School Decision for Investment Management: Booth / Columbia ($$) / MIT Sloan?

Hey All,

I’ve had the good fortune of being admitted into 2 MBA programs and potentially a 3rd: Columbia ($$), Booth and MIT Sloan (hopefully) and am having more than a bit of trouble deciding between them.

I’d love to get into a large IM firm (Fidelity, PIMCO, Putnam etc.) and work my way into a PM role. However, I know that even at H/S/W these positions are hard to come by. Additionally, while I have finance experience, I don’t come from research: 2 years investment banking at BB in NYC, 3 years doing emerging markets investments (direct debt + equity, with light quarterly portfolio monitoring) focused on Africa / LatAm.

I like Booth and Sloan for their quant approach / academic rigor (I do want to brush up on my fundamentals). Booth has been on the upswing lately, but Sloan’s location puts it a stone’s throw away from some big names in the space and apparently there was a finance practitum where students worked with MFS.

CBS, well, it’s in NYC and has the Value Investing Program. However, entry into VI isn’t guaranteed and I’d be taking a huge gamble. They’re also giving me ~$100K to attend, which covers roughly 70% of tuition. However, as I’m able to cover the full cost of attendance for any MBA program, I’d still like to know your opinions on an “equal footing” basis. I'll think about leveraging scholarships against each other when I get my Sloan result.

Given my background and the choices given, I’d really welcome any guidance you guys would have on the best program choice to fit my goals.

p.s. Also, I don’t have a CFA but plan to start studying for it now. It’s pretty much non-optional in the industry at this point. However, seeing as there’s no way to pass all 3 levels before recruiting or even before MBA ends, how badly will this damage my prospects?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Thanks, all! Very helpful! I'll call Booth to see if they'll match or at least have some flexibility around giving me at least $70K up.

 

Hi Pawnee, just trying to help:

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Or maybe the following pros can chime in... sm4112 JTBruCitiBlu57 Thirunavukkarasu.v

Fingers crossed that one of those helps you.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 

If you can't decide for any mind blowing important reasons, then take the money. Columbia is well suited for a finance type in the top tier, and it's neither a Kellogg (less in finance reputation) or schools away from MBA business schools">m7 or a Cornell type location that must rely on OCR

Also this is a really good time to persuade booth or Sloan to show up some more money. Even less downsides if happens

 
Best Response

There isn't really much of a location advantage for IM (esp re: Sloan). They hire the smartest candidates they can find (defined by how good your investment ideas are in your stock pitches). Booth and Columbia will probably better prepare you for the stock pitch experience.

I'm biased here, I took Booth and dropped my Columbia app for a number of reasons, but $100k is hard to pass up. Take the money unless Booth comes close (~$70k or up).

 

This thread, though old, is probably more helpful than anything I have to say.

https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/columbia-value-investing-program…

Now, on the off chance that you do go Booth, I highly suggest taking Lubos Pastor's portfolio management course. One of the top three courses I've ever taken in my life, maybe the best. If you don't know who he is, google "Pastor-Stambaugh" - one of the offshoots of the Fama-French model (Fama's still there too).

 

Tell Booth about the CBS scholarship and ask them for a similar gesture.

The firms you mentioned hire from all three schools - Booth for certain. But it all comes down to your interview performance.

The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd.
 

Now on an equal footing basis Booth is the better option, but not by much, and in your case, with your background, and $100K sitting on the table I don't see any clear, overwhelming advantage in its favor. Not for brand, location, opportunity/recruiting or any other reason. Just accept the love you're being shown and go kill it.

 

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