MBA: Stern vs. Johnson (w/ $$$$)

Guys, I am looking for some feedback related to a choice between a Johnson MBA (with close to a full ride or a full ride...still TBD) and a Stern MBA. My career goals are to break into private equity (middle market), and ideally, end up in NYC. I have an investment banking background with a Big 10 UG (plays key part of my branding thinking), so I am aware it may be difficult either way, but I am willing to put in the work.

Priority #1: Break in to PE
Priority #2: Brand recognition
Priority #3: Alumni network (in general)
Priority #4: Alumni network (in NYC)
Priority #5: Plan B opportunities: Corp Dev, HF, IM, other principal investing roles

I appreciate your feedback. Good luck to everyone expecting decisions throughout March.

 

Big 10, Investment banking experience. Have you done PE recruiting yet? Don't people usually do PE for a bit after banking and then go for an MBA or something?

I like Cornell at a full ride. School is still an ivy and still have plenty of alumni on the street. No debt is huge and your goal is MM PE which isn't as hard to break into as a mega fund is.

 

Guys - thanks for your feedback... I am still in the running for Kellogg & Booth, so I would prefer to go there, but I have an exploding deadline at Johnson... with two admits in hand. I am not in a position to push off an MBA for another year at this point, so it's not an option.

Johnson $$ is merit based. I'm not sure how they actually figure it out. If they give financial aid, I am not sure how that works.

 

If you get invited to scholarship weekend at Johnson, they give you until after the weekend to make a decision (ends up being a ~6 week extension). Not sure if you picked up on this. I would sign up for the weekend, then jump ship if you get into either of the Chicago schools. I agree with posters above that NYU isn't enough of a step up to warrant going there with no $ over potential full ride at Johnson.

 

Gotcha - I actually ran into a similar situation earlier this year.

In your situation, maybe you go to the weekend and see how things go. There is definitely a wide range on the scholarships they give out. I think low end is $10k per year. If you got something on low end, my opinion is that NYU starts to look more attractive. Or if you get something big, eating the $2500 deposit if you get into Chicago/Kellogg obviously isn't ideal, but probably worth it considering your goals.

 
Best Response

I echo what @TNA said. What happened during PE recruiting during your IBD stint? I am no expert in finance, but I think it tends to be a whole lot easier to get a PE job after an Analyst program than it is from business school (even H/S/W) with no prior PE experience.

On that note, you may have a nice scholarship at Cornell, but since getting into PE is going to take a ton of hustle, I think NYU is a better fit. Do you know if Stern students do internships during the year? I always thought that was a nice advantage that Columbia had over the rest of the M7 for those wanting to get a buy-side job without prior experience, and would be huge if you could do that at Stern.

 

If you're not at Harvard or Stanford, it's going to be INCREDIBLY hard to get into PE. Even then it's very difficult.

To get into PE you will need to do ALL the legwork yourself and be a super charming, super intelligent, super prepared candidate that networked his ass off and got very lucky.

That's said, in order to pull this off, Stern would be the choice because of its presence in finance and its location. I think it's pretty clear it's Stern to maximize your chance.

You should be respectfully asking stern to match (at least half) the money and you'd go there for sure. If you need to take the Cornell money, understand that you should be promising yourself you'll be using that money to CONSTANTLY fly down and network like an animal. It will be incrementally harder and grueling. Then again, it will be grueling and you may still not get PE even at Harvard.

Just want you to know what you're getting into. And yes, Ive done my MBA and I know what I'm talking about. Please verify which posters here are undergrad or even working people that have NO IDEA wtf they're talking about. Lots of idiots here give opinions and purely speculate with no experience whatsoever.

 
CreditAnalyst85:

If you're not at Harvard or Stanford, it's going to be INCREDIBLY hard to get into PE. Even then it's very difficult.

To get into PE you will need to do ALL the legwork yourself and be a super charming, super intelligent, super prepared candidate that networked his ass off and got very lucky.

