Booth or Yale?

Question

Hi all,

I need your help pulling the trigger here. I have pretty much made up my mind but cannot make the final call.

Post-MBA, I would like to get a few years working in the States as a consultant but want to settle in Asia in the long term.

Two thing I could not quite let go about Yale are 1. given its integration with the rest of Yale, the potential broader alumni basis to tap into 2. its brand on the main street (even in the business world the majority do not go to bschool and many have no idea of the ranking)

Would appreciate your takes on this!

Thanks a ton!

bb · Answer

Yale has a good global name recognition - e.g. Your aunt and niece will be proud but the business side of things does not work out as well in terms of baschool alums, recruiting, and salaries.

I doubt however you will find too much support from the undergrad community of alums unless it is an isolated local such as Hong Kong or Rome where there may be 5-10 alums.

In the states, while you share the same school name, you actually have had different experiences and you're not the same alums. It is weird and a bit unusual to be contacted by a bschool alum or undergrad while you are in bschool. In part it's because by the time you need to tap into the undergrad network it has been 20 years for most of those people since they graduated. In my experience this undergrad network only works in remote places.

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jessepinkman · Answer

Biases aside, I think Booth is the easy call here. Booth does significantly better with consulting recruiting than Yale and is solidified as a top 3-5 school while Yale is top 10-12. Yale has made great strides with SOM and the overall Yale brand is strong but it still lags Booth when it comes to class profile and overall opportunities.

crackHSW · Answer

Congrats on the admits!!

Booth is a much stronger brand name and definitely has great consulting placements. The Univ of Chicago has also some prominent faculty members in the B-school and that could change your perspective completely about a subject.

I would suggest to speak to the Bschool alums of both the schools and try to get the feel of the school.

Hope this helps!!

Porkbun123 · Answer

The Yale University alumni network is probably the most integrated network there is. That is, there's no meaningful distinction between an SOM alum vs a law school alum vs Yale College. If you go to Yale you're a Yalie. This is a lot different compared to schools like Harvard or Penn, where the network is much more siloed.

There are plenty of reasons to choose booth over Som, but the overall university alumni network and consulting placements aren't among them.

Posted from my mobile device

There are plenty of reasons to choose booth over Som, but the overall university alumni network and consulting placements aren't among them.

Posted from my mobile device

fourierloko · Answer

FWIW - multiple folks at McKinsey who I have talked to said that SOM placed very well last year across the firm (on par with HSW). This may not necessarily continue going forward, but just a data point.

Porkbun123 · Answer

While McKinsey numbers increased, most of the increase in MBB hiring came from Bain and bcg. They basically doubled the number of SOM students for class of 2017 vs class of 2016.

bb  I hope you take notice!

greenfield123 · Answer

If you want to work in Asia in the long run, I think Yale has a better international recognition, brand name.
 If you plan to stay in the US, Booth is a great choice.

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larryofiah · Answer

YSOM did very well with McK this year, 25+ for McK internships alone. Given that there are only around students 150 recruiting for consulting, that's not bad. If full-time recruiting takes twice as many students (this is historically the case) then that could mean a third of the consulting class goes to McK alone.

However, the key stat is that there were over 100 McKinsey OCR interview slots in a consulting cohort of 150 (note that intl students may go off-campus). Once you're through to interviews, its more about you and your prep than the school.

Further, I am an intl student and I secured two intl internships by emailing the CEO of my target firms directly (both firms have 50k+ employees but do not take on MBA interns), using the company's email-naming conventions I found online. They both replied and invited me to successful meetings. I am not sure that this would have been possible without the Yale brand.

mbsingh · Answer

Do you mind sharing more info ? Like how exactly you contacted them and how did it turn out ? Is it possible from all schools ?

larryofiah · Answer

I've given all the info that I'm wiling to disclose above.

I imagine that it is possible from other schools. My conjecture is only that it may be easier for intl recruiting from world wide brands like H Y S MIT.

mbsingh · Answer

Cool thanks

omizzle · Answer

Nice job! Jealous of your decision! Would you mind sharing your stats?

mogarza08 · Answer

I would say Booth if your post MBA goal is consulting.

Also, i don't think you would have any difficulty with job placement in Asia from either school.

VeritasPrepDozie · Answer

Booth is the call here, the quality of your school/rep has a greater impact on your immediate career opportunities and then after that it is largely up to you when you're making subsequent career moves. I would base your decision on that and with that in mind Booth is the call here although Yale is certainly on the rise

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