Fuqua (no $) vs Kelley ($$)

Question

At first this was an easy choice but Kelley came back unprompted and increased my aid award. I have contacted Duke to try and have them reconsider scholarship but for purpose of this, let’s assume nothing changes.

Post MBA I want to go into marketing specifically brand management. Kelley is a marketing machine of course and salaries at both schools are about the same in that department (while Kelley sends a much higher % to marketing). Basically it would be another $100k to go to Duke all in. Is it worth it? Short term income will be the same but I just don’t know about the long term “Duke Brand”.

Non school related. I loved Duke so much more (campus, student life, and weather). GF also didn’t want to go freeze somewhere (Indiana). But those are obviously short term factors that shouldn’t be a big factor.

Please help!

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bb · Answer

Congratulations!!! Both are great programs and Fuqua is definitely a darling for many.

I will address the most trivial comment first (as human nature has it) - North Carolina can and does get chilly. I have heard a number of Fort Bragg folks comment on how chilly it gets at night; it is a bit deceiving.

The reason for the trial question first, is that it is a tough call. The biggest pros you will have with Fuqua is on-campus hiring (450 students are a lot more attractive for employers coming to campus than 185 at Kelley). Also many MBB's have offices in the Duke campus where they spend 4 days a week observing students during classes and conducting interviews year-round. Just a glimpse of it perhaps.

Also, Brand Management is a very competitive field and has changed over the years (you probably know better than I do) and now it means two things - either you do copywriting and proofing OR you actually do brand management but you are very senior. You probably want to speak with Adcom to get some background on career services and any current students to get a better idea about both - I would not just trust the bare numbers. It does seem like Kelley sends 30%+ to Marketing but is that because all of them wanted to be in Marketing OR is that just because they could not find better jobs? Same question applies to Fuqua but with Fuqua, it is clear you will have more on-campus exposure to employers and more doors that will be open and not require knocking on. (hard to quantify though). Additional benefits is a larger more diverse student body, better professors, and a greater choice of elective classes. Again, hard to quantify.

Congrats again on the dilemma!

Nson40 · Answer

Thank you for the response. It’s is a tough dilemma. I was pretty dead set on Duke from the word go, but wish they would have given me SOMETHING. 
I forgot to add and would it change your thoughts at all if I told you over half the aid at Kelley is a GA position?

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bb10 · Answer

If you are not super hard pressed for the cash - go with Duke man.

It's a top-10 level school, has been for years. Duke is also a top-10 university, which helps with brand recall.

bb · Answer

It weakens the offer from Kelley a bit since you will have to put in time that you could otherwise use for recruiting/opportunities/startup or to improve your grades. For example, I had to forego my GA in the last semester since I found an internship/opportunity that was paying better and was a better opportunity in general. At the same time, it usually does not translate into a whole lot of work and it does have some benefits from spending one-on-one time with the professor. Depends how you use it i guess.

Fuqua (no $) vs Kelley ($$)

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