My Schools - Thoughts and Opinions?

Question

After some research (although not full yet since I still have some time before MY app. period), I thought I would post a "rough" sketch of how I currently rank schools. This is not only for where I would choose to go, but will likely determine which schools I apply to as well. So, here they are, as of now:

1. Harvard Business School (Boston, MA) 
2. Stanford Graduate School of Business (Stanford, CA)
3. International Institute for Management Development (Lausanne, Switzerland) 
4. University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business (Philadelphia, PA)
5. INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France) 
6. London Business School (London, England)
7. Dartmouth College, Tuck School of Business (Hanover, NH) 
8. Yale School of Management (New Haven, CT)
9. Columbia Business School (New York, NY)
10. University of Cambridge, Judge Business School (Cambridge, England)
11. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management (Cambridge, MA)
12. University of Virginia, Darden School of Business (Charlottesville, VA)
13. University of California at Berkeley, Haas School of Business (Berkeley, CA) 
14. Cranfield School of Management (Bedford, England) 
15. Duke University, Fuqua School of Business (Durham, NC) 
16. New York University, Stern School of Business (New York, NY)
17. Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management (Evanston, IL)
18. University of Oxford, Said Business School (Oxford, England) 
19. Manchester Business School (Manchester, England)
20. University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (Chicago, IL) 


I am mostly looking at schools which will ultimately provide the best opportunity and experiences for a career in general management and ultimately a "Corporate"-prefaced title. I really have no preference as to location, and would not mind working in the U.S. or Europe. 

Some of my thoughts: Chicago GSB - I just can't wrap my finger around it, but for some reason I just can't get myself excited about the school. I see it consistently at the top of rankings and of course, it is a great school, but something about it just really "turns me off." 

ANY COMMENTS OR FEEDBACK WILL BE CONSIDERED... Thanks for all the great advice as always! (Back to research)

riverripper · Answer

There is a thread in the Ask Hjort forum about general management rankings. I don't think he addresses european schools though.

I think that having NW and GSB so down the list is a little rough. Pretty much GM schools follow the same trend as other programs. The Top 3, followed by the rest of the M7 and so on. Tuck bucks the trend somewhat since its small size holds it from being a top school 5 but it does excel in the GM area. I think outside of the Top 3, any top 10 school gives you a chance at a strong GM career. Schools aren't as defined in the GM field as finance or even consulting. Large companies seem to hire people from a top 5 as well as a top 30 school. Once you are in a company your school doesn't matter as much as what you manage to do. If you are changing areas where you past work experience wont help much thats where the schools name is more important but if you are returning to the same field it means less in management than the other disciplines.

aviroop · Answer

dude,
you got way too many colleges on your list. I didnt even think about half of them.

Since you are thinking of EU, I would also recommend ESADE in Barcelona and Empresa in Madrid - two top notch schools. There I just added to your list.

Chicago GSB is a gr8 school. Awesome campus, gr8 pple.. try to attend an info session and maybe that will change your opinion.

kryzak · Answer

rankings aside (there's a whole other "firestorm" thread for that one

), I agree with riverripper that the top 15 schools as defined in the "Ultra-Elite" and "Elite" sections will all give you a pretty good GM education. It really depends on *where* you want to work and what you want to do with that education that matters for schools. If you don't care where you work or what company/field you want to be in, then I would pick the schools based on their alumni base and how willing their alumni are in helping you find a job. That will probably benefit you long after the name of your MBA wears off.

seanpatin · Answer

aviroop - I was under the impression that those 2 schools were taught in Spanish. If so, that poses a problem for me. Although I have a decent ability to speak the language, I would not feel 100% comfortable being educated in it. 

As for Chicago, I definitely think I need to put it higher. I will probably try to visit it sometime in the near future since I am only 3 hours away.

aviroop · Answer

You maybe right. However they have english classes and they also teach in english and spanish - I have a vague recollection of reading it somewhere but I did not follow it up.

seanpatin · Answer

1. Harvard Business School (Boston, MA) 
2. Stanford Graduate School of Business (Stanford, CA)
3. International Institute for Management Development (Lausanne, Switzerland) 
4. University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business (Philadelphia, PA)
5. London Business School (London, England)
6. Dartmouth College, Tuck School of Business (Hanover, NH) 
7. INSEAD Business School (Fontainebleau, France) 
8. Yale School of Management (New Haven, CT) 
9. Columbia Business School (New York, NY)
10. University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (Chicago, IL) 
11. Instituto de Empresa Business School (Madrid, Spain) 
12. University of California at Berkeley, Haas School of Business (Berkeley, CA) 
13. Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management (Evanston, IL)
14. University of Cambridge, Judge Business School (Cambridge, England)
15. New York University, Stern School of Business (New York, NY)
16. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management (Cambridge, MA) 
17. IESE Business School (Barcelona, Spain)
18. University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Ross School of Business (Ann Arbor, MI) 
19. University of Virginia, Darden School of Business Administration (Charlottesville, VA)
20. China Europe International Business School (Shanghai, China)
21. Duke University, Fuqua School of Business (Durham, NC)
22. University of California at Los Angeles, Anderson School of Management (Los Angeles, CA)
23. University of Oxford, Said Business School (Oxford, England) 
24. HEC School of Management (Paris, France)
25. Cornell University, Johnson School of Management (Ithaca, NY)
26. ESADE Business School (Barcelona, Spain)


Updated my list. Included more as you can see, but this will of course be whittled down as the time goes on and I get closer to actually applying. I really like my Top 10. From there, it kind of gets a little sketchy for me in some places because none of them really stand out.

mNeo · Answer

Come up with a very high level requirement first - like I'll study in the US only, or I'll study in a school that's located in a Metro area, or I'll study at a Finance-heavy school etc etc.

This will bring your list down to 8-10 decent schools. Then start studying about them and decide. Right now you are playing with a lot of schools

seanpatin · Answer

Well, I would be happy with just the Top 10 listed above, but I would like to include a "safety," although Yale would probably be close.

mNeo · Answer

Great. The criteria of picking the top 10 schools already made your life much easier. Now first of all, forget about the schools from number 11 onwards. Researching the top 10 schools, weighing their benefits and your fit, finding people who know about those schools and planning visits to some of them is going to take a lot of time .. so you shouldn't even look at other schools.

I started my research with an ods sheet (Excel sheet for my Windows brothers) with 17 schools that I kinda liked. I wrote down their GMAT medians, avg salaries, selectivity percentages etc. Then I started looking at schools that are in metro areas (My wife should be able to work when I study) .. so that took some schools out (Although Tuck still calls out for me from time to time. I still have Tuck in my Sept-end east-coast visit plans too). Then I started researching the remaining schools .. and guess what .. I've been able to select only two schools so far (And I am feeling that Stan is going to be my school number 3 in R1). My research on other schools is still going on (And the pants pooping sections help) .. and will go on till Sept end.

Oh, we were talking about you! Yeah, so now that you're down to 10 schools, start researching them .. and I am pretty sure that you will be able to find your 4-6 gems

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