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Which school should I select?

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Congratulations on your admits. It’s an interesting question. Why are you saying applying to M7 in two years, are you short on work experience?

I assume you’ve applied to Columbia. That is the big New York City MBA program as well as USC but that’s 2,500 miles away.

If you were looking at real estate and being in New York City, I would choose Stern. The combination of a stronger brand who is being on the ground, would be more important than having real estate classes 1000 miles away. However it sounds like you’re not 100% sure and in case you’re staying open, which is very common in business school. (part of the reason people go to business school is to feel and sense what they want to do long-term so it’s OK to be uncertain for a bit though it’s a lot better to be in certain among three things rather than completely uncertain about anything 😬) anyway, in case of uncertainty a higher rank is recommended.

So I would vote for Stern.

As to your reapplication question, that really depends. It’s a good sign that you got admitted to Stern and UNC this year. The question to ask is how can you improve your profile and career trajectory to be an M7 material. Lots of people apply with a good GPA, good underground brand and a good GMAT score. I think you can probably eat out a bit of a gain from your Application experience and potential he a bit from using an admissions consultant but you need to bring something tangible to the table. for example, if all you have to years from now is extra two years of work experience in the same role, that may actually make you look worse than if you have multiple promotions in the past two years. Does that make sense?

Let me know if you have any questions and I would love to hear what decision you end up making. Good luck!

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Hey bb, this is great info - thanks so much! In terms of what I mentioned about reapplying, I do have what would be on the low end of experiences and no promotions yet (but will have one by summer, which wouldn't help for this last application cycle). So, I'm assuming the offers were mostly on the basis of potential / high scores / good interviews. Also, not sure if I'd be just too caught up in the branding of the M7 by applying again.
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rbstar:

All things being relatively equal, you should go with NYU Stern.

It will be way easier for you to go into real estate virtually anywhere coming from NYC/NYU than it would be to go from NC/Kenan-Flagler. After all, real estate is a hometown industry for New York City. The school, environment and connections you will make (if you put in the work!) will be invaluable. I believe it will be significantly harder at UNC even if the real estate program is fairly robust. The only exception might be if you wanted to do real estate in NC or the broader South. Then, the network and regionality of UNC might even things out slightly with NYU.

As for waiting to apply elsewhere, that's up to you. It's always a risk to think you can get into a M7 school just because you have the grades and scores. If you were super passionate about Wharton's real estate program, then maybe you could wait but there's no guarantee you'll be a candidate. So much can change (in either direction) between now and two years from now, that it seems like a gamble with less upside. NYU Stern is a terrific program and being able to get your real estate start there and in NYC will do you wonders.

Good luck with the decision,
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