Stern vs Sloan vs Yale MBA for IB job
Got accepted in Stern, Sloan and Yale MBA programs and having hard time deciding where to go. I want to get a job in IB after graduation and it seems that Stern has a great name in finance. But MIT Sloan is ranked much better than Stern. I think I am not considering Yale at this point. Any opinions?
How To Decide Which MBA Program is Best For You?
Getting accepted to multiple MBA programs is a great problem to have. There are a number of criteria to consider as you make your final decision.
- Strength of Academics: All schools have strong academics, but Sloan and SOM are known for being more rigorous.
- Recruiting: Recruiting opportunities vary by school. NYU benefits from its location in NYC. It’s easier (but also exhausting) for Stern students to have informational interviews with your target firms throughout the week rather than having to travel to the city from another school for 8 informationals in one day. The downside of NYU is that you’ll have more competition since it’s known to be somewhat of a banking factory.
- Networking Opportunities: Some people joke that getting an MBA is just paying for a network. That’s not completely wrong. The network you gain is one of the most valuable aspects of the experience.
- Fit: Don’t discount the importance of fit when deciding on a school. You need to connect with the professors and other students in the program in order to get the most out of your experience.
- Ranking: While US News provides their annual rankings, ranking can differ based on what you want to do after graduation. One way to determine this is to look at the school’s statistics on where their alumni accept jobs. Stern and Yale typically have more students who accept jobs in IB after graduation that MIT.
- Cost: Business school is not cheap, and scholarships are rare.
If you need help deciding, there is no shortage of posts on WSO asking for help comparing different programs given various career goals.
Recommended Reading
- NYU Stern Versus Yale SOM for Career Change to IB
- To Anyone Considering an MBA
- 1 Year Into MBA Things I Wish I Knew
- Tell Me About Yale SOM
- Q&A: MIT Sloan
Preparing for Investment Banking Interviews?
The WSO investment banking interview course is designed by countless professionals with real world experience, tailored to people aspiring to break into the industry. This guide will help you learn how to answer these questions and many, many more.
Skull and Bones points to Yale
Just FYI, % of 2011 class @ each school accepting IB jobs post-MBA
yale: 27% sloan: 8.4% stern: 28%
At CBS, and I'll be very honest with you. There are a group of core feeder schools banks use to fill most of their associate class. Stern is definitely one of them. I would take Stern over the other two hands down if your goal is to break banking.
And once recruiting starts, you'll be very happy you went with Stern. Scheduling informational interviews for each Friday and spending Thursday and Friday nights commuting to the city from Boston/New Haven is going to be a bitch. Doing that process while in NYC is MUCH BETTER.
Go with Stern for banking. For all else, go with Sloan. Don't even consider SOM.
Also, to provide a counterpoint: The New York location is a blessing but it is also a curse. Given the proximity to all the banks, the standards are much higher - you pretty much are required to do a lot more informational interviews. There is a lot more competition / pressure from classmates who are constantly networking.
Regarding SOM being a core school:
I met with the head of recruiting for a BB and he told me flat out that SOM is a core school, but to fill out whatever spots are left behind by their main feeders (CBS/W/Booth...Stern). Stern's recruiting ends mid-Jan. I think SOM's ends later. I could be entirely wrong. Regardless, the point is the same. If you're doing banking, do Stern.
Your point about informational interviews is a very good one. Last semester absolutely sucked. Doing 40 informational interviews is not fun, and it's not even an exceptional number - that's the norm. At the same time, however, you have so many touch points at a bank so the opportunity to learn and network is higher. And, I would rather take the subway to an informational interview on a M/T than waste my Thursday night traveling to NYC to prep for 8 informational interviews that I've got on Friday.
Sloan>Yale>Stern. For all of Sloan's criticisms, it is still an M7, and a fantastic B-School. You won't have any trouble scoring BB IBD gigs out of MIT. Stern is fine, but since everyone at Stern will be gunning for Banking, you'll likely have your work cut out for you.
EDIT: In light of Yale SOM Guy's post, Ive amended my preference.
if you want to look at buyside, sloan is actually thought of pretty highly. part of this is the boston boys club, part of this is stern being full of IB gunners.
