Ross (20k) vs Anderson vs Tepper (60k)

Question

Hi,

I am an Indian applicant currently working in the Semiconductor Industry as a Micro-controller Design Engineer. Post MBA I want to get into Product Management roles in the High Tech industry in companies such as Google, Apple, Amazon.
Currently I have admits from Ross( 20k) ,Tepper (60k) and Anderson (No $) . In these uncertain times the 40k difference between Ross and Tepper is definitely a factor worth considering but I am not sure if Ross' brand value will offset that down the line. The only reason I have Anderson still in consideration is because of its location. Any suggestion here would be highly appreciated .

bb   souvik101990  Will it please be possible to share your opinion on this ?

Regards
Parikshit

bb · Answer

Hi and congrats on your admits and thank you for updating your profile!

I would take Anderson out of consideration since it won't offer you stronger placement or opportunities than Tepper or Ross. There is no advantage that it has that's woth $20-$60K more (but I am open to be corrected by current Anderson students).

Now is $20K per year or is that 10K/year and $20K total?

parked · Answer

Thanks  bb . Thats 10k per year so 20k total . Whereas its 60k total at Tepper. Is Ross worth the 40k extra ?

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u1983 · Answer

I am kind of biased towards Tepper. Tepper is strong in Tech. Saying that I only have seen half of it...  souvik101990  would be able to put more light on full time recruiting story.

Congratulations on your admits.... all of them are great programs.

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JohnJohnJ · Answer

Big tech hiring is changing, an example of the change is Amazon not limiting its hiring to top 15 schools for PM roles starting 2020. I personally know many PMs in Silicon Valley and New York that didn’t go to a name brand school or that even don’t have an MBA. 
Tepper is reasonable and it’s giving you $$, so it doesn’t seem like a bad choice here.

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ANALysis · Answer

I would pick Tepper

Regenerate · Answer

What would you estimate your TOTAL costs to be, after living expenses and the scholarships, at each school?

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bigge2win · Answer

When you say Tepper is strong in Tech, what roles and in what companies are you referring to that come to campus?

The only way for the candidate to know which to choose is to compare the options with concrete info rather than a couple people advising Ross or Tepper without evidence to support.

bigge2win · Answer

Most Tech PMs don't even have nor want an MBA. Once you break into the industry and role, there's no looking back considering the amount of cash comp, equity, exit opps, and network that comes with it.

If tech companies don't come on campus specifically for PM roles, then prior work experience is all that matters. Many students/candidates think an MBA is going to make the road easier, but that's false. It just gives them a re-start button for companies who will hire post-undergrad or post-MBAs for roles. But you'll be competing off campus with students from every other school who may have real-world, quality experience to be a PM after their MBA.

Also, I wouldn't just look at the $40K difference as the price of getting the job in Tech as a PM. Your MBA is for the rest of your life. Which school you end up at and gives you the best career and life will make it worthwhile and $40K may be a drop in the bucket.

u1983 · Answer

It is my perspective ... and, I thus have started my post with " I am kind of biased towards Tepper ". You and everybody else are welcome to have their own and they should have.
Now coming to data points .. the MBA applicants are smart enough to analyze the data available in different web sources to draw quantitative insights - again my perspective.

I cannot agree more. One MBA.

bigge2win · Answer

The problem with you saying "analyze the data available" is that the data that the OP wants isn't fully accurate. PM may not actually be categorized in a helpful way and schools may not classify roles properly.

Example, Tepper's 2019 Employment Report shows only 1.1% of the class got PM even though 30.5% of the class is in Tech. Is that actually accurate? Only 2-3 people in the class got it? For Ross, it groups Brand Management and PM in the same bucket for 11.8% of the class. Even if you isolate out PM, they aren't all accurately true Tech PM roles where you work with engineers and designers. Roles at Amazon as a PM are more like PMM or Brand Management, whereas PMT at Amazon is similar to PM at Google and Facebook. I can probably list a dozen classmates my class who got the true PM role, which is only 3% of the class.

See where I'm getting at? I work in Tech now having received offers for PM and BizOps for both big tech and startups the past couple years, so I'm speaking from direct exposure in Silicon Valley. Getting an MBA at a non-target school for PM isn't necessarily the greatest move, which people don't recognize. If you don't have the work experience, you'll need a middle step by being in Product Marketing, BizOps, Customer Success, etc. And if you already have the experience, why pay $130K+ to get what you can get today? Especially if you're not going to the Top 7ish schools, if any school at all.

JohnJohnJ · Answer

Bahahah! Yes, we know that Ross kids hate it when another school is regarded to be better than theirs. 
OP, people come with their biases and they can’t give reasons to validate their arguments. Look at LinkedIn if that helps make a better decision.

On another question, people were giving random comments about cities that they couldn’t justify.

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bigge2win · Answer

What biases are you talking about? Nowhere did I state or even insinuate Ross is better than Tepper. My points actually try to help Tepper. Maybe Tepper is underreporting and maybe Ross is over-reporting. Employment Reports don't have the accurate numbers or tell the true story is what I'm saying, since a current student recommended to look at the data.

