London Business School vs Columbia Business School

Question

I have been fortunate enough to have been admitted into both LBS and CBS. Having a tough time making a decision and would love to hear any views/thoughts on the matter. Cheers.

Background 
• Currently in investment banking – looking to explore two career paths, either hedge funds/asset management or management consulting.
• Will likely seek to work in London post MBA for a year or two and then return to my home country.
• Columbia MBA is about 7k more expensive – not a lot in the overall scheme of things but something to consider.

I have listed some of my pros/cons for each of the schools below.

Specifically, if anyone could comment on:
1. Recruiting into MBB or hedge funds/asset management from both schools
2. Recruiting overseas (into London) from Columbia and vice-versa
3. Overall brand perception

London Business School

Pros 
• Great name everywhere outside of the States (seems to be an ok name in the US but not fantastic).
• International student body and alumni base – with good representation in home country.
• Based in the country I would like to work for a short period post MBA.
• Flexible programme – can do multiple internships.
• Straight forward for partner to get a working visa.
• Fantastic opportunity to travel around Europe.

Cons 
• MBA programme is very much a “US degree” – the learning environment will likely be more intense and rewarding at Columbia (refer to my attachment and some of the comments made by students at both)
• Loan will be capped at 80% - would prefer to have a 100% loan.

Columbia Business School

Pros

• Ivy League school with a great brand name internationally.
• Optionality – keeps options open in the US and arguably only marginally harder to recruit for jobs in the UK relative to LBS.
• Opportunity to live in New York for two years (try something different).
• Can try and do an exchange semester at LBS and get full alumni status at both schools.
• School culture seems to promote idea of in-semester internships (useful for asset management etc.)

Cons 
• Potentially slightly harder to for partner to get a working visa.
• Could be making things harder by trying to recruit overseas.

I would love to hear thoughts of current students/alumni and others who have any views on which school could potentially be better – I completely understand this is a very personal decision but wouldn’t mind some third party validation! Thanks

MBA8717 · Answer

for those that voted, any comments on why? Cheers

lawgirl27 · Answer

Hi,
First of all, what is your home country?

MBA8717 · Answer

From Asia.

lawgirl27 · Answer

I would then take into consideration several aspects to make the decision: 1) How big the network and reputation of both schools is in both regions (London and your country). Just considering landing your first job in London, I am not pretty sure you will find it easier at LBS (just considering geography, on campus recruiting possibilities and network). However, I don't think it won't be possible to land a good one from CBS (unless you manage to get an exchange at LBS, it will require plenty of off-campus recruiting from a different continent). 2) How long will you like to stay in London before moving to your home country (As if it is a long time the university where you went will not be as important as your experience) 3) Lifestyle: NYC and London are very different cities with very different lifestyles: which want do you prefer? Also, you mention that your partner will find easier to get a visa to work in the UK (that is another very important factor to consider) 4) Fit: with what students/alumni/culture do you feel a higher fit? 5) Possibility of exchange to LBS from CBS. I know that LBS gives you alumnus status if you do an exchange there during your MBA. It would be interesting to consider how likely is that you get an exchange to LBS from CBS during few months. (However, I will not count on it to make the decision as I assume that exchange will be extremely competitive). Hope it helps :-D

GMATninja2 · Answer

I have the same question but for getting into investment banking post-MBA. I am from Europe (so no work permit issues in London). But I am still unclear how helpful is the LBS MBA for recruitment in IB, I mean are banks in London even hiring LBS MBA to associate level positions? Everyone I met at an event at LBS was either in/going to consulting or starting their own company, which is great of course but is there even relationship between LBS MBA and associate recruitment? Thank for any thoughts.

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