Fuqua vs Darden vs Ross

Question

I just got accepted to all three schools and I am now wondering which would best help me land a job in either IB or consulting? Locations such as NYC or other Northeastern cities would also be a plus.

I know all three schools are considered more or less belonging to the same bracket but I seem to have lingering questions-which could be wrong-on each:

Fuqua - Seems like a new program to me that hasnt quite achieved as much respect (to both recruiters and other MBAers) as the other other two schools
Darden - would 100% case method really work on IB? The program is known to be rigorous and well-respected but how come it cant seem to break in the top 10 once in a while like Fuqua and Ross had?
Ross - a popular brand by itself but has slid down US News' rankings to 14, below both Fuqua and Darden.

Disregarding fit because I know I can adapt quite easily, which do you think has the edge (no matter how slight) over the other in either IB and consulting?

Replies would be much appreciated. Thanks.

aloha2121 · Answer

I just got accepted to both Darden and Ross. It's such a hard decision once you get outside of the top 6 or 7 schools. That said, I think that if you are just interested in consulting, Ross is a better choice. If you are looking for both banking and consulting than I would take a harder look at Darden. It has a solid rep in both banking and consulting. I know very little about Fuqua except that it is slightly less well known than the other two.

bb · Answer

Nice! Congratulations - please do post your decisions and if you don't mind update your profiles!

jb88 · Answer

Here are some stats I put together awhile back to compare top consulting to top banking - you be the judge. Keep in mind that just b/c there isn't a reported hire doesn't mean somebody didn't get hired (some schools only list "top" hiring companies). I found Darden's career reporting is prob the worst of all the top schools and that leads to a lot of other questions you may find answers to if you research enough on here (i.e. alumni opinions of career services). Also, compare these results to the % the schools say go to consulting v. IB. Further, past results are no indication of future results :lol:

C/O 2010 Full-time and C/O 2011 Internships

https://img703.imageshack.us/img703/8826/co2010careerstats.jpg C/O 2010 Full-time and C/O 2011 Internships

matthew01 · Answer

hi jb88. i cant seem to access the link you posted.
is there another link? why is darden's stats worst off?
thanks!

EBSIFounder · Answer

Atleast for consulting, I can speak, Fuqua beats Darden hands down. Look at Deloitte, Booz and ATK numbers added to the mix and you will Fuqua far supersede Darden. Also, look at '11 class internships, Fuqua really trumps Darden for consulting. And coming from one of the 3 firms I added to the list (outside of McK, BCG & Bain) and the fact that McK has now made Fuqua a core school (& Darden is not), I can tell you Duke has a better reputation than Darden amongst consulting firms. Atleast, McK, BCG and Deloitte for sure ...

EBSIFounder · Answer

https://www.vault.com/wps/portal/usa/blo ... y_id=11750 FYI

peaceyall · Answer

I can't speak about IB or the other schools, but Ross is very strong for consulting. The running joke this year is that everyone's going to McK - I think it's around 20 2nd years going there full time, but don't quote me on this! Do some research at GBR, talk to 2nd year students, and visit the consulting club.

Really, the best resources for consulting are not classes, but the consulting club, case books to do practice cases, and 2nd year students who give cases to 1st years. The Ross Consulting Club is extremely well run and the case books have great prep material. There are loads of 2nd year students who give cases to 1st years. They give 10-20+ cases per week, which is a loootttt of time given that they spend 30-60 min giving a case and providing feedback.

In my opinion, it doesn't matter which school you go to in terms of recruiting. Consulting firms go to all 3 schools. It's all about how well you prepare for the interviews.

rpratt620 · Answer

Thought I would weigh in on the consulting issue... I compiled the data over the past 4 years - directly from schools' placement statistics - in some cases I had to call the school to get that data (Darden). 
I wanted to 4 years worth to see what hiring was like when the economy is up (2007,2008) and down (2009,2010).

Ranking is Total students hired by McKinsey, Bain, BCG/Total students SEEKING employment

Ross = 7.6%
Darden = 6.6%
Duke = 4.5%

Reference Point = Wharton is about 16%

Conclusion: Ross is slightly better than Darden for top consulting over past 4 years, both Ross and Darden seem to be a cut above Duke for top-tier MC

All that said, my career objective is to go work for MBB and I chose Darden over Ross. Why? Because I think Ross' edge is negligible and my fit with Darden is way more important to me. Also, Ross tends to place in the Chicago, Detroit offices (I'm NOT looking for that) whereas Darden/Duke place in the Atlanta, Dallas, Houston offices). 
ALSO, I spoke with 2 friends who work for one of the MBB firms and I had them rate the three schools, they both came back and said they would go with Darden...

Darden for me. However, as it has been stated numerous times on this forum, all the top firms recruit at all these schools, so at the end of the day what this comes down to is your performance in the case interview. Someone who dominates the case at Ross would probably have done the same at Duke.

matthew01 · Answer

matthew01 · Answer

matthew01 · Answer

Hey great post rpratt620!

