MBA Program
Hi everyone,
This is my first post on the site, but I have been reading the blogs for a while now. I have a questions in regards to which MBA program I should choose, if I am accepted. I have been invited to interview at several MBA programs and want to make sure I pick the right one that will help me get me into IB. Could you please rate the following on which one has better placement?
Kenan-Flagler - UNC
Tepper - CMU
Owen - Vanderbilt
Goizueta - Emory
Jones - Rice
Kelley - IU
McDonough - Georgetown
I also applied to Johnson, but have not heard back yet. Like I mentioned, I have only interviewed at the above schools and would like to get a sense of where I should go, if I am accepted. Any advice would be great!
I'll be going to one of those programs this fall.
Your best bet, if you can get in is UNC.
Best of luck!
What city are you going after? Rice tends to do well in Houston, but can't really speak to the other schools or their placement in NYC, etc.
Not looking for a specific city or industry focus. I am looking to do IB or ER in emerging markets. Energy is very interesting, especially with the current market. I understand most other EM roles are out of NY though.
Care to post your stats? Just curious as i'm prepping for GMAT now.
GMAT 650 GPA 3.0 - Finance Work experience will be 3 years at a large financial services firm when I start the program, if I get accepted to one this year.
As you probably already know, none of them are great options.
Johnson, if you got in, is by far the best.
KF is by far the best of your current options.
Kelley, Goizueta, McDonough, and Jones can all get you there, but it will be an uphill battle.
Tepper and Owen are a waste of your time.
I understand that I will have to travel to NY several times from most of the schools, but I am trying to set up a ranking system so that when I do get accepted by one of these programs, I know exactly which one to pick. Keeping my fingers crossed that one does accept me. I want to know which one has the highest presence in IB so that I can network my way into the industry.
I would agree with others saying that of those you have interviewed at, UNC should be your top choice. Given your goals, I would probably place Rice at 2nd, if you don't mind working in Houston post-MBA.
Tepper is probably the highest ranked on your list (other than Kenan-Flagler), but I would not want to recruit for banking from there. I was interested in the school and spoke with a current student (trying to break into banking), but after hearing how poor the recruiting is there, I decided not to apply. They send a couple of students a year to banking, have maybe one bank recruit on campus, and the rest of recruiting involves setting up meetings in NYC on your own and taking 8 hour bus rides to the city every week. It is a neat school, but I would not go there if you are set on investment banking.
If you don't care about your ultimate location, the Kenan-Flagler mafia is a real thing in Charlotte.
I'm at Jones. This recruiting cycle we placed 19 IBD Summer Associates (all in Houston) out of 115 total students for Class of 2017.
1-BAML 1-Barclays 2-Citi 1-CS 3-DB 1-Evercore 1-GS 1-Greenhill 1-Jefferies 1-MS 1-RBC 1-Scotia 1-TPH 2-UBS 1-Wells Fargo
We had about 25 full time MBAs that were interested in IB, so solid placement. Last summer we also had 22 Summer Associates, so hiring is still strong in energy IB despite the commodity price. Usually we hit about 70%-80% placement for people who are seriously recruiting, so it comes down to basic profile and if you are an appealing candidate.
I can't recommend the Jones program enough if you want to be in Houston doing Energy IB.
Georgetown and UNC can both get you IBD. Georgetown punches above its weight in finance, prob due to the strong ugrad reputation, and UNC has strong ties to a handful of banks. Both can get you to Charlotte or NYC. You will prob not get the on-campus roadshow that duke/uva/mich tier get from all the banks, but IBD is very much an option and the doors will be there for you to open.
Seems like Tepper and Owen are the only two that don't seem to help much. I do see that Owen places 8% of its class into IB.
Thank you all for your input. I will see who I hear back from before making my decision.
I'd go to LinkedIn education website and look at which university has the most alumni in the finance field you're targeting.
I wanted to offer a quick defense of Owen. I'm a recent alum from there and the Class of 2016 placed extremely well for internship recruiting with 17 people going into IB (out of a class of ~170).
