Booth vs. CBS for Tech IB in SF (apologies for the repeat, very specific non-ranking question)
Hi All,
I know this topic has been discussed exhaustively and I have read all the feedback (including the recent one that extended to 5 pages). I have a very specific question that is unrelated to rankings. I have posted this on gmatclub as well:
I'm lucky to have been accepted into both programs. Does anyone know which school has better network in the Bay Area? I'm a mgmt consultant trying to transition into IB (PE later down the road). My top targets are tech groups at GS/MS preferably in bay area but if that doesn't work out then i'd be perfectly happy with a decent group in NYC.
Question to those who are saying Booth and CBS are equal for banking: based on latest employment reports, GS hired 15 from CBS and only 7 from Booth (Interns: 16 from cbs vs. 11 from Booth). MS hired 10 from CBS and only 5 from Booth (interns: 13 from cbs vs. 9 from Booth). Isn't that a significant difference? Sure you have CS/Barclays/Citi and others that pick up the slack to make the numbers equal but isn't CBS placing better at top tier banks? Or is it that more people try to shoot for banking at CBS?
MBB numbers look very confusing to me. 99 at CBS vs. 81 at Booth (Interns: 50 at CBS vs. 66 at Booth). CBS places many more full timers than Booth but fewer interns. Does that mean CBS has more MBB returning / sponsored candidates? I'm looking at MBB numbers because robust MBB recruiting might mean less competition for banking but I could be wrong.
I'm including intern hires because full time numbers include returning candidates. If i can score an internship, I'm pretty sure I can convert it into a full time offer.
Thanks!
I don't have direct knowledge about this but my gut feeling is that these two schools are not really different from tech banking prospective.
However, I think location may be an important factor in your specific case, unlike other banking sectors.
I'm not sure if you did any tech related deal/project in your previous mgt consulting job but I heard tech banking usually prefer experience or at least "provable" passion in technology sector.
From this prospective, NYC could give u useful tech exposure as it becomes 2nd or 3rd tech hub in recent years (in terms of VC deal flow). You may do school year intern in some startups or join some tech community groups to show your ambition in tech sector.
Maybe chicago has similar vivid tech community. Others could give you more insight about it.
The numbers that you pulled are likely to be misleading. For ex, a school will count JPM management rotation program, equity research, etc. into the the number of the people hired from JP (as they should) so the numbers aren't all IB. I know you didn't mention JP,but the analogy still stands. Booth and Columbia both place equally as well at MS and GS. I have a good friend at one of the two firms who graduated from one of those schools and he said over the last couple of years, Booth has placed better in SF/Menlo than Columbia has. Booth usually has 1 or two interns in each office where as Columbia doesn't (almost all Columbia is nyc focused). Personally I'd choose booth.
This past summer (2014) the MBA summer associates at MS Menlo (tech) inlcuded 1 Stern, 1 HBS, 1 Yale SOM, 2 Booth, and 1 MIT. Nothing beats exact info!
thank you all for great insights! Here's the deal: if SOM and Stern are getting offers at MS Menlo, that means it would really come down to my ability to secure an internship. Both CBS and Booth are probably equal in regards to recruiting. Does anyone have any idea of how recruiting actually works? For example, if I recruit for bay area, would that mean that I'll be flying out to west coast all the time (perfectly ok with that)? Does that also mean that I won't get any touch points with NY teams? Last thing I want to do is recruit for SF and not get anything with so few positions open and miss out on NYC recruiting as well.. not sure if i'm making any sense but i don't really know how recruiting works.
The short answer is yes, you'll spend a lot of time on airplanes whether you are at CBS or Booth. I didn't recruit for banking but have friends at CBS who did tech banking recruiting and spent the summer in SF. The advantage to CBS over Booth probably only relates to your last point. You can easily make connections here in the city during the week (no class on Fridays) while traveling out to SF once a month or so. Otherwise you'll have an even shot from either school.
in other words, if getting to GS/MS is the ultimate goal, should I bite the bullet on bay area and just go with NYC and head off to CBS? I can try to make the bay area transition once i'm at the bank..
Booth alumnus here.
Can't comment on CBS, but as for your point about GS et al placement, I can tell you that some of my classmates came back from their summer internships at those firms with offers, and didn't accept them.
EDIT: adding point about MBB vs IB recruiting. For summer internships there is a noticeable difference of more people targeting consulting than IB; for full-time that difference is even greater, as many folks come back from their banking internships recruiting for other stuff (even if they got summer offers) and MBB packs a big punch in full-time recruiting (like over 100 interview spots EACH).
Bottom line, if you are good enough to get into both schools, you should not have such a paranoid approach in terms of getting outperformed by your classmates.
thanks jtbbdxbnycmad and MilitaryToFinance, makes me feel better about my IB prospects. Although I feel bad for folks who did summer internships and are now recruiting for something other than finance, hopefully everything works out for them.
I'll be honest in admitting that I visited both schools and actually liked both. I was hoping you guys would lean towards one school and make it easier :)
thank you for all your thoughts!
I have 5 years of banking experience in SF. I have seen more alumni from Booth versus CBS in the area. I think they're equal programs, but if your goal is working in SF, Booth may have more alumni in finance. I don't have the data to back that up, but it's been my personal observation.
Thanks masterg!
I think if the two programs are truly equal then I'm leaning towards cbs for three reasons: I can recruit for both sf and NYC while in school, cbs has a partnership with haas where I can spend 1 semester in second year at haas. Ideally, I would do my summer internship at a top bank in NYC and then come to haas second year to do full time recruiting. Cbs has more industry experts teaching courses.
I'm hoping that the reason there aren't many cbs alums in Bay Area is more of a function of self selection.
Would be great to get you guys' thoughts on anything I'm missing or if I'm thinking about this the wrong way.
The banks won't let you get away with that (or will kick and scream until it eats away at the goodwill you built up over the summer) - holding on to their summer offers while recruiting in the Bay is likely to backfire on you.
Bay Area IB recruiting - I didn't do it but everyone I know at Booth who tried, pulled it off and they didn't seem to sweat or fret much about it at all. NYC recruiting - I got a few offers and ran into plenty of Columbia/NYU folks in the process. I came to view the 'NYC location' as a burden (big caveat: this is for standard MBA jobs - altogether different for smaller buyside shops, see below), because they had to do 3-8x the networking for the same outcome.
Honestly, it seems like you would really prefer to go to Columbia for personal/subjective reasons; that is fine and wholly legitimate. If Columbia just rubs you the right way, you would probably be happier there.
But I would advise against trying to come up with pseudo-objective reasons to back it up; there is one true objective reason which is that the New York location allows you greater access to smaller buyside shops which require you to be very responsive and available. There is probably also something to be said of the 'black market' post-summer internship for banks, in which it is probably easier to network your way into a spot that another Summer Associate turned down if you are a subway ride away. Coming up with other pseudo-objective reasons just makes you look insecure; every year there's a group of smart folks who choose Columbia over better-endowed and resourced schools, and it usually works out just fine for them.
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