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Adi88
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Joined: 31 Aug 2017
Last visit: 09 Jun 2021
Posts: 49
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Location: India
Schools: McDonough'23 (A$)
GMAT 1: 740 Q50 V39 (Online)
Schools: McDonough'23 (A$)
GMAT 1: 740 Q50 V39 (Online)
Posts: 49
Kudos: 40
Should I choose McDonough or reapply to YALESOM next year in Round 1 ? 26 Jan 2021, 05:11
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Dear GMAT Club Community,
Brief Background of me:
Undergraduate: Majors in Architecture from a reputed national Institution in India
Postgraduation: Majors in Urban Planning from the leading institute of India
Experience:6 Years 10 Months in International development organization in the urban development sector
Post-MBA goal (Immediate): Work as an Investment Associate in Public Sector and Infrastructure Banking Sector and strengthen a better acumen on infrastructure investments.
Long-term goal: To work in International Development Banks such as World Bank, IFC, IMF ..etc as an Investment officer or further senior role.
GMAT:740

I have an admit from McDonough with substantial scholarship support. But many of my peer group in India are asking me to apply to YALE SOM next year in R1, especially for a better chance into the scholarships, as YALE has a better reputation in India.

But honestly, I am a bit skeptical as to what difference will it create. How is McDonough as a school, beyond the hype, and given the fact that MSB's program is well-aligned with my long term goal should I opt for it and let go of the reputation factor. Can someone please throw some insights on this?


I know this is a bit open-ended question, but at this juncture, it is crucial for me to know what am I heading into. So kindly help!


Thanks,
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schmuck
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Schools: Tepper '23 (A$) Johnson'23 (WL) McDonough'23 (A$) Yale '23 (D) Booth '23 (D) Kenan-Flagler'23 (A$) CBS '23 (D) Darden '23 (D) Stern '23 (WL) Tuck '23 (D)
GMAT 1: 660 Q49 V31
GMAT 2: 770 Q50 V46
Schools: Tepper '23 (A$) Johnson'23 (WL) McDonough'23 (A$) Yale '23 (D) Booth '23 (D) Kenan-Flagler'23 (A$) CBS '23 (D) Darden '23 (D) Stern '23 (WL) Tuck '23 (D)
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Should I choose McDonough or reapply to YALESOM next year in Round 1 ? 26 Jan 2021, 06:18
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Hi, Congrats for the offer and scholarship! I received an offer from Georgetown too.

All those non-profit institutions you mentioned are located in DC. I think Georgetown's DC location will help you networking with the people there. I'm also assuming (cmiiw), a few Flex MBA, Georgetown SFS and SPP students are coming from those institutions. In my opinion, the networking opportunity is greater at Georgetown than Yale just because of the location.

Also, how confident are you with your application to Yale next year? How important is the scholarship to you? Are you confident that you will get the same substantial amount of scholarship from Yale? Yale is more competitive hence the competition for scholarship is also tougher. The total cost of attendance at Yale is also higher.

Yale brand is hard to walk out though...
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Adi88
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Joined: 31 Aug 2017
Last visit: 09 Jun 2021
Posts: 49
Own Kudos:
40
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Location: India
Schools: McDonough'23 (A$)
GMAT 1: 740 Q50 V39 (Online)
Schools: McDonough'23 (A$)
GMAT 1: 740 Q50 V39 (Online)
Posts: 49
Kudos: 40
Should I choose McDonough or reapply to YALESOM next year in Round 1 ? 26 Jan 2021, 06:41
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schmuck
Hi, Congrats for the offer and scholarship! I received an offer from Georgetown too.

All those non-profit institutions you mentioned are located in DC. I think Georgetown's DC location will help you networking with the people there. I'm also assuming (cmiiw), a few Flex MBA, Georgetown SFS and SPP students are coming from those institutions. In my opinion, the networking opportunity is greater at Georgetown than Yale just because of the location.

Also, how confident are you with your application to Yale next year? How important is the scholarship to you? Are you confident that you will get the same substantial amount of scholarship from Yale? Yale is more competitive hence the competition for scholarship is also tougher. The total cost of attendance at Yale is also higher.

Yale brand is hard to walk out though...
Show more

Thanks schmuck,
The scholarship is definitely important to me, and I am sure Yale will be competitive too. And yes the fact you mentioned MSB is definitely an advantage, i.e. Location. But whats about the ROI in long term. Does the factor of school matter a lot in long run. What is the degree of difference in recruiting and in reputation, from an employer's perspective and in general? To what degree would the difference be in learning experience and academics.
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Should I choose McDonough or reapply to YALESOM next year in Round 1 ? 26 Jan 2021, 10:43
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If you want to do banking , then McDonough and Yale will have similar exit opportunities. I work at a bank myself, and spoke to many IB associates who said that Yale has the worst banking placement of the top 15 schools. That said, it has a good enough halo effect to get in to banking. MSB is not top 15, but they do have more structure for banking. Now, your LT goals is a different story. But you will have your IB experience to help you leverage into that
My thinking is that, because MSB will allow you to get to banking, why not save money, and time, and mitigate the risk around potentially not even getting into YSM next year, and just do MSB?