Totally agree with Vancouver. At Stern literally everyone wants to do banking and not everyone ends up getting a banking job. And life is miserable as Vancouver mentioned you are expected to network non stop. Sloan is a much better school - you will be with smarter group of people, you will get more opportunities while in school and in future, and you will simply have a better learning experience. I would pick Sloan > Yale > NYU. Although i dont have real data to back it up but based on what i have heard from NYU alums, NYU doesnt do too well in terms of number of people who want to do banking and the % actually getting the banking job. And the NYU location is actually a significant disadvantage in terms of a getting a solid business school experience. You do get a very good NYC experience though.
If you have background in IB and feel fairly confident that you can hold your own against your peers, then pick Sloan. Judging from their employment stats, their IB representation is fairly small... So you may have an advantage if you have a strong IB background. Looks to me that Sloan attracts alot of consultants and technology buffs. Easier to stand out as an IB guy there.
This.
Regards
See if you can reach out to any current students/alums at Sloan and Stern. Ask them about banking employment stats. I am not sure if Sloan's employment reports reflect whether their class just doesn't go into banking or have limited spots/recruiting opportunities at banks. For instance, Moelis recruits at Stern, but not Sloan. I think the same goes for Evercore.
Anyways, both are fantastic schools. Reach out to alums/students and let that help form your decision.
I also think talking to students and recent grads is a good idea, fwiw.
And congrats on the admission offers, BTW.
When it comes to informational interviews, Stern has a distinct advantage in that you are a subway ride away from the banks. Whereas most schools will have to chase bankers around the city on Fridays, Stern students can get in front of more people on days when less students are doing their brown nosing.
I am a current second-year at Yale SOM. Although it sounds like you are leaning towards Sloan and Stern, I just wanted to take this opportunity to at least clear up some misconceptions. Yale SOM's banking recruiting is extremely strong. In fact, it is Yale SOM's strongest area and on a per capita-basis, recruiting was better than that of almost all other schools. Last year, 40 out of 235 first-years completed investment banking internships and 30 of them did so at bulge bracket banks. On a percentage basis, I don't think you will see as many bulge bracket offers at any other school, considering Wharton has 850 students per year, Columbia has 650, Booth 600 and Stern has 400. This year and last, we were the feeder school to eight bulge bracket banks and a lot of boutiques.
I honestly can tell you that banking recruiting will be a lot easier at Yale given that: 1.) Every bank allocates a few spots to Yale SOM and some banks allocates the same number of spots to Yale as it does to much bigger schools. For example, Barclays Capital US gave Yale SOM 7 investment banking summer associates, which was the most out of all MBA programs. And all 7 all received full-time return offers, making Yale one of the only business school to receive an 100% offer rate at Barclays. Thus, you are essentially competing against a much smaller population as opposed to fighting it out for limited spots at bigger schools. 2.)You won't be competing against as many hardcore finance kids as you would at Stern or Booth. A lot of people at Yale are actually pursuing non-finance and non-profit tracks. Furthermore, I have recruited against kids from other schools and they are cut-throat. You will really appreciate how nice and collegial everyone is at Yale, when it comes to recruiting. 3.) We are the smallest of all top 15 schools and have a very loyal alumni-base. Based on almost all metrics, Tuck and Yale SOM's alumni are by far the most active and helpful. Whether it is recruiting or networking, Yale SOM alumnis will go to war for currents students and help out enormously. Moreover, I have been extremely surprised by how helpful powerful Yale undergrad alums. Many of them want to see Yale excel as an institution and have played an immense role in helping Yale's recruiting efforts. Last year, the captain of some of our school recruiting teams at various banks were actually Yale College alums. 4.) Yale SOM doesn't have proper grades and we have grade non-disclosure on top of that. Stern has proper grades and so does Sloan. Both schools also report, if I am not mistaken. This is a huge factor as people will ask you for grades during interviews. If you are not comfortable juggling a lot of networking and academics at the same time, Yale SOM will be a lot more comfortable environment.
I don't expect you to choose Yale SOM but wanted to at least provide a Yale SOM perspective so that other people can make an informed judgment in the future. I myself chose Yale SOM over other options, because of banking recruiting. I love this place and the school has exceeded all my expectations. Good luck with your decision!
Great post.
