Business School Strengths

Question

Does anyone know where I can find which schools are strong in which area?

I.E. I know that NYU is strong in finance--however, this is only through anecdotal evidence. Is there any sort of online resource that lists a school's relative strengths and weaknesses?

Thanks

bakfed · Answer

If you look at the employment report, that is sort of the "factual evidence" to back the anecdotal evidence. When you have a school of 300 people with 30% entering the finance/ibanking market, chances are this school is a bit stronger in the finance field. Besides that, it really is just words of mouth. If you're aiming to go into consulting, but xyz b-school sends only 1% of its 500 students into that field, chances are it's not quite strong in that field.

misterchipper · Answer

Ok. That's what I have been currently doing. Thanks for your help

hamsandwich · Answer

Go by % of class placed in the fields, the companies that come to recruit, the # and type of electives in that area, and then USNews's specialty rankings. Remember, strength in an area comes from a large and successful alumni network in that field, a strong brand name that attracts companies, and size/accomplishments of faculty in that area. It's not b/c a school has some secret formula that no one else has, it's the people that drive strength in a given field.

riverripper · Answer

Honestly, if you are talking a top 5-10 b-school they are going to be pretty damn good at everything. Especially if you want something common like Consulting or IB. Having attended Kellogg, which isn't typically seen as a banking school I can tell you that tons of banking recruiting went on. All the majors showed up and plenty of smaller banks. Maybe not to the extend of at Booth but there will be tons of opportunities...and remember you can only take one anyways. Now if you want something a little more unusual it gets stickier. If you want a HF or PE then HBS is your best shot and it falls off quickly after that.

If you want GM or Marketing different schools are considered stronger but if you don't get into Kellogg for Marketing or MIT for operations there are tons of other schools that will get you there. Take a look at recruiting and look for companies you want to work for and where people are going. It helps that they recruit and alums are there to network with. Personally, I think people who go to a top 10 school and are disappointed either had unrealistic expectations or they failed themselves somewhere along the line.

Hjort · Answer

It is also a good idea to look at recruitment at a given school by the leading firms in the field. For example, the level of recruitment by GS for Finance or McKinsey for consulting provides some insight into the perceived strength of the school. Another good sense of the strength of a school is its intellectual contibution to the field, such as HBS for general management or Chicago for finance.

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