Creating my school list for MBA

Post-MBA goals are to work in Energy IB:

Stretch Schools - Columbia, Booth, Stern (possibly)
Fair chance Schools - McCombs, Duke (possibly), UCLA, Cornell, Ross, Darden

Now I think I'm going to apply for 4-5 schools for Fall2014 but I just need to decide which schools.

I'd be open to go to school on any one of the coasts but it has to be in a major city, NY/LA/Chi/SF preferably and in that order.

Which schools not known for Energy would still provide me opportunitiies for Texas IB recruiting?

I know McCombs kills it in recruiting and so does Rice to a lesser extent but with UCLA being highly ranked would that fact at the very least put me on a level playing field with McCombs and Rice?

Also, the OCR at say UCLA would be geared towards IB in Cali, that seems like a huge disadvantage to me for a person looking to work in Texas...would you agree?

 

If you know you want to work in Energy IB, McCombs or Booth would be your best bet.

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pacman007:
Boothorbust:

If you need to narrow it down I would say Booth, McCombs, Ross, and Darden, with Booth being the leader by a wide margin and McCombs coming in second because of the energy focus.

I understand Booth being the top choice but McCombs over Columbia? You don't think Columbia would place well in Houston? What about Stern?

Here's the thing about the NYC schools - You will have no ability to hedge your bets by simultaneously recruiting for NY banking, because if you recruit for NYC banking in NYC, you need to be in offices several times a week, and you can't half-ass that. At a school like Booth, because we are far, there is not that expectation, and its easier to dual recruit, so long as you make it to all the on-campus events.

Also - there is very little pipeline from Stern/CBS to Houston. There just aren't many alumni. There are some from Booth (not as much as McCombs).

 
mba2015:

You say the school must be in a major city, yet you list several schools not in a major city. I'm not sure whether you haven't done any research on location, or whether you're not 100% clear on your criteria.

Yeah. Booth, McCombs, Columbia, Stern and UCLA are all in major cities and are my top choices the rest are not. I chose the different schools to see how well certain schools place Energy. Probably should have been more clear.

 
pacman007:
mba2015:

You say the school must be in a major city, yet you list several schools not in a major city. I'm not sure whether you haven't done any research on location, or whether you're not 100% clear on your criteria.

Yeah. Booth, McCombs, Columbia, Stern and UCLA are all in major cities and are my top choices the rest are not. I chose the different schools to see how well certain schools place Energy. Probably should have been more clear.

Austin is a major city now? Don't get me wrong, it is large and a great city, but it's far, far smaller than Chicago, LA or NYC.

 
Best Response
pacman007:

The fact of the matter is, I want to get away from Texas for 2 years then come back and get a killer IB job in Houston. I guess what I was wanting to hear was, yeah go ahead and go to UCLA and party it up in LA you'll be fine OR yeah go ahead and go to Stern and party it up in NYC for a few years and you'll be fine.

Sorry - I don't think you're going to hear that. Look, Stern and UCLA are both great schools, and is there is no reason that a bank in Houston shouldn't want someone from there. But they don't recruit there because they don't have to. And because they don't have to it means you're going to have to bust your hump making phone calls and flights to Texas every few weeks to make sure people know who the hell you are, because they're seeing the Rice and McCombs kids several times a month. What's worse, because they never recruited there, there's no one there from your school to go to bat for you. IB recruiting is about two things: 1) Being memorable to associates and VP's who meet literally hundreds of kids and 2) Having someone in your corner to back you up when the time comes to make interview and offer decisions. Going to any school, however good, that doesn't have a solid pipeline and alumni base into your selected geography and industry makes both of those things harder, and in an environment like this, making anything harder than it needs to be is stupid.
 
Boothorbust:
pacman007:

The fact of the matter is, I want to get away from Texas for 2 years then come back and get a killer IB job in Houston. I guess what I was wanting to hear was, yeah go ahead and go to UCLA and party it up in LA you'll be fine OR yeah go ahead and go to Stern and party it up in NYC for a few years and you'll be fine.

Sorry - I don't think you're going to hear that.
Look, Stern and UCLA are both great schools, and is there is no reason that a bank in Houston shouldn't want someone from there. But they don't recruit there because they don't have to. And because they don't have to it means you're going to have to bust your hump making phone calls and flights to Texas every few weeks to make sure people know who the hell you are, because they're seeing the Rice and McCombs kids several times a month. What's worse, because they never recruited there, there's no one there from your school to go to bat for you. IB recruiting is about two things: 1) Being memorable to associates and VP's who meet literally hundreds of kids and 2) Having someone in your corner to back you up when the time comes to make interview and offer decisions. Going to any school, however good, that doesn't have a solid pipeline and alumni base into your selected geography and industry makes both of those things harder, and in an environment like this, making anything harder than it needs to be is stupid.

lol yeah I figured I wasn't going to hear that. You made some good points, I gave you an SB. I think I'm going make McCombs (because of the Energy IB) and Columbia (because it's Columbia) my main priorities. I'm on the fence about Booth only because it might be tough to get in for me but I might go ahead and apply. I'll apply to UCLA and Stern just in case I change my mind about being in Energy long term and I'll apply to Rice as a my safety.

 

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