Tepper($40k), McCombs(Full), Marshall(Full), Emory($75K), Rice..

Question

As described in the title, I have offers from the following schools, for fall 2023 FTMBA:

Tepper ($40k), McCombs (Full tuition), Marshall (Full tuition), Emory ($75K), Rice ($110k), Kenan-Flagler ($100k)

The amounts in brackets are the total awards, not per year.

I am fairly sure about which school I am going to pick, but would like to hear what people in this forum think anyway.

My goal is to go into management consulting (MBB) or investment management post-MBA.

Pre-MBA, my experience is in tax-exempt fixed income research (3-4 years) as (general management) research manager and in market research consulting (1-2 years post undergrad, before the bond research role).

My undergrad degree is in humanities.

I would love to see what you folks have to say. I have about five days to decide.

-A. M.

bb · Answer

Congratulations on your admits. Pretty good job spreading your applications. Have you all supplied in round two? It doesn’t really impact the decision, it’s just my curiosity. 😇

I would have to go with either Tepper or UNC. Both of these programs have consulting companies on campus and would allow you to network with them and give them much better access to recruiting. In addition, you have second years who can help you with casing as well as established placement in roads.

I would also highly recommend to you to sign up for all of the pre-MBA internships. I’m not sure how generous or available these will be this year, but last year it was a great opportunity with BCG, McKinsey and maybe Bain. All of these programs qualified technically so you could’ve applied from any of these business schools at least for the BCG program. That’s the only one that still up on the web, if you want to look up BCG Unlock. I honestly, last year opportunities were ridiculous. If you got into this one week internship, and you passed an interview, you were offered an internship next year and the job after graduation. Within one week, you could luck in your job without spending a day in business school. That’s a huge stress relief. I would highly highly recommend preparing and gearing up for this application an interview. This is one of those things that has an enormous payoff. And, as I mentioned, all of these programs would qualify, at least for BCG and likely others too.

In case these opportunities how much more scarce this summer, they get published around February or March or April., My suggestion would be Tepper or UNC… and with 100k, likely UNC the winner among those two 🤷‍♂️

Congrats!

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AnonymousMouse · Answer

Thanks! Update: I have now negotiated with Tepper, and they have matched Kenan-Flagler's offer exactly. Any opinion about Tepper vs Kenan-Flagler with the same $?

I have applied to a couple more in round two and interviewed at half of them, but haven't heard back yet. Also some WLs, some Ds at a few schools in round one I haven't mentioned.

I knew about the early access consulting programs, but thanks for the reminder. If available this year, they would be a great option.

I suppose now it's down to the admits I have, unless some in R2 come through. I do have WLs, but it seems hard to get off the WL?

bb · Answer

Congratulations. Tepper places well into consulting. I would check with the students if they have MBB offices on campus.

That’s a big value driver to have those recruiters on campus, part of the school and a part of your classes. I know that you and UNC has them and that’s a big value add.

On the flipside, I’ve had a really good time in Pittsburgh and really enjoyed it as a city, I’m not a reference for Chapel Hill, I’ve never visited so I can’t comment. At the same time, Tepper is rank higher and therefore would have a higher caliber of students attracted to the program and classmate quality is one of the highest areas people complain about so if you can get better classmates, you’ll get better experience. Of course the reason people complain about their classmates is stupid. Most people don’t get to know their classmates enough to realize the true capacity and awesomeness of other people around them so people under appreciate their classmates across-the-board from UNC all the way to Harvard

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AnonymousMouse · Answer

Hi there,

Further update for round 2:

I have an offer from Stern and also from Anderson.

Anderson is offering $60k, and Stern is market rate.

Both great schools, though!!

I am aware that SOM, Fuqua, Darden, and Tuck are better for consulting, but I don't have offers from those.

The question is 1) Which school is best for career outcomes? and 2) Which is best, considering the scholarship money that is being offered?

A.M.

bb · Answer

Stern would be good for consulting but i feel it is not going to be better enough than a full scholarship in McCombs for example or UNC.

I have heard students in those schools complaining about consulting recruiting not being on par with the heavy weights but I feel some of that has to do with their performance and how they stack up compared to other applicants from other business schools… there’s a lot of debates going on about importance of school brand versus individuals. You will see that consulting companies will hire 10 people from one program and 50 from another and the question is, is that driven by the school or by the individual send frankly there’s some of both…

So if you want the best chance is out of your programs, Stern would be it but at those best chances worth going to one of the most expensive programs in the world, that answer may depend if you find an awesome job at Stern or get dinged at UNC… and then there is luck and opportunities. You may get a cold during your interviews and ruin it. There may be a bad year, it looks like this one is not gonna be a great one for recruiting, or there may be a great year like 2021 was when people from Carlson were getting it to McKenzie 🤷‍♂️

A lot of your success depends on the luck and unpredictable events that are really hard to map out simply based on the past performance. But, there are some surgeons and that is strong brand shines in tough markets and then do you prefer to play safe or be aggressive and require rewards with higher risk?

I would choose between Stern and McCombs or UNC. West Coast schools tend to lag behind in consulting recruiting…

Also I would look at your Plan B. A lot of people come out and say they want to go into investment banking or private equity but none of those things are in the cards. Similarly, if you strike out in Consulting, where would you have a good chance of recruiting? The weather depends on your background and your work experience, where can you draw from? Consulting recruiting is not particularly known for good chances, especially for international applicants, though I’m not sure if you are 🤷‍♂️

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Tepper($40k), McCombs(Full), Marshall(Full), Emory($75K), Rice..

Tepper ($40k), McCombs (Full), Marshall (Full), Emory ($75K), Rice ($110k), Kenan-Flagler ($100k)

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