Hey guys, Hope everyone is safe, healthy and doing well. Need your help and guidance once again as I step forward towards my MBA journey. I have been lucky to be accepted in the below schools for their full time programs. I am a bit confused about which one to attend. I would really appreciate any input, advice, or information at all. I am an international student with a pretty average profile. Been working in the IT industry for 6 years now. Post MBA, I plan to get into strategy consulting (could be an internal strategy role or as an entry level associate in an external strategy consulting company such as the Big 4). As a backup plan I will be targeting a Product/Brand Management role in the Tech industry. Based on my research I was able to gather the below information. Rice Jones Best brand recognition among all the schools that I am considering. Students (specifically internationals) are usually able to land a PM role in the Tech industry. Consulting opportunities are average. I probably have a better chance to make my backup plan a reality than my primary one. Houston is a great location to live in as well as network with potential employers. Received scholarship of $92k. Carlson Seems like a big fish in a small pond. Although a regional school but Minnesota has a lot of opportunities and Carlson has good relations with the local companies there. Known for it's Consulting and Marketing program. So I might be able consider both my post MBA plans. Although this year, most consulting internships for international students were for an internal strategy role and not in an external strategy consulting company. MBB recruits on campus. Academics and curriculum seems to be more suitable for my primary plan. Received scholarship of $60k. Fisher Known for Operations specialization. Limited opportunities in Tech and some in consulting. Amazon is the major recruiter of international students here but recently students were hired for the Pathway program in the same. Living cost seems to be the least among all the schools. Pretty regional school. Received scholarship of $90k (including GA). Merage Little to no opportunities in consulting for international students. Great location for someone targeting the Tech industry and probably the best in that sense among all the schools. Great curriculum majorly focused in the current tech and digital products/technologies. Huge percentage of international students. That's not good I suppose. Received scholarship of $95k. Additional information I have requested for additional funding from Carlson and Fisher. I am also waiting to hear from Owen and Mendoza. All the Big 4 companies has stopped sponsoring international students this year in what I have heard. Apologies for such a long post, but I wanted to share as much information as possible. Please share your thoughts. Any opinion, any insight will be highly appreciated!! Most importantly, stay safe and healthy. Take care of yourself and your loved ones. Update: I wanted to add information related to STEM corresponding to these programs. Jones - No STEM. Per my research, they are in the process of getting one. Carlson, Mendoza and Fisher- MBA/MSBA program is STEM certified. I am not looking to get into a dual degree program. Owen - Finance and Operations & Data Analytics has STEM designations. I am not sure if I will be able to make use of the STEM thing for additional OPT years if I land a strategy role post MBA. I am not sure if that function/role comes under STEM but I believe employers will probably assist here. For the PM role in Tech, STEM definitely helps. Any thoughts on this? Best, Kabir

Couple quick comments. - I was accepted into both McCombs and Rice, and had numerous conversations with students from both. While Rice might have a slight advantage in Houston, McCombs is definitely the biggest name in Texas. The Rice undergrad program is highly respected, but McCombs has a much older MBA program with a much more expansive alumni network. - In regards to Owen vs Rice for consulting, there's not a huge gap. In general, I would even say that Owen's consulting recruitment is stronger. If you look at the 3 year average for consulting function, Owen is at 27% while Rice is at 23%. Additionally, since Owen has a larger class size, the total number of students going into consulting is also higher. Rice | Owen 2019: 30.00% | 31.00% 2018: 17.00% | 29.00% 2017: 23.00% | 22.00% 3 Yr Average: 23.33% | 27.33% - Additionally, I don't believe that Rice places better in Atlanta. Only 2% of the Rice class ends up in the South (77% stay in the Southwest), while 41% of the Owen class ends up in the South. This diversity of employment locations is another advantage of Owen (assuming you don't want to be focused solely on Houston/Texas). Takeaway: your opportunities in consulting likely won't be discernably different between Rice and Owen (and probably Carlson). MBB will be a stretch (though not impossible). Fisher and Merage would be more difficult.