HI Gmat Club!
I'm struggling to make this decision...what are your thoughts???
Background: I come from a non-traditional background (BFA in Graphic Design) with 4+ years of professional experience in advertising. I was a designer for several years before moving to digital strategy.
Goal: Brand Management/Brand Planning at Nike. I currently live in Portland, OR. My fiancé is a real estate agent here, and we plan on living here permanently. He'll be staying here regardless of which school I attend. There aren't many large companies here in Portland, and only a handful large enough to have structured internship programs for MBA students. The main four are Intel, IBM, Nike, and Adidas. Intel and IBM would be terrible fits for me - i have no background in CS, engineering, etc and have no interest in tech. As such, Nike is my number one goal – Adidas would be #2.
Considerations:
Nike: Based on conversations with several current employees, past interns, recruiters, etc, I've discovered that, despite Kellogg's ranking for marketing, Nike does NOT recruit for a marketing role from Kellogg. They recruit for Strategic Planning, Data Analytics, and Finance OR Supply Chain (this has varied depending on who I spoke to). They recruit for Marketing & Supply Chain from UCLA and lately have recruited for Finance from there as well (the current CFO is an Anderson alum). To get the marketing position from Kellogg I would need to network my way in, vs going through a standard recruiting process at Anderson. Marketing internships at Nike are also the most competitive – typically there are only one or two interns total – but I'm doubtful I could recruit for any other role with my background.
Money: I'm going to be in a mountain of debt either way. UCLA is offering 40k, but I'm fairly sure that would be offset by the cost of living in LA vs Evanston. However, I did receive a forte fellowship. Not sure of the long-term benefits of the fellowship.
Location: Doesn't matter much. Not looking forward to the cold if I'm in Chicago, but either way, I want to end up back in Portland.
Gut: I would rather go to Kellogg. The M7 ranking matters to me – I feel like it will bolster my credibility down the line, given I went to art school for undergrad. But if UCLA would be an easier path to my goal, is that the better option? I felt like a good cultural fit for both programs.
What would you do?