AshikaP wrote:
I definately choose GSB... i got into both part time but when i came across the administration and the staff the GSB staff was MUUUUCH more willing to meet with me and had time... kellogg kinda said we dont have time email us with ur questions and we'll email u back... this kinda shows what kinda effort people will put into ur career after school... also the people at GSB always kept in touch and kellogg hardly ever had any career fairs out in Los Angeles (which means i hardly ever got to meet them)... actually now that i think abt it aside from my visit i never got to speak to anyone at kellogg... i felt that is weak especially because they aren't out there getting the word out on their school and how they line up next to the others... granted they may not need to do that but to be honest i think that all schools should be trying to show why they are better than another school right? anywho i have lots to say about that but not too much time to type
... i think u get the gist from most of the emails seen here..
So I've been giving this some thought lately...
All totally premature as I have not been accepted to KGSM, and I'm probably waitlisted or denied anyway .... but I was thinking back to Cornell and comparing my admit process there with the one at GSB.
My problems with Cornell were several, but minor. Several emails telling me I'm preselected for a possible full scholarship, only to find out I'm not eligible based on citizenship, is nothing short of irritating and sloppy. Especially when that program is supposed to make the leaders of tomorrow.
The class they sent me to had a guest speaker, it wasn't even a regular class - so I didn't get to see what a class is actually like. A minor detail, but one easily avoided through communication and planning.
A
total lack of participation by admissions staff and career services staff, other than the one IT guy (surprise), on their accepted student forums. Almost as bad, the students are never there either to answer questions. Very little camaderie, or so it feels.
GSB, on the other hand, has really gone above and beyond - there are at least a dozen or more 1st and 2nd year students on the admitted site answering questions, nearly a dozen different chairs of clubs starting threads about their clubs and offering up urls, emails, and opportunities to ask questions. Plenty of accepted candidates talking, a congratulatory video thats actually quite impressive, a ton of information about events coming up, prep courses, an admit weekend, classes to take, different curriculum paths, etc. Heck, the admissions people even have a student run blog (run by DSACs). Everything is addressed, and usually in hours, not days. There is a very high level of participation and interaction, even at this early stage of the game and you definetly get the feeling that they are truly there to support you - heck you even get assigned a member of admissions staff as your point of contact for any questions you have. You certainly didn't get that at Cornell. I feel more "connected" with GSB than ever before.
I think back to some of the other stuff GSB has - Steven Levitt - the guy who wrote Freakonomics, certainly not a ground breaking book, but a unique perspective on how to look at economics as a whole, people like Waverly Deutch and her totally wild courses, amazing entreprenuership competitions with several sucessful ones launched, professors that research "new economy" stuff like whether or not ebay is actually a good place to buy things, serious heavy hitters like Ragu Rajan, a heavily involved and (frankly) impressive career staff, faculty run blogs, admission staff blogs, fricking podcasts by the school, very modern and new facilities, and you really start to feel like GSB is at the bleeding edge of MBA programs. It oozes innovation.
Now, in all fairness, for all I know, Kellogg has all this and more when you apply. I recall one thing my interviewer said about Kellogg though - "the facilities and support structure is non-existant, they pretty much use students for everything, it's all volunteer labor. On the one hand, thats great, because you get some real leadership experiences. On the other hand, its not because you don't have a large support staff there". I then think back to my visit and I can see it.... but moreso it's the feeling I got from the place thats holding Kellogg back in my mind. Old (and not a good Harvard-like old) furniture, antiquated facilities, weak attempts at modernizing (hey look its a 20" plasma thrown on the wall), rooms with traditional chalkboards and a small projector but nothing else, study rooms that honestly are so unpleasant I can't imagine why anyone would use them, and then you think of their big names - people like Philip Kotler, who to the best of my knowledge, is still riding the coattails from his one major breakthrough a long long time ago. Some of the trash that was behind a doorway six years ago last time I was there, was still there when I visited. Why in teh world am I talking about trash and facilities when I'm talking about which school has the better program?
A good question. It's not very relevant, is it? That said, I couldn't help but get the feeling that Kellogg was just less bleeding edge than the GSB - everything from facilities, to ideas (eg podcasts / blogs / etc) to faculty. For instance - a case Kellogg was teaching in 1997 on marketing, using ads from the 1980s as the example? Still in use today. On top of that - Not a single student talked to me - not one. Granted, my GSB visit coincided with Fall Preview, and I'm not being fair to Kellogg on this front. Or am I? Why did GSB have such an amazing event such as Fall Preview and Kellogg had nothing? Could it be an indication of what my interviewer had said to me - that Kellogg has a weak support structure and students pretty much do it all? I don't know.
So whats the major downside? GSB scares me. It seems so much more intellectual, so much more, I don't know, not serious, thats not the word, but just less full of hot air? Like you really have to work for your MBA there, a feeling I guess I didn't get about Kellogg. I'll be honest in saying I'm petrified I can't handle GSB.
Might I be mistaken? Absolutely.
Am I getting waaaaaaaaay ahead of myself? Yup.
Is it interesting anyway? Probably.
Will someone totally call me out for forgetting professor X or Y and what they've done? Surely.
Will they be right in doing so? Yup.
close
19 Dec 2006, 16:47
