Wharton vs Other M7
Ignore title. For background, am starting to think about an MBA and understand that HBS / GSB are probably not within reach. That being said, I think I have a solid chance at Wharton and the rest of the M7. I know Wharton is a legacy name and has a great reputation within the finance world, but would it be crazy to choose a different M7 (think Columbia or MIT) over them because of location? I know I do not want to be in Philly and don’t know if the incremental value of a “Wharton” is worth being somewhere I don’t want to be for 2 years. Thank you.
IME Wharton is helpful in two circumstances:
1) You want MF/UMM PE or a top SM HF job. There’s just a lot more alumni touchpoints and on campus presence for these jobs vs. the rest of the M7. I’ve certainly seen people get these jobs from Booth, Kellogg, Columbia, etc. but it requires a lot more legwork.
2) You aren’t sure what you want to do. I’d argue that Booth/Columbia is just as strong as Wharton for finance, Kellogg may be stronger in marketing, MIT for hard tech stuff etc. but Wharton is the most well rounded and strong across the board in everything. If you’re dead set on marketing, finance, etc. you’re not giving anything up by going to a specialist school but if you want to take some time thinking about what you want to do then the breadth at Wharton really helps.
All that said, your personal happiness matters the most. You’ll probably enjoy Philly / Wharton but if another M7 school is just a much better fit where you’ll be much happier, the difference between schools isn’t great enough to outweigh the impact on your mental health. Given how aggressively extroverted MBA school is, you really need to be in a place you think you’d enjoy because there are a lot of second order impacts to how well you feel you fit in.
Would add, make sure whichever M7 you do choose over Wharton (if you do so), offer you a lot more $$$$
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