I’m planning for an MBA but wondering how crucial an internship is for making this transition.
Also trying to decide between a 1 year program at a top school or a 2 year program at a regional school. Any advice is appreciated!
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Internships are always good, especially considering many firms recruit nearly exclusively from summer associate programs for their new grad hires. To say its "crucial" may be stretch depending on how your experience/skill truly rate. Like when you say construction/development do you mean you started in construction and now work in development? Or do you mean you do construction mngt for a developer? Those are very different, and the latter one is much more of a "jump" than the former.
As for 1-yr "top" vs 2-yr "regional"... huge it depends. In part, unless you name a range of names for each category, I don't want to guess (on WSO there can be a lot of different ideas about what "top" means and "regional" has wide range as well in head). Speed of a 1-year is good, but kills ability to intern and even fully learn/network. That said, many top firms only hire from "top" MBA programs, so the difference in recruiting can be very real. Does 2-year mean you still work or is it also full-time? The cost/debt factor is legit, and you should weigh it.
I will say, going to grad school in the market/region you want to work long-term is solid strategy, this is especially true if doing anything "regional". If you mean "top" as like top 7 or 15 MBA programs, far far far less relevant, they have national audiences for their grads.
Thanks for this! I should've provided more clarity:I worked in construction briefly (less than a year) and now work in real estate development for a little over 2 years.The options are something like Columbia/Northwestern (1 year programs with no internship) vs Georgetown/UT Austin (2 year programs).Also I'm not a US citizen, if that's a factor.All programs are full-time, so not much difference there. And i'm fairly location/region agnostic.
Would definitely choose to do the 1 year options but not sure if an internship seems necessary for my background.
That is a decent range of options, if you haven't applied, I would apply to all those interested then decide based on packages and overall details. I would note, people are doing internships post-graduation, not sure if you would want/need to do, but the 1-year program really need not eliminate internship options.
As to not being a US citizen, that can clearly limit your job choices, are you on track now to get permanent residency/work permit with current job? Not sure you really should leave if that is the case.
Got it. I think it’s going to come down to CBS vs Georgetown. In your opinion: Is Columbia’s prestige worth giving up the summer internship option at Georgetown for this transition (Development to PERE)
So, here are my biases.. I am NYC based, I did not go to either school...
CBS is known to have very strong connections to private equity (Henry Kravis went there I think, def has a lot named after him there). Plus, NYC is way more of a job market for "top tier" private equity and investment management firms than DC is (but there is a lot in DC, but not even close to NYC and greater NY region). So, given what I know, I'd take CBS in this head to head. In fairness, don't know tons about Georgetown (obviously great rep, but not same "tier" as CBS).
Now, do I think one could be successful moving to some well known equity fund from development with a Georgetown MBA?? Of course, but CBS is def a direct conduit for many of the big name firms. Plus, a year of networking in NYC is no bullshit. CBS alum work exactly where you want to work, so I really see this one as an easy call (not my money! have fun either way!).
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