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Tepper (no money) vs Paul Merage 16 Apr 2017, 10:14
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Tepper (no money) vs Paul Merage (45% scholarship)

Post MBA goal is to be on the west coast in tech or media and entertainment (I'm originally from Southern California)

I know the ranking is off by a lot but is location and money worth the lower ranked school?

I'm also waiting to hear back on waitlist from Marshall. I'm torn because I fail to see the return on investment from Tepper. Tepper would be nearly $165,000 in debt vs roughly $50,000 at Paul Merage.

Thoughts?


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Tepper (no money) vs Paul Merage 16 Apr 2017, 11:40
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Tough call for sure. I would go with Tepper though. I have no idea as to how strong a program Meramge is in your desired industry, but CMU is a tech powerhouse
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Tepper (no money) vs Paul Merage 16 Apr 2017, 20:19
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Schools: Merage '19 (A$) Foster '19 (D) Fisher '19 (A) Tepper '19 (A) Anderson '19 (S) Marshall '19 (D) Haas '19 (S)
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Tepper (no money) vs Paul Merage 17 Apr 2017, 20:32
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Tough call for sure. I would go with Tepper though. I have no idea as to how strong a program Meramge is in your desired industry, but CMU is a tech powerhouse
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There's a $100k debt difference over the two years. After reviewing the employment stats and salary it seems to be similar. I just wonder how much the name matters down the road.


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Tepper (no money) vs Paul Merage 17 Apr 2017, 22:08
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Congrats!
Merage would allow you to stay in So Cal and leverage some of your network there. Now, entertainment is very hard to get into, as you probably know. Merage is not going to help you with scoring a job in this industry (you will have to work the alums and even then it is going to be tough to land an internship or a job) - you will definitely have to work for it.

However, consider the outcomes and your classmates. Merage average salary is $100K and Tepper clocks at $140K. Sure it is more expensive but you will get it back within a few years. My main argument against Merage is that you will be attending a top 50 school in SoCal that already has Anderson and Marshall that are not doing all that amazing with their recruiting. You also throw in there Pepperdine and Loyola and you have a lot of MBA's chasing good jobs.

I don't think Tepper is going to be extra helpful in landing you a Media/Entertainment job but it sure will provide some back up alternatives and the caliber of classmates will be much greater - that's a big plus. You will spend a ton of time with them; they will be your network, and you are not just attending a school that has a certain ranking - the ranking mostly applies towards the applicants/students. I would suggest considering Tepper's offer seriously. Some people pay 4-10x more for a business class seat on an 8-hour flight. You have 2 years to go; not that much of a premium for going to a top 20 school.
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Schools: Merage '19 (A$) Foster '19 (D) Fisher '19 (A) Tepper '19 (A) Anderson '19 (S) Marshall '19 (D) Haas '19 (S)
Schools: Merage '19 (A$) Foster '19 (D) Fisher '19 (A) Tepper '19 (A) Anderson '19 (S) Marshall '19 (D) Haas '19 (S)
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Tepper (no money) vs Paul Merage 17 Apr 2017, 22:15
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Congrats!
Merage would allow you to stay in So Cal and leverage some of your network there. Now, entertainment is very hard to get into, as you probably know. Merage is not going to help you with scoring a job in this industry (you will have to work the alums and even then it is going to be tough to land an internship or a job) - you will definitely have to work for it.

However, consider the outcomes and your classmates. Merage average salary is $100K and Tepper clocks at $140K. Sure it is more expensive but you will get it back within a few years. My main argument against Merage is that you will be attending a top 50 school in SoCal that already has Anderson and Marshall that are not doing all that amazing with their recruiting. You also throw in there Pepperdine and Loyola and you have a lot of MBA's chasing good jobs.

I don't think Tepper is going to be extra helpful in landing you a Media/Entertainment job but it sure will provide some back up alternatives and the caliber of classmates will be much greater - that's a big plus. You will spend a ton of time with them; they will be your network, and you are not just attending a school that has a certain ranking - the ranking mostly applies towards the applicants/students. I would suggest considering Tepper's offer seriously. Some people pay 4-10x more for a business class seat on an 8-hour flight. You have 2 years to go; not that much of a premium for going to a top 20 school.
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Thanks for your detailed input. Where do you see the 140k average for tepper? I thought itwas 117k


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Tepper (no money) vs Paul Merage 17 Apr 2017, 22:31
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I saw it in the US News rankings but they combine bonus + salary in one figure and it was 140K for Tepper. You are correct that it is $117 without bonus. This represents a 20% bonus, which is typical for a mid-level manager (e.g. Sr. Manager/Director approximately though this position/level may be very different in different orgs)

For Merage the salary alone is $96K and salary+bonus is $102, indicating that Merage has a 5-7% bonus, indicative of a lower-grade positions that tend to carry smaller bonuses or a different type of work that has less performance-based incentives.
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Tepper (no money) vs Paul Merage 19 Apr 2017, 11:35
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I saw it in the US News rankings but they combine bonus + salary in one figure and it was 140K for Tepper. You are correct that it is $117 without bonus. This represents a 20% bonus, which is typical for a mid-level manager (e.g. Sr. Manager/Director approximately though this position/level may be very different in different orgs)

For Merage the salary alone is $96K and salary+bonus is $102, indicating that Merage has a 5-7% bonus, indicative of a lower-grade positions that tend to carry smaller bonuses or a different type of work that has less performance-based incentives.
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Gotcha. That makes sense.

What is your opinion on Tepper vs USC? USC recently increased in rank, but their rank seems to be very volatile and the program has some issues with recruiting and curriculum it seems.


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Tepper (no money) vs Paul Merage 20 Apr 2017, 08:40
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I saw it in the US News rankings but they combine bonus + salary in one figure and it was 140K for Tepper. You are correct that it is $117 without bonus. This represents a 20% bonus, which is typical for a mid-level manager (e.g. Sr. Manager/Director approximately though this position/level may be very different in different orgs)

For Merage the salary alone is $96K and salary+bonus is $102, indicating that Merage has a 5-7% bonus, indicative of a lower-grade positions that tend to carry smaller bonuses or a different type of work that has less performance-based incentives.
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Also do you have any insight on Ohio states Fisher MBA program? I just got admitted there as well and thought I would throw that in the mix.


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Tepper (no money) vs Paul Merage 20 Apr 2017, 09:13
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No scholarship?


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Tepper (no money) vs Paul Merage 20 Apr 2017, 10:14
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No scholarship?


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They said they would get back to me about that soon.


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Tepper (no money) vs Paul Merage 01 May 2017, 08:36
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No scholarship?


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I got 50% with a small stipend each month


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