Booth vs. Kellogg for PE?

Curious to get folks opinions on this one. I'd say they're both equally well regarded on the balance (Kellogg seems to be have been historically more prestigious according the the boomers I work with while Booth has dominate rankings recently). Booth is known as a finance school but Kellogg appears to have slightly more alumni at MM and UMM funds but neither school has a ton outside Chicago. Cultures are obviously very different and I prefer Kellogg, but that's very personal of course. Anyone have additional thoughts?

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As a Booth alum in Private Equity, the best advice I can give you is NOT to make the decision based on PE recruiting opportunities. While I think Booth has done extremely well over the last 5-10 years improving its PE presence, I still think Booth / Kellogg are very comparable in terms of opening doors into PE. Comparable enough that it shouldn't be your decision factor. Your success at either will be almost entirely dependent on yourself rather than your selection of school.

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I know a bunch from both who joined PE and were all well supported by their respective schools. The numbers edge slightly in Booth's favor with a low N. As CompBanker said, attending one over the other will likely not be the deciding factor, so I would consider cultural fit more strongly in your decision.

 

I will say that it seems that Kellogg is making a big push into PE, actively supporting those who want to get into it. Still, Booth is stronger in rankings more recently. I agree with the point that it’s probably just as much up to the candidate as the school.

 

Agree with most of the comments above - one thing to consider is that Booth's location will make it a lot easier to network / do an in-year PE internship to boost your resume

 

Chicago Booth. Kellogg is a phenomenal business program, but the Booth alumni network, particularly in investment banking and private equity, is larger than Kellogg’s. Furthermore, many across the Street consider Wharton and Booth to be the finance schools. Kellogg, the more impressive version of Michigan Ross, is still quite consulting and marketing focused.

 
 

That may be true inside Chicago, but outside of Chicago, anecdotally, I've only come across one person in PE with a Kellogg MBA and many with Booth MBAs. This is for top firms; I don't deal much with smaller firms and it may be different.

 

Regardless, you're throwing shade and shit when I assumed we were talking overall prevalence of the brand in the sponsor community, regardless of location. Again, no where in the original post is Chicago explicitly called out. Is there parity in Chicago? Sure.

Now. Go run the employment reports for the respective business programs and tell me which program sends more graduates into investment banking and private equity, regardless of location. Now, knowing what we know about nepotism within the context of investment banking and private equity recruiting, tell me that Kellogg's brand is more superior to Booth's within private equity. Even though the Kellogg brand is among the best, you can't.

 
 

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