Tier 1 vs Tier 2 with 100% scholarship

This really depends on you... debt will stress you out but Darden will certainly open more doors and present at least a wider array (if not better) opportunities, plus your peer network on average will be slightly more advanced in corporate settings as your career progresses. I faced a similar choice last year around this time and bet on myself being able to leverage the wider network with no regrets at the moment.

If you're going into CorpFin, take the scholarship and run. Think about how much it's worth pre-tax. Also, looking at the BC employment report. Lots of great companies recruit there, and I guarantee you there is much overlap between BC and UVA when it comes to CorpFin opportunities. Don't let people who are obsessed with brand name talk you into spending over $120k for the same outcome.

BCs reputation is very regional. If you want to stay in Boston, take the scholarship. If not, go with the stronger brand that will give you more opportunities.

Posted from my mobile device

Go to Darden, it'll be much easier to get into high finance from there.

Posted from my mobile device

That is harsh! Don’t fall for those rankings and directionally challenged poets & quants reports.

So I have a friend who went to University of Pittsburgh for MBA ~50% scholarship. He had an admit from Duke too. He decided to take university of Pittsburgh.

Now he wanted to be an investment banker and wanted to be in private equity and play in the big league as bankers from Wharton, Stern, Booth. He decided to get a CFA and that CFA got him his internships and he was an investment banker with Jeffries, Goldman Sachs and now he’s in private equity

CFA + MBA = Golden, MBA gets your foot in he door with your target companies and CFA validates your capability

Talk to people who’ve succeeded going to schools other than the target schools and the path they took. CFA has solid credibility in the finance business, be it corporate finance or investment banking or private equity. DM me, I’ll share my friends LinkedIn for you to cyber snoop or connect with him.

On a separate note, UVA is a consulting school-not a banking or tech school (with many other schools being better than UVA at consulting recruiting) It may become a tech school with Amazon moving into the hood and other tech companies wanting to set shop.

Posted from my mobile device

With jobs being plenty the brand of the school has less of a play or influence in being able to recruit, at least for the US Applicants.

For international applicants, where going back home is a potential issue thanks for the ever-changing chaotic H1B policies, you probably don't want to land back in France/India/China/Australia and expect anything out of the U of Pittsburgh diploma. Having one from Yale or Oxford would be significantly more helpful for recruiting.

In terms of the specialty and highly competitive fields such as PE and IBanking, those are heavily networked positions that require networks, connections, and special access. Few MBA programs will grant that since they won't be too impressed with even HBS and GSB.

In summary, if you are recruiting into a special interest area, that no schools offer on-campus recruiting to or shortcuts, MBA brand matters a lot less. The same applies if you have a strong network to land a job.