Ross ($) vs UNC KF ($$$$) for IB

Question

I was lucky enough to get accepted to two great programs and would love to hear your thoughts on which to select. Will be taking on about 150K in loans to go to Ross. Only about 10K for UNC.

Post MBA Goal: Investment Banking preferably in NYC but Chicago would be nice as well.

For background: Former professional and college athlete. Currently working as a financial analyst at a F100 company. Will have about 3 years of work experience at matriculation. Also a URM if that counts for anything.

Is Ross' ranking high enough to justify taking on the amount of debt? I feel like I would get the same chances for IB at both schools but I could be wrong...

Thanks!!

variantguy · Answer

Hi! Congratulations on two fantastic admits! Have you calculated the approximate amount of debt you'll be taking on at each school? I feel having that information will help people respond more accurately.

You may want to check out this handy guide as well: https://gmatclub.com/forum/financial-ai ... l#p2681520 You're right in terms of IB outcomes at Ross and UNC. Based on the 2020 employment reports, the IB stats at the two schools look like this: - 6.6% of the Ross class looking for a job went into IB (that's 24 people). The median salary was $150k and the median bonus was $50k. - 11% of the UNC class looking for a job went into IB (that's 21 people). The median salary was $150k (no mention of bonus). I think UNC might be sending more people to NYC because of its proximity if that's a really important consideration. The employment reports don't seem to provide any conclusive evidence about that. Are there any other factors that you are considering? Have you interacted with the communities and see if one school feels more of a cultural fit? What's your plan B? If it's consulting or tech, Ross would be much stronger. Is weather/lifestyle a factor?

bb · Answer

Congrates on your admits!

IB is one of those industries that are school or applicant-specific. E.g. Booth and Darden place probably over 20% into IB. At 5 or 6%, IB is not a focus to either Ross or UNC. I don't know that anyone comes to campus and likely you will be recruiting on your own off-campus so I would probably take the money and invest it into more trips, suits, etc.

ankurgupta03  or  woody93 , you feel different for any reason?

MBAPrepCoach89 · Answer

Both great options and you will have no problem recruiting for IB from either. Ross, due to its location, tends to also get a lot of IB recruiting traction in Chicago, and a number of the Chicago firms have a good Ross group. UNC with proximity (relative) to NY, is more east coast focused. As was said above, IB is not the true focus for either, so it will require some initiative be taken on your own, but it is more than possible. I don't think either is far and away better for IB recruiting, so would consider other criteria (location, price, weather, etc) when making your decision.

pinkpolkadots · Answer

Hi! First of all, congrats on both of your offers! As a Rosser who successfully recruited for i-banking this year, I would like to offer my two cents. Apart from considering the scholarships offered by both schools, I believe a way to approach your decision is to understand what banking opportunities are available for Ross and KF and the on-campus opportunities available.

For Ross: Several bulge brackets (GS, MS, JPM, Barclays, Bank of America, Citi, Credit Suisse, RBC) and some boutiques recruit from Ross each year, so it's a very structured process with many opportunities for corporate presentations and coffee chats with bankers. There are about 35 of us who are interested in banking, and all of us except for 2 were able to get at least one banking offer (the 2 who didn't get any banking offers were able to get PE / corporate development offers), so I'd say that Ross frankly exceeded my expectations. Contrary to what the above poster mentioned, the overwhelming majority of my class is heading to New York this summer. Also, the fact that Ross is in the midwest means that we are location-neutral; if during the recruiting process you decided that you're more interested in working at Chicago and San Francisco, it's easier to spin a story and say that you're interested in those locations. I personally recruited for both New York and San Francisco and got interview invites from both offices. In terms of the number of bankers at Ross, there was not a point in time I felt that bankers were "neglected" by the school. The weekly MBA Finance Club meetings, weekly FACT group meetings, MBA2 peer coaches, and Career Development Office coaches were really helpful resources for ~95% of us to land a banking offer even in the midst of COVID.

I personally do not know about the program at KF, but I did meet a couple of Wall Street bankers who were previously from the KF MBA program. My advice would be to connect with KF's finance club so that you can reach a more informed decision.

Please PM me if there are any other questions that you may have.

bb · Answer

Wow! Thank you  pinkpolkadots ! 
Awesome post!

Posted from my mobile device

Regenerate · Answer

Man ... this is a tough call. I picked UNCKF because I'm cheap ... BUT ... I can 100% see why someone would pick Ross.

If I'm in your shoes, I call Ross and tell them that I've got a spectacular financial aid offer to UNCKF, but I will pick them if they can get their financial aid package to $________ so my target all-in cost is $_________. See if they can get you there so it becomes a no-brainer. I really (!) think Ross is a much better school ... it's just really hard to turn down all that money from a school that's still really great (especially if you want to live in the mid-atlantic / southeast US).

Ross ($) vs UNC KF ($$$$) for IB

Ross($) vs KF ($$$$)

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