Picking the right school

Question

I would love to hear some of your thoughts on this. It has occured to me that picking a less competitive school might be better for internships and job offers.
For example, if someone gets in to UT-Austin (Mccombs) and Stanford, they might stand a better chance of securing a consulting internship at Mccombs, where they might seem relatively more impressive to recruiters.
At Mccombs they might be one of the top 10 applicants but at Stanford they might be viewed as being in the top 100. Do you think this is a valid argument?

hello212 · Answer

This is almost completely invalid. You may be in the top 100 at Stanford, but McKinsey/Bain/BCG might be recruiting 100 from Stanford that year, versus say 15-20 at a lesser known school. There are some business schools that McKinsey doesn't recruit at AT ALL (outside of the top 25 or so).

Also, you're assuming that going to a less competitive school substantially increases your chances of getting an interview, when all it does is make you look a little better on paper. There are in fact a lot of reasons people land internships, including grades in school, motivation to network, being likable, etc. None of those are really captured by the name of the school you go to.

You should just go to the school that you think will be the best fit.

mattfrommorocco · Answer

OK, I think you are right, thanks. I didn't think there was much validity to that I just wanted to make sure :-)

. My friend is at Darden right now and he says a certain company has 6 positions to fill that they are interviewing for. I was just wondering if maybe you would stand a better chance of filling one of those 6 spots at Darden, then maybe 20 spots from the same company at Stanford or HBS. When they are filling those 6 spots, you competition is not quite as good as the competition at Stanford for those 20 spots.

MasterAdmissions · Answer

Hi MattfromMorocco,

I agree with the previous poster, hello212, that your logic isn't serving you well. A student I worked with had a similar thought, suggesting that getting a job in investment banking might be easier from Kellogg, because they placed fewer students in that industry than some of the other top schools. I had to dissuade him from thinking that way. It's upside-down.

Recruiters go to any school because they think they can get top talent, and spend more time and resources on the schools that have traditionally yielded better students. If McCombs historically served up better students to a recruiter than Stanford, then indeed, they would spend more of their time and resources on trying to lure McCombs students. Check it out -- are there more McCombs students at McKinsey than there are from Stanford or Harvard? I doubt it.

The other thing that you should consider is that even at Stanford, more than half the students land their jobs from outside of the Career Management Center. That means they use their own contacts or that of fellow students. If a school is less competitive, then you might also see fewer students from some of the top consulting or PE firms as your classmates.

In any case, go where you feel excited! Rankings are all over the place -- Tuck for example, is ranked anywhere from #1 to #18 depending on who you talk to -- which is why it all comes down to fit. But importantly, talk to students and recent grads from the schools that interest you -- they will best be able to tell you about their own trials and tribulations during the job hunt. If you are interested in finance, I wrote a blog post about it here:
https://masteradmissions.com/wp/2012/01/ ... n-finance/

Hope this is helpful!
Best of luck,
Betsy Massar
Author of Admitted: An Interactive Workbook for Getting into a Top MBA Program
https://www.admittedmba.com

mattfrommorocco · Answer

Sounds good. Thank you both for your input. Betsy I also read your blog post and enjoyed it. I am throughly convinced :-)

and very excited for school next fall. I'm still waiting to hear about interviews!

MasterAdmissions · Answer

Good luck! I hope you get interviews everywhere!
If you have any questions, email me -- happy to give my 2 cents

Betsy

MYCambridge · Answer

Stupid for comparing McCombs to Stanford.

threestripes · Answer

Now, now... Let's be nice to each other here.

method · Answer

Although many are citing the differences between Stanford and McCombs here, I think it is fair to say that the strategy matt is asking about may exist when the schools are in a closer pack.

For example, both career services and some prospective, career changing finance students at Fuqua talked about the strategy of avoiding a school inundated with finance backgrounds like Stern. Some personal strategies included coming to a school with a more diverse class in order to stand out, as opposed to standing in the back of the line at Stern where they would be at a certain disadvantage.

It's an interesting strategy, and I'm not sure if I'm for or against it, but I think there is  some  play out there on this idea.

Moss · Answer

I'd just like to echo some of what has already been mentioned. Not only is this a bad idea, but in many cases you won't even have the opportunity to be a part of a "less competitive" comparison set. At CBS, I was a part of events and recruited at firms where other schools weren't invited. You may have stood out among your peers, but you wouldn't even get a chance to show off what you've got in many circumstances.

Also, one final thing to consider -- this plan would only work for on-campus recruiting for your first job out of business school. Remember that your choice of school is something that is going to be with you for life. Your school's brand, your alumni network, and all of the resources and opportunities associated with your school selection is something that will affect not just your first job, but every single one after it. I think you should take a long-term, full-career approach when deciding your school, and the possibility (although almost certainly dubious) of a slight advantage in OCR likely will not compensate for what you're giving up over your entire career.

Anasthaesium · Answer

It goes like this, according to a post I read from Marc Andersen (a16z.com) : Don't try to be a big fish in a small pond for the fear of being a small fish in a big pond. But choose to be in the best pond possible. That way more opportunites will end up your way whatever type of fish you are

I bet the advice holds good for most things in life, even other than B school selection.

I bet the advice holds good for most things in life, even other than B school selection.

MasterAdmissions · Answer

Hi Method,
I see the logic, if you think of the game as only a competition. Students really do help each other. I went to business school for the connections of my classmates and other alums, and they continue to help me to this day. In fact, for the first 10 years I worked in finance, nearly all of my contacts came, in some way, through a b-school connection.

In the case of Stern, my guess is that location will be a more powerful driver than anything else in the job hunt. Stern is downtown. It walks, talks, and breathes like a NYC place. Darden is awesome, and has terrific investment management cred (for example, with Tudor Cap. Management, among others), but a very different environment than Stern.

I know, I'm being literal in responding to your example, and it may work with different comparisons such as Darden and UCLA, for example. I can only recommend over and over that prospective students talk to current students or recent grads, and to think long term, not just for the 1-year right out of school.

Best to you, and good luck with R2!
Betsy

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