Fuqua $ vs Kelley $$$

Question

Hey everyone

Kelley vs Fuqua? 
Fuqua costs 80k more.

International student here.

I plan to get into tech consulting, also thinking about brand management, West coast or NYC

I am 33 which means I will graduate at 36.

the financial burden of 80k is massive given my current position.

I will need to go literally ALL IN for Fuqua giving away all my current and future savings, car, home etc.

Side question: given the fact that I am not going to need my home for some years, and the rent income is not that noticeable, does it make sense to go under debt and keep home or sell home and pay the school in cash and save myself the debt trouble?

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fall2021 · Answer

For a difference of 80K definitely Fuqua. If it was Fuqua at full sticker vs Kelley full ride then it could have been a debate.

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Mo2men · Answer

Congrats  sebo08

It is really tough decision to take. But you will get mixed opinions based in everyone's experience, age, capabilities and even cultural aspects play role.

You will find someone with 28 different than yours. Some countries provide loans to its citizens that make their education easier...etc

So I will give my 2 cents with my situation and background.

I'm older than (35+) you and close to your region. I will ask myself question in first, do tech consulting hire people in your age? do you need then prior experience? I do not know the answer as it is far field from me. My question stems for management consulting field when someone big firm told me the older you are the more difficult to get in. So maybe both are different. So please check. I know that Duke has the upper hand for tech field over kelley. But it is worth to shot emails for career service to kelley. The director there is very nice responsive man who try to provide honest feedback. I have this personal experience with him few years ago.

Fro me within my situation, I may strongly refrain to take any debt in this stage in my life as I hate this burden and want to enjoy my life with anything on my shoulders. So I may choose Kelley with plan B and even C withing Kelley's capabilities.

Wish you good luck

fall2021 · Answer

You are congratulating the wrong guy

Thanks anyway

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Mo2men · Answer

Let me congratulate you too for MCD. I see you are accepted.

Wish you all the best

MBA2021sus · Answer

You're talking about selling your life for Fuqua! I don't think it's worth it. I would go Kelley in a heartbeat unless you're absolutely 100% MBB or bust. Even then... Kelley is solid and will get you in a similar career.

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mihir0710 · Answer

A little more information about your background could help but with the available information, here's my 2 cents:
- I am not sure what all tech consulting firms you are targetting but Accenture, Infosys, Deloitte, or Cognizant currently are not hiring international MBAs. It's US school specific, it's across the country! Also, some of the companies look for tech experience/background to even consider you for the interviews. 
- Kelley is big on Brand Management with a good number of my classmates going into that role in the FMCG industry. But again very few FMCG companies hire international students. But things could change with the change in the administration. You never know.
- Regarding the financial aspect you highlighted, I would encourage you to think about what's important to you - Is it the brand that you want on your resume vs financial security (lower risk)? Of course, at a school like Fuqua, you will have more recruiters on campus as compared to that at Kelley. But again you will see Kelleys are hired at all top companies just in fewer quantities.

Hope this helps.

sebo08 · Answer

mihir0710 Mo2men thanks for all the advice. My background is in manufacturing, family business, so no internationally recognized brands in my CV. I have passed the point to insist on "CONSULTING IN BIG 3 ONLY" and I guess insisting on a bad direction, although might work, is not worth the risk for me. I guess the wisest decision at this point is to be flexible and analyze where I can get recruited easier as an international 30+year-old. bb I think this point of view is a good one for those who have been already admitted. they might be flexible on their career choices and need some advice. I mean some ppl like me have never had determined career goals

and are willing to change directions. What suggestions do you all have? What industry-role is the most secure path to land a job with a quick easy H1B and enough compensation? is it General Management in Amazon/Google? or Brand management in a manufacturing company? or Investment banking? or anything else...This also requires some stats on which companies get how many H1Bs, how many job openings it has, how many of the recruited people are internationals, etc. I asked the very same question from the career centers of both schools. waiting for their answer.

