Cornell Johnson School of Business vs. Darden

I am wondering what is a better option from a placement and quality of education standpoint-Cornell-Johnson vs. Darden School of Business for an MBA in Finance and Strategy.

Cornell Johnson vs Darden School Of Business

The decision between Cornell vs Darden depends a lot on where you want to end up. Both are considered good business schools but there’s no denying that the Cornell brand opens more doors, particularly in New York. It is known for having a lot of alumni and other connections there and most graduates end up working in NYC.

Darden, on the other hand, is heavily recruited for positions in the south. There are still a lot of great opportunities available but , if you plan to start your career in NYC Cornell, is probably the better choice.

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Darden is also recruited at heavily for positions in the South. While it will likely be more difficult to end up in IB in NYC coming out of Darden, you'll be far better positioned in VA / NC / GA etc. Also, UVA employs the Harvard case method approach to teaching, so make sure that is something that interests you. I attended an HBS class and after seeing the case method in action, I can say that there are some upsides but also some very real downsides.

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CompBanker:
I attended an HBS class and after seeing the case method in action, I can say that there are some upsides but also some very real downsides.

Mind explaining what the up, and more important, down sides are in your opinion?

 
Best Response
<span class=keyword_link><a href=/resources/skills/economics>econ</a></span>:
CompBanker:
I attended an HBS class and after seeing the case method in action, I can say that there are some upsides but also some very real downsides.

Mind explaining what the up, and more important, down sides are in your opinion?

Yeah, sure. On the upside, the case methodology appeared to me to be a very low stress, enjoyable classroom environment. During the class I attended at HBS, almost no one took notes. When called upon by the teacher, there were really no wrong answers. It was: "As the CEO, what would you do? Would you fire these people? Would you do x? How about y?" Basically, it was just a discussion, and I found the themes and conversations to be very interesting.

On the downside, I went through an entire class and didn't feel like I learned a single thing. Sure, we discussed a lot of interesting situations that a manager may find themselves in, but at the end of the class there may have been one or two takeaways that were up for interpretation. For me, I'm interested in learning cold, hard knowledge in business school.

Again, it depends on what you're looking to get out of business school. Different methods cater to different people.

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So with the the above replies.. is it fair to conclude that given a choice Cornell is much more suitable than Darden, specifically, if someone is interested in IBD, most of which is focussed in NYC?

Is that a fair statement?

Also, how is the BB recruiting at Cornell-Johnson post MBA? Any thoughts???

 
International Pymp:
The education, reputation and placement of an Ivy league target school that's just a few hours drive from NYC is likely superior though.

Isn't that all that really matters, then? Especially, for an MBA?

 

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