Kellogg (w $90k) vs. MIT Sloan (w/o scholarship)

Question

Hello, I was lucky enough to get into both Kellogg (with $90k) and MIT Sloan (w/o $$) in Round 1 and I'd like to hear your thoughts on which school I should choose. I also applied to H/S/W but got dinged without interviews.

Profile: F/28/Asian/top LAC/boyfriend in Bay Area
Experience:
 - 3 years as analyst in healthcare VC (Bay Area)
 - 2 years as marketing manager/strategic planning manager at a $300-revenue biotech company, reporting to head of commercial operations (Bay Area and Shanghai)
Post-MBA goal: management consulting or product management/strategy in an innovative healthcare or technology company in Bay Area
Long-term career goal: starting my own company/going back to VC

My understanding is that the both schools are big on collaboration, are equal in ranking, and have almost equal alumni presence in Bay Area..

Kellogg:
pros: More well-rounded and esp. strong in general management (which opens door to almost any career options other than maybe finance), larger and closer alumni network, looks more fun, the $90k scholarship!
cons: weaker in finance (given my long-term goal to go back to investment)

MIT Sloan:
pros: stronger parent institution (more likely to meet potential business partners from engineering schools, for example), stronger in tech/biotech entrepreneurship, Boston!
cons: weaker in areas outside of tech entrepreneurship...weaker training on soft skills (that's just my initial impression but I could be totally wrong..)

I will visit both schools in February and would really appreciate your input in the meantime!

Happy New Year!!

bdepp · Answer

Take the $90k and don't look back.

DefyingGravity · Answer

Agreed.

And you can still meet engineering folks at Kellogg through the McCormick school.

Posted from my mobile device

kingfalcon · Answer

If I were in your shoes, I'd probably go with Kellogg. These schools are undoubtedly peer schools (especially for consulting recruiting) and $90K is really more like ~$130K in pre-tax income, which is a HUGE amount.

That said, I want to address a few things from your post:

Kellogg may have more alumni in the Bay Area due to the larger class size, but I believe Sloan sends a greater percentage of graduates there at about 20% per year.
 Kellogg probably is a little better pure general management program. In my opinion, Sloan's academic strength is its analytical/quantitative curriculum, which is a good fit for some and a bad fit for others. 
 I can't speak to how close Kellogg students are, but Sloanies are a really tight-knit bunch! In fact, the level of intimacy of the program is one of the reasons why I chose Sloan over Tuck (i.e., I didn't feel like I was losing much from a community perspective versus Tuck).
 Again, I can't say what students at Kellogg do, but in our core curriculum, we take two "soft skills" classes: Communication for Leaders and Organizational Processes, both of which I enjoyed and have heard are very valuable going forward.

I think your pros for Sloan are pretty much spot on. I would also consider the value of having a one-semester core curriculum and action learning for your goals.

Anyways, hopefully this helps a little. I am decently familiar with Kellogg since I applied there (and was waitlisted), so if you want to speak further, just drop me a PM.

domotron · Answer

Visit both schools but unless Sloan blows you away, Kellogg all the way.

hugoness · Answer

First of all congratulations! Sometimes being admitted to more than one school leads to difficult decissions.

As others have pointed out above, unless there is something specific about Sloan that would make it a much better fit for your personality or goals, I would take that 90k gift and go to Kellogg.

Good luck!

rango · Answer

I agree with DOMOTRON Thanks :-D

Kellogg (w $90k) vs. MIT Sloan (w/o scholarship)

Kellogg (w $90k) vs. MIT Sloan (w/o scholarship)

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