OP, read the info I gave you. Take it from an actual tech professional or take it from another current student who's still recruiting. Your choice.

parked · Answer

Hi all, thank you for your suggestions. I did check linked in and results were fairly similar for both schools and that's what made the decision even tougher. Both schools churn out a good number of Product Managers. I do understand Ross is a stronger MBA brand and has also been a top 10 school . Also Amazon is a major recruiter at both schools. But I agree that we cannot arrive at conclusive evidence by seeing the employment report. They are too generalized since none of them release the number of students going into these companies.

The one thing that I really dont know is the difference a Brand creates although I hear everyone speak of the same. Brand ROSS vs Brand TEPPER . Once we get into our desired industry, does the Brand matter after that ? Is it not upto one's own abilities thereafter ? What difference will/can Brand Ross make down the line ?

rdjoshi · Answer

Hi!

I'd love to be in your position to been given such a choice.

What I'd do is ask Ross if they can provide a better scholarship ( no harm trying) tell them cost is something you have on your mind as you've been earning in INR and making a USD decision becomes difficult. You could share in a very diplomatic way how tepper offer is more attractive as it will be less heavy in your pocket and will give you a better ROI.

You will not know if you don't ask. And I'm sure they will understand that cost is an important factor.

You'd probably land up making this decision way easier for your self.

Also, congratulations

Cheers!

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Cheers! Posted from my mobile device

SageJiraiya · Answer

Hi Parik92
That’s a great list of admits you have there! 
I am sort of in a similar position (actually plan on submitting a post of my own later, but that’s beside the point).

Honestly, both the schools will open the doors to top tech companies.
Both have great resources, especially for tech.

CMU is a very big name in tech. Their MS program is top tier and the community is closely knit for sure.
I don’t think UM undergrad is as big a name as CMU in tech at least. Now that might not directly affect you, but it speaks something about the caliber of people you will interact with and make connections with.

That being said, Like someone has mentioned above, you’ll only probably get 1 MBA.
I’d suggest taking other factors into consideration as well.
1. The community - Talk to current and admittedly students. See where you feel like you could grow more personally.

2. Resources - which specific resources of each b school appeal to you. How do you plan on utilising these resources to reach your goals.

3. Alums - try reaching out to a few alums and see how receptive they are. Get their takes if possible.

4. Post MBA goals - where do you wanna work post MBA. Both schools are widely known in the US, but see which school is perceived better in your place of choice.

As far as the brand factor is concerned, I don’t think it matters a lot if you’re planning to work in the US. Both schools are pretty well known. BB has a great post on the importance of brand of a school. Would definitely encourage you to check that out.
But, The current scenario is something you can’t ignore. I think in this scenario, a better brand makes a bit more sense than it generally does. But don’t take my word for it, look at the detailed report of the 2010 and 2009 stats on P&Q.

TL;DR
1. Both schools will open the doors for you.
2. 40k difference is significant, but shouldn’t be the operatives factor imho.
3. You get one MBA, think of the whole experience. In this area, Ross sort of beats Tepper for me.

All the best and please keep us posted!

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YashKothari94 · Answer

Almost half of the class at Tepper take up PM roles. Tepper is the clear winner here.

parked · Answer

Thank you for your comment. But how many of them are in the Big Tech companies ? I think that matters a lot. If we were to only consider the Big4, would your opinion still remain the same ?

souvik101990 · Answer

OOO heated thread we have got going on here!

So here's what happened last year at Ross in the pre-pandemic tech recruiting.

Out of 420ish people in the class, about 10 of them ended up landing true PM roles. This excludes PMM and other tech roles of course. PM is tough to crack if you are not an engineer or have not had engineering experience prior to business school. So, a lot of people end up being PMMs or Strategy roles in big tech and switch to PM a few years down the line or stay the course.

Both Ross and Tepper feed very well into big tech companies and you will be well positioned to recruit at Microsoft, Amazon, Google etc. Microsoft and Amazon hire way too many from Ross (Ross is actually both their biggest recruiter) but other companies should be fairly balanced between those two.

Think about what $60K is worth for you. I had a similar situation (had an 80% ride from McCombs) and picked Ross because I wanted to make sure that I had a viable plan B (consulting) if tech did not work out for me.

Also as someone who recruited PM heavily and landed a few PM jobs at FAANG, I am happy to answer questions around that if you have them. FWIW both my summer (Apple) and full time (Amazon) had folks from Tepper.

parked · Answer

Hi  souvik101990  , Thank you so much for your response. I am an Electronics Engineer and have been working in core Product Development in Synopsys where I develop the RTL for controllers using Verilog (using techincal terms since you too have an Electrical Engineering background) . This is very specific to the Semiconductor Industry. I said this because you mentioned about engineers having an advantage. But when you say that , do you mean a prior Programming Knowledge helps ? Coz for me I haven't had to code ever in 5 years. Also I want to learn about the challenges with PM recruiting.

On a different note, does Apple come on-campus at Ross ? And how much did the Ross Brand help you when you got your internship at Apple?

Ross (20k) vs Anderson vs Tepper (60k)

Ross ($20K) vs. Tepper ($60K) vs. Anderson $0

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