Booth, Ross (60%), UCLA (80%)

Question

Hey all!

I'm really grateful to have gotten into some great programs in a competitive year, but I have a tough decision ahead. Any thoughts/input is helpful.

I have been working in financial consulting for five years and I'm looking to make a pivot into tech (Product Mgmt. or Strategy). My main focus is to be able to successfully land a role in the tech industry (open to big tech or established start-ups ideally on the West Coast) and to be at a school with a good sense of community. I've had conversations with students at all of these schools and all seem to speak positively about both these factors so it's been tough to narrow down my list.

Here are my thoughts so far:

-Booth: 
Pros: Strongest brand name, increasing % of students going into tech, flexibility to take the courses I want, start-up summer internship program before school to help with career transition
Cons: From talking to students seems like tech recruiting is more through clubs/individual efforts, lack of core classes can mean lack of community, not sure if the Booth name/network provides an edge in tech industry, full tuition (I'm willing to make this investment if Booth and its network make a significant difference)

-Ross: 
Pros: Strongest sense of community/school pride, strong in tech recruiting, 80k scholarship, Consortium community
Cons: Location (same issue as Tuck), lower salaries in tech based on employment report, less academic flexibility

-Anderson:
Pros: Strong tech recruiting/placement, best location (can intern during the year to gain experience and would like to work in west coast post-grad), Consortium community, 100k scholarship
Cons: Not as strong brand name, less academic flexibility, have heard it is more of a commuter school/lacks community

variantguy · Answer

Hi huffleclaw , congratulations on what appears to have been a stellar application season for you!

I really like your balanced analysis of all the three programs, and agree with everything you've mentioned. A few additional thoughts: From my conversations with Boothies, what I gathered was that big-tech recruiting is fairly structured at Booth, and plenty of mature startups also come for just-in-time recruiting. I also doubt that anyone in the tech industry would doubt your credentials if they came to know you're from Booth. It has long been known as the finance school, but from my research, they have a pretty robust ecosystem of resources for tech, VC, and entrepreneurship. Ross tech salaries are quite competitive from what I know. As per the 2020 employment reports, the median salary and median bonus in tech at the three schools are 140k+40k at Booth, 130k+40k at Ross, and 125k+30k at Anderson (Anderson published mean salary though). Also, I feel there's some correlation with school brand/ranking here.

In terms of getting experiential learning to break into a new industry, MAP at Ross is probably the best resource among your three options. (Not sure if you already know about it and just missed accounting for it.) From my conversations with students at Anderson and Booth, students do go for those in-term internships but they need to largely work by themselves or get some support from Career Offices to land those gigs. Whereas MAP projects are sourced directly by Ross and you get to bid for them based on your priorities. I don't know much about the summer startup internship program at Booth, but that sounds a lot like MAP and if so, that's great! Chicago and LA will be totally different experiences from Ann Arbor, and I think you already know that. Just like you, I also got the commuter school vibes when speaking to a few Anderson students about life beyond the classroom (a red flag that popped up for me was when one student quipped how people would just work on group assignments over Zoom - and this was pre-covid - because everyone lives far apart and the crazy traffic and commute times in LA) You have a very interesting situation where you have schools from three different tiers (imo), and also three different debt burdens that come along with. It's a classic trade-off ladder! I'd like to add that the 100k at UCLA is practically equivalent to the 80k at Ross because of the higher cost of attendance and lifestyle expenses in LA vs. Ann Arbor. For me, you should be choosing between Booth and Ross. It looks like Ross could be a nice middle-ground where you're getting a great community, a more portable brand and a wider alumni network than Anderson, and a better ROI than Booth thanks to the generous scholarship. But then, Booth is Booth, and in the long scheme of things, 80k shouldn't matter that much. Good luck, and let us know where you eventually decide to go!

bb · Answer

I’ve read the post yesterday but ran out of time to make a comment. One thing that jumped out at me was you interested in doing an internship during the school year. That is usually fairly rare. Do you have some dibs already? Unless you already have something lined up, I can’t see you really finding an internship during the beginning of your year because you’ll be focused on finding the summer internship. After your summer internship, many companies will provide a return offer though some actually require additional applications and networking. Apple falls into that category and a few others as well. However, many will tell you within a few months if you are receiving a return offer. However none of the large companies will usually have a traditional year-round internship. (There is because interns really do not add that much value. They spent two months in the complex barely anything. The whole point of the internship is to evaluate candidates and see if they would be a good fit. Sorry if this is harsh but that’s what it is 😂) In my experience only smaller companies have found value in their interns. And usually they don’t compensate them enough which is why they find value

I guess what I’m saying, is that I wouldn’t be betting a lot of money on doing a year-round internship because it ends up keeping you away from recruiting for potentially bigger roles and in general there is very little time during business school. (This is short term win and they long-term lose. ) You are welcome to disagree, and do it your way. Most of us stick with our opinions and you may get an awesome internship for a whole year with the next google but chances are against it.... As to LA, yes it can be lonely as everything is 45 mins away but people tend to live on the west side and with the weather nice, many end up ha gong out quite a bit during the week around the school schedule. It is an effort outside of school to get together on the weekends. It is a lot easier to connect with people at Booth if you live in downtown, esp around or at the Aqua building. You will be constantly running into people. Not the case at Anderson. Posted from my mobile device

jessepinkman · Answer

Big tech recruiting at Booth is very strong and structured, all of the big tech companies come to campus and Booth is consistently the #1 school for Amazon and strong at the other FAANGs. I can't speak to Ross/Anderson but the Booth brand overall is significantly stronger and the school has made a big push into tech/entrepreneurship over the past 10 years.

You can also intern during the year in Chicago at startups, tech companies, or VC firms through the variety of labs offered at Booth.

I'd push back a bit on the lack of community comment. 90% of Booth students live within a 5 block radius of downtown Chicago and while there isn't as strong of a cohort system as other schools, you do actually have a cohort that you take one class with and participate in non-academic activities such as follies, athletics, etc. People tend to make strong connections during Random Walk (international trips before coming to Booth, at least in a non-covid world) and with people on the same track (tech people will end up taking many of the same classes together). Ross will certainly be a different experience with everyone living on a college campus outside of a big city, but you will be able to build plenty of strong relationships at Booth.

If you are set on ending up in LA, there is certainly merit to UCLA but, as you mentioned, it's more of a regional brand and I have heard it has a bit more commuter vibe. I'd say go with Booth here, but if you haven't already, see if they will give you some scholarship money to help bridge the cost gap a bit.

Regenerate · Answer

If you're still trying to make a decision, there are two links in my signature block below that may be of assistance.

Good luck to you!

PS -- Only considering the scholarships and none of the other very important details that drive your decision ... it looks like you're not getting enough scholarship to take Anderson over Ross ... and ... it looks like you're getting more than enough scholarship to take Ross over Booth. IMO.

huffleclaw · Answer

Hey all!

Very late follow-up on my end, apologies. Wanted to thank you all for the advice. Was especially helpful to get perspectives on in-semester internships and the location/community aspects.

I ended up eliminating Ross mostly because of location, and then getting a full-tuition scholarship to Anderson which made it tougher given my interests in tech/media.

I ultimately decided that I'm not media or bust, and I would like to have a brand that attracts a wide range of opportunities but also can be leveraged in off campus searches I may do..... so I went with Booth! Excited for the opportunity

Booth, Ross (60%), UCLA (80%)

Booth, Ross (60%), Anderson (80%)

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