Hi There!
Congrats on two fantastic Admits and double-congrats on the scholarship from SOM. I'm Dan, SOM Class of 2016 and wanted to help provide any context I can so you're armed with all the information to make an informed choice.
During my time at SOM, I was a co-leader of the Tech Club both my first year and second year, peer-career coach for Technology in our CDO, and transitioned to Tech with no tech or PM background, as a Sr. PM, on the West Coast.
I'll hop on the reply chain - replying in-line to JA2018 in this lovely blue color:"
I was in a similar position last year, deciding between Yale and Kellogg both with $$. I've included below my thoughts on your pros/cons list and some additional consideration in my own decision:
Kellogg:
+ What I perceive to be stronger tech placement, as well as deeper tech alumni network
Agree, significant placement into large tech companies.
>>I'd say that you'd have approximately equal likelihood of recruiting at all the major tech companies because they likely recruit on-campus at both schools, and rather depends on the individual candidate to make the difference.
It could be the case that Kellogg has larger tech network as a function of the larger size of the school, but I'd aver that you're not just looking for quantity, but also quality. For instance, SOM alumni are exceptionally responsive and dedicated to helping SOM students get their dream jobs. It's hard to quantify this, but I think what's potentially representative of this commitment is that SOM has the second highest financial contribution rate of Alumni to SOM every single year - over 54% of all living alumni contribute each year, yet alone the number that volunteer in service to the school.
That being said, as a function of SOM's mission to become the Business School most closely integrated with its parent university, you are very able to leverage the larger Yale University alumni community to a degree that exceeds peer schools - so you also get your depth of alumni throughout all industries and geographies!
For a personal anecdote, I found my internship through networking with a Yale College Alumnus who co-founded the large legaltech company I interned at and later returned for my post-mba FT role, and beyond this, we were able to invite him to fly out from Silicon Valley every single week for a semester, taking the red-eye from SFO to JFK, to teach a class a joint SOM and YLS class. In my experience, this is much more the norm than the exception of the integration and fervor of the greater Yale network.+ bigger class means more resources and more diversity of electives
Agree, but there is also the option for smaller more personalized resources working in lab courses directly with companies or with professors.
>>You can have your cake and eat it too at SOM - beyond having one of the lowest student-to-faculty ratios translating into nearly every professor knowing your name, plenty of teas and dinners at professors' houses, and opportunities like collaborating on their research, beyond the core curriculum, you can take as many classes as you want outside of SOM - for instance, I took a number in the computer science department to continue to develop my tech skills.
Some of the most meaningful relationships I developed at SOM were with faculty, including the ones that I continue to keep in touch with on a regular basis, nearly 5 years after graduation.
+ Overall business school brand name is slightly stronger
Agree - especially after going through the internship recruiting hearing the perspective of companies in a range of sizes/industries.
>>I'd say brand is generally a very squishy concept (Kellogg ~ SOM, Northwestern ~ Yale), but generally say that folks in the know, know both schools. I'd place much more emphasis on the network and the degree you feel you are able to fit into the community and leverage the community in the future. - no scholarship, I'd have to take out some loans
Not ideal but I'd look at the employment reports for both schools seeing the high/low/average starting salaries by industry, role, department, location, etc.
>>Totally agree here.- farther from family & fiancee and nervous about moving to Evanston
Originally from CA spent time on the east coast and midwest. With O'hare being so close and flying practically everywhere with a lot of direct flight options it makes it super convenient to travel whether to see family, friends, or for work/recruiting. Also the spouse involvement is great. They can audit classes as well as join/lead clubs without you having to be a part of it. Additionally they are included in almost all social trips/events.
>>I'm originally from Indiana, and would say, do what feels most right for you. I know I personally would have a very hard time in a long distance relationship, but for others, they can make it work. Both SOM and Kellogg are close to major Airports, so I'd consider it more of a function about how frequently you want to see your family/fiancee in person.
Partner involvement is a very important part of SOM community life - beyond the fact that Partners can also take an unlimited number of classes throughout the entire university, partners are similarly able to take part of any club, join all of our job treks, use many of our career resources, and join SOM's partner's club. If you have kids, some professors even have policies that allow you to bring your child to class, which I found to be fun and awesome!
Yale SOM:
+ $70k scholarship
Congrats!
>>Defintely, Congrats!+ Smaller class means closer community, which I can appreciate
Haven't felt Kellogg to be "big" because there are so many sub groups you are a part of which provides more resources and connections especially during recruiting.
