M7 vs Dartmouth/Duke/Michigan

Any thoughts on how Dartmouth/Duke/Michigan/UVA MBA programs stack up against the M7? Is it an industry specific thing? Any thoughts on what shared characteristics set the M7 in their own category?

13 Comments
 
Best Response

The shared characteristics that set the M7 apart are simple: prestige, reputation, caliber of students, and recruiting opportunities. It's a very self-sustaining situation that feeds into itself. Each school is prestigious because it gets thousands of applications for limited spots. The students who do make the cut tend to have immaculate work experience, strong undergrad records, and lists of accomplishments outside of school and the office long enough to reach the moon and back ... twice. Because of this, elite firms from the most competitive industries (banking, consulting, private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, trading, marketing, industry, etc.) line up to vie over the studs on each campus. Thanks to all the above, each school's reputation remains pristine.

For some reason, there's some kind of hard cut-off below Columbia where Tuck, Haas, SOM, and Stern (the next 7 or so that follow the M7) are so notably inferior in people's minds that people make posts like yours, that some firms won't even show up on campus, that certain industries don't recruit those MBAs, and therefore the whole system is continued.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 
mongo83Any thoughts on how Dartmouth/Duke/Michigan/UVA MBA programs stack up against the M7? Is it an industry specific thing? Any thoughts on what shared characteristics set the M7 in their own category?

I almost think we should start calling it the M8 by including Tuck. It's always a step above the rest of the top 15, but never included in the M7.

 

M7 is a group devised by Columbia hence the hard cut off at Columbia. For some reason a lot of people adopted it as some elite standard. Recruiters know where to go for students and don't even acknowledge it. Some of those schools recruit much better than Columbia. The other six are solid.

 

Also interested in this.

I'm applying to a handful of M7's this year, and beginning to wonder: at what point do i send in apps to Duke, UVA, U of M? Since i'm slightly older than average, i want to begin fall 2013 and no later. If I don't get in anywhere in round 1 i'll likely throw UVA, U of M and Duke applications in rounds 2 or 3.

My other question is, am I better off with a part time degree from Kellogg or Booth than with a full time degree from UVA / Duke?

 

Cartwright - in general I agree that the tiers are over hyped. Having said that, for intense finance quant types, i think there are opportunities coming out of Columbia / Booth / Wharton that aren't going to be available coming out of UVA and Duke. All these schools will feed into IB, but in terms of the best buy side jobs, i think the opportunities will be vastly different.

 

well then yes anything top 8 is best/semi needed (maybe stern and yale and cornell thrown in the mix too? but will have to push hard) so theres def a difference for investment management or hedge funds or PE kind of stuff but otherwise a vast majority you can get the same jobs from 'm8' as you can from 'top 16' you just have to pick your schools and the focus you want from them.

 

Tuck is a great school and in my opinion should be included with the M7. Very good finance and consulting placements, along with probably the most loyal alumni network. Its small class size and location, however, are drawbacks to a lot of people.

Haas is solid for tech and west coast placement but weak in the other areas.

It really depends on what you want to do. For generic banking and consulting, any top 15 should suffice, although MBB offers from a non-M7 are drastically lower. But from talking to my best buddy, who interned at BCG this summer, that is due to fewer interview slots that MBB allocates for non-M7. If you can get an interview at a place like darden and kick ass at case studies, you should be able to get an offer from MBB. From that point onwards, you are more or less on equal footing with everyone else.

 
Brady4MVPTuck is a great school and in my opinion should be included with the M7. Very good finance and consulting placements, along with probably the most loyal alumni network. Its small class size and location, however, are drawbacks to a lot of people.

I agree. Personally, I'd go to Tuck over everything but HSW.

I'd also probably attend YSOM over most of the top 15 just because of the strength of the overall brand (and because I still sometimes regret not going there for undergrad).

 

Molestiae dolorum odit soluta necessitatibus. Velit autem a voluptatem animi maxime nihil et. In et vitae deserunt necessitatibus qui et et magnam. Nihil dicta et magni nobis optio doloremque cum.

Necessitatibus accusantium minus quas. Reprehenderit aliquid dolorem ad ut neque rerum dolor quam. Commodi non in eveniet sequi culpa.

Voluptatem sunt sunt sit molestias. Minima dolores voluptatem nulla. Quidem doloribus dolor debitis rerum qui necessitatibus quae. Et facilis qui non dolorem qui. Sunt pariatur eos omnis enim nisi alias.

Quis voluptas recusandae ipsam omnis reprehenderit. Rerum debitis ab quod quos. Ea qui magnam sequi inventore temporibus a. Dolor et soluta sit et qui velit.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.3%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (44) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (78) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (72) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”