Help!! Better for Investment Banking: Duke (Fuqua) or Cornell (Johnson)?
Hello everyone,
I am struggling immensely with the decision of where to attend B-school. I am looking for input from people who feel they understand what they are talking about and are confident in their answer. I have gathered so many opinions from people (Family, co-workers, etc) who are uninformed or have their own motives, so I am really looking for a neutral perspective on which school to attend.
I am looking to transition from sales at a mutual fund company to Investment Banking. I was accepted into these two schools-- I received a small scholarship to cornell ($6k a year) which is virtually negligible. The pro's that I see are as follows:
Cornell: very strong Ibanking immersion, great momentum on the street the last few years, Ivy, closer to the city for recruiting, large networking in NYC
Duke: seems to be regarded as a better overall program/brand, fantastic culture and reputation, higher ranked
Feedback would be tremendously appreciated!
They are essentially peer schools (rank #12 vs #14) and both have good IB placement. I've heard that Cornell has been making its IB placement better each year and this will continue. You should attend the admit weekends and see which school fits better to spend 2 years at. The cultural fit is very important.
I am a current prospect deciding on schools right now so I can't give you any inside scoop on firm placement.
If I were set on banking though, I would opt for Cornell pretty much based on proximity alone. 3.5 hour drive from Ithaca to NYC > flying from Durham every week in the Fall. but that's pretty minimal obviously in terms of overall impact.
Thankfully the two admit weekends don't overlap so you can visit both one last time before deciding.
Visit and decide based on fit. Too close to call.
Full disclosure: Went to Cornell for undergrad, attended some Johnson school classes before I graduated. I'm going to echo the above posters a bit and agree that as far as overall rankings go- they are peer schools and the difference in any "prestige" is rather negligible. The difference here is in the margins- location, and program success. If you want to work in NYC, I'd go with Cornell for obvious reasons. If you want to be in Atlanta or Charlotte, I'd go with Duke. Program wise, Cornell does have an investment banking immersion and usually places well. I'm sure Duke places well too, but I don't have any anecdotal evidence or know anyone from Fuqua personally. Hope that helps!
Johnson for IB.
Thanks for asking.
Fuqua sends like 3 people to Charlotte/Atlanta for banking vs. 30-40 to New York. Also flying from RDU to NYC is actually much quicker than a 3.5 hour bus ride (and cheap if you buy tickets early enough). Proximity isn't really a big deal.
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