Babson vs Purdue

Question

Hello! My final decision has come down to choosing between Babson and Purdue. I’ve been admitted to their 2 year full time MBA Programs. I’m interested in the finance concentration and my goal is to work in the financial services industry. 
Purdue will cost me approx $69K and Babson will cost me $93K, both after deducting scholarship. Purdue is known more for its operations and supply chain concentration and Babson is known for its entrepreneurship and finance; course wise I find Babson better. 
However Purdue MBA is ranked higher than Babson; except for the Financial Times MBA Finance 2017 rankings where Babson is ranked 36 out of 50 and Purdue is not on the list.
Ive heard really mixed reviews about Babson due to which I’m really confused. 
Please share your views on this and help me with this decision.

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bb · Answer

If you are an international applicant, I highly recommend the school that will cost you less.

It also happens to be the bschool thats better ranked and has a more balanced student body. Babson seems to have a very large % of international students.

PS. Krannert is not going to handing you a job or an internship either and you will have to work for one on your own. That’s a reality if any non Top 10 school for an international applicant.

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riyab · Answer

Thank you so much for your response. However, majority of the class at Krannert goes for SCM; very few for finance, so how does that help? Their finance course also isn’t great! Isn’t that bad?

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stonecold · Answer

I have been saying it for the last couple of years now, but here you go again -> One of the worst mistakes that any International MBA student looking to seek employment in the US can make is joining Babson. It the only program in the Top 60-70 rankings that does not offer a full ride or a decent scholarship for an MBA program. Its tuition is high as MIT and its reputation is as bad as it gets. A large portion of its student body is International.

With the money, without the money -> Purdue is the clear choice here!
Purdue's MBA program has been gaining a lot of momentum in the past few years. There employment reports looks pretty awesome.

The only reason why you want to end up at Babson is because you want a start a business right after your MBA. But there is no reason why you cannot do that with Purdue.

I encourage you to ditch Babson here and go with the Purdue!

P.S -> Get in touch with the International students at Babson to get a more clear picture.

bb · Answer

LOL. There are many bad things but you are picking between the 2 lesser evils, not between Wharton and Booth.

PS. The reason they go for SCM and not MBB or IB because those are the only/best jobs they can get/find. It’s not because the school somehow prohibits them from getting finance, consulting, or IB jobs

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riyab · Answer

Thank you so much for your views. I spoke to a friend of mine who is a current student at Babson MBA and he is of the opinion that Babson has a much better reputation in finance compared to Purdue. And so have a lot of other people. Which is why the confusion. The reviews have been really mixed. I still have a lot of time to decide, so I will get in touch with more students and alumni. Thank you for your quick response! It makes a lot of sense. Really appreciate it.

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riyab · Answer

I was referring to the concentration and not the job industry! The majority of the class opts for SCM concentration, so I find that to be pretty unbalanced. Anyway what you said also makes sense, so thank you for your views. Really appreciate it.

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celam · Answer

I'm an undergraduate at Purdue right now and I spend a lot of time talking with current Krannert MBAs and meeting the professors. Krannert has a really helpful office called Krannert Professional Development Center that has the exact stats, but I know that there a good deal of students who find Finance positions at Fortune 500 companies after graduation (especially companies with big Operations departments like Eli Lilly and Caterpillar).

MBB does not recruit at Purdue, but Deloitte and PwC LOVE Purdue degrees. I have been told that networking is a key part of getting the competitive jobs, and that the top students are railroaded into interviews by their professors and alumni with clout.

To be completely fair, I don't have familiarity with Babson but I thought I'd contribute anyways. Hope this helps!

bb · Answer

Thanks for clarifying. I think the SCM folks can chime in about the concentration. What will be annoying for you however is options for finance classes and your interests. Small schools can’t offer many elective options unfortunately.

However, most employers won’t make a hiring decision because of a sub note on a diploma or classes you have taken or not taken so the MBA is going to be just fine and good enough. Similarly, employers won’t care about your undergrad degree - whether it was psychology or business. So it is not a weakness for the opportunities but it is a weakness in other ways.