Adi88
schmuck
Hi, Congrats for the offer and scholarship! I received an offer from Georgetown too.

All those non-profit institutions you mentioned are located in DC. I think Georgetown's DC location will help you networking with the people there. I'm also assuming (cmiiw), a few Flex MBA, Georgetown SFS and SPP students are coming from those institutions. In my opinion, the networking opportunity is greater at Georgetown than Yale just because of the location.

Also, how confident are you with your application to Yale next year? How important is the scholarship to you? Are you confident that you will get the same substantial amount of scholarship from Yale? Yale is more competitive hence the competition for scholarship is also tougher. The total cost of attendance at Yale is also higher.

Yale brand is hard to walk out though...

Thanks schmuck,
The scholarship is definitely important to me, and I am sure Yale will be competitive too. And yes the fact you mentioned MSB is definitely an advantage, i.e. Location. But whats about the ROI in long term. Does the factor of school matter a lot in long run. What is the degree of difference in recruiting and in reputation, from an employer's perspective and in general? To what degree would the difference be in learning experience and academics.
Show more

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Should I choose McDonough or reapply to YALESOM next year in Round 1 ? 26 Jan 2021, 12:39
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I am moving this topic to the "Admitted - Which BSchool to Choose?" forum where this topic will get more exposure and replies :)
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Should I choose McDonough or reapply to YALESOM next year in Round 1 ? 26 Jan 2021, 17:27
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Congratulations on your admit!

1. I think one question is - did you apply to any other schools other than McDonough?
You can try the WAMC tool and see how it transcends to your chances in the higher ranked schools but from my observations, the higher is the ranking, the harder it is to get into. To give you an example last year, Yale received 3,000 applications and McDonough about 1,300. Yale may be possible but not sure about scholarship. These things are hard to predict and nobody will be able to tell you but let's say you work hard and you do get in to Yale without a scholarship, would you attend? Would you be able to attend?


2. Working in or with the public sector can be tricky in the US as you would have potential challenges with H1B and rules around hiring of international students but then I have heard of some taking jobs, so it is clearly possible while on OPT. Investment associate in the public sector.... that is a great goal! The more specific and relevant you can make your goal and job target, the BETTER it is. Some may say it is good to stay general and vague and open to everything but that's like a shark chasing a school of fish - if you are not focusing on one, you are not eating. Don't let anyone discourage you from pursuing a specific goal - it is a BIG strength!


3. Your recruiting will be off-capus. Not knowing the names of companies you are planning to recruit for, it is hard to tell if they recruit on campus at any of the Top 10 but I am going to guess that likely not and with off-campus recruiting a lot of it is personal networking and finding opportunities and alums in those areas. I feel in your specific case for being in the US in that role, probably not much of a difference between Yale and McDongouh but there are big differences in other areas and Yale is definitely more competitive and more lucrative from recruiting and other side of things such as name recognition.

Gnpth - perhaps you have a few words of wisdom to share?



Adi88
Dear GMAT Club Community,
Brief Background of me:
Undergraduate: Majors in Architecture from a reputed national Institution in India
Postgraduation: Majors in Urban Planning from the leading institute of India
Experience:6 Years 10 Months in International development organization in the urban development sector
Post-MBA goal (Immediate): Work as an Investment Associate in Public Sector and Infrastructure Banking Sector and strengthen a better acumen on infrastructure investments.
Long-term goal: To work in International Development Banks such as World Bank, IFC, IMF ..etc as an Investment officer or further senior role.
GMAT:740

I have an admit from McDonough with substantial scholarship support. But many of my peer group in India are asking me to apply to YALE SOM next year in R1, especially for a better chance into the scholarships, as YALE has a better reputation in India.

But honestly, I am a bit skeptical as to what difference will it create. How is McDonough as a school, beyond the hype, and given the fact that MSB's program is well-aligned with my long term goal should I opt for it and let go of the reputation factor. Can someone please throw some insights on this?


I know this is a bit open-ended question, but at this juncture, it is crucial for me to know what am I heading into. So kindly help!


Thanks,
Show more
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Should I choose McDonough or reapply to YALESOM next year in Round 1 ? 26 Jan 2021, 17:46
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Congrats on the Admit to MSB and on that scholarship.

Yale is better, but since you got rejected, you might have to work on improving your already stellar GMAT score and your profile to crack next time. Did you get rejected after the interview or before?

Georgetown brand is also very strong when it comes to international development and public sector roles.
As far as recruiting at World Bank, WBG(IFC, IMF, IBRD, etc.), it shouldn't be a problem. They don't care about your current visa status even though you will have STEM OPT since they will be sponsoring you a diplomat visa(Yay!). There are a lot of Georgetown Alums, not just MSB, currently working at these Development banks.

MSB students get to work on many projects/roles every year with WBG during the spring semester. It gives plenty of networking opportunities. I interned at IFC during my spring semester, and I have a classmate from India who joined IFC for a Finance role full-time; IM me if you want to talk about the roles and projects.