I was just wondering how much is your scholarship at both Ross and Duke that youre choosing to disregard those for Darden?

I kinda agree Ross' consulting advantage over Darden's is negligible. Also, Darden's case method fits very well with the consulting world.

US News 2012 rankings also put in figures that seem to put Darden at an advantage. Though the differences are not so significant, the figures would still be good to know (even if not screened at the consulting/IB fields).

Darden: 
Average starting salary and bonus: $119,278
Full-time graduates employed at graduation: 69.0%

Ross:
Average starting salary and bonus: $116,201
Full-time graduates employed at graduation: 59.8%

Fuqua: 
Average starting salary and bonus: $118,923
Full-time graduates employed at graduation: 63.6%

Darden's employment rate at graduation seems to have a significant difference with Ross' (69% and 59%).

rpratt620 · Answer

Hey great post rpratt620!

I was just wondering how much is your scholarship at both Ross and Duke that youre choosing to disregard those for Darden?

I kinda agree Ross' consulting advantage over Darden's is negligible. Also, Darden's case method fits very well with the consulting world.

US News 2012 rankings also put in figures that seem to put Darden at an advantage. Though the differences are not so significant, the figures would still be good to know (even if not screened at the consulting/IB fields).

Darden: 
Average starting salary and bonus: $119,278
Full-time graduates employed at graduation: 69.0%

Ross:
Average starting salary and bonus: $116,201
Full-time graduates employed at graduation: 59.8%

Fuqua: 
Average starting salary and bonus: $118,923
Full-time graduates employed at graduation: 63.6%

Darden's employment rate at graduation seems to have a significant difference with Ross' (69% and 59%).

Good point about the employment stats. I will say through, in Ross's defense, one of the reasons why they are so low is due to the fact that Ross has graduation about 1 month earlier than most other top schools. I spoke with their career center this week and they said that they have taken some aggressive initiatives to overcome this handicap (she didn't specify exactly what) and they anticipate substantially better numbers for this coming year.

Ross offered me $40K total and Duke about $34K total. It was tough to pass on the $$, especially since they are both excellent schools. You can only create so many comparative analysis spreadsheets, speak with so many alumni and students, and do so much online research on the schools. Along with considering all those things, campus visits, fit, and my gut feeling also played into my choosing Darden over the other two. I used to think fit wasn't a big deal but I have come to realize that it is a major issue. Personally, when I'm in an environment that I enjoy, with people I like being around, I work harder, I'm more passionate about what I do, I do it better, and I take advantage of the extracurriculars and networking opportunities more frequently. That will all lead to better career options. I think it all comes down to fit. In terms of marketplace opportunities, you really can't pick a dud with these 3 programs.

EBSIFounder · Answer

Not sure where you got these numbers from. Here are the numbers I got from career services at Duke for the top 6 consulting firms ... I sent them a request and they pulled this data for me - current year stats are on top and I have assumed a 95% conversion on internship to full-time offer, which is very reasonable in consulting, given my experience.
 FT Interns Total
McK 7 10 17
BCG 3 8 11
Bain 2 4 6
ATK 2 3 5
Deloitte 18 12 30
Booz 2 4 6
 
Top 6 Consulting 73
MBB 33
Total Graduates seeking employment 398
Top 6 Consulting % 18.33%
MBB Consulting 8.27%

EBSIFounder · Answer

Also see below 2008 numbers

FT Interns Total
McK 9 5 14
BCG 4 13 17
Bain 6 6 12
ATK 4 4 8
Deloitte 11 5 16
Booz 3 4 7
 
Top 6 Consulting 72
MBB 42
Total Graduates seeking employment 336
Top 6 Consulting % 21.47%
MBB Consulting 12.44%

2009 numbers

FT Interns Total
McK 5 5 10
BCG 11 3 14
Bain 6 6 12
ATK 2 1 3
Deloitte 7 17 24
Booz 2 1 3
 
Top 6 Consulting 64
MBB 35
Total Graduates seeking employment 390
Top 6 Consulting % 16.50%
MBB Consulting 9.05%

rpratt620 · Answer

Your analysis is dead on, the only difference is when I was calculating I divided all three schools' final MBB numbers for FT offers only. It looks like you included both FT offers as well as Internship offers and then dividing that figure by the total 2Year class seeking employment. If you look at your final figure of 9.05% from Duke going into MBB / 2 = 4.5%, Using your same methodology the numbers would be:

Ross ~15%
Darden~13%
Duke~9% (as you have already shown)

Also, interestingly from looking at the numbers at Darden, the number of offers at MBB ended up only converting to about 70-75% acceptances. I guess this makes sense, I was speaking to a girl at Darden this week who got an offer from all of the Big-3, obviously she could only pick one, thus lowering the acceptance rate. I imagine that this would probably be the case at all three of these schools.

Fuqua vs Darden vs Ross

Which do you think is better for consulting and IB?

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