McCombs vs Marshall vs BU ($$$) vs UC Irvine ($$)

Question

While this is a great problem to have, I'm having a tough time deciding between admission offers from UC Irvine, BU, Marshall and McCombs.

Work experience : Close to 6 years in India in IT ( US based fortune 500 company ) by the time I join the MBA program
 Career goals : Post MBA I'm looking to get into strategy consulting, with product management at a top tier Tech company as my 2nd choice.

Location post-MBA is not an issue.

I've received a generous scholarship from BU (close to 80%), and close to 50% from UC Irvine, but no scholarships from Marshall or McCombs.

Since Marshall is way too expensive and McCombs is better ranked and has better placement statistics, I have all but eliminated Marshall from the list of schools that I am considering.

Given my area and length of experience, if strategy consulting at MBB is going to be a hard sell, and if prod. mgmt. is where I will most likely land, which school would be a better choice ?

Would the tech prod mgmt opportunities at McCombs be way better than at BU or Irvine ? 
If the same tech companies are recruiting at all these schools, then I might as well go with the one that is going to cost me less.

Also, since BU and Irvine are similarly ranked and with BU offering the MS-MBA and taking the scholarship into account, between BU and UCI, I'm leaning towards BU.
I was also wondering how significant a role networking plays in landing jobs in these two fields in general, and will Boston have a major advantage over Irvine or Austin in this aspect.

Looking for any pointers that would help me decide. Any other factors that I should consider ?

marblized2 · Answer

I was accepted to USC and UCI as well. I currently live in southern California and can tell you that USC is considered by many to be of the same prestige as UCLA, regardless of rank. USC also has one of the most powerful alumni networks around. UCI is a new school but they did just open a new state of the art building and they also hold their own level of prestige, but mostly in Orange County.

as to your networking question, all fields post MBA will require networking as that is a big part of any top 50 School because networks and relationships are what gets business done....

as to your networking question, all fields post MBA will require networking as that is a big part of any top 50 School because networks and relationships are what gets business done....

zxcv2014 · Answer

Thanks for your response. Any thoughts on BU and McCombs ?
At this point, USC Marshall is out purely because of the cost factor. Any thoughts on UCI vs BU ?

Considering my post MBA career plan, is spending all that extra money to go to McCombs really worth it ?
I know that a lot of tech companies recruit at McCombs for product management roles and that some of the top consulting firms also recruit at McCombs but will not do so at UCI or BU.
But given my background, I am assuming that my chances of getting into consulting are slim anyway, so I'm wondering if this advantage that McCombs has is really relevant to me.
Please correct me if my assumption is wrong.

wmay · Answer

I think if you want to have a shot at MBB, it has to be McCombs. It just depends on how badly you want to give MBB a good shot.

McCombs vs Marshall vs BU ($$$) vs UC Irvine ($$)

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