1 - BAML, Char 1 - CS, NY 1 - GS, NY 1 - HL, Chi 1 - Jeff, Char 1 - KB, Clev 1 - Nom, NY 2 - PJ, 1 NY 1 Char 1 - Ray Jam, Nash 4 - STRH, Atl 3 - WF, Char
I haven't taken Owen off my list. They seem to be improving in banking. Do you know about full-time placement? Also, what companies have OCR?
I have been accepted to Kelley, Goizueta, Owen, and Jones so far. Out of these, which one would have the strongest network and best chances of placing in IB?
I think relatively similar for New York. Emory and Vanderbilt have a marked advantage for SouthEastern recruiting(know some guys going to SunTrust, BAML, Barclays from Emory and one BAML from Vanderbilt), whereas I know a guy at Kelley and they've done pretty well this year (An undergrad classmate says they got firms ranging from lower MM to top tier BB this year, everyone got it except one who'se going ER and another guy still looking).
Keep in mind that hiring is going to be rough this year. Equity and Debt markets have been almost completely shut down so incoming classes will be small. It's going to be a lot more competitive and I don't think 10-25 ranked schools will do as well as they have the past few years.
I'm still debating between IB and ER. Which would have the best options for either? I am interested in both and would like to go to whichever will provide the best options. Everyone I talked to at each school mentioned that their school had done very well this year.
Couldn't tell you about ER. I just know about IB placement in my network.
Thank you! I looked at all of their employment reports and Kelley's doesn't mention what % went into banking. That makes it more difficult to tell. Do you think that they generally place more than Emory or Vandy?
Pretty sure it's less. My guy there mentioned that they only have a small number there that are trying for it.
Something to keep in mind: Emory, UNC, and Vanderbilt are much better known as finance MBA programs. Kelley is very much a marketing and consulting focused MBA program but they're similar to Georgetown in that their recruitment is propped up by the reputation of undergrad finance program, which in the words of one alumni I talked to when looking at schools has "a reputation for turning out analysts who are really well prepared for the job". No OCR at Kelley though firms do post resumes and contact faculty asking them to recommend candidates. They did have some firms who sent one-off requests directly to their respective career group that resulted in job offers.
Bottom line: It's very doable from Kelley since most of the guys there got offers (but had to work hella hard to get it). But still go to UNC if you can since they have a stronger finance program, limited OCR, and a larger(if not as close knit) alumni network.
So it seems the following order is how I should pick. UNC Emory Georgetown Rice Vanderbilt Kelley Tepper
Thanks for the info!
This list seems accurate to me.
I'm in at UNC! So now I know where I'll be going. I also got an interview at Cornell. So now it's between those two schools.
Way to go man. I have a friend who went to UNC. He told me out of all the kids going to IB, only about 3 of them didn't get offers. One of those was a hippy stoner, and another of those didn't finish out the program. As long as banking hiring trends continue, you will find your chances pretty good for at least a mid market firm in Charlotte. Cornell places well, but I see it a lot more like Michigan focused on general management. ( I might be wrong)
Thank you! I heard similar things about UNC as well. So I'm excited about it. I'm not a hippy stoner and smart enough to finish. So chances are looking good. haha
what is your current background? He saw a news anchor become a banker haha.
One thing I have to add now is I got a scholarship from Emory for almost 50% of my tuition. But for some reason I am really leaning towards UNC. I think the chances of getting into IB in NYC are higher from UNC and I wouldn't mind working in Charlotte. I visited Atlanta and didn't really like it. It may have been just the one experience though.
UNC seemed more close-knit, yet they have a bigger class size. They also seem to have a much stronger finance program.
Is UNC worth giving up the scholarship?
Call UNC and negotiate.
Yep. "UNC, you are my #1 choice and I want to go there. I need to make an intelligent financial decision, however, and I am getting scholarship money elsewhere. How can we fix this?"
Congrats on getting into UNC! This is a very tough decision since 50% scholarship for tuition is nothing to scoff at. Like others have mentioned i would reach out to UNC and see if they can offer any aid. But in the end I think you have to choose where you feel more comfortable at and will not have regrets. Unless you get into Johnson I think UNC is still your go to choice.
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