Tepper (no $) vs Questrom ($90K)

No brainer Tepper is the winner here.

Agreed. Tepper is going to be far better off for consulting, BU is a good school in the boston area, but its not going to place well into higher tier consulting companies.

Hi. Congrats on your admits!
So, the $90K is about 90% of the tuition or is it full tuition? Can you afford Tepper - how big of a challenge is financing to attend Tepper?

Tepper does put more into consulting than BU but it is not a guaranteed either. Only 30% get it is my guess, so you have a 1 out of 3 chances to get hired by a potential employer. Is that worth $90K? (there are other benefits of course to Tepper than just consulting hiring) but just a perspective.
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I agree with above. 90K at BU is 90% tuition which is a lot. You will only be paying 10-15K for a top 50 US MBA which is great. Also, the location (Boston) for BU is much better than pittsburg. For consulting, BU does place well though not a lot in MBB but decent amount in Deloitte, PWC and IMS. Also, opportunities to network in Boston are really great and I think 90K is a lot of money to give up unless you can afford the tuition at Tepper and have no constraints about money. Tepper is a no brainer then.
Hope it helps.

First up thanks to everyone for your respective inpus.

Looks like its coming down to financing.

Can I fork out $90K? yes
Do I need good returns on my $90K? YES

I am not rich or anything, just that I am able to fork out the money for Tepper since I had financially planned for MBA few years back.

So boils down to: Is Tepper worth the additional $90K?
I am gathering that if I can settle for Deloitte, PWC and IMS -> GO BU
If I want to give a shot at MBB -> Tepper

End of the day if I dont make it to MBB at Tepper; its $90K down the drain?
What about other factors eg. reputation of Tepper, Alumni connections at Tepper etc that might give me some returns for my $90K?

PS: I will be requesting Tepper for some funding probably end of this week. Will keep the forum updated on that status.

Sorry just to add on;

End of the day if I fail to make it to MBB and end up (hopefully) at Deloitte, PWC and IMS; as Tepper MBA vs BU-MBA; pay and role likely to be different? Probably a reason why employment statistics of Tepper & Questrom varies...>?

In that case; it may warrant letting go $90K and enroll at Tepper?

Thanks

I strongly vote Questrom!
First case - If you applied to the MBA+MSdi(as most other internationals) it would be a STEM program. And I don't have to tell you the benefits of the STEM program. The STEM OPT extension of 3 years would be a MAJOR advantage.

Second case - Incase, you applied to just the MBA program which is a NON STEM program, then I recommend getting in touch with Tepper to try to ask for scholarship. Tepper is a great school.It is better than BU. No one can or should deny that. But, I really feel that going to Tepper won't be worth giving up the 90k grant. So If Tepper doesn't budge on the scholarship negotiation, Questrom should be your calling!



P.S -> I might be a biased towards Questrom.
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Just a question - do the Universities welcome people asking for partial fee waivers? I would have thought that once your decision is sent to you that is it (with exception of WL)?

Hi Travis

I dont know. I would think that scholarship and partial fee waiver works the same for MBA. You cant really have scholarship more than your tuition fees anyways... unless its specified as stipend

Update: Tepper got back mentioning they are unable to provide any scholarship

Waiting on McCombs (29th Mar) to make a final decision now.

I can see that you got waitlisted at McCombs. Hard luck mate.
And I really I thought that Tepper would at-least give you some financial assistance.
Sucks!

On a positive note you have over 90k in money from Questrom. 90k is a huge bloody amount. Especially if you are an International.

P.S => Have you tried negotiating with BU to get some more money out of them ? The Tepper Admit is a HUGE leverage!!

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Dear all,

Thank you all for your points. I am more or less closing in on Tepper for the following reasons:

1) $90K is a lot of money. I know. But if I want to save $$, I should not even be thinking to do an MBA in the first place right? I will save so much more if I just continue to work and hope to get that next promotion or apply straight to consulting jobs based on my internal consulting work experience .

2) Issue on STEM vs Non-STEM. As I am from Singapore, I found out there is H1B1 temp visa for me. So if I dont get picked for H1B, I will apply for H1B1 (there is always excess available) till I get my H1B.

3) Career-wise - I am betting on tech becoming the next big trend everywhere (with AIs, Smart City, IoT, Big data analytics etc) and hence an analytic/tech centric MBA might give me a better run for my money in the long term.

Maybe the $90K is a lot now, but 15-20years down the road, will I regret not choosing CMU based on how my career mapped out? Good chance.
BU is a great school, dont get me wrong, but I think brand plays a good part in MBA (a reason why they are so expensive anyways).

And speaking with current students from both school gave me this feel:

BU-Questrom - International students choose this school mainly as a gateway to get jobs in US. As long as it can land a decent job, they will take it.

CMU-Tepper - International students choose this school more for the holistic B-School experience in the hope of finding their dream job. May or may not materialize, but end of the day seems like they value the wholesome experience more.

Feel free to drop any comments on this. Maybe in 2 years time, I can provide a better insight...