>>I'm bummed that we weren't able to host welcome weekend - as the most important deciding factor for me was the tight-knit community with a very strong emphasis on diversity of multiple types yet a shared set of values, chief among them a strong social consciousness and focus on the triple bottom line (Profit, People, Planet). The friends you make at SOM are friends for life - Of my 9 closest friends in my life, 7 of them are from my time at SOM - I can't even count the number of SOM wedding's I've been to in the past year on one hand, and I speak to (or pre-Covid) would have coffee/lunch with SOMers at least twice a week. You can also look forward to your 5,10,15 etc year reunions, in addition to your 1 year reunion, which I think is a great idea and treat to re-unite with your classmates.
During the Covid SIP, Class happy-hours have organically sprung up and it's also another great way to keep connected.
If you're looking to grow your network, you can leverage the greater university's network, as I did too - one of my closest friends from my second year, I met during a Computer Science Class was from the School of Public health with whom I speak to every single week! + I could "stand out" from the crowd when recruiting since it's a smaller class, but not sure if this argument holds water.
Had a similar thought but also wanted to be in an environment where I felt I could learn the most, which included from peers who were willing to teach vs. compete. Kellogg has IPG's (interview prep groups) where second years give up their time for a rigorous couple month prep for both internship and full-time recruiting. You choose our IPG by industry or role --> in your case you could choose the tech IPG and you'd be paired based on type of tech company and role with a small group 3/4 other students and 1/2 leaders. Leaders provide material on the industry and broken out into companies, conduct resume reviews, case prep, fit prep, practice interviews etc. Basically you can come from no background in the area and will help you tailor yourself and knowledge to successfully recruit.
>>Most of interview prep happens through our professional clubs which help students recruit in a particular industry or function with comprehensive, student-developed curricula, along with our Career Development Office's Curriculum and during my second year, we developed peer-accountability groups to help folks from all different industry backgrounds and interests recruit. They are frequently led by our second-year career coaches (I was one!) or CDO Relationship Managers and help with the tactical as well as strategic. I think it's most meaningful that students are helping students. - Smaller network, esp in Tech. Students tell me that this means alumni are much more responsive and engaging, but I can't tell just by anecdotes if that's true.
I've been surprised and impressed by the the amount of alumni involvement at Kellogg - recruiting, mentoring, reaching out just because they had similar backgrounds, and their willingness to help. Fairly sizable tech alumni base. During orientation students shared how many cold emails/calls they had sent to alumni for help/advice/input and said almost all responded (this was during orientation so this might have been inflated but I would say it has been consistent with my experience so far)
>>I haven't had as much interaction with Kellogg Alumni, but as I mentioned above, the SOM network is exceptionally tight, singularly generous, and our way of saying thank you to the previous classes that came before us is to continue to pay it forward. - Decent for tech recruiting but not as strong placement.
Especially since I'm transitioning into a PM role (competitive), I'm not sure what the marginal difference is between Kellogg versus Yale. Any comments on this aspect are appreciated!
As mentioned earlier the IPGs are a huge resource for career transitions, the school also does bootcamps based on industry. Additionally companies are on campus starting early in the fall for "lunch and learns," company presentations, and coffee chats. This gives you an opportunity to start connecting with recruiters and other employees of varying levels in the firms prior to recruiting beginning.
I had other factors in my decision, I loved both schools (I was also weighing Wharton in my decision because healthcare industry strength factored into my choice). Ultimately Kellogg I felt was the better fit, culturally, professionally, and for growth and overall present/future opportunities.
Final note- one thing I didn't fully appreciate in making my decision was Kellogg being on the quarter system. This allows you the opportunity to take more/a wider range of classes whether to build expertise or purely out of interest.
>>On a tactical note, SOM's also based on the quarter system, so you can take both semester long courses for depth, but also a series of quarter-long classes for breadth.
More generally, I'd say with these two peer schools, it's more of a function of the candidate than the differences between the schools that will get you your dream Product Management role. You'll likely get similar companies coming on campus, the same types of "lunch and learns," company presentations, coffee chats, happy hours, job trek visits, alumni speakers, etc.
I think what it comes down to is the community that you want to be a part of. Ultimately this is the most important take-away from Bschool that you'll be able to leverage 10, 20, and 30 years down the line. I confess I've already forgotten how to calculate WACC off the top of my head, and I'll likely have to look up how to calculate a DCF, and it'll take me a few seconds to come up with all of Porter's 5 forces, but I have friends in my SOM and Yale networks who will be my best men, the first people I call after a layoff or promotion after my partner, my children's godparents, and those friends that I'll keep close for the rest of my life.
If you have more questions, please feel free to DM me - I'm happy to chat through your decision, talk more about becoming a PM at SOM, and I am happy to connect you to other SOM PMs on both the East and West Coasts. Congrats again and either way, I know you'll do great!
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16 Apr 2020, 17:42
