Currently a Program Manager at Fang. PT offer from Haas and Booth ($)

Question

Hi all,

I am currently a program manager at FANG (one of the facebook, amazon, netflix and google) with 4 years of work experience and I am on track transition into a product/strategy role by next quarter. 
 
I applied for MBA program to open doors, expand my career possibilities, boost confidence at work and potentially switch career to management consulting and got in Booth with 10k scholarship (its minor) and Haas. I won't be able to change location this year so location is not as a big concern but do mind the chill in Chicago. Have been lived in relatively warmer places in my whole life and I like.

I need to make a decision this weekend and would like to hear what people think about these two PT programs. I like Booth because its more prestigious, nationally well-known and have a strong focus on quant and tech entrepreneurship but also have a pretty diver student body. My concern is on its quality: the faculty vs student ratio seems low and it s has a less feeling of being a cohort comparing to Haas. Also there were posts on this forum pointed out that the pt program was being looked down and not integrated well.

Berkeley seems a very practical choice to me given its well known on west coast, have more classes offered in tech, strategy area but I feel like the experience wont be as refreshing especially I had my undergraduate at a state public school on the west coast.

Is my understanding of these two program correct? Any recommendations?

Regenerate · Answer

I've got a strong opinion, but it'll be a while before I can sit down to type it up.

Posted from my mobile device

bb · Answer

Congrats on your admits! But more importantly congrats on your accomplishments! Usually, location would be important for group meetings and things like that but in the current world, I am not so sure.

Haas is a very tough PT program to get into. I’m not sure about the rankings for part time programs but Berkeley in particular is very competitive especially among the tech community in bay area. It’s a great accomplishment to get that admit.

I am a bit torn between these two. You definitely have a lot more going on in terms of on campus recruiting at booth. There’s no doubt. Booth is a machine especially in Chicago and in consulting. Haas Does well too but it’s strength is Tech and Bay Area. Knowing and having lived in California, I am not wrong to say that most people have a hard time leaving it for any other state. If you are in California, you will likely want to stay there.

At the same time, I feel like I’m grasping at straws’s and trying to read tea leaves while sitting on the upper deck of titanic as the ship is sinking and we were discussing what kind of a life preserver you should be wearing. As mentioned by  Regenerate , this deserves a long reply but not sure we will be closer after that.

Think about where you would be more successful and where you would thrive. What drives you and 
what you can bear. No reason enjoying the best school in the world but being miserable we’re suffering the whole time.

And with that, good luck! 
??

Posted from my mobile device

Regenerate · Answer

Ok ... here goes nothing ...

IF (and that's a big if) you want to have a career that takes you outside of CA, you must go to Booth over Haas. Their alumni network is spectacular ... in CA. To wit, their regional placement statistics look like this:
SF & North Bay = 76 placements
South Bay = 37 placements
East Bay = 17 placements
Los Angeles = 11 placements
Seattle = 9 placements
Oregon / Utah = 3 placements

... so, a total of 153 placements on the west coast, with 130 of those in and around SF.

Northeast US = 10 placements (...Boston, NYC, Greenwich, Philly, etc. ... a total of 10 placements ...)
Midwest US = 7
Mid-Atlantic US = 6
Southwest US = 6
South = 2 (Atlanta, Miami, Nashville, etc. ... some pretty neat (and warm) places with lots of cool stuff happening ... only two placements)

*******************

Booth, on the other hand, had these stats:

Of 584 graduates, 71 weren't seeking employment (i.e., they were sponsored, they were starting their own business, they were getting another degree, etc.), leaving 508 seeking employment (and 5 not responding to the survey). Of these 508 students, 419 took jobs somewhere in the USA ...