The only merit this post has is for Yale info. 7 offers from Barclays the most of any school? yeah right. I know a handful of schools that had more offers than 7. They also got those numbers, shall we say residual numbers, because all the other schools are turning down Barclays. My school had 9-10 offers and only a few accepted because most people went to better banks. Barclay's isn't a good proxy and sure they had 100% acceptance rate only because other schools don't have them high up on the list. SOM alum will go to war but the problem is the representation at the higher levels do not come from SOM. I have met plenty of MDs at all the banks and never met anyone from SOM. Not to say that there aren't any but the same schools keep popping up time and time again. HBS, CBS, NYU, Tuck, Chicago, and even Kellogg. With that being said I think Yale is a great school but unfortunately it is not well regarded because it hasn't been as great as some of the older players. Give it time. The question is, do you want to wait?
I don't know whom you have met so I cannot comment on your second point.
Stern for banking in NY... just by the sheer number of stern alums in NY
I heard someone from Yale SOm got a job at Chanos's fund and another guy works for Paulson Is this true or BS?
The person who is working at paulson is a yale college alum, NOT SOM. He got the paulson gig straight out of undergrad, which is unheard of.
^^^ You may have singlehandedly increased the number of next yrs applicants to SOM twofold. No grade is definite plus
The grades factor is HUGE. People don't realize it now but this is a game-changer. Having grades will ruin (or at least severely affect) either your social life or recruiting. Not having to worry about grades and just being able to have fun has made my time here at blast. You literally have to try hard to get a fail here. I don't think I have heard of anyone failing a course here. But even if someone does, an employer will certainly not be able to know or find out.
^^^ Dude, GND is solid, but isn't as helpful when it comes to recruiting. Either you bust your balls to hopefully make Dean's List or you're in the same boat as everyone else. And the interviews can get technical as hell with GND.. Lastly, for boutiques like BX/GHL, more preference is given to ex-bankers.
After recruiting's done though, it's AMAZING. Whiskey every night. You'll need to work HARD to get below a B in your classes.
I don't see myself as being particularly smart, motivated or hardworking. Getting an A in Accounting and Corporate Finance against other hardcore finance kids would be very tough. I have heard from friends at grade-disclosing schools that every banking interview consists of the banker asking them for grades in the first 10 mins of an interview. Apparently getting a B or lower in Accounting of Corporate Finance dooms one's chances of landing a banking offer. This scared the hell out of me. Thus, I think it is important for people to realize their strong and weak suits. For me, academics isn't one of my strengths so a GND school was crucial.
P.S.: If even a schmuck like me can get a BB summer associate internship and full-time offer, it really ain't too hard for other guys at Yale SOM :)
after speaking with recruiters on many occasions and meeting a bunch of bankers, Stern hands down. Sure Sloan is ranked higher but you care about IB recruiting.
Yale SOM Guy, I didn't know Yale Undergrads were eager to help SOMers. I always got the impression that SOM was treated like the red headed step-child of the Yale family. Seems like Dean Snyder really is a miracle worker.
But as of now, among it's Graduate Schools, only the Law School is Top-5. So OP is better off with Sloan.
Even if most Yale College alums don't necessarily care about Yale SOM, the ones who do are very influential and have played an enormous impact in benefitting Yale SOM as well as Yale as an institution. Ted Snyder's goal is to really leverage Yale University's name and make Yale SOM the business school that is the most integrated with its parent university. Wharton is very separated from UPenn and HBS is almost completely segregated from the rest of Harvard. Snyder wants to make sure that Yale SOM is intentionally branded as a part of Yale and that SOM students have both the resources of SOM and Yale.
This interplay between Yale SOM and Yale University is what has been making SOM strong in the last few years. For instance, out of all of the business schools, Yale students have the most flexibility in choosing non-business school classes. So instead of a purely-MBA education, our business school students have the breadth of Yale University / other graduate study courses. Taking a Yale College / law school or divinity or forestry school course is extremely easy and even encouraged. Lastly given Yale's strong brand name, we attract some of the best speakers on earth every year and all these events are open to Yale SOM students. Outside of Harvard and maybe Stanford, no institution worldwide attracts the same calibre speakers and visitors as Yale. This is something that really gives Yale SOM students an edge.
What exactly is the edge that it gives? If I want to listen to all these speakers, I can always find their speeches on YouTube or elsewhere on the Internet. High-calibre speakers usually speak at lots of places and it's not hard to find records of their speeches. I don't really need to go to Yale for that and I don't see how Yale students have an advantage. Perhaps 20 years ago that would have been true, but not now.
