New York University (Stern)

Hjort,

NYU is my number 1 school. I plan on applying in 2006 and had a question for you. One of my college professors used to teach there and I still keep in contact with him. I was the number 1 kid in his class each time I took him and he thinks very highly of me. in this case would using an academic rec be better than submitting 2 professional recs?

NYU states that it "strongly" prefers two professional recs. However, you can submit an additional rec.:

NYU

"Additional recommendations are not necessary, but if you wish to submit more than two, please use the online recommendation system (or download additional forms)."

Placement Stats

https://w4.stern.nyu.edu/ocd/recruiters/ ... oc_id=2776

Intl Exchange

https://www.stern.nyu.edu/mba/internatio ... chools.htm

Exec Bios

CEOs: Lehman Brothers, Golden West Fincl, Crane, Comverse Technology
Robert Half (Law)


https://www.lehman.com/who/bios/

https://www.cmvt.com/bod.asp?top=1&id=2.5

https://www.avoncompany.com/investor/sen ... kropf.html

Value Considerations

Estimated Total Outlay: 126k

https://w4.stern.nyu.edu/finaid/cost.cfm?doc_id=3481

FT2005 Value for Money: #93, better than Duke and Cornell but below most of the elites

is 700 good enought to be stongly considered. I realize that other sections of the application have to be very strong as well.

i have heard that there part-time program has
1. limited access to career services

2. employer DONOT look upon you for recruitment as favaourably as FT.

3. Your degree as PT will in GM and not in finance or something. Is this true ?

Resons for this and in what ways is it limiited for somoen hoping to become associate in IBD for BB bank.

1. NYU asserts that it offers more career services than any other top business school in the US. The reader is welcome to determine for herself whether this is true:

https://w4.stern.nyu.edu/admissions/lang ... doc_id=336

Nonetheless, it is quite common for PT programs to offer less access to career services than the FT program since PT students already have employment and many are sponsored by their employers.

2. This would not be surprising at most schools since employers generally focus their efforts on the FT programs of a given school (in part for the reasons given above).

3. The NYU PT program has many areas of specialization:

https://w4.stern.nyu.edu/admissions/lang ... doc_id=437

Thanks for a great answer. A few other questions / comments I had:

1. They dont have stats for incoming class for part-timers. They do have it for fulltime. Any speculation on what those stats might be?? lesser /more than FT.

2. Less access to career services?? I want to attend all the networking events and go for all the on campus and on site interviews to end up like an associate or something in IBD. Would they let me do it? Would I piss them off by asking a direct question like that?

3. Is part-time a good way to make a career switch like going from mechnaical engg. to venture capitalism or investment bankings?

4. The thing is my employer is not gonna sponsor me for something like this given that I am a mech engg. So I will be paying through the nose and would atleast like to kepe my job so I can pay for it enough. Any past career paths / choices of people you might have heard where they worked around these disadvantages and still get the same advg. as FT people.

5. I am lead to believe that a summer internship is a stepping stone in a FT program to a full-time job offer. Typically, lets say a candiate is an engg. before coming into an MBA. He comes in and does reasonably well in the first year. He lands an internship as summer associate at an IB in the IBD division. He does reasonably well in the 2nd year and gets a FT offer from them...... How can a part-timer workaround this, because

1. he will be branded as a part-timer
2. he wont have a critical summer internship to lead to a FT job. As far as he is concerned, he will be still be dping the mech engg. job over the summer.

PT'ers at Stern have zero access to the career services department and this is well documented on the businessweek boards. Also if you are currently employed how would you be able to do a summer internship at a bank?? 99% of career changers go FT so your odds of making a switch as a part student go down significantly imo.

Thanks. Hoever, you never answered to the stats for incoming part-time class. Also, lets say you are FT. What steps would you take at stern to be an associate at IBD in a IB. I am ssuming you are from stern. If not, are you form another business school?

1. Stats for PT students: As a broad generality the PT program students at schools of NYU's cluster tend to have more experience than the average FT student but somewhat lower GMAT and GPA levels.

2. Access to career services: The best way to answer this question would be to ask NYU directly. If you think this question might annoy them, use a friend as a proxy to ask the question.

