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UNC Kenan-Flagler (45% $) vs Notre Dame Mendoza (85% $)

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MrWriter
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Joined: 11 Mar 2016
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Location: India
Concentration: Statistics, Finance
Schools: Kenan-Flagler '22 (A$) Jones '22 (A$) Olin '22 (WA) Mendoza '22 (A$) Foster '22 (D) Kelley '22 (D)
GMAT 1: 730 Q50 V38
Schools: Kenan-Flagler '22 (A$) Jones '22 (A$) Olin '22 (WA) Mendoza '22 (A$) Foster '22 (D) Kelley '22 (D)
GMAT 1: 730 Q50 V38
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UNC Kenan-Flagler (45% $) vs Notre Dame Mendoza (85% $) 30 Dec 2019, 07:17
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Hello,

I am thrilled about getting admission offers from a few programs of my choice. However, I am struggling to make a decision before the deposit deadlines.

It would be good to get the views of the experts before I take an important step to further my knowledge and career.

Background
- Male, international without US work authorization,
- Based in New Delhi, India. Working as Non-Technical Product Manager in a Cloud Security company
- Post-MBA goal: I have no technical know-how. Want to learn analytics, business courses and apply that in Product Management role at Tech giants such as Microsoft, Amazon. Plan B is to specifically work in analytics role such as Marketing Analyst and work my way up to become a Product Manager

UNC Kenan-Flagler (45% fellowship)
Pros
- STEM concentration in Business Analytics and Management Science
- Consistently ranked in the top 20
- STAR program
- Collaborative community (although this might be the case with all the B-schools)
- Access to Research Triangle and Tech employers that visit the campus
- Weather

Cons
- 2019 employment report for the international is concerning. Only 80% of the students without work authorization got the jobs (3 months post-graduation)
- Business Analytics concentration is new, there is no opportunity to get feedback on the concentration
- Cost of attendance is almost double

Notre Dame Mendoza (85% fellowship)
Pros
- Notre Dame brand
- Stronger alumni base if I consider students from other programs as well (Although, I am not sure how helpful will the alumni from other programs be in terms of networking, especially for internationals)
- Dual Degree (MBA/ MS in Business Analytics) - STEM
- A strong liking for the course structure - more emphasis on analytics, and the dual degree program is almost 4 years old now
- Lower tuition fees, cost of living, and higher fellowship - Cost of attendance is almost half

Cons
- Companies do not visit the campus for recruitment. One would need to individually apply to the companies and hope for the best
- Travel to Chicago for networking
- Lower ranked program
- Location, harsh weather

I am personally inclined towards UNC, but I cannot ignore that Mendoza has a better course in analytics and will cost me only half.

bb, woody93, ankurgupta03, stonecold
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UNC Kenan-Flagler (45% $) vs Notre Dame Mendoza (85% $) 30 Dec 2019, 07:32
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Congratulations!

I would love to hear from woody93 about tech hiring at KF and what opportunities exist.

PS. Is your scholarship for the Mendoza is for the joint degree or just the MBA portion?

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MrWriter
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Location: India
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Schools: Kenan-Flagler '22 (A$) Jones '22 (A$) Olin '22 (WA) Mendoza '22 (A$) Foster '22 (D) Kelley '22 (D)
GMAT 1: 730 Q50 V38
Schools: Kenan-Flagler '22 (A$) Jones '22 (A$) Olin '22 (WA) Mendoza '22 (A$) Foster '22 (D) Kelley '22 (D)
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UNC Kenan-Flagler (45% $) vs Notre Dame Mendoza (85% $) 30 Dec 2019, 07:40
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bb, Thanks for the prompt response. The fellowship is for the dual degree (MBA/MSBA)
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woody93
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UNC Kenan-Flagler (45% $) vs Notre Dame Mendoza (85% $) 30 Dec 2019, 08:03
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Hey - congrats on all your admits! Tech recruiting at UNC is quite strong. I believe by percentage, Tech is #1 here followed by Finance, Consulting, Real-Estate, and Healthcare. Bias aside, UNC is a stronger MBA program than Notre Dame. We get more employers, and our grads go all over the country with a lot of different companies. Access to employers especially from local Research Triangle is really strong, but it is by no means concentrated in RTP. A ton of grads go West for tech. I've been happy with the diversity of companies (both big name and small) who are coming to campus. I am not too much in the Tech Recruiting, but from the employers I know who have come to campus and hire a lot of UNC grads are Dell Technologies, Amazon, Cisco, and IBM. Furthermore, Google, Spotify come to campus and recruit as well. I am almost certain I am missing much more, but I can't recall from the top of my head. The point being - tech is strong here. Location wise, I also think we have Notre Dame beat. Access to RTP with Duke being 8 miles away gives way to a lot of recruiting activity here. Plus, weather here in NC is definitely better.

