Hey guys,
I know it is ranked third, but it still ranks lower in other rankings. Do people perceive it as a top 5 school?
Also, how is their reputation in the street, specially in banking and PE?
Assuming you have an offer from Chicago Booth and MIT, and you want a career in banking and maybe later transition to PE, do you think it would be stupid to pick MIT over Chicago?
MBA would be my last degree, and having the opportunity to attend MIT, the institution, is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I havent visited any school yet.
Insecure Columbia students will try to argue otherwise, but MIT is clearly a top five school. But like Chicago, not as many students from there pursue a career in finance.
Don't forget to check out UPenn Wharton, Booth, and Kellogg too.
MIT's campus is incredibly ugly. The only redeeming feature is that the Charles River is no longer a toxic waste dump and it's safe to go canoeing on. MIT has an inferiority complex- students who get into Harvard tend to get rejected at MIT if they don't visit campus several times. (Columbia also does this.)
Chicago, on the other hand, has a beautiful campus but is surrounded by dangerous neighborhoods. You do not want to go out drinking in Hyde Park.
Don't pay any attention to yearly rankings (US News or otherwise). The real rankings do not change every year.
After HSW(Columbia), the other M7 schools are largely equivalent, and subject to individual preferences. Even though IP isn't a fan of Columbia, the fact remains that it is the school of choice for - to put it bluntly - HSW rejects. Much like Wharton MBAs are H/S rejects. And to a (much) less severe degree, Stanford GSB is home to HBS rejects. But realize that this is like "only" banging the 3rd/5th hottest supermodel; they are all fantastic in and of their own right.
Just IMO: H>S>W>Col>MIT>Chi>Kel
And before anyone points it out, yes I realize that exceptions to the above exist. I myself made a similar choice a couple of year ago.
Conclusion: Pick MIT over Booth if you want. They are both fantastic institutions, and you can't go wrong with either.
Best of luck.
Columbia is tied with Chicago and Northwestern. And only on the island of Manhattan and even then, only for banks. Step off the island, and folks will ask why you went to Columbia unless you were rejected from MIT, Chicago, and Kellogg.
Illini, while I get that people have varying preferences for non-HSW MBA, no one has a particular bias against Columbia grads (both in and out of NYC). That to me, is akin to splitting hairs.
EDIT: I see you have had poor experiences with Columbia grads. Try not to let the actions of a few cloud your assessment of the majority.
Err Columbia is a good school and all but to rank it above MIT and Chicago is a mistake I think. Most people see hsw then Chicago and Kellogg then MIT Columbia tuck and varying for the rest -- but ultimately the rankings do not matter as Long as where you want to be hired into recruits from your school. MIT does have a beautiful building but the campus is a bit brutalist and Boston isn't sexy when it's gloomy at all. MIT tends to be more entrepreneurial and management focused and Chicago may not ve as gung Ho with banking compared to Columbia it still is a finance school. However for banking ultimately any of those programs will be great ad the whack arguments over ranking and prestige on this site are all pounding sand, go to whatever school you loved the most and happiest you'd be with lifestyle. Just as an FYI though I think it's more common to go post MBA consulting to mm pE than associate banking to pE so pE might not be in the cards as much as you thi k it will be from banking
so MBA > BB IB > MM PE is tough? I was thinking about making the move at VP level, maybe MD. I have no problem in making a career in IB so PE is not a deal-breaker.
guys, i didnt apply to Columbia for two reasons: crappy finaid for int'ls, and it feels as a factory. All you have to do is convince them you want to study in NYC and show them a good GMAT (that is my impression)
So, despite all the rankings W is still regarded higher than Chicago and MIT? Apart from HBS, I dont see a clear "ranking". In my opinion HBS has a reputation like no other (even though their curriculum is too "light" for me). Stanford, i thought a lot about applying there, but GOD it is waaay too soft, way too "lets change the world", too hippie. Their curriculum is crap, as Stanford guys call it, too "thouchy feely". But Chicago's rep in finance is better than wharton (maybe not for PE), but "academic" wise, Chicago is better. MIT has a brand like no other school, i think just by saying you go there your IQ increases by 10 points.
Do you guys think it is worth postponing one year and apply to W? I am 27 (28 at matriculation). I think i am getting promoted to senior manager (Risk Advisory, Big 4), so i am afraid i would be over-qualifed next year for an MBA. Also, it doesnt matter how much more experience i put under my belt, i would still enter as an associate at banks.
Yeah, I think we're talking with a Columbia student here. :D
It's a good school, don't get me wrong, but a significant number of the students there see themselves as Harvard rejects. Chicago, MIT, Kellogg, and Wharton do not have that problem to the same extent. They all stand on their own. This leads a number of Columbia students to have a terrible inferiority complex and to project it onto state schoolers and on the independent top choice schools (Wharton, Chicago, MIT).
No, all you have to do is convince them that you're either not going to get into Harvard or for some odd reason pick Columbia if you get accepted at both schools. Everyone from the students to the admissions committee seems to have an inferiority complex. :DIn all seriousness, Columbia is going to expect some leadership and a solid work experience. It is not an easy school to get into. But I don't think it's at the level of schools that don't try to copy Harvard (Chicago, Wharton, MIT).
