(MBA) Sloan vs. Booth - Can't Decide (For MBB)

Hey man, really well though out post and definitely understand what you're going through as I had a similar decision a few months ago. See my post below for a very detailed analysis. There's a description of the decision I had to make and why I ultimately chose Tuck over Sloan (and Columbia).

http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/which-b-school-would-you-choose-f…

To answer some of your thoughts specifically, I would forget about all the rankings and recruiting stuff. These schools are going to essentially be the same. Booth is one spot ahead this year, and some see it as "on the rise", but let's be serious - they're both great, great schools that are slightly below H/S and probably W. Moreover, they will both get you as good a shot as any school at getting interviews (and ultimately a job) at MBB. Finally, you’ll be in great shape for both with entrepreneurship, although I do think Sloan (and MIT as a whole) will provide you with just a slightly larger network of people starting their own businesses.

So let’s move on to the bigger stuff, which is your experience and your brand. The comfort zone question is one that I struggled with a lot, and it’s interesting how similarly you phrased your thoughts about it. There is no right answer, although I opted for the place slightly more within my comfort zone because I thought it was a place that would allow me to better use my two year. For example, Sloan has things like learning teams and Action Learning, which are within your comfort zone. That’s NOT a bad thing – that allows you to get the most out of your education and form the best possible relationships, thus enhancing your experience. Basically, all I’m saying is that just because a school is slightly more outside your comfort zone doesn’t mean that’s what you have to do – it’s not necessarily a good thing.

I also can’t imagine why you’d be pigeonholed for CTO jobs. If you get an M7 MBA and then go work for McKinsey for four years, that’s your brand. It honestly makes no difference where you went in terms of its reputation. The job you get post McKinsey will be based on your experiences there, not what MIT or Chicago is branded as in terms of schools. As you said, it’s also not like you’re deciding between Sloan and Kellogg – Booth and Sloan are perceived relatively similarly by Tech laymen like me.

In all, it seems to me like you want to go to Sloan, but are worried about whether or not that’s the “right” decision. Well, first of all, there is no clear “right” decision, which is nice, because it also means there’s no wrong decision. It does, however, seem to me that there are certain parts of the Sloan experience that you’d really feel that you were missing out on at Booth, and less so the other way. If your naturally leaning towards Sloan, and you can point to tangible things (action leaning, Core semester, etc.), then I think that’s what you should choose.

Good luck, PM me if you have any specific questions about how I went about a similar decision.

I attend Sloan and will be interning at MBB this summer. I can say with confidence that your chances at MBB will be great at both schools as long as you put in the effort.

PM me if you'd like to schedule a quick call to chat. In the interest of full disclosure, I withdrew my Booth application once I got into Sloan.

As far as fit goes, pick the school where you'll be most comfortable. Sure learning to deal with people from totally opposite style is great and all that, but you'll be in that environment for two years (pretty long time) and the friends/network should carry over post graduation. You don't want to deal with people you won't get along with or plain dislike. As a caveat, all schools have a mix of diff styles of people, most just have more of one type, which along with the school environment/style, creates the culture. Simply put, if you are a Kellogg type person, being at Wharton might not feel so great, and your personality won't change thru b school. Having visited both Sloan and Booth few years ago, I don't think they are that contrasting though.

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I agree with the comments above. Either Sloan or Booth will get you a job at a MBB. Your best bet is to go both of the admit weekend stuff and meet a bunch of the students to get a better idea where you'll fit. As for worrying about getting a gig in Boston/NYC, I'm sure that you can get a job there with at least one of MBB if go to booth, and vice versa, a job in Chicago if you go to Sloan. Congrats on getting into to both schools, you'll do just great.

Tons of good points made here for both sides. I won't add much, but I do recommend you talk to brj on the phone. I feel like you are quite informed about Sloan and a bit less-so for Booth (which makes sense if you're leading towards Sloan).

I will say that you should not underestimate the value of getting outside your comfort zone. School is the right place to do this -- you don't want to be learning to adapt to unusual situations during your summer internship at McKinsey where you really need to secure a return offer. For some people, this is the most valuable part of their MBA experience.

I suspect you will ultimately end up at Sloan, but you're doing the right thing by trying to learn more before making a decision. Both schools will get you where you want to be with little difficulty.

Sloan

@CompBanker I do agree that getting outside your comfort zone in b-school is important, especially in the way that you framed it. The last thing that you want to do is experience culture shock during your internship with McKinsey because you haven’t been exposed to it during school. However, I disagree in the sense that I don’t see Booth necessarily pushing you outside your comfort zone if you don’t want to be.

First, if you really don’t want to associate with people different from you (I don’t think this is the case, just an extreme example), you will likely find enough Techies at Booth that you won’t have to. Moreover, because of Booth’s flexible curriculum, which is really awesome in some senses, you actually won’t be forced to spend the whole semester with a learning team that is strategically made up of 4-5 people that are from different backgrounds. If Sloan is 50% STEM, you may have one or two other STEM people on your team, but you’ll likely have two or three other non-STEM people that will expose you to different backgrounds.

All that said, I am sure that Booth will expose you to different people in similar ways, unless you’re so sheltered that you don’t open yourself up to it (which would be an issue at either school). Form what you’ve written, it does not seem like you’ll be like that, and because of that, I don’t see any issue with either culture in terms of your personal development. Would definitely continue to talk to people from both schools and get the best possible feel for each. Again, can’t go wrong with either!

Congrats on your admits.

As others have alluded to here, either one will likely be great for you and you can't go wrong with either choice - which is probably why you are having a hard time deciding.

You've done your homework as well, so it sounds like you understand some of the differences (however subtle) between the schools.

Others with more current MBB experience can chime in on this, but the only thing I would add about MBB placement is this: - NYC offices are traditionally the most likely place to end up, no matter which b-school you go to. The reason why is they are the largest offices by far in terms of headcount. In other words, whether you go to Booth, Sloan, Kellogg, etc - one won't be better than the other in terms of placement into MBB. Furthermore, once you're in the MBB recruiting system, they are treating you as individuals, not as schools - so you're competing with your fellow classmates as well as folks from other schools for placement into specific offices. It's more about your personal preferences, fit (and networking), and even prior experience - and less to do with which b-school you're at. - traditionally the hardest offices to get placed into are the SF/Bay Area offices in the US (because there's way more hires who put that on their list than there are actual spots available - they're not small offices by headcount, but demand usually far outstrips supply). Internationally, it's Sydney Australia. Most other "hub-like" offices internationally like London and Hong Kong are similar to New York: high demand, but also very large offices by headcount. - the easiest offices to get placed into traditionally are Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Atlanta, etc. To be blunt, MBAs tend to strongly prefer living/working on the coasts (northeast, west coast), and these smaller offices actually have a tougher time attracting candidates. So there are folks in b-school who are faced with Accenture San Francisco vs. McKinsey Pittsburgh. The big sell for these smaller offices is family - they sell hard those candidates that grew up and/or are looking to settle down and raise family in the area as their priority candidates

With MBB recruiting, there's essentially no difference which top 8 school you go to, and where you went to b-school will have little bearing on which office you end up getting placed in (sure, there's more folks at Booth/Kellogg who end up in the Chicago offices, but that is often self-selection, with more Booth/Kellogg grads preferring to stay in Chicago - which may have also driven them to apply to Booth/Kellogg in the first place).

Again you can't go wrong either way. Good luck

Lucky guy with these options! Congrats on all the hard work... can't go wrong with either.