Tepper ($) vs. Owen (Same cost overall)

Hey MBAsailor, I must say, you have the perfect name for a future Commodore.

A few things I would be thinking about if I were you:

1. Try negotiating with both programs for more scholarship money. If you have a scholarship offer from Tepper, you could try to see if Owen could at least *match* it. They may not budge, but it can't hurt to try!

2. Consider having another go at the GMAT. Bumping your score up to 700 could really change the landscape of your admissions cycle. It would put you above the mean at both Owen and Tepper, you could definitely use the new score to push for greater scholarship money. Also, with a 700+, you may even be able to jump off the waitlists at Duke and UNC if you are still high on those programs.

3. Visit both schools if you haven't already. This will really help you get a better feel for the culture at each institution. I imagine that a quant-heavy-crowd-in-Pittsburgh will indeed have a different vibe than an elite-but-still-SEC-school-in-Nashville. You may find that money aside, you definitely prefer one over the other. (I know my visit to Nashville convinced me it was the right program for me when I was previously set to attend a different school.)

4. Really consider your goals carefully. Perhaps you could make a list of firms you'd be interested in pursuing and see if they recruit at either school. This could make things a bit more clear. Since you mentioned you're interested in travel, I will say that Delta and American Airlines both recruit on-campus at Owen...but that's not any kind of a guarantee...and there may be a host of other travel firms that go to Tepper, I couldn't say. It still would be helpful for you to know what each program has to offer.

5. Definitely have your post MBA location in mind when you weigh Owen against Tepper. ~45% of Tepper's class of 2016 ended up in the Northeast or Mid Atlantic (https://tepper.cmu.edu/prospective-stude ... /geography). ~43% of Owen's class of 2016 ended up in the South (https://issuu.com/vanderbiltowen/docs/o ... 9/10584070). Both programs place folks nationally, but chances are that you'll find the most opportunities regionally. FWIW, 11 times out of 10 I'd choose the South over the Mid Atlantic or Northeast. I am a big fan of both Nashville and Atlanta, two cities Owen places very well...though I somehow ended up on the West Coast!

6. Finally, in addition to thinking about the culture at both schools and the geographies in which they place their graduates, also think about *where* the schools are themselves. You will be spending two years to you pursue your MBA, and you only get to do it once. You should really think hard about where you want to be during those two years and what kinds of things make you happy. If Pittsburgh is the kind of town you'd love to study in, by all means, weigh that in your decision. If Nashville is more attractive, the same thing applies. And for what it is worth, I cannot say enough nice things about the Music City. I LOVED Nashville. There is so much to do, it isn't prohibitively costly, people are happy, it's warm...there's just so much to love.

Good luck with your decision!