A couple of final points - I can't comment on the 80% placement for internationals. I think it might be worth calling admissions of career/leadership and asking. As far as the STEM concentration goes, you are right that it is just being rolled out, but based on my first semester, I have zero doubts it is going to be valuable and challenging, taught by the best professors. Our faculty here are honestly incredible. Teaching and Academics here is seriously undervalued and we have Professors who have come from Booth and Kellogg to teach here. One important factor I did not realize when I was choosing schools was actually how academically oriented UNC was. There is a lot of challenging courses, EC's, and research going on here at all times. Plus our faculty are graded on both teaching and research activity, so you are not missing out on either. I would choose UNC over Note Dame even with the cost differential. Hope that helps a bit.
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UNC Kenan-Flagler (45% $) vs Notre Dame Mendoza (85% $) 30 Dec 2019, 13:17
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Hey MrWriter, Happy to chime in and help.
First off, congratulations on getting admission to both the schools with great scholarships.

woody93 talked about a lot of points that I would have talked about.
Tech recruiting is strong at UNC. If I remember correctly, in my batch, 11 people went to Dell, 6 - 7 went to Amazon, 2 - 3 Microsoft, 3 - NetApp (I interned there). Others included Google (2), Cisco(1) and I am sure I am missing a lot of companies here. I think the story was pretty similar for the next year(2019) with numbers at Google and Microsoft increasing significantly.

The point is that you will have ample opportunities to recruit for tech. Plus being in the RTP area helps a lot with networking. Agreed that it is no West Coast, but then you can always go on the West Coast trek with the BTC club.

As for the 80% placement for internationals, I am not sure about that. I can remember of 2 internationals at most (out of 100) in my batch (2018) who were not placed after 3 months. May be it is a good idea to call up the Admissions office and ask for clarification on that number. However, I am sure that with the STEM concentration, the recruiting for international students will get a significant boost.

STEM concentration is a big plus given the current scenario but as I see, it is not a differentiation in your case. UNC started trying the Technology and Analytics concentration from my batch and had a solid array of courses during the time. I am pretty sure that now with things more formalized and structured it would have improved. The faculty is great and you learn a lot of new things. Some of the courses from Analytics concentration that I can remember are: Marketing Analytics, Pricing Analytics, Data Analytics, Tech Strategy and the core courses in Statistics and Data analysis and Management.

Final icing on the cake would be the weather. It is really hard to get as cool a college town as Chapel Hill is. The weather and the vibe of the town is too good to pass.
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MrWriter
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Joined: 11 Mar 2016
Last visit: 07 Jul 2024
Posts: 20
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9
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Location: India
Concentration: Statistics, Finance
Schools: Kenan-Flagler '22 (A$) Jones '22 (A$) Olin '22 (WA) Mendoza '22 (A$) Foster '22 (D) Kelley '22 (D)
GMAT 1: 730 Q50 V38
Schools: Kenan-Flagler '22 (A$) Jones '22 (A$) Olin '22 (WA) Mendoza '22 (A$) Foster '22 (D) Kelley '22 (D)
GMAT 1: 730 Q50 V38
Posts: 20
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UNC Kenan-Flagler (45% $) vs Notre Dame Mendoza (85% $) 01 Jan 2020, 06:53
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Thank you woody93, ankurgupta03 for the wonderful explanations.

I've also learnt that KF strongly supports case-based learnings. Could you throw some more light on this method and how it is more beneficial than the lecture-based learnings?

Also, my assumption is that case-studies will be likened by students who are extroverts. That said, I'm sure there will be a few students who are not really comfortable in public speaking. I think I belong to the latter group. How do such students adapt, and improve their communication skills and the ability to think on their feet?
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UNC Kenan-Flagler (45% $) vs Notre Dame Mendoza (85% $) 01 Jan 2020, 07:01
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One does not have to be extroverted to think quick on their feet or have good speaking skills.... but you get better by practicing and doing exactly what one is bad at - no better way to improve.... and no better way to improve one’s interview skills either. Those skills will have to be used to pass 3+ interviews for PM jobs.


MrWriter
Thank you
woody93, ankurgupta03 for the wonderful explanations.

I've also learnt that KF strongly supports case-based learnings. Could you throw some more light on this method and how it is more beneficial than the lecture-based learnings?

Also, my assumption is that case-studies will be likened by students who are extroverts. That said, I'm sure there will be a few students who are not really comfortable in public speaking. I think I belong to the latter group. How do such students adapt, and improve their communication skills and the ability to think on their feet?

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