HS Senior College Choice for MBB
Hey everyone!
I'm a HS senior currently in the midst of the infamous college app season. I'm pretty sure I'd like to go into management consulting/MBB once I graduate, so for college, I'm looking for good placements within the industry along with a good fit for my academic needs. I'd like a school where I can explore economics in conjunction with policy, possibly also through an international lens. My stats: 99 percentile SAT, ~3.85 UW GPA, international awards, multiple strong leadership positions, volunteering, etc.
I applied ED to Wharton, where I'd give myself a 40% chance for acceptance (pretty optimistic, I know), as well as ED to USC and Michigan Ross. I'm planning to apply to UCB, Harvard, Northwestern, Duke, ND, Columbia-Sciences-Po, and possibly Yale or Dartmouth in the RD round as well, given a rejection from Penn.
My questions are about applying EDII. First, I don't really know whether I should apply at all in that round: I'd be locking myself out of the above choices. However, if I were to make that decision EDII, my choice would be between WashU, NYU, and CMC - in that order.
Since all of these schools are a great fit for me academically, I was wondering whether I should apply EDII for the admit rate boost. Is it worth giving up a chance for a stronger RD acceptance for a "safe" EDII acceptance at a slightly weaker school? Also, which of these schools are the choice for MBB recruiting/consulting jobs? How much of a downside is St. Louis for internships/networking (in the case of WashU)? Finally, do you have any realistic RD target/safety recommendations?
Thanks a lot for your help!
Great stats and ec's across the board, so you're off to a great start. Not too sure about ED II round personally, but I'd recommend expanding the list at least. Stanford, MIT, Brown, Princeton, UChicago, Vandy, and Cornell are worthwhile applications. If you take a look at McKinsey's LinkedIn, for example, WashU and CMC have 140 and 22 alums respectively, whereas Stanford (496), MIT (570), Brown (159), Princeton (257), UChicago (227), Vandy (148), Cornell (369).
Need to look at it per capita. Vandy and Cornell aren't as impressive consider their student body, vs. smaller schools like Dartmouth or Brown.
Good consideration here for sure. Although Vandy isn't far off from Brown as both have ~ 7,100 undergrads. That definitely applies to Cornell though, with over 15,000.
You will have a great shot at applying to top consulting firms from any one of these schools. I strongly suggest shifting your focus away from "What school will maximize my chance of getting this specific job in 4 years" and more towards "What school will maximize my happiness, learning, and development over the next four years?"
Let's level-set here. You're 18. You may have an idea of what you might want to do. But you have a lot of growth and learning ahead. Your interests may change. I changed my major four times, and when I was a senior in HS I was exactly like you in the sense that I thought I had a good idea of what I wanted to do. That's why I strongly suggest people to attend the school that's right for them and not choosing based on perceived recruiting success. The school won't define your success in life -- your performance while at school will.
Thanks for the reply! You're right that college fit is the most important factor. It's just that I was really just wondering about the consulting opportunities for these schools all else being equal - I feel that all of these colleges have a really similar academic/social fit for me.
I believe every school you listed (not sure about CMC though) is a target school for MBB, except for NYU.
5Cs are for West Coast Offices (LA, SD, Bay Area, Seattle)
Apply to all the Ivies. I wouldn't apply to either WashU, NYU or CMC for MBB and waste an EDII spot (maybe Chicago instead?)
Oh yeah, Chicago flew right over my head. That sounds like a good option!
I’m from Georgia so gotta plug but Emory and Georgia Tech do pretty well in MBB recruiting. I know a lot of people at McKinsey from Tech and Emory
I was going to say you might really enjoy duke and Dartmouth
Duke has a public policy major that is basically a pre-consulting powerhouse; the resources are incredible, and its super economics heavy if that's what you want to pursue. The professors there are exceptional, and we just beefed up our economic policy faculty. My time there has been great, and while I wasn't a public policy major, any free elective I had was spent in the public policy building and it made all the difference in my MBB interviews because of the way those classes are structured. Feel free to PM if ur interested in Duke.
https://www.peakframeworks.com/post/consulting-target-schools
I attended Rice, which is a great school but harder to land an elite role from than most schools you listed. Even at Rice it was still straightforward to land a job at MBB (which is where I ended up until recently). If admitted, you would be fine at any of the institutions you have listed. Focus on the bigger picture and how you will fit in.
Cupiditate eligendi sequi excepturi distinctio. Sequi omnis asperiores voluptas eos. Occaecati doloremque iure fuga.
Voluptatem ad fuga qui odit sunt impedit. Repellat nemo aut magni provident consequatur occaecati. Autem culpa qui a minima quod odit.
Sunt tenetur dolorum voluptas maxime ratione sed. Cupiditate ducimus non explicabo et.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...