Wow this is an awesome thread. I came across it after another wso poster directed me to it. I'm looking at stern/sloan/yale this year, albeit i have no interest in banking. I'm looking at IM or social impact investing, with an international focus.
YaleSOM guy, I agree that dean snyder has done an awesome job thus far. The guy turned around both darden and booth. But people have been saying that yale will be a top player for a long time now, and thus far it has not materialized. Isn't it a waste of money and time to go to a b-school that hopes to be a big dog soon?
It is true that SOM is very well-integrated but not sure how much benefit that confers on SOM students. After all what matters most is on-campus recruiting and the type of jobs that graduates are able to get. SOM may do ok in banking, but for everything else in finance, it seems quite weak. And for consulting/tech/strategy, etc., it has almost zero presence.
I do agree with the other posters that stern is a brutal place. Tons of competition, you have to constantly network since you're in NYC, and most of them get their clocks cleaned by their uptown neighbors at columbia.
just curious, how many offers did you have at the top 5-6 banks? the likes of GS, MS, JPM that were not minority recruits. and i say no minority recruits because sometimes minorities will come in with offers before class even starts...
This is for internship data for last year (since I am a second-year). And this is all for US investment banking, btw. -GS = 4 offers made, 3 accepted. 3 full-time offers extended. -MS = 3 offers made, 2 accepted. 2 full-time offers extended -JPM = 5 offers made, 4 accepted. 3 full-time offers extended This is pretty impressive considering that Yale SOM had 235 students our year and only about 40 people who were seriously pursuing investment banking.
How about your school? Where did you go and what was your GS/MS/JPM breakdown?
seems about 40 people at SOM were interested in banking and almost all of them got banking jobs most at BBs. At NYU my guess would be that 200+ people were serious about banking and probably 100 or so got banking jobs. Sloan probably had similar success rate as SOM but Sloan is obviously a better ranked school and lot more people get multiple offers. I know Sloan's recruiting overall is not as strong as its top competitors CBS, Wharton, Booth, Kellogg but without any doubt they place better than NYU and SOM. a lot of people who go to yale are interested in non-profit and a lot of people who end up at sloan are interested in entrepreneurship/technology. competition for banking jobs is much less and the success rate is very high.
At the end of the day if you are in the top 90% at sloan or som you will likely get a banking job. at stern you will probably need to be above average (top 50%) to get a banking job and you will need to work much harder for it. And at NYU your learning experience would be more uni-dimensional. If you are a rockstar you will get multiple offers whichever of the 3 you pick so why not go with the best ranked school.
those are good numbers, but tough to compare since recruiting classes are different sizes.
Yeah BarCap had a bad year last year here, too. 10+ offers, 1 accept. this year tho, their class is 9-10 kids.
Anyways, great info for the OP. Again, talk to alums/second years.
so data this year...curious what your data is for this year for interns....
GS same # of offers MS - 6 JPM 9 BAML10-12
^not sure if I agree with this. 200+ kids into banking dude? C'mon. At CBS (and we have 550 kids), 80 wanted to do banking. Def not 200 at stern. That's a ridiculous number. I have many buds at stern and none of them is going for banking. C'mon man.
550 per class (not including J-termers).
Again, NO WAY IN HELL 200 kids from stern going into banking. Stern's class is ~400. So you're telling me that OVER HALF of them want banking? Out of 550 kids here, 80 want banking. That's less than 20%. Apply even 30% to stern's class and that's 120 kids.
Please don't make statement like that. I don't even go there and I found that offensive.
^I'd have to agree with this. End up at either Sloan or NYU, and you'll be fine. If there are certain boutiques that you'd want, however, then choose the appropriate Bschool. Again, some banks recruit at Stern but not at Sloan.
Sloan if you want IBD. Stern is strong too but I'd take SOM over it for personal reasons.
I wrote this before about two months ago but still applies:
I go to MIT Sloan and am heading into banking. I'll try to give as unbiased opinions on IBD recruiting as possible but take what I say with a grain of salt.
The school has both an incredible financial history and current presence: Merton, Modigliani, Black, Scholes, Asquith, Meyers, Fisher, Johnson, Lo etc. etc. This may not mean much to IBD recruiters but there are some excellent classes in finance. MIT has, without any question, the best economics department in the world. This transfers over to the finance and business school in some regards as we share the same building. There are two nobel prize winners actively teaching in the business school (Diamond & Merton) as well as other legendary figures (Myers, Ross, Cox, Lo, Johnson, et al).
