Schools, schools, and more schools... (Need some recs)

Question

Hey Everyone,

So even after spending hours/days here reading about the different schools, looking at their website/viewbooks, reading the "MBA Game Plan" and "Business Week Best MBA Schools" books, I'm still not sure which other schools I should apply to. Thus, I was hoping to see what other people's opinions were and maybe they read some article that I missed somewhere or talked to some alum whom I did not know.

Anyway, my most recent profile is here (I've had a few iterations with this alerady):

https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/111-t56286

I'm definitely applying to (focus on Entrepreneurship, Venture Capitalism, and/or Global Management)

- Stanford (long shot, I know)
- Berkeley Haas (I hope this is my "possible" school)
- UCLA Anderson (I hope I can get in!)

I'm *only* looking at Ultra-Elites and Elites, and I'm NOT really interested in going to a financial powerhouse school (so probably no Wharton, Columbia, or Chicago, sorry) because even though they're good at other things, the first year/semester curriculum (according to the books I've read) seem to focus heavily on finance.

Thus, I have these schools left to consider:
- Stern: Great location, good atmosphere, but also very finance focused and I read that the placement is only strong in finance and entertainment. Might not be the greatest in job prospects.

- Tuck, Darden, Fuqua, Ross, Cornell: Location, location, location (no offense to those who are going there, but I like big cities/metro areas too much)

- Kellogg: I'm considering it, especially with their whole "team" focus. But other than Marketing, are they really good at entrepreneurship and international stuff? I haven't read much that would support that.

- Harvard: Um... no because of location, perceived atmosphere, and I want a more flexible curriculum (like Stanford/Haas)

that's pretty much it right? It seems that even if I wanted to apply to more schools, it would only be Kellogg or Stern.

Any more suggestions or advice?

Thanks!

rhyme · Answer

Not that I'm trying to convince you otherwise, but you are mistaken about Chicago... It actually has one of the most flexible curriculums of any MBA program out there... Look into it and you'll see what I mean. ( https://www.chicagogsb.edu/fulltime/acad ... culum.aspx ) For instance: You only have to take 3 core courses - in these AREAS (meaning you take intro to stats or you can take a different stats course... multiple courses fulfill the requirements) Financial Accounting Microeconomics Statistics Other than that you have to take four courses, one from any of these six areas: Financial Management Human Resource Management Macroeconomics Managerial Accounting Marketing Management Operations Management Beyond that its up to you.... You'll notice that you could take courses in Operations, Marketing, Macro, Human Resource, and Accounting to fulfill your graduation requirements and not even take a single course in finance! And I'd point out that there is no required order to these courses (other than courses with preqs of course)... so you dont have to have a "finance heavy" first quarter or first year (or second year even). Here is a sample curriculum from someone's first year - and this guy actually majored in Finance.... Autumn 2003 * Career Management Seminar (required course) * Microeconomics * Statistics * Corporation Finance Winter 2004 * Investments * Competitive Strategy * Marketing Strategy Spring 2004 * Financial Statement Analysis * Managerial Accounting * Operations Management: Business Process Fundamentals * Strategy & Structure: Marketing & Organizations Thats not an especially long list of finance courses. Especially not for someone majoring in finance! In any case, I'm not trying to convince you otherwise - the GSB may not be a fit for you - I'm just trying to dispel the myth that everything is going to be finance focused. To the contrary - the GSB may well be the one school where you can AVOID finance almost entirely because of its super flexible curriculum. Just something to consider.

mNeo · Answer

kryzak, I can understand your reasoning for other schools, but the "Location, location, location" reasoning is a little too harsh. If I were you, I would try to be a little bit more flexible with the "I need a metro area" requirement.

rhyme · Answer

Well, he may have some good reasons... Especially for places like Cornell where recruiting becomes so heavily regional. (Something like 50% end up in NYC). I had similar requirements - I'm married .... and picking up and moving to a small town with no immediate prospects for the significant other just wasnt a particularly attractive option. I applied to Cornell anyway as a backup, but it was dead last on our list.

kryzak · Answer

Thank you for the post on Chicago rhyme! I guess I was going with some quick notes I read on Business Week's Top B-schools (2003 Edition) and the MBA Game Plan. Did Chicago change its curriculum to the one that's so flexible now? 

I'm trying to apply to only one more school, and NYU fell off the list after I noticed that they're very strong in finance and entertainment/media, but other things are more regional. I want a degree that works on the West Coast, internationally, and hopefully somewhat cross regional. Haas and Anderson can give me that. 

I will take a deeper look at Chicago again, you are definitely the best ambassador Chicago can have, Rhyme! I'm also looking into Kellogg just to compare.

mNeo, rhyme is right, there are significant other/spousal considerations, lifestyle considerations, and the "pursuit of happiness" considerations. I just won't be happy living in a small town (no offense to small town folks) because it's not me. I know it's only 2 years, but if I'm not happy at the school location, then I personally think it's not worth doing. Fit is important for the school AND also important for the candidate, and location is one of my biggies. I actually didn't consider the Chicago and Boston schools until recently, where I finally decided to give them a look and give them a chance. MIT is too techie for me (even though I'm a techie) and Harvard too rigid. Both Chicago schools look decent right now, but I just need to figure out which to apply when.

Rhyme or any others, for application strategies, if I'm applying to Stanford, Haas, and UCLA R1 to maximize my chances since those are my top 3 (UCLA R1 because I want to maximize any chance of getting into UCLA), should I try to squeeze in Kellogg or Chicago R1 or wait for R2? I'm worried about having too many schools to apply to and not enough time to spend on each application, especially since Chicago and Kellogg are both Ultra-elites, so they 're not really helping my chances.

Schools, schools, and more schools... (Need some recs)

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