bb · Answer

Congrats sebo08 ! Super happy for you. Congratulations on your admits and great results. Are you had to go through through so much and great to see the results of your efforts!!! I haven’t had a good stretch of time to post my thoughts. I keep delaying it until I have a good stretch of time but I’m not sure if that will ever come so might as well post it now

My thinking is that first of all, Fuqua is how much stronger brand and a top 10 program. It is super importing for consulting and serious tech p.m. roles. At the same time, it is much harder for international applicants to break into those roles and esp for someone graduating at 36. One issue is that people coming on campus to interview you, will be younger than you. While someone may consider hiring a very experienced person as a positive, often recruiters will perceive it as a negative. They won’t take time to understand the nuances in the details and instead they will judge you based on their own experience and the way they think about it, the role you recruiting for they had when they were 28 and you’re eight years older, so it took you an extra eight years to get to where they were eight years ago. That means you’re extra slow or something else is wrong with you. Obviously that is not the case and not true but that is what goes through the minds of recruiters. You are technically arriving last in the race. As the result, I think your recruiting will mostly happen through networking and reaching out through alums and other networks that you may have. Take a look at the link about an older applicants journey. https://gmatclub.com/forum/mba-after-30 ... 00397.html Since one of the big draws to Fuqua is on campus recruiting which will be not very useful based on my expectations for someone of your experience level, you may be better off saving some of that tuition money. At the same time, there are other benefits in attending a higher ranked school.... I have outlined them in the value of a top 10 MBA post. Note, you are a lot more likely to benefit from a higher rank to school if you have a strong drive and clear goals and laser focus. If you are flexible and open minded and more is it going like I am, that actually does not help in business school and you will likely miss out on the number of opportunities as a result ... So my recommendation would be Kelley with a full scholarship. Asked to the real estate, it really depends. If you were planning to stay in the US after graduation and not planning to come back, at least for a while, then do you really need the hassle in dealing with managing your house from a far? If, on the other hand someone can manage it for you and it pays the mortgage and pays for itself, then it’s a nice investment that could build equity overtime and have renters pay your mortgage. If it is cash positive, probably makes sense to hang onto it again as long as you don’t have to worry about renters and upkeep and being distracted in business school. If the investment is not cash positive, then I would sell it because it will be harder to sell it after it was rented for a few years and has been banged up. Posted from my mobile device

sebo08 · Answer

Back here again after a year.

Guess what? posting this using Duke's wifi!

Short Answer: 80k premium was worth it for Fuqua. Once you get a nice job, it is not gonna be anything big!

Haven't had many interviews yet, but I got my number one interview, not disclosing it yet.

I am still not sure whether age is really important for them or not, haven't felt any bias toward age, so I am assuming it is not a factor. Most of my classmates are 30-31, and 33 is not that different from 31!

Regarding the location, definitely Durham is far better than Bloomington. Whether is so nice that I bought a motorbike

Regarding the career prospects, no matter which company you put your finger on, there is a Duke or Fuqua alum there who can help you! This is a huge factor to consider.

The career management center impact is high on companies. BUT! they do not follow up on you with your progress on your recruitment! it is completely your job to do that. They are just there when you need them. If you are behind on your resume preparation, no one is going to tell you that directly, but you will feel it indirectly because you see everyone preparing it and applying.

Should be a little extroverted and talk to as many people as possible to know what goes on here and there. Information flow in the school is pretty organic, there are ways such as Slack and email to organize it but the best approach is being in the current.

Regarding the amount of traction you get as an international student that causes improvement in language skills and cultural adaptation, Fuqua is great!

Fuqua is a consulting feeder! so take that into account. Also they place pretty strong in IB.

I would have definitely had far less exposure and opportunity if I went for Kelley, even though It would have cost less. It is not that Kelley is bad, the combination of what I had and what I wanted made more sense in Fuqua. They have a strong support which I needed, and that came with a price to pay which I happily did.

Bhu750 · Answer

sebo08  can we have a chat? Looking for some help with application process for Fuqua and Johnson. For some reason I. Not able to message you!

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bb · Answer

sebo08  so great to hear from you. Thank you for your post and update!

👍👍👍

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Fuqua $ vs Kelley $$$

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