Poll: Cornell($$), Darden ($) or LBS

Question

I’ve been working in the Hospitality Private Equity Industry for about 4 years, specifically doing acquisitions (15 over 4 years).

Long term, I’m aiming to stay in the investment management space. Investment Banking in New York is the immediate post-MBA goal.

I’m currently deciding between Cornell Johnson ($70K), Darden ($40K), and London Business School.

Bit of background, graduated from Cornell undergraduate business school with 3.9 and originally from Hudson Valley area.

Would appreciate any insight.

bb · Answer

Congratulations on admits. 🙌

I would probably advise against LBS. The network in the US is quite weak. My cousin went there and had to come back to the US during the pandemic so recruiting wasn’t going amazing.

I know a lot of folks prefer not to go to the business school where they went to for undergrad, and I think Darden is a decent value in this case as long as you don’t mind the case method. Did you have a strong pipeline into investment banking. That would probably be my strong consideration.

bb · Answer

By the way, did you go to the Johnson or Darden admit day? Any concerns?

Jamesc21 · Answer

Unfortunately, was unable to make it to the admit days. In terms of IB Pipeline, strong experience with valuation post-graduation, undergraduate degree in finance and accounting and campus involvement with PGN and various investment clubs. I have a concern about the sense of community at Johnson in my experience sharing classes during undergraduate, students seemed to spend a majority of time off campus and in new york city in particularly. For Darden I have heard the sense of community is outstanding but I have concerns about the consulting focus and difficulty to recruit back to the northeast.

bb

By the way, did you go to the Johnson or Darden admit day? Any concerns?

GyanOne · Answer

Four years of PE acquisitions in hospitality gives you a serious edge for IB recruiting. Bankers understand the deal work, and the sector focus shows depth. Johnson at $70k off is very hard to beat for New York banking placement, especially with your Cornell undergrad network already in place.

Your concern about Johnson students spending weekends in NYC is actually a feature for your goal, not a bug. Those are the people who will be your classmates in analyst programs six months after graduation. The off-campus culture you observed as an undergrad reflects exactly the pipeline you want to tap into.

Darden is excellent, but you'd be swimming upstream on two fronts. First, their consulting tilt means fewer finance-focused peers in your cohort. Second, getting back to the Northeast is doable but requires more intentional effort than simply staying in the Ivy corridor. The $30k difference doesn't offset that friction when banking recruitment is so relationship-driven and geography-specific.

LBS makes sense only if you wanted London or Asia exposure, which doesn't align with investment management in New York as your long-term target.

One question worth thinking through: does the undergrad-to-MBA same-school path bother you personally, or is it just something you've heard others say? If it's the latter, the ROI math and recruiting reality both point to Johnson.

Poll: Cornell($$), Darden ($) or LBS

Which One

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