3. PT programs are generally not a good choice for career switchers

4. I have heard of people who have done this in the past but it took a lot of extra work pushing, pulling, coaxing etc. the school administration to let them have access to career resources.

For what it is worth, do not forget Hjort's rule of thumb for PT programs:
The best PT programs are the ones that feature the same professors as the FT program, do not segregate students into PT and FT courses, and have a relatively easy process for transfer between the FT and the PT program.

Are you currently considering any FT programs?

Im not a current Stern student but I plan to apply & they are my # 1 choice. The recruiting process for IB is the same song and dance at all schools. On campus presentations, interviews, networking dinners, etc. As a career changer you will be expected to be at all of these events to really express your interest. Due to its location Stern gets all the major Wall Street firms on campus so if you are accepted you have a very good shot at making a career switch.

1. Not considering any FT program. Just dont have $$$ for it.

2. Broad assumption of PT with lower GMAT higher work exp, sounds about right but numbers help. Any reason why stern wont put them up there?

3. Good point of switching between pt and ft?? what seems to be sterns policy?

4. do they feature the same professor as FT? I will research and post answer to this question.

5. career center. will shoot an email and post my asnwer here too.

6. jackson, just wanted to point it - stern gets not ALL the wall street firm here. I have heard of "some" NYC & non_NYC firms travelling to wharton/chi/stanf but avoiding stern to some extent. (like FIdelity Investments) Again, you could tell me depends on the field. So lets cut to the chase and say: GOAL: associate in finance in IBD at BB bank.
1. What do you say to the recruitng possibilities for that particular
position at Stern.
2. COmpare it with top 5 schools. Wh, HBS, Colubia, Stanford....
3. I know the dance steps to recruitment, but do starting $ (base+bonus+other crap) because you are stern (rated 17 as compared to lets say HBS rated top 5). Imam assuming you are working in NYC as something ina bank so what do u think the figures are?

1) Didnt you say that your employer wasnt sponsoring you for PT? you are going to incur the cost even while you are working so you may as well go full time especially since you want to get into IB. ROI on the program is less than 5 years

2) All PT programs have lower entrance requirements its a fact. at Stern the FT program average gmat is 700 while in the PT program its 670 or 680. PT programs are cash cows for schools so the admission requirements arent as strict not to mention the fact that programs prestige are based upon the FT rankings not the PT programs so they can be more lenient on academic standards.

5)Ive said it before and I'll say it again Stern is very strict with their no PT recruiting policy and will not bend.

6)Fidelity is not a Wall Street Firm nor is it an IB firm its an Investment Management company, I am talking about all the Bulge Bracket/Middle Market players in IB/Sales & Trading.

1) Stern will offer you the same opportunities to get into IB that Wharton or Chicago will. The difference will be that at Wharton, Harvard etc the buyside shops & hedge funds will recruit on campus and they wont be at Stern. It is a top 5 school nationally in Finance that happens to be a 5 second subway ride from Wall Street, if you cant into IB from there it wasnt meant to be.

2)If you are interested in Fiance Stern is just a notch below Wharton,Chicago, Columbia but it is recognized as one of the top 5 in the US. Their ranking falls bc their other programs arent as solid as the top 5 but who cares bc your interested in finance anyway. they have a world renowned faculty with one of the best in the business in Answath Damodoran (not sure on the spelling but the guys a rock star professor)

3) Starting salary and signing bonus as an IBD associate is the same across the street whether your from Harvard or the number 30 ranked school in the country. Year end bonus is really based upon firm profitability and where you are ranked within your associate class.

4) First year associate you can expect 150K+ all in. Last year base was 95K, signing bonus was b/w 30-40, and year end varies. some banks like CSFB were offering guaranteed packages of 200K first year but Im not sure if its the same this year.

I will warn you there is a trade off for these plush pay packages, like the fact that your personal life will be over. 80+ hours a week is a guarantee with many all nighters.

I agree that if finance is your main interest NYU is one of the very best schools. If you have specific career goals in mind, the domain specific rankings are more useful to you than the general reputation ratings.

If you are serious about switching careers, I would re-consider applying to FT programs.

I look foreward to the response you receive from NYU's career services.