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bb · Answer

Purdue is a very strong undergrad brand. The BSchool has a different ranking though. I am assuming you are speaking about jobs for undergrads and that happens often - great opportunities for undergrad but little for MBA grads.

Feel free to clarify in case you have data for the mba program.

PS. One of the moderators got an mba from Krannert and he found it difficult to get a great job after graduation using Krannerts brand.

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celam · Answer

*I can't post URLS cause I haven't been around on the forum long enough, so please excuse the workaround on getting you to these websites*

I was speaking about the MBA program more than the undergrad, but I think that is a great point about undergrad opportunities differing from MBA opportunities. Here's what the MBA career office say about recruiting, and as you'll notice, the mix of industry and the list of employers is unique, to say the least: Google "purdue kpdc placement data" and take the first link

Specifically to the Finance specialization, check this page out: Google "Purdue MBA Finance option area" and take the first link
The finance specialization has some electives that are spelled out here, but I agree that there is not a ton of flexibility to pick and choose, and I have no reference to say how great the MBA Finance classes are, except I've heard good things about the undergrad classes with the same subjects and some of the same professors.

I can understand how Krannert's brand does not lend itself to the traditionally great jobs. The brand has been gathering some momentum recently, and they're pushing for the companies that recruit Purdue undergrads to start taking more MBA students too. I'd love to know more about the mod's experience with recruiting though. I am considering a Krannert MBA simply because of its relative affordability, and my main fear is that I'd struggle marketing the brand, above and beyond the undergrad brand.

riyab · Answer

Yes, Babson has about 25 elective options for the corporate finance track and babson has only 8-9! Which is why i stated that course wise Babson is way better! But well yeah employers are going to look at the overall degree more than the courses. And my undergrad was in business, and I’m also pursuing CFA, so that can add value probably.

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riyab · Answer

Thank you so much  celam ! This was very helpful.

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Mo2men · Answer

Hi  riyab ,

In light of your goals, have you applied to higher schools such Columbia, Stern.....etc which are known for finance??? Why did you apply to those schools in particular? Are you international student?

riyab · Answer

Yes, I am an international student. The reason I didn’t apply to these schools is that my work experience is only of 20 months! And GMAT 690; these schools require higher work ex!

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Mo2men · Answer

I do not want to sound negative but I do support  bb  and  stonecold  about many views. However, I would suggest something else. Think about your odds as international student with only 20 month of experience and non-finance school, would this help you?

IMHO, you need to get seasoned and make yourself attractive to employers, especially you experiences won't help you make much money if recruited. you won't get the benefit of the MBA program becauseof with low experience. You have starting point. You may enhance your GMAT above 700 and keep until 2 years when you have 4 years of experience and reapply to higher schools. Again, this is me.

bb · Answer

With just 2 years of work experience, you will need to rely on your network heavily to land an internship and a job. 
No matter how amazing (which it is not) career services may be at Krannert, let's just assume it is - you will still lose to most of your classmates and will be passed by employers when it comes to getting chosen for internships and jobs since many of them will be more accomplished professionally and will have work authorization.

Not having a green card/work authorization (OPT does not count and even takes extra effort with STEM and 3 years), you will be limited to the companies you can apply for (many will not want to undergo the process of sponsoring you and in that case, it makes no sense for them to train you and invest time into you).

Again, not an impossible task to find an internship and a job and it is quite possible you can best others in your class with better presentation/public speaking skills or perhaps you are more persistent or whatever, but what we are trying to prepare you for, is that the chances are stacked against you. Sometimes people win with chances of 100 to 1 but in 99% of cases, they don't. Your chances are better than that and to succeed you will have to work really really hard. It will be a constant uphill battle. You won't get any breaks.

praveenMBA · Answer

Hello Riyab and others,

What have you guys decided finally? Babson or Purdue? On different note, Purdue IMM-GlobalEMBA/EMBA or Babson Blended MBA program?

praveenrandev · Answer

I am interested to know which school you ultimately chose and what the consequences were?

eeeew2 · Answer

I wonder which school you chose in the end and what your considerations were.

Babson vs Purdue

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