Midwest -- 138 (28.6% of the class, most of them in Chicago)
West -- 108 (22.4% of the class, with 68 (or 14.1% of the class) going to the Bay Area and another 30 students (6.2%) going to Seattle)
Northeast -- 100 students (20.7%)
Southwest -- 30 students (6.2%)
Mid-Atlantic -- 24 students (5.0%)
South -- 189 students (3.9%)

*******************

I've been doing some school by school analysis recently, and I've been a little surprised to discover that Haas sure bears the markings of an absolutely world class ... regional school.

So, again, if you want to live / work anywhere other than the Bay Area, you should give a very very long look at Booth. And, given your background, I would suspect that if you wanted to go into consulting, you'd be well served to get a broader experience at your next stop than it appears Haas might provide.

Because I'm such a fan of diversity, if in your shoes, that's where I'd go ... and ... it's exactly this reason Haas isn't on my list of potential EMBA applications (2021 admit target), even though I'm looking at Booth, Kellogg, Ross, Fugua, Anderson and Darden ... no interest in Haas ... too regional for my taste.

But, they are absolutely world class ... so, if you do go there, you'll learn a ton and meet some really interesting and talented people. But, these are people who are seeking CA over pretty much anything else. It appears to be a huge lifestyle aspect of the choice to go to Haas.

Good luck with your plans!

BiotechGuy · Answer

I can relate a lot to your situation as I am originally from the Midwest and have considered both programs. My advice all depends on whether you can relocate to Chicago w/ your current company. If that is not an option, Haas is the clear winner in my opinion.

Booth has the better brand, but given your goals and your location preferences long-term, Haas will get the job done.

The only scenarios where I would recommend Booth in your situation include: 
- you can relocate to the Chicago office at your firm w/o much trouble --> networking and club involvement will be extremely difficult if you are flying in and out every weekend
- you studied business in your undergrad and therefore prefer Booths flexible curriculum --> the downside of no "core" are the relationships that come from it though
- you want to live/work outside of the West Coast --> this is where the Booth brand carries more weight and may open more doors outside your current region

My older brother will be attending Booth full-time this Fall, so hopefully I am not coming across as biased towards Haas. I think it is important to look at the big picture though rather than making a decision based solely on prestige.

bigge2win · Answer

The thoughts here are on point and/or valid. The other question you do want to ask is what do you want to do after management consulting. No one should plan to stay in it for the long term even if you’re shooting for it because you never know how much of the travel and lifestyle you can actually endure until you’re actually in it. If you want to get back into tech, then maybe Haas weighs in better than you expected. But overall, I agree with Booth as the winner.

Also, to play devil’s advocate about the Haas location placement numbers, knowing that it’s Tech and California, isn’t that a result more from selection bias than an accurate representation of the program’s ability to place people outside of that industry/region?

I HIGHLY doubt anyone with Berkeley and FANG on their resume will have trouble networking and dropping resumes for most jobs around the country. You’re already at an exit opp that most consultants would want, so you definitely have a leg up. As an analogy, I knew people who had Corp Dev experience before their MBA who went for IB and got interviews really easily without even networking. Or even people who interned at IBs who wanted to switch to consulting in their second year also got interviews very easily with minimal networking. If you have the work experience, you got a huge leg up. Especially coming from a part-time program, employers want the valid and relevant work experience more so than who went to a slightly higher ranked school. (Comes without saying, but obviously do your due diligence to validate these things for yourself.)

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mcwalcott · Answer

Congrats on amazing offers! As an FT program student, I can tell that a lot of electives at Haas are taken by both FT and PT MBAs, so you will get to hang out with FT students as well. I can't speak about recruitment for the PT program but given Haas's presence on West Coast, you'll have no problem with reaching out to folks in the SF, Bay area, Seattle (and maybe LA, not sure) offices. Obviously, the management consulting field in CA will be mostly filled with FT MBA alumni but Haasies make no exception whether you're an FT, EW (that's the PT) or XMBA graduate. Consulting outside West - Booth I believe has a much broader alumni base.

Currently a Program Manager at Fang. PT offer from Haas and Booth ($)

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