Choosing Between Business Schools

Question

Hi

I am recently admitted to Cornell MBA program whereas I am waitlisted for Yale and Michigan after interview and Duke without interview. As a management consulting prospect, I am a little confused about what to do as I have to deposit the initial payment before January 15, 2015. The consulting outlook of Duke and Ross is better than that of Yale or Cornell but the latter two are recognized for their Ivy league brands globally besides being great business school. However, the consulting recruitment, especially that of Cornell, isn’t that great as there are few hires from MBB.

I need advice on what line of action should I take. Should I write to Yale to consider my application and give my decision earlier so that I can simply pay their deposit and get enrolled there as I would prefer Yale over Cornell any day. (Any take on this will be highly appreciated)

OR

Should I wait to hear from other schools and pay for the deposit as per the deadline. The problem with this approach is that Ross considers international waitlisted candidates by June and that is way too late for me to wrap up everything here and apply for Visa and loan etc. Also no timeline is given for Yale and I am not even interviewed at Duke and that means simply pushing my application to round 2 at earliest.

Please suggest a workable solution.

ankit6264 · Answer

Hi,

I have got an admit from Fisher school of business(50% scholarship) and University of Irvine Merage business school($40k for 2 years).
I am also waiting on two other schools(Uni of Maryland-Robert Smith Business School and Scheller Business School-Georgia Tech).
I am a bit confused now itself and if I get an offer from these two also, I will be in a spot of bother to choose among them.
I know each B school has its own merits and de-merits but can you help me come to a conclusion and a comparision between these schools.

vestdw · Answer

Good evening,
 This is an issue inherent to applying to many schools, the admissions decision dates do not always make it easy on you. I am in a similar situation in which I received a large scholarship from one school and am still waiting to hear back from some of my reach schools. The deposit deadline passed, so I paid the deposit for the school that offered me the scholarship to ensure that next fall I will be enrolling SOMEWHERE and I'll have a full ride at that. I have come to terms with the fact that I may very well lose that deposit money if I get into one of my reach schools. I'm ok with that and you should be too. $2k is a drop in the bucket when you consider B-School costs. Further, no school is going to give you special consideration from the waitlist because everyone is going through your situation.

kesanova20 · Answer

Thanks for your suggestion !!

mbaMissionJenK · Answer

Hi there,

Congrats on the Cornell admit!

Yes it can be difficult to navigate deposit deadlines and wait lists and such. A few thoughts...

-You'll need to dig deep and assess how much you would like to attend Cornell first of all as that is where you have an offer in hand and need to make a deposit. For any uncertainty, talk with more students or alum, ask q's. visit if you can and have not. Talk with careers services about specific concerns or q's re: recruiting.

-Do the same type of research with the other schools if you feel it's needed.

-Consider whether you are up for paying the deposit anyway even if you decide you aren't certain on Cornell, for the option to have a spot somewhere for sure.

-If you decide another of the schools is your top pick, send updated info if allowed at the schools and re-assert your case that you are extremely interested in their program etc!

Good luck to you!

Choosing Between Business Schools

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