UCLA Anderson vs USC Marshall vs Cornell Johnson

Question

Hey All,

I needed suggestions from you all. I have admits from three universities. While I am grateful, I am having a hard time deciding.

Profile

I have 4 years of experience and have been working as Software developer at a Big4 Firm. My post MBA goal is to work as Product Manager at a top Tech Firm or Digital Transformation Consultant at a top Consulting Firm. 
I have offers from the following:

UCLA Anderson with 70,000 $ scholarship for 2 years
USC Marshall with 60,000 $ scholarship for 2 years
Cornell Johnson with 50,000$ scholarship for 2 years

I am really confused here. I know west coast is better for Tech but Cornell is an Ivey league and more prestiguous university overall. I have no geography preference for post MBA though. I dont want to decide solely on rankings as they are different everywhere. I have talked to alumni at all 3 and found all of them equally helpful and amazing! Can anyone please suggest any inputs they have?

JohnnyBlaze · Answer

Anderson is the best school for tech on your list.

Johnson's full time program places more into tech finance (FP&A), despite what the school claims.

bb · Answer

Congrats on your hard work paying off! Awesome result and scholarships!

You can drop Marshall out of the equation since it is the least promising program of the 3 and does not have the highest scholarship. So would focus on Anderson vs. Johnson.

If you are looking to recruit for Tech, Johnson does not have a strong West Coast presence where most tech firms are located so the most logical choice would be Anderson in my view. It is not like you will walk in the park and get jobs thrown at you. Note that Consulting is harder from Anderson than Johnson so if you are thinking of consulting, Johnson would be a better choice or as mentioned FinTech or anything New York is Johnson

bb · Answer

I agree with you. It is very hard to get such rise in rankings in such short period of time. The rankings rise is suspicious when Marshall has not done anything really different. They were also missing a full time dean at that time 🤷‍♂️ The challenge is that while one program can be doing everything right and well, but so do all other MBA programs. It is possible to stand out in a long run among peers - I feel Yale has done a good job of moving into the Top 10 over the years but that has taken a long time. But sudden moves by one program when all others are pretty much dead-locked and has had barely any movement is indeed suspicious for a program that was mid-20's... so I would still evaluate it as a mid 20-s program. Even if it did rise a lot, the on-campus recruiting is going to be a far cry from Johnson. At the same time, you are getting about half of your tuition paid and that's worth perhaps 100K pretax OR a nice Lexus or a BMW or a used Tesla Model S. The scholarship money is valuable only if you are going to save that money otherwise, but if you were going to use the money you get now to buy a fancy car or have a fancy vacation down the road, I would argue for not taking the scholarship.

The pro's is that Marshall is in LA and you have some Gaming, Tech, and Entertainment companies. The challenge with Entertainment companies is a lot of the hiring is relationship and networking based. Salaries for entertainment industry are terrible and internships are largely unpaid (unless it is gaming).... Where do you see yourself after graduation? Johnson mostly places in New York and USC in LA. i would let your post graduation job and employer preference drive your choice perhaps?

UCLA Anderson vs USC Marshall vs Cornell Johnson

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