Hey all. Admitted R1 to Cornell Johnson with partial scholarship.
How much does being at a Top 15/20 school vs. M7 really matter for consulting recruiting? Looking to get thoughts on a couple different aspects of this discussion.
Let's assume MBB + Deloitte, Accenture, EY, ATK.
1. Geography
Been perusing the forums and quite a few people seem to be knocking Johnson when comparing to NYU Stern, Fuqua, and Darden but Johnson is sending the same 25% people to consulting as these other schools. The people I've spoken to at Fuqua and Darden seem to indicate its much harder to end up in the Midwest consulting out of these schools whereas Johnson is sending quite a few people to Chicago. How important is seeing students go to the specific firm offices that you want to be at? Whether that's Chicago, Seattle, DC, etc.
2. Recruiting Opportunities and pre-MBA
How noticable is the gap in recruiting opportunities between M7 vs. Top 15 schools? Top 20? Top 25? Where do you see a huge fall off?
If I'll have opportunities to attend Consortium OP and/or Forte Conference pre-MBA, how much does an on-campus recruiting gap matter?
What about making sure your school is on the list for McK pre-MBA? (eg: Kelley (IU), Mendoza (ND), Jones (Rice), etc not even having access to that pipeline)
3. Recruiting Competition
How much does it matter how good you look compared to your classmates? Big fish small pond vs. Small fish big pond OR are there that many more spots at top firms for students from top schools? If everyone is listing their GMAT on their resume -- do you want to be at a school where you're above average or does it not really matter >700?
4. Scholarship
(This is kind of linked back to 2 but...) Where do you think there's a breakeven between ranking and worth? Booth (no money) vs Johnson (full)? Johnson (1/2) vs Ross (no money)? Johnson (3/4) vs Fuqua (1/2)? Sloan (no money) vs. Darden (full)? Fuqua (1/2) vs. Wash U Olin (full)? OR Do people feel like above top 15, go wherever?
Apologies for the very open ended question but I'd like to make sure I'm being comprehensive and current.