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-12/rescuing-europe-from-debt-cris…
About 40 students of the 400 student class actively recruit for banking. All of the banks recruit on-campus and the competition for the 20 first round interview slots of each bank is pretty light. Around 30 students landed investment banking internships last year. The other 10 probably ended up in IM or consulting jobs.
Alumni presence in various banks is light which can be good and bad. They are not getting barraged by 100+ students but there are fewer contacts to make a connection with. The alumni presence in West Coast tech is huge for Sloan. Students made one or two trips out there last year and this year. I didn't go but I believe the GS office has 8+ MIT bankers.
The finance club at MIT is one of the top three clubs at Sloan (behind tech & management consulting I think). The process for leading students through IBD recruiting is very polished: free WTS training, resume reviews, interview prep, organized on-campus bank presentations, and NYC banking day. That club is really, really great.
A great finance club makes up for a slightly lackluster career office. MIT Sloan has made a strong commitment to tech (Google, Facebook. LinkedIn, Zynga, blah blah blah) which takes resources away from banking.
There is a large MIT PE Symposium every year which is the total extent of PE official presence on-campus. Students who head to Apollo, Blackstone, etc. come from prior PE or banking experience. There are also IM and CFO conferences.
The social scene of Sloan is pretty active and, like most business schools, involves a lot of partying. Every Wednesday the school heads to BHP (Beacon Hill Pub) and every Thursday there is free booze at C-Functions. Weekends continue the boozing. I played rugby in undergrad at a "Southern Ivy" and am drinking the same amount now as I did back then.
^^ I agree with regards to sloan. This is the problem with schools like Yale trying to get out of the "nonprofit" classification and rebranding as a finance school. If a good finance school is directly related to number of IB positions then Yale is average. Yale places about the same if not worse in IBD than other non-finance schools. There is nothing unique about a path from Yale to IB. A similar path exists at any other top school. They don't place as well in anything else. Consulting. You don't go to Yale. General Management. Not Yale. Marketing not Yale. Nonprofit, okay Yale. Finance. Not Yale because you have similar if not better opportunities at other schools that are not considered finance schools. Operations Management. Not Yale. PE/VC not Yale. Brand management. Not Yale. Did I miss something? Maybe the dean will change things up but saying go to Yale because your chances are better for IB positions may be somewhat true, but the 10 schools ranked above it place just as well if not better.
lol since when did MIT get better economics programs than UChicago, LSE, and Harvard?
MIT rep in mainstream econ is pretty much the tops, ainec. IMO
http://www.studydiscussion.com/top-9-universities-in-economics/
[quote=john1234]http://www.studydiscussion.com/top-9-universities-in-economics/[/quote]
Great source bro. studydiscussion.com? If you're interested, that site also has a ranking of "Best Underwater Welding Schools".
http://www.studydiscussion.com/best-underwater-welding-schools/
[quote=DoddFrank][quote=john1234]http://www.studydiscussion.com/top-9-universities-in-economics/[/quote]
Great source bro. studydiscussion.com? If you're interested, that site also has a ranking of "Best Underwater Welding Schools".
http://www.studydiscussion.com/best-underwater-welding-schools/[/quote]
To be fair, studydiscussion.com is the only source on the entire internet that correctly spelled "Paul Kurgman".
An important step that many posts are missing is being able to develop a network while you are at school. I'd argue to say that your alma mater from Yale is going to matter a lot more than a Sloan or Stern.
Too many Yale apologists in this world.
Yale SOM, can you post your stats? Are you going into Ibanking? Does Yale SOM have something like this
http://mitsloan.mit.edu/pdf/Class_of_2011_Master_of_Finance_Employment_…
[quote=TheKid1]Yale SOM, can you post your stats? Are you going into Ibanking? Does Yale SOM have something like this
http://mitsloan.mit.edu/pdf/Class_of_2011_Master_of_Finance_Employment_…] Given the ease of identifying me, I will not post my stats though I will admit that I did intern and will return to a bulge bracket investment bank.
http://mba.yale.edu/MBA/careers/employment/salary.shtml http://mba.yale.edu/MBA/careers/employment/hiring_organizations.shtml
For a supposedly non-profit school, we have 91% going to for-profit institutions, with 27% to investment banking and 23% to consulting.
