What's the best B-School to attend?

If your seeking an executive type position, you should probably aim for Harvard.

If you want IB or pretty much anything relating to finance, then you want Warton.

I believe Kellogg is strong in Marketing and Management.

It's not an all or nothing question. Most of the banks I interviewed with said their core recruiting schools were Chicago, Wharton and Columbia, but I know tons of bankers from all of the top 10 schools, and even some from the next 10. Kellog is definitely known for marketing, and Harvard for management, but again, McKinsey hires scores of people from Wharton and Columbia, and I've never heard anyone sneeze at Stanford, MIT, Dartmouth, etc. It also helps that the job market is pretty good right now.

how does the b-school lifestyle compare to an IBD lifestyle - is the workload really that intense?

The first semester is grueling, particularly b/c you have to balance the workload with recruiting, plus any social or extracurricular activities you're involved in. The second semester much better if you land a job in January, and then the second year is a breeze if you got a job from your summer internship. If not, then the 2nd year might be somewhat tough, but still, none of it compares to the IBD lifestyle. You're not gonna be up till 2 in the morning studying, only to have to wake up at 7 to get back to work again. No comparison.

Is a top 10 b-school required for all ibanking?

B-School is a giant 2 year vacation.

YES, YES, YES, and, ummmmmmmm, oh ya, YES!

If you want to get to a bulge bracket, the best schools are Wharton, Columbia, MIT and Chicago then, to a lesser extent, Virginia, Cornell, Tuck and Kellogg. I go to Chicago full time - about 120 people interviewed for i-banking and about 100 landed jobs, approximately 2/3rd's in the bulge bracket. A hand full of people get 5+ offers and most others get 1 or 2 offers. Its competitive but very realistic to achieve. Friends of mine in schools below the top 10 have a much more difficult time getting into the bulge brackets.

For the Chicago guy,
You forgot to mention Harvard.

also places its fair share of students into IB.

If you really want a bulge bracket, thinking below the schools mentioned - top 10 is useless. The chances are really rare! I am doing my MBA from a much lower ranked school - Wake Forest University in NC and thanks to the presence of I-Banks in Charlotte we have a few coming to campus but it is a different ball game altogether. You have to work much more than avergae to get a good IB internship.

Currently i am doing my internship with BNP Paribas in Asia. School life comparatively was a piece of cake. The first year we at an average rarely slept for more than 6 hours but that is a lot more than what IB has to offer! Think hard before you decide thats what you want because once you get into this maze, it will be difficult to find a way out!

Best for IB:
Wharton, Haas

Best for Consulting:
Harvard, Stanford

Best for Marketing:
Kellogs

If you want to go the regional route, you can always pick a school with a strong reputation in that area. I know a lot of the Houston BB groups hire from UT, although they still pull down the occasional Chicago, Wharton, Harvard grad.

if you are an analyst or junior associate.. yes. it is intense

if you know that you want to be in I-banking, do your third year and skip B school. The work gets more interesting too...

I second that. Two years in youll know if it is worth it to stay, for most it, if it is offered, they will take it

What's the likelihood that you would want to go to business school after making so much money as an analyst. In my opinion, it's not worth giving up that potential salary. Opportunity cost is very high

I have only recently transferred to Stern from England. I had also got into the Sloan School of Management, MIT but chose Stern instead, since I felt that being in NYC would definitely help and after all, I feel, if you have it in you then you can make it from anywhere. However, after having read all of the above posts, I was flooded with a thought of regret for a split-second. Do you guys think that having gone to Sloan would have been a more prudent choice?

hey dc1368 what was your GPA and gmat and previous work experience to get into Stern?

And yes i belive that Stern is much better if you want to get into IB on Wall.

What is the best MBA school for IB? LBS, Insead or IMD?

I am a senior at Stern....NOT an MBA student. My current GPA is 3.7 and I yet have to take the GMAT. However, I have also noticed that the Investment Banking Divisions of most of the Tier 1 banks have Harvard/Wharton/MIT graduates and not many Sternies. What do you have to say to that?

any suggestions on Canadian schools.

Our most well known are Ivey & McGill

Haas best for IB? Er, I don't think so. Great school, but doesn't compare to Wharton/Chicago/Columbia as far as its Wall Street network.

not many sternies? There are tons of stern mba grads at lehman and goldman, although not many at ms. I do think stern places better in S&T though.

i think you made the right choice in choosing stern over mit. only a handful of schools have a stronger banking network, and mit is not one of them.

columbia is probably the local wall street favorite

INSEAD has strong placement in MC, how about an IB career after INSEAD?

What's the likelihood that you would want to go to business school after making so much money as an analyst. In my opinion, it's not worth giving up that potential salary. Opportunity cost is very high

Don't many firms pay for you to attend B-School, as long as you commit to working for them for another X years? This is common in Consulting, at least, where it pays to be able to have a Harvard MBA monkey giving you the advice, instead of merely, say, a Princeton grad. I have no idea where ibanks might fall in terms of what the added value for an employee might be, but they clearly throw tons of money at new MBA grads so why not just lock in a known quantity?

Harvard and Wharton will get you a great job without requiring much work (neither uses traditional grades). You'll get a great network and education at any of the top 10. Most important, though, is to find the one that has the right culture for you.

Columbia and Stern are also excellent choices. You can't go wrong with school in NYC.

I'm wondering about that too myself given that I'm in the last year of undergrad at McGill.

Things aren't looking rosy for us Canadians...

How would you say Stanford ranks for IB recruiting?

I-banks do recruit at INSEAD, but be 100% sure to begin in INSEAD's January Intake. Since INSEAD is only a one year program, the only way you can do a Summer Associate role is if you start in January. If you start in summer, you will be graduated before you have the chance to an internship. These internships are the best way to get a full-time job.

Is it possible that a Harvard MBA could prove detrimental to a career in IB since the focus is managerial rather than financial...?

It's true that HBS is not the #1 target school for any bank, but that's partially b/c a lot of the grads prefer not to do banking, and instead go into either mgmt or PE. However, banks still value their credentials and if anything the lack of competition would probably be an advantage. I definitely don't think it would be detrimental, except maybe if you were targeting a super quant oriented group.

Wharton , Stern for finance neday
kellogg marketing

how many years of work ex u think is needed to get in wharton finance.. 2 years in IT or a IB?

Regardless of what you plan to do, Harvard will give you the best opportunities.

wharton, chicago, stern, and cbs for banking

hbs, stanford, and mit for consulting

kellogg for marketing

tuck and hbs for general mgmt

How would you rank the University of Illinois