M7 vs Dartmouth/Duke/Michigan
Any thoughts on how Dartmouth/Duke/Michigan/UVA MBA programs stack up against the M7? Is it an industry specific thing? Any thoughts on what shared characteristics set the M7 in their own category?
Trending Content
| +44 | UC Berkeley (Haas) vs Cornell Dyson vs Columbia vs Dartmouth | 19 | 2d | |
| +33 | MSF Rankings 2024 | 25 | 6h | |
| +27 | Should I take on 100k in loans to go to Emory? | 31 | 1d | |
| +23 | Got admission to ESCP MiM - now what? | 14 | 2d | |
| +21 | UK business schools (below top 5) | 9 | 6h | |
| +21 | Clash of the MSFs, Georgetown vs Nova | 9 | 1d | |
| +18 | HEC Mim vs Bocconi Mfin (URGENT) | 7 | 1d | |
| +18 | SHOULD I DO THIS MINOR? | 15 | 9h | |
| +17 | Oxbridge or Top 15 US School. | 5 | 4h | |
| +17 | Full-Ride at Nontarget or Full Price at Target? | 9 | 23h |
Career Resources
The shared characteristics that set the M7 apart are simple: prestige, reputation, caliber of students, and recruiting opportunities. It's a very self-sustaining situation that feeds into itself. Each school is prestigious because it gets thousands of applications for limited spots. The students who do make the cut tend to have immaculate work experience, strong undergrad records, and lists of accomplishments outside of school and the office long enough to reach the moon and back ... twice. Because of this, elite firms from the most competitive industries (banking, consulting, private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, trading, marketing, industry, etc.) line up to vie over the studs on each campus. Thanks to all the above, each school's reputation remains pristine.
For some reason, there's some kind of hard cut-off below Columbia where Tuck, Haas, SOM, and Stern (the next 7 or so that follow the M7) are so notably inferior in people's minds that people make posts like yours, that some firms won't even show up on campus, that certain industries don't recruit those MBAs, and therefore the whole system is continued.
I almost think we should start calling it the M8 by including Tuck. It's always a step above the rest of the top 15, but never included in the MBA business schools ">M7.
MBA business schools ">M7 is a group devised by Columbia hence the hard cut off at Columbia. For some reason a lot of people adopted it as some elite standard. Recruiters know where to go for students and don't even acknowledge it. Some of those schools recruit much better than Columbia. The other six are solid.
Also interested in this.
I'm applying to a handful of M7's this year, and beginning to wonder: at what point do i send in apps to Duke, UVA, U of M? Since i'm slightly older than average, i want to begin fall 2013 and no later. If I don't get in anywhere in round 1 i'll likely throw UVA, U of M and Duke applications in rounds 2 or 3.
My other question is, am I better off with a part time degree from Kellogg or Booth than with a full time degree from UVA / Duke?
As I've written many times on here, there are H/S/....W...maybe a couple of others...but not 7...that warrant "if i get in ill go, other things be damned". Otherwise, what do you want to do and more importantly, where do you want to do it are far bigger factors. You're kidding yourself if you think 8 and 18 are of vastly different academic quality.
Cartwright - in general I agree that the tiers are over hyped. Having said that, for intense finance quant types, i think there are opportunities coming out of Columbia / Booth / Wharton that aren't going to be available coming out of UVA and Duke. All these schools will feed into IB, but in terms of the best buy side jobs, i think the opportunities will be vastly different.
Spalding what is your personal goal?
Value Investing is my goal. I'd like to get some great internship experience and potentially start my own shop upon graduation.
well then yes anything top 8 is best/semi needed (maybe stern and yale and cornell thrown in the mix too? but will have to push hard) so theres def a difference for investment management or hedge funds or PE kind of stuff but otherwise a vast majority you can get the same jobs from 'm8' as you can from 'top 16' you just have to pick your schools and the focus you want from them.
Tuck is a great school and in my opinion should be included with the MBA business schools ">M7. Very good finance and consulting placements, along with probably the most loyal alumni network. Its small class size and location, however, are drawbacks to a lot of people.
Haas is solid for tech and west coast placement but weak in the other areas.
It really depends on what you want to do. For generic banking and consulting, any top 15 should suffice, although MBB offers from a non-M7 are drastically lower. But from talking to my best buddy, who interned at BCG this summer, that is due to fewer interview slots that MBB allocates for non-M7. If you can get an interview at a place like darden and kick ass at case studies, you should be able to get an offer from MBB. From that point onwards, you are more or less on equal footing with everyone else.
I agree. Personally, I'd go to Tuck over everything but HSW.
I'd also probably attend YSOM over most of the top 15 just because of the strength of the overall brand (and because I still sometimes regret not going there for undergrad).
Ex recusandae libero et dolorum cum aperiam ex voluptate. Accusamus quo ut ullam adipisci similique provident. Non in a culpa consequatur nostrum fugiat. Repudiandae maiores aut odio quia vel magni.
Culpa reprehenderit sed commodi qui maxime molestias aspernatur labore. Et quia et et corrupti. Delectus est corrupti quae labore quia ipsum. Cupiditate vel est incidunt in voluptatem harum quo quo.
Quis fugiat officiis velit a illo aut rerum. Ipsam blanditiis aut velit placeat optio alias consequatur. Est voluptatum aliquid qui accusantium accusamus velit ullam.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...