[quote=TheKid1]Yale SOM, can you post your stats? Are you going into Ibanking? Does Yale SOM have something like this
http://mitsloan.mit.edu/pdf/Class_of_2011_Master_of_Finance_Employment_…]
I would think that the Sloan program leads to analyst positions while Yale SOM graduates become associates. So its't not really comparable.
Dont post if you dont know what an undergrad adn grad program is. Anyone completing a masters is going to start as an associate.
TheKid1, u are comparing MIT's MSF to MBA programs, why?
No, I'am trying see how well Yale SOM places into Ibanking and consulting. I just showed him an example of what I am looking for..
OP, I am in a similar situation (Booth vs Stern) and am leaning toward Stern. I would strongly suggest you speak with students, alumni and spend time at the school. Stern was my backup and after touring the schools I starting to change my mind. A few points:
Disclosure - I am not planning to enter IB and I have funding from Stern
dude stern over booth? nope. bad choice in my mind. Booth is on a different level from the three schools the OP mentioned.
Stern for finance
Bernankey that is wrong, 1 yr MSF no w/e u are starting as analyst.... So far the break down is like this:
If u wanna chill and still have a very good shot at banking (Yale) If think you can outshine your peers and are hungry to display that (NYU) MIT is a mixture of the aforementioned attributes
personally, I would pick Yale, but, what can I say? I am a bit of a slacker
I still don't know why people still want to do IB. It is a shit job. Think outside of the box people.
You're right. PE it is.
Is it possible to break into PE right after MBA? I dont have background in finance, so MBA is a way for me to switch and my impression is that it is very difficult to get a job in PE without prior experience in banking
Don't tell us what to do, bitch.
If I have finance some small IB experience, would the MBA jump allow me to make the BB jump?
Say I had a job at credit agricole or unicredit's DCM/Equity Financing team...
Or could i possibly break the M7 if i stayed a bit longer?
(from a regional target, 3.5 GPA)
Can't believe this went 50+ posts. Go to Sloan. If you go to Stern or SOM the default assumption will be that you couldn't get into Sloan (or Kellogg or Booth or Tuck).
BB banking interviews are for all intents and purposes open sign-up at the M7 + Tuck. The same can't be said for SOM or Stern.
For future applicants, don't forget Princeton MFin and Sloan MSF. It's a good way to save $100K over the cost of an MBA if you have a strong leadership background and are certain your destination is somewhere in the financial industry.
Yale has a decent program, but it doesn't compete with Booth/Stanford/HBS like MIT Sloan does. Also, the douche-to-competence ratio is a bit higher than at Sloan or Stern.
douche to competence ratio? funny. sorry no silver banana credit to give out
Does Yale provide MSF? If I want to go to banking, what MSF program should I consider?
Yale doesn't do MSFs, but they do have a Finance PhD program. You can probably drop out after two years with an MPhil.
ANT is kinda the expert on this. But I did want to throw out that a couple MSF programs compete with the MBA programs if you want to go into portfolio management, research, or trading.
What was your undergrad and where are you doing right now?
I am still a junior and did not land any internship. I'll try to apply for full time when The Fall is back. I wanted to ask for MSF program advice and would love to hear your thoughts. Down the road, I want to be PM, research or trading. But I heard that the best way is to break into banking first. Any thoughts?
Without work experience, an MSF is really just an extra year of school.
How are your grades and do you have any research experience? If you are interested in working in quantland or asset management, you may want to go for a Finance or Econ PhD.
My grade is about 3.7, not really high :( I have the on campus internship which I had to build the model from scratch, also I am a part of the $700,000 student-run fund on-campus internship as well. I would like to get a job with ER, but down the road, I love to become PM though.
Also, there is no "best way". There are as many ways to "greatness" in this business as there are great people, and not all of them lead through grad school or elite schools. CC: The University of Nebaska's richest alumnus.
I am not sure about Yale, bro
To the OP:
What do you view as your strengths and weaknesses?
If you're an excellent networker, feel solid with financial concepts, and know that you can really excel at the regular recruiting events that banks throw and feel confident meeting up with a banker for coffee, then choose Stern. You'll thrive and won't regret it.
