Yale SOM (no $) vs UCLA Anderson ($$$)

Question

super excited to be in at these awesome schools. they are very different culturally/geographically but also very similar in terms of rankings (?)
im not entirely sure what i want to do career-wise post mba and want to keep as many options open as possible
would going to SOM shut out any chances of moving out west later on? conversely, would going to anderson shut out any chances of moving to the east coast?
also SOM is very tight with their fin aid this year so the cost of attending would be about 4 times more than Anderson (taking into account their fin aid offer)

bb · Answer

You may want to see this discussion if you have not already.
is-ucla-anderson-more-regional-than-its-peer-schools-215546.html

I think you can very comfortably attend Anderson. Moving out to East Coast will be harder than with Yale going West, however, I feel that's a small price to pay for a substantial scholarship Anderson offered you.

8088 · Answer

Hey  jfrshnnr

Congrats on your acceptance to two both exceptional programs!

I just wanted to help give some context with SOM's position on the West.

SOM's second largest concentration of Alums are actually in SF - after NYC-metro - in fact, I'm headed to Silicon Valley as are a bunch of my friends this year. We have a really strong presence in LA and Seattle as well. I'm happy to chat more about SOM/Yale presence on the West coast if you'd like.

Finally, I also faced a similar decision regarding scholarships and money - while money can be a significant decision point in the short-run, I think that the it's most important in the long-run at the overall trajectory of the school, the industries you're most interested in, and the networks that you'll have access to.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Dan SOM '16

jfrshnnr · Answer

Thanks Dan. Do companies actively look to fill roles in the SF/LA area when they recruit at Yale?

8088 · Answer

Hey There,

Sure thing! Short answer is holy smokes yes! If you're free - let's definitely chat on the phone - I'm happy to give you some more insight on this - shoot me a note and we can connect - daniel.kent yale.edu

Dan

FurrowedBrow · Answer

Since it's between Yale and Anderson and let's face it, they are nearly in the same bracket (despite Yale's ranking this year), such a large scholarship from Anderson would really sway me in its direction. Unless you have a strong preference for industry and where you want to be geographically, you really can't make a wrong choice. If it's not just about the money, then I would at least try to narrow down an industry or a location to make my decision. For instance anything to do with non-profit, Yale would be a no-brainer. Anything to do with tech, Anderson would be a no-brainer. I guess you see where I'm going with this.

jfrshnnr · Answer

Thanks all. does anyone know if Yale will be willing to negotiate and put financial aid on the table?

8088 · Answer

Hey  jfrshnnr

My recollection is that SOM, as a rule, generally does not negotiate on merit scholarships/financial aid. This being said, it never hurts to ask - all they can say is "no." Do you have a contact to whom you can send an e-mail?

jfrshnnr · Answer

Thanks - yes i have a contact in the adcom. Will reach out and see anyway.

aerien · Answer

Congratulations on your acceptances!!

You really can't go wrong either way but I'll put in my 2 cents based on when I faced this decision a few years back:

To answer your question, I personally feel that it's more difficult to move East from UCLA than it is to move West from Yale. How did I reach that conclusion? At both schools, I spoke with Admissions, the Career Offices (and placement stats), alums, and current students looking to make that move. From what I heard and saw Yale had much more reach with West Coast firms in terms of firms coming to campus to recruit and actively seeking out students (and vice versa) for summer internships and full time placements. This holds across industries -- tech, consulting, finance, media and entertainment, healthcare, etc. I'll caveat based on small sample size, but the people I know from UCLA who did the East Coast search all ended up staying in California for internship and full-time roles. Some moved East later but from what I've seen that's more of a long-term plan.

At the end of the day, you should figure out at a high level what you want to do immediately post-MBA. Presumably you wrote something in your application...has that changed? Stayed the same? Which school will put you in the best position to reach that goal -- and give you the option to explore other options while you're at it?

If you're looking to stay West Coast -- and potentially are already West Coast based -- UCLA will be a hard choice to turn down.

If this is about $$, as  8088  said, reach out to Yale to see if they'll match. You don't know if you don't ask.

One last thing .... look into fit. Attend the admitted student weekends for both schools if you can. Culturally they are pretty different schools IMO. I have been around both schools a lot over the years and they are not equal substitutes. See which school and their students is a place/are people you want to be around for the next 2 years -- and be apart of their network for a lifetime. I think it would be remiss to choose a school only based on career placement stats and not actually enjoy your time at the school itself.

VeritasPrepDozie · Answer

Tough decision but as stated above by many you really need to know directionally where you prefer to be post grad and what your career goals are. Not sure how else you would make this decision. Independent of this I would say UCLA is probably considered the "better" MBA program so that is where I would lean but if your uncertainty remains prior to making a decision Yale is the better overall education brand and may allow you better national and global opportunities given your indecision

ekr546 · Answer

Can you please clarify what you mean by that? I thought Yale's MBA program was ranked significantly higher?

jfrshnnr · Answer

Yes, in what regard exactly is Anderson's MBA "better"? Thank you!

Yale SOM (no $) vs UCLA Anderson ($$$)

Yale SOM (no $) vs UCLA Anderson ($$$)

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