Wharton vs. Sloan ($$)
Been accepted to Wharton (no $) and Sloan ($50k). West coast based, hoping to return after grad.
This decision has been stewing in my brain for awhile and it's approach zero hour. Currently in consulting (non-MBB, think Parthenon/Booz/OW). Chose not to get sponsored as I'm looking to transition into marketing/retail (P&G, Nike, Starbucks) for the summer. Plan is: if I dislike the large corporates, evaluate opps in product marketing/biz dev for a growth stage start-up. When I applied, I liked the idea of entrepreneurship/building ideas out with classmates, which is what attracted to MIT in the first place, but have since become skeptical of the value of my non-technical background there.
Unlike many on WSO, I'm flat out not interested in PE/HF (could do it now), or banking exits. Interested in VC in so far as future funding access, but not to work there.
Career goals aside, I've been told I can't go wrong (except with a few extra employers at W). Some points of comparison I've been weighing:
1 Social life/peers - I'm super extroverted but by no means a huge partier and am kind of over the whole "I didn't party enough in college now I want to do it again" thing. Worried I might find W too overwhelming, but MIT too quiet; overall W might have the more vibrant social/extracurricular scene, but also small fish/big pond phenomenon
2) Student life/academics (HAHA) - Both have bidding systems; appreciate W's non-disclosure to help me take riskier course choices with relative impunity. Also prefer a more collaborative student body - seems like students have to jostle, fight, and pay out the nose for everything at W
4) Alum network - W wins on size/prevalence in just about EVERY company on linkedin I can find in marketing/CPG/even tech biz dev, but I could be wrong -- also confused as to whether Sloan's collab with broader MIT is as advertised?
5) Location - disliked Philly when I visited, liked Boston. W's SF campus is something I'd be interested in pursuing since I want to stay West Coast, but MIT overall has better rep out here.
Thoughts??
Have you at least made Wharton aware of your financial aid package from Sloan? A lot of these schools match. Wharton also gives out scholarships.
Having had ~5 admissions directors in 7 years and a slide in the rankings, the last thing Wharton wants is for you someone to turn them down and then check off on the cross-admit form "Chose Sloan over Wharton".
Dude, as you said, you can't go wrong. Even as you broke it down by category, they're pretty damn similar in terms of what they'll offer you from career prospects. It’s also quite hard to tell which one you’d prefer from an experience standpoint (as I’m sure it’s hard for you to determine).
Since that’s the case, my opinion is that you have to find $50k worth of value that you’d get at Wharton and not at Sloan. The strengths you listed of Wharton, including the larger alumni network, grade non-disclosure, and the San Fran campus, all must provide that value, and even make up for the Philly location that you don’t like. Certainly agree with Illini that it’s worth seeing if you can get anything out of Wharton, although that is certainly not guaranteed.
I really can’t decide what I would do if I were you. On one hand, I like to think that when in doubt, and given your general career uncertainty, I would just pick the higher ranked school. However, in this case, given the $50k difference, and the potential start-up desire that both mitigates the “prestige” difference and makes cost savings more valuable, I then think I might go with Sloan.
Do you have a gut feeling? I found that in making my decision, even though it was really even on paper, my gut was pushing me strong in one direction. Not necessarily the best strategy, but sometimes, it works. If not that, then maybe just follow the money.
Agree with the great Deans of WSO who have written above @"IlliniProgrammer" on the "there's no harm in asking" strategy and @"BGP2587" on finding the equivalent $50K value (in present value terms, natch).
Anecdotally, nobody I know at Sloan is quiet, FWIW. If you are from the West Coast, you will be impressed with the Boston's liveliness. (I am in the financial district in San Francisco as I type this).
Your big issue is whether you think you can find what you want in terms of branded companies (start-up or established). Defintely Wharton can get you there. They have the Baker Retailing Center and a very deep bench on their marketing staff. But Sloan also has this amazing product design and development course where students are from Sloan, the engineering school, and they pull in students from the Rhode Island School of Design to work on projects. I will post a link to it -- I met the professor of this great course, which is sort of like something you would expect at the Stanford d. School -- so don't underestimate the possibility of those kinds of experiences.
Here's a link to the course: http://web.mit.edu/15.783j/www/ looks like it fills up easily. But! It does answer your question about Sloan and the rest of the MIT community.
No, you cannot go wrong. Did you go to admit weekends ? Most people I know usually know right away after day or two with potential peers.
Personally, I did not think Sloan was quiet. Based on my limited impressions (two short-ish visits), I thought the following (taken from a post I wrote in another thread):
I do think that Sloan has this unique energy and aura to it, but I actually think that it's much more of an individual energy. That entrepreneurial spirit that is so evident, seemed to me to be more about individuals (or a couple of people) working on their goals. That's inspiring and really cool, but is not exactly what I want. I tend to rise in atmospheres where everyone works together and is on the same page, and in my eyes, I wanted more of a full-class collaborative place.
It's just different. Wharton is a bit of a hybrid I think because it's so big, with so many different things going on, while at the same time everyone lives within a few blocks of each other and spends a lot of time together. It's really all about feel and where you want to be.
Thanks for all the thoughtful comments. Very helpful perspectives.
I think finding $50k worth of value is an interesting one - I turned down firm sponsorship, but it's not exactly (in post tax terms) a drop in the bucket. On one hand, if I don't like Sloan, it won't matter. On the other hand, GND & alum network might not be worth it if I like Sloan better.
Sloan has their admit weekend this weekend, so it seems moot for me to make any judgments on the student vibe until then, but BC2587 - it's interesting that you say Sloan's atmosphere is more internally-driven. Honestly, it's very hard to tell from LinkedIn placements whether lack of alum representation in due to self selection or opportunity bias.
Even if it's the same companies, I've heard that for example, Apple will come to recruit for technical folks at Sloan (supply chain folks), and go to Wharton for other types of positions. If there's no way I can become technical, then would Wharton be a better place to recruit for those types of positions?
1) Philly isn't that bad.
2) If you want VC I think MIT would be the choice. Wharton is a finance powerhouse and you seem to have no interest in that.
I would choose MIT unless Wharton matches them. If both offers were the same I would pick Wharton.
1) Philly is cheap to live 2) SF campus 3) Grade non-disclosure
/thread
Wharton is a finance powerhouse, but the marketing faculty is outstanding, probably the best in the world. Wharton is ranked #2 for marketing, behind Kellogg, and Sloan is not even top 10. It also has the much better brand name. I'd say that is worth the $50k, but try to get them to match.
As an update -- both admissions weekends visited, and still torn. They are so different, and my gut is saying Wharton one day, and Sloan the next. My sense at Sloan is that people are generally older and tend to have a clearer idea of what they want to get out of the experience, and there's definitely a lot more individual pursuit. I can easily imagine feeling comfortable spending a weekend reading a book, though I get the impression that I would find the opportunity cost at Wharton too high to do the same.
At Sloan, People are very warm and candid about their experiences, though I'm not sure the job placement outside of consulting is as broad as Wharton's.
Any other thoughts out there?
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