Columbia SPS Applied Analytics vs. Ross MBA vs. UNC MBA vs. USC MBA

Hi all,

first of all a big THANK YOU to the community for being helpful and informative. As inferred from the title, I got accepted into all these programs and am currently weighing out my options. Overall goal is to work in IB at a BB in NYC.

Little background info regarding work experience:

- 4 years M&A experience at an IB (mid-market)

- currently an Associate at the TMT-Group

- male, international student from Europe

Which of these options would place me well into Wall Street? I am slightly inclined towards the MBA program at Ross but still want to hear how Columbia SPS is regarded in the US (declining an Ivy school is kinda difficult for a first gen academic).

Looking forward for all the comments.

4 Comments
 

Ross

Columbia SPS is the school of professional studies and known as the university's cash cow. That school does not play any part of the highly structured IB recruiting process. You will have near zero chance of participating in the IB recruiting process that CBS or other top MBA programs have. If you want to land an IB seat, do not go to CU SPS. You also need sponsorship, so it's not like you can sneak into a smaller bank for IB

Ross is the better of the MBA programs you listed, while it's more of a consulting school than a IB school, it's a great program and you can land a post-MBA IB seat there. I'm not sure how well the school places to NYC IB vs Chicago IB

USC is more of an up and coming MBA program and places more to the west coast. I'm not familiar with their IB placement, but getting any role in NYC after would be challenging. 

UNC does a decent job w/ IB placement but would opt for Ross as its the better overall MBA program.   

Best of luck! 

 

Really appreciate your honest and structured reply!

The enrollment deposit deadline for Ross is on the 25th of April. However, I am still awaiting Cornell's reply to my MBA application (rolling admission till April 8th).

From the IB in the USA perspective, are there any differences between those two? Should I just take the Ross offer and pretty much prepare with a peaceful mind?

 
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