INSEAD or NYU Stern (full scholarship)

Question

Hi all,

I was lucky to get accepted to both INSEAD and NYU Stern. I'm looking to go into Management Consulting post-graduation (ideally MBB firm) and would like to keep the option to the United States open: I have been living in the U.S. for the past 5 years and have a girlfriend here in New York City but am not a citizen myself.

My take on both schools:

Pros INSEAD: Heavy recruiting in consulting(MBB particularly), 1 year program, diverse class, great in rankings, can travel to France & Singapore for school, fast ROI.
Pros NYU: New York City great for networking, better recruiting into United States, ability to do internship (I'm not in MC now) and I am getting a free ride - essentially waiving $150K of tuition costs - in addition, since it's a merit-based scholarship, I believe that would look solid on my resume.

Cons INSEAD: Difficult to move back into the US (gf would kill me), no internship. Normally cost is not an issue here, but with Stern offering a full ride, INSEAD is now signfiicantly more expensive ($50K more total roughly).
Cons NYU: Brand name feels less prestigious (but maybe I'm going off the rankings too much?), more finance focused (but 30% of graduating class last year went into consulting, so perhaps that's shifting?). Less diverse class.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts and particularly if I'm wrong about my view of NYU!

Thanks

oodl · Answer

I was in a similar situation several years ago, deciding between Cornell full scholarship and INSEAD. I emailed Soumitra Dutta who was an INSEAD professor before becoming the dean at Johnson. He basically said go to INSEAD if you want to work outside of the US and Cornell if you want to work in the US. In the end, I went to neither as I eventually got off the waitlist at Kellogg, but was able to study abroad at INSEAD for a quarter while at Kellogg.

After attending both a US program and INSEAD and seeing where my classmates of both programs landed afterwards, I'd say post-mba geography is a good filter for deciding between the two. The connections you make and job opportunities you are presented at Stern will be very US (and probably East Coast) centric while at INSEAD will be very Euro/Asia centric.

I don't know many Stern folks and less familiar with their program, but I'd largely agree with your pros/cons list of both programs. One thing I think you might be over emphasizing is the summer internship, which for consulting specifically is less of an issues. If you are comfortable with being a consultant and can kill a case interview, you don't need a summer to "feel it out" or "break in".

You are right that that many INSEAD folks go to MBB afterwards, but the large majority go to international (non-US) offices, typically their home country where they know the language and culture. I'll also mention that INSEAD has very little brand recognition in the US. Even those who have heard of INSEAD in the US don't really know how good it is.

I'll end by saying I loved INSEAD and would absolutely recommend it to anybody considering it. The students were some of the smartest, most interesting people I've met with very diverse backgrounds. And they 100% know how to party! The experience of living in Fonty, traveling Europe on the weekends, was so unique to me as an American. From an international, multicultural, "global citizen" perspective, no US program, can touch what INSEAD offers.

enigma90 · Answer

Thank you oodl - a very insightful and detailed response. I'm definitely leaning towards NYU Stern at the moment and I think, based on your comments, I'm leaning in the right direction. Would love to hear from anyone that went to NYU or INSEAD what they would do.

summeriscoming · Answer

I'm in the same boat deciding if I should accept the full scholarship at Stern (over Yale in my case) and I'm leaning towards Stern too! Go to Stern and we can hang out!

Cambridge2013 · Answer

Hi there,

Question for OP: Did Stern give you the scholarship info over the phone? Or via the official post/email afterwards?

Congrats on getting in!

Mamin · Answer

Insead is one of the best places to go for MBB recruitment. I would go for Stern in a heartbeat if you wanted to do finance in NYC, also bear in mind the cost of living in NYC is very high, despite not paying tuition you could end up paying close to INSEAD. Congrats on both admits and the scholarship. Very curios to know your final decision.

INSEAD or NYU Stern (full scholarship)

INSEAD or Stern

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