If you feel that you're a natural fit for banking and can pursue it on your own without the mania of a crowd, choose MIT Sloan. Naturally, if you care about the overall quality of your MBA brand, experience, and classmates, then choose MIT Sloan for that reason too.
If you plan on maintaining an active social circle outside the MBA/Finance crowd, and again feel like you can make it into banking on your own without necessarily having to follow the crowds, then choose Yale SOM.
As business schools overall, MIT Sloan is regarded as significantly better than the other two. Stern has an edge over Yale, but they're overall peers in the sense that they're mainly populated with people who didn't get into Columbia, which has people who didn't get into Wharton, whicih has folks who didn't get into HBS or Stanford... you get my drift.
I am good with networking but I dont have any background in finance except for couple accounting classes I took during UG. Would it be harder to stand out in Stern without previous experience in finance?
If you're up to the networking (and it will be intense), you'll be set at Stern. While Sloan is better than Stern, Stern is a core target. You have to believe that there are 100 kids in the Stern class who will outdo you in IB recruitment. And as much as Yale has fine people, this is really about Stern's status as a core IB school vs MIT's m7 status; despite Snyder's excellent alumni relations work and the new building, you're betting on an uncertain future with Yale, comoared to two established schools.
It's cute how Yale likes to pretend its relevant in the MBA world.
Seriously, SOM. Obviously Yale SOM Guy is gonna defend it to the death, he just devoted 2 years of his life and 150k to the school. But seriously, who really considers SOM an elite program. Who even applies there is the real question. I don't know anyone that even considered the school. Not to be a hater, I'm sure it is not a terrible place by any means but in the world of MBA programs I'd say not well established and only riding the Yale brand to try and make a name for itself. All things Yale are not equal.
Sloan > Stern > SOM
How dare you bash Yale SOM! Expect to get soiled. Death to those who dislike Yale SOM.
I asked how listening to speakers at one school can give you an edge over being at another school when everyone can listen to these speeches regardless of which school they go to. If everyone has access to the same advantage, that's not exactly an edge. Also, neither you nor I know for sure what Yale SOM guy thinks. We know what he says here and I'm only discussing his arguments. I don't see how your education example is relevant to that argument when the edge a top CS program gives you is very clear, unlike being able to listen live to Carl Icahn when everyone can listen to the same speech on the Internet.
Don't forget that MIT has Robert Merton. Yeah, THAT Merton.
But then you look at Chicago. Nearly every groundbreaking economic theory of the past fifty years- from MPT to CAPM to Black-Scholes- came from Chicago. If you want to do portfolio management, I can't imagine a better pedigree or experience than a research-focused MBA or PhD from Chicago.
The problem with Chicago is that it never gave into the values of Nietzsche. Booth alumns tend to be very naive and optimistic about the human spirit. Of course, if you can stay a top three B-school despite that, I wouldn't say it's much of a weakness.
The current top creme of Macroeconomists and central bank chiefs all trace their lineage to MIT not Chicago. Chicago is basking in its fading glory. Apart from Raghuram Rajan, I can't even think of anyone from Chicago who had contributed worthwhile to the prevailing intellectual discussion.
As for the embodiment of Nietzschean Values, I think Milton personified it very well on personal level but his aura was too great for others to choose an alternate path. They should have looked at the Man not his theories.
Going to a top BB this summer and I went to our sell day: 2 from Sloan, 2 from Stern, and 1 from Yale. Not sure what that tells you, but to me probably means it probably doesn't matter which one you go to from a recruiting standpoint. I'd maybe consider other factors when making your decision.
People seem very close minded on this particular post. bunch of drones.
OP, here's the summary... 1) Stern - Lots of attention from IBs. But be prepared to go into battle 2) Sloan - Academics kills. But if you survive you are a unique IB candidate 3) SOM - Easier on the work/life balance. Decent amount of IB recruiting
You just need to get into an IB program. Once youre in, it's really how you perform, so ask yourself if an easier program is necessarily better... maybe?
It's a cost benefit analysis only the OP can make
Sloan > NYU = Yale
It's easy to say that NYU is the best due to location, but I find that this isn't necessarily true. While BB recruiters will head up to Sloan for events, Stern students have to hoof it all across the city for one-off informationals. That is a huge pain in the ass. Sloan is the best school of the three, and it's not debatable. Or, at least, it's way less debatable than this thread would make it seem.
Go to Sloan.
