Hello all, looking for advice on safety B schools. Interested in Brand Management at a F500 CPG firm and applied to many B schools already, but now looking at backup options in case I do not get into a program with directly applicable recruiting opportunities. My experience is good and relevant in Brand (currently in Digital Marketing) and I am a fairly skilled job interviewer just out of having been through so many. So the thought process is to attend as many diversity conferences as possible while mass messaging professionals on LinkedIn (even if they do not come from my school), and doing this, in theory, makes school choice somewhat irrelevant in terms of recruiting. Question is, does school choice matter any longer if you are beyond the Top 50 and not in a program that directly recruits many (or any) Brand professionals? I've already applied to Krannert as my backup school (though bombed the video assessment....1 minute is just too short) but I am looking into others including: - Katz - Zicklin - Buffalo At this low of a level, does it matter which school I would select? Is there a recruitment advantage to any of these schools? How do recruiters view students coming from these schools at diversity conferences (do they even care or is your experience the most important quality)? Is there any other Bottom 50 programs I didn't think of that would give me a competitive advantage in regards to recruiting? PS: Re-applying next year is not an option. I'm already a re-applicant and just feel that I'm going to be too old next year to continue pursuing this. I've taken the GMAT/GRE so many times and practice so many questions and read so many books that I don't think I can improve myself at this stage. WYSIWYG and a year isn't gonna help. At this stage, I just want to try my hand with what I got and see what I can come up with. At worst I can just go back to what I was doing, I guess.

Hi and hopefully we can congratulate you on a few admits. In terms of the Question past the Top 50 - it does not really matter as on-campus recruiting is weak. Having a lower-ranked school in a metro area helps as they are able to leverage and invite some alums, companies, connections to come on campus but if you are in Krannert - I don't think anyone is going to Indiana to recruit from the MBA class. Undergrad is a different story and I am cure Accenture and Deloitte are vying for the best accounting and computer science students but for MBA's. I would say pick the school that would let you do the best recruiting off-campus. A fairly well known name (Purdue is a good one). Perhaps close to an airport so you can be more mobile if you need to hit some interviews or get with some buddies on a recruiting trek and visit some companies. Being in a metro area also helps with bumping into people, doing gigs, finding internships, and class projects that further can help network a job. Good interviewing skills help a lot! My pick would be Krannert or Katz - I liked Pittsburgh when I visited a long long time ago

Oh I love the city of Pittsburgh and Buffalo. That's why I had them as backup schools to possibly look at. When I visited Katz some of the students mentioned being overshadowed in recruiting by Tepper and made it difficult to recruit regionally. Also students didn't really have the best work experience before their MBA... Do you think employers at conferences like National Black will look down on attending a lower school, or will they just care entirely about my pitch and resume?

Bumping this thread... Also I'm wondering about Rutgers as well. After talking to some students who received opportunities via National MBA Fairs and their slide in the rankings I've been reconsidering them too. Would anyone consider Rutgers superior? Buffalo would easily be the cheapest from a COL and a high likelihood for a full ride based on work experience alone. Definitely doesn't have the best OCR...but if none of these schools do....does that even matter? Are all of these schools kind of crapshoots anyway or does one stand out above the others? Krannert seems to have CPG's that come on-campus, though they are looking for operations and supply chain people, not brand (they go to Kelley/Madison/Kellogg/Carlson for those). So I don't know how I would be viewed approaching employers looking for entirely different people, even though I do have apparently a good resume for Brand.

Your profile says you were admitted to UNC Kenan-Flagler- is there a reason you're still even considering these lower ranked schools now that you got into a legitimate mba program?

Nope not really lol. I bumped before I knew. Was a total surprise to be admitted. Still....I think it would be interesting for someone who didn't and become situated with that choice. I'd be curious if I didn't get the offer.