(Given that I went to state school, I can tease Columbians about the inferiority complexes and Harvard rejections without being quite as mean).
Guys, could we stop the CBS discussion for a minute :)
Do you guys think is it worth postponing MBA for one year, and try getting in at W?
Fair enough, haha.
It depends. Have you already applied (and been accepted) to B-Schools, or was this all a hypothetical scenario?
interviews at both. All I need is one admission, but just need to know for which school to pray for at nights. The thing is that I have also to decide whether to postpone and accept the promotion in June :(
I am getting really stressed so I want to have a decision made before I hear from schools because I wont have time to research in april.
Don't pass over Booth and Sloan for a shot at Wharton next year. Wharton is better, but students are douchey and very competitive. Sloan and Booth have great academics, and students tend to be nicer, but I got a feeling that alumni network leaves something to be desired. And also professors can be more focused in research. All banks will recruit at all 3 places pretty heavily.
Curriculum? Get serious, we're talking about MBAs here. Anyway, the curriculum is irrelevant if you want to be a banker (i.e. high end salesman - this is a good thing). Go to school now, don't delay your career for a year.
Wharton is great, but not worth wasting a year just to apply for if you already have offers from MIT/Columbia/Chicago.
man, i cant study "leadership" and crap for a year like the do in stanford. The total cost of the MBA for me is over 500k, so I need to learn something, and I would rather shoot myself than having to spend one year at stanford talking about changing the world.
You don't do an MBA just for the educational aspects. You do it for the career ops and in order to round off / polish your resume / skills. If you have a specific interest load up on the relevant electives.
I actually get the impression that you can't "handle" the leadership / case aspects of somewhere like Stanford / HBS... If you can't handle BSing on a case study at B-School how are you going to convince CEOs, Investors and such to believe in you if you want a career as a banker/consultant or other kind of high end salesman? Your DCF won't be the differentiator.
From the few posts on this thread I would highly recommend that you focus more on this aspect (leadership, BS ability, etc...).
In terms of MIT vs. Chicago, Chicago is the midwestern version of MIT. They are both very focused on building technical competency. MIT is a moderately stronger program for banking due to its proximity to the northeast. But you can't go wrong by making decisions based on culture, location, and how much you like the folks on campus.
Obviously, as a kid who grew up five miles from campus, I am a brazen fan of Booth's culture. Such a brazen fan that I would agonize over an HBS vs. Booth decision. It has the fewest jaded students and the lowest douche factor in the top five schools. But MIT is very close in that respect.
How much money do you have for plane tickets? I would recommend visitng both campuses, talking with your family, and praying a lot. This is a culture decision.
i am an in'l applicant. the interviewer at MIT told me admit weekend is in may so I should plan it from now.
If i get admitted to both, i would have to attend both admit weekend and decide. IAny idea when is Booth's admit weekend?
thanks a lot, you've been really helpful.
Booth has ngd MIT does not s well
What about INSEAD and LBS?
LBS and INSEAD would be a cost and culture decision, too, IMHO. It also depends on where you want to end. If you definitely want to wind up in the UK or Europe, those schools might very well be better choices than Harvard.
If you're international, I would steer you a little more towards MIT over Chicago. Chicago is probably the most conservative of the top five schools.
Since you've already applied to Wharton once, I would suggest moving on. Re-applicants are rarely successful without significant improvements to their resume. Just enroll at Booth/Sloan.
i expect a lot of improvements in my app, but in my mind Wharton was never a top choice. I live in latam. In here MIT and Chicago's rep is stronger.But it seems in the states Wharton is clearly above Chicago and MIT.
anyways, thanks a lot, I will just wait and see, hopefully I get in at least one of them, and if i am lucky enough and eventually have to make the decision, I will try to visit both schools and talk to some alums.
Slightly out of topic, but this is the type of people who get into HBS. Truly deserved, amazing!
http://www.hbs.edu/mba/perspectives/students/2012/akinard.html
[quote=JamesHetfield]Slightly out of topic, but this is the type of people who get into HBS. Truly deserved, amazing!
http://www.hbs.edu/mba/perspectives/students/2012/akinard.html[/quote] I can't see how his "achievements" are special... Anyone can sign up for a military and shoot at/bomb people / get shot at/bombed by others...
hey buddy go fuck yourself
//Clash of the worldviews.
BS ability is the ultimate technical skill...
Seriously though, how else are you going to indoctrinate a mass number of intelligent independently thinking people into a life of corporate servitude without the "leadership" and other rituals of an MBA programme?
I would love to do MIT's MFin or Oxfords Msc in Financial Economics instead of an MBA, but I'm thinking that I won't be able to plug into the system again as easily as I could if I did an MBA. I might apply nonetheless and make a decision once I have offers.
MIT's goal from the MFin program is to graduate students who can compete with the MBAs.
BS ability is a soft-skill. The ability to see through BS is a hard technical skill. And trust me, even though we wear our shirts inside out, us quants are still smarter than the bankers. :D
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