For what it's worth, I looked at all of these progams, but only applied to one (and was admitted). Ultimately, I ended up attending a different school altogether.
Yale gets the edge because of Pepe's and Sally's. Done and done.
Chicago is a magnet for modernists and traditionalists. It is the school for conservatives and midwesterners. It's hardly basking in its fading glory; it's attracting smarter people, hence why it's been rising in the rankings.
Chicago is part of the reason we're seeing a bottoming in the US manufacturing sector and jobs are starting to come back to the Midwest. And in 35 years, when manufacturing is at high tide again in this country, I don't think anyone will be able to dispute its #1 B-school ranking.
Case in point: I'll be joining the Booth class of '14 and I'm the smartest guy in the room (my living room, at 6am, while nobody else is awake yet). My cousin went to MIT and I fart in his general direction.
Did someone just say that Booth deserved a #1 ranking for B-schools? Maybe I just heard wrongly.
Well, I had a buddy faced with the enviable position of deciding between HBS and Booth. Surprisingly it wasn't an easy decision for him, but he still ended up choosing HBS because you just can't beat that brand. I think HBS v Stanford would be a harder decision, but in any case, I wouldn't personally try to make the case for Booth as the #1 program.
[quote]Any publication that ranks undergraduate business programs like this is not my cup of tea. http://www.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/bs_ugrank_tab_0303.html…] Hence why Northeasterners are switching from select leaf teas to constant comment and the wealth is transferring from the Northeast to other parts of the country.
Businessweek is not the perfect indicator on schools, but it tends to be a bit of a leading indicator on US News and World Reports. Incidentally, it gets the bulk of its weight from actual recruiters and actual salaries while US News focuses more on selectivity and academic measures. These students graduate, give money back to their schools, academic quality improves and students see the starting salaries and want to apply more to these schools. Hence why a high businessweek ranking is indicative of a school gaining ground in the other rankings.
Doddfrank, I know an underwater welders who make low to mid 6 figures. Don't knock it if you don't know it.
High class problems.
To be honest - all of those schools you mentioned will give you great opps to break into banking bc the BBs all recruit there. Even in the WSJ today Yale SOM got a mention:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240529702038330045772517023877789…
"Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.—a perennial top destination for business school graduates—visits 15 to 20 U.S. schools including Harvard Business School, University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and University of Virginia's Darden School of Business for most of its M.B.A. recruiting. (Goldman's individual private-wealth-management offices also recruit at other, local schools.)
Sandra Hurse, who oversees Goldman's global campus recruiting for investment banking, securities, investment management and investment research, says the company chooses schools for talent and proximity rather than for size. Still, this year, the smallest school the company visited for corporate M.B.A. hiring was Yale School of Management, with 231 second-year students."
Another 1st year MBA (no ties to any of the schools) and who's gone through banking (BB IBD in NY). Take it as one data point as all these comments from each school are great insights.
Not taking into the school's culture and fit and if you're a career switcher, I would choose Sloan > SOM > Stern. Every school will have great numbers in terms of placement so I would look more on the softer side
1) I tend to think that there is a bigger number of student population going for banking in Stern than Sloan and SOM. Stern is known as finance school whereas the other two are not. Stern tends to draw people who are trying to crack finance. I know a lot of people who choose more GM-focused or consulting heavy schools (Sloan, Kellogg, Tuck) over finance schools (Booth, CBS) 2) Proximity to banks can be a curse and advantage. Don't quote me on this, but I think Stern has a policy on contacting alumni at banks since there are so many of 1st years signing up for informationals. 3) Based on my experience (with first years I struck conversations at the lobbies of banks and alumni I also met for informationals), they all have great alumni, but I think SOM and Sloan seem to have stronger alumni contact and pull (the small size, strong culture, etc. other things I cannot name)
At the end of the day, if you are talented and devoted, you are going to do well. Go visit ASWs at each school and go with the school you liked. I went on my gut feeling (with some of the above points taken into consideration) and have been so far very happy with my b-school experience and the recruiting results.
Congratulations, have fun in the upcoming months and good luck!
When in doubt, go with the Ivy League. I'd personally go with Yale, without conjuring another thought process about the matter. Great school. Great network. Great recruiting. And it's a mo-frickin Ivy, unlike the other two you've mentioned. I don't see what the fuss is about.
Dumb.
YALE FTW
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