bostonsparky
Currently finishing up my R2 essays. I know this has probably already been beaten to death here but I would be curious what some people's thoughts are on the differences between Kellogg and Booth. For me it seems the big one is Kellogg's reputation for Marketing and Booth's reputation for Finance (neither of which really concern me) but I'd be curious what some of the R1'ers who already went through this issue came up with. Out-of-class activities, especially social ones would be good to know, heck even useful links (no need for filler prose on official school websites). PM me if you'd like.
First of all both are amazing schools and you really cant go wrong careerwise attending either. Yes Kellogg is stronger in Marketing and Chicago is stronger in finance but it doesnt mean you could get an awesome career in either field coming out of either school. The biggest difference is the diversity of options. Booth places well in MC at the big firms and Kellogg places well in the top big banks...however, you will notice that the specialized and boutique firms wont always be the same at both schools. Booth is going to attract more of the really great small companies in finance fields while Kellogg is going to draw a lot of the more desireable boutique consulting stuff.
So what makes them different...I think a lot of it goes beyond what the school is actually like and more to how students interact. At kellogg every class has group work involved, yes even accounting and stats classes will have some group assignments. If you come here you will get frustrated at this at times...you will have trouble scheduling group meeting times or people not pulling their weight. However, this is just like the real world so in a lot of ways its a huge benefit and you just dont realize it until you talk to 2nd years about internships or alums about their jobs. Its not a part of what you will learn in class but alums have told me time and time again that this is what has helped them set themselves apart in their careers much more than their finance or strategy skills.
Socially there are going to be differences. Something like 85% of Kellogg students live in Evanston...so this means almost all of your classmates are going to live within a half mile of you. This is awesome for social activities but at times it can be a bit much. Go to dinner with your gf/bf or spouse and chances are you will probably run into other people and a nice night out alone turns into a group date. However, you can avoid this...just go to the nicer more expensive places for those special occasions. We are poor students afterall and people tend to frequent the $10-$15 a plate places not the $25-$35. You wont have this same experience at Chicago...yes plenty of students live close to each other but its no where near the same. Everytime I take my dog out for a walk I know I am going to meet up with friends on the street.
However, you can make Kellogg work the other way. You can not get super involved in extra curriculars (trust me fear of missing out drives many people to join tons of stuff)...you can live downtown and commute, you can leave evanston and head downtown all the time. But if you do get admitted and end up attending Kellogg...chances are you are going to love living in Evanston and being involved in the school. Remember every school is going to have positives and negatives. Just make sure the positives are stuff you want a lot and the negatives are things you can deal with. Don't go to MIT if you want to learn lots of soft skills and really dont want an incredibly difficult course load. Don't head to Kellogg if you dont like people much and really want to do individual studies because working on group assignments sound like torture.
23 Dec 2008, 15:15
For those of us still waiting on offers, lots of offers for the new years! 
