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.
