Stern, Darden, or Ross?

I'm looking to move from management consulting to Investment Management, on the BUYSIDE, and my current three MBA options for next fall appear to be Stern, Darden, and Ross (accepted at Stern and Darden, very confident about Ross). I'm also waiting to hear from some stronger finance schools (HBS, Wharton, Booth) and from Kellogg.

Darden's deposit deadline is due before I'll have anything definitive from Kellogg, and possibly some of the others if I get invited, so I'm trying to first pick between these three "safety" (don't get me wrong - they are all great schools, but more in the safety / target range for me) schools.

Given that my odds of a direct buyside hire coming out of Stern Darden or Ross is small, it looks like my next best options are BB bracket research or BB IBD. Given that, I'm interested to hear thoughts on which of these three schools might give me the best options.

Appreciate any thoughts.

Lastly - I have a pretty strong buy-side network in place, if i'm able to snag a pre-mba internship at one of these firms, might that position me differently?

8 Comments
 

I would go Ross over Stern or Darden but that's just me. I don't think the Stern MBA is as strong as it often gets credit for, particularly for buy side placement. I am not necessarily saying that Ross will give you a better shot at buy side IM, but it is likely a better degree with more optionality.

It goes without saying that if you are able to intern at one of these buy side shops with which you have a connection that your chances of landing at the same shop or similar after completing your program would increase.

 

I only say stern because you'll be in NYC, so you'll have better networking ops. That said, I agree ross has a better brand.

I'll do what I can to help ya'll. But, the game's out there, and it's play or get played.
 

would go with Ross for BB placement. however, if you're an accomplished networker being in NYC might pay off for you, and in that case i would say stern. you need to realistically assess your own skill at networking and whether you would actually take advantage of the opportunities of being in NYC

 
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