SMACKDOWN - FT MBA Class of 2014: MIT Sloan vs Berkeley Haas

MIT has a direct line to Silicon Valley, if that's where one wants to end up. I would suggest looking at the employment reports of both schools.

It's one thing to have a "direct line" to Silicon Valley, it's another to be able to grab beers with people there every weekend.

In my opinion, both schools will get you to your goal & both networks in your desired industry are top notch. Instead, you may want to consider what you want out of your MBA experience. Location, courses/experiential opportunities in your area of interest, cultures, etc. Most importantly, which seemed like a better fit?

Yes, Boston is cold but it is a vibrant city, and MIT is a very unique school that is well-known worldwide. However, I'm likely headed to Haas myself.

You have two AMAZING options! You really can't go wrong.

I mean for sure Haas allows for better direct networking. Of course that goes both ways. Being in the Bay in recruiting in Silicon Valley you will be expected to network much more, less you fall behind.

My point is if someone wants to work in Silcon Valley, many East Coast schools may hurt those chances. MIT is not one of them though.

Sloan is way above Haas.

Wow, just a few hours and so many votes and great responses. Thank you! But the votes don't help :-p, pretty evenly split.

How about votes on the below dimensions, Haas vs Sloan (and WHY! - I think we've had plenty of time answering Why's with our essays )...
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Haas > or < or = Sloan (and why)...

1) Long-Term Viability in the "Top 10" MBA programs list and runway potential to reach Top 3-5 (given all the top programs are innovating and incorporating each others' best practices -i.e., team learning, experiential learning, etc- and at least 3-5 non-US programs will likely displace current US programs from the Top 10 list in the next 5-10 years)

2) Student culture and experience

3) Recruiting in Technology

4) Recruiting outside of technology (Finance, CPG, Rotational programs, Consulting)...after all, the Tech bubble may burst!

5) Academic rigor (sure, everyone says the MBA is a joke academically...but some really want to learn!)

6) Reputation in Technology among Big Tech companies

7) Reputation in Technology among "blue-chip" early stage/startups

8) Reputation in the Bay Area

9) Alumni willingness to go out of the way to help current students

10) Friendships/Bonds in the alumni community

Unlikely that MIT provided you with some scholarship. They are known as most greedy among MBA programmes.

Decide where you wonna work and live west or east coast.

I have visited both the schools. I would say other than the geographic location (weather and proximity to Silicon valley), Berkeley does not offer anything that MIT Sloan cannot better. Both schools to an extent play second fiddle to their neighboring institutions, HBS and GSB Stanford respectively. However, I would recommend Sloan because you can work in one of their labs at MIT as a research assistant and that would give you a good transition experience to joining the Tech industry. And there are tons of Sloan students starting up start-ups in partnership with Harvard and MIT students and then moving to the Valley.

I am dating a MIT grad... he is in tech (of course)... and allow me to say this... MIT opens many doors... he is in the east coast and loves it here but constantly gets calls from west coast companies for recrutiting. What MIT has done for him is allow him to do his tech consulting by leveraging their network. Most of his clients are MIT grads or have been referred to him by MIT. The power of that network never ceases to amaze me.

The bay area is absolutely gorgeous. However, I think Sloan has a stronger reputation.