wish they had done differently. Basically, you want to spend the next six months researching and refining your goals and building a network of people that you can reach out later on. Those consultants who will agree to an informational interview with you, you can reach them two years later when it’s time for you to get a job and see if they could help you further. They won’t have the time reply if you’re just fishing. But if you did an informational interview first, there’s a much higher chance of them replying and helping you.

The other portion of your time you should focus on speaking and presentation skills and interviewing. Don’t study math, don’t study finance, don’t bother with anything that you’re not passionate about. Instead, focus on what you’re passionate and presentation and speaking skills and interviewing. That’s what will help you succeed.

Posted from my mobile device

The other portion of your time you should focus on speaking and presentation skills and interviewing. Don’t study math, don’t study finance, don’t bother with anything that you’re not passionate about. Instead, focus on what you’re passionate and presentation and speaking skills and interviewing. That’s what will help you succeed.

Posted from my mobile device

RafZaf · Answer

Thank you  bb  for your detailed response,this is very helpful. I'll work on these areas and try to develop better visibility before starting my MBA.

Posted from my mobile device

learner311 · Answer

Based on my experience in a similar situation 2 years back, I recommend Tepper as well, primarily because of the following reasons:
1. Better scholarship = better ROI 
2. More options to have a plan B in case Consulting doesn't pan out
3. Pittsburgh is a good place
4. International community strength at Tepper (through not just MBA but also a lot of MS programs)

But it totally depends on how you weigh these factors among others (such as ranking, proximity to NY for Consulting, etc.)

RafZaf · Answer

Thank you  learner311 . Regarding 4, isn't Johnson's international community supposed to be stronger ? Consider broader network formed over the years ?

Johnson Cornell (between $ & $$) vs Tepper CMU (between $$ & $$$)

Johnson Cornell (between $ & $$) vs Tepper CMU (between $$ & $$$) - Please share your views

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