That's said, in order to pull this off, Stern would be the choice because of its presence in finance and its location. I think it's pretty clear it's Stern to maximize your chance.

You should be respectfully asking stern to match (at least half) the money and you'd go there for sure. If you need to take the Cornell money, understand that you should be promising yourself you'll be using that money to CONSTANTLY fly down and network like an animal. It will be incrementally harder and grueling. Then again, it will be grueling and you may still not get PE even at Harvard.

Just want you to know what you're getting into. And yes, Ive done my MBA and I know what I'm talking about. Please verify which posters here are undergrad or even working people that have NO IDEA wtf they're talking about. Lots of idiots here give opinions and purely speculate with no experience whatsoever.

Appreciate the message... sent you a PM to ask you a private question about your background.

 

I did not understood - have you received a full ride from Cornell or just "planning to get it" ? I really don't think that its hard to get to PE if you are really focused on it, especially if you are american from top10 UG college + IB experience. Just think about it - with Cornell full ride you save like 120k, right? You can afford to do unpaid internship in the summer and in worst case - unpaid internship after (many PE shops offer that) - and imho you ll get your PE job.Not to mention that you ll still have decent chances to land a PE job right after the graduation. Dunno, I think, with Cornell full ride its a no-brainer.

 
holla_back:
marcus2012:

I really don't think that its hard to get to PE if you are really focused on it, especially if you are american from top10 UG college + IB experience.

lol

I know several people with only Big Ten undergrads in PE. LOL is right- they're laughing all the way to the bank on a $50K undergrad degree.

I still think it will be a challenge to land in PE out of Cornell and NYU. They're great schools for landing on the sellside- in sales, research, perhaps also IBD, but I'm not sure they can put you at a Blackstone or KKR.

Irony of ironies, Kellogg is part of the Big Ten. Booth came within a breath of being part of the Big Ten, too- UChicago almost joined ~100 years ago.

 

no really,I am an international student, with no finance background, going to non-target business school - I managed to land several PE/VC interviews and just got my offer(VC)...when I hear somebody say here how hard is to do something with top US college degree,all the network you have as an american, IB experience AND MBA from either Stern or Cornell under the belt - that what makes me laugh.

 

Lol at "a real PE shop". Plenty of solid MM firms out there. Tons in Chicago. You don't need Harvard or Stanford to break into PE.

This site is great, but as a disclaimer everything should be taken with a grain of salt.

 
TNA:

Lol at "a real PE shop". Plenty of solid MM firms out there. Tons in Chicago. You don't need Harvard or Stanford to break into PE.

This site is great, but as a disclaimer everything should be taken with a grain of salt.

I said "real PE job," not "real PE shop." There's a big difference there; I was qualifying, not disparaging.

Again, it is very difficult for anyone to get a post-MBA PE job without any pre-MBA PE experience. Do you really disagree with this statement? The OP seems to understand it, but the guy to whom I originally replied did not.

 
holla_back:
TNA:

Lol at "a real PE shop". Plenty of solid MM firms out there. Tons in Chicago. You don't need Harvard or Stanford to break into PE.

This site is great, but as a disclaimer everything should be taken with a grain of salt.

I said "real PE job," not "real PE shop." There's a big difference there; I was qualifying, not disparaging.

Again, it is very difficult for anyone to get a post-MBA PE job without any pre-MBA PE experience. Do you really disagree with this statement? The OP seems to understand it, but the guy to whom I originally replied did not.

I think there is some confusion regarding what was said/etc. I didn't see your response, I was just speaking generally. Seems like what you said was qualified and I was replying off of a misconstrued topic.

I do agree that PE before MBA is the best path for PE after an MBA. With that said though I think the OP would be able to find a PE role post MBA since he has investment banking experience (assuming the shop was reputable, the skills were relevant, etc etc).

Just too many PE firms and strategies to say one way or another. I do agree with you thought that is makes sense to do PE before an MBA if that is your goal.

No malice meant towards you btw.

 

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