So they are both top 7 b schools, and Northwestern is more consulting focused and Chicago more finance focused.
Obviously both great schools, of course people will tell you to choose the one where you "fit" best.
so what's the word on the respective cultures of the two programs?
This topic has been explored in a previous Wall Street Oasis article.
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You seem to have said it best. Kellogg is laid back and peer oriented. Chicago attracks people who are very intellectually curious and driven. Both schools are challenging and are composed of people who are very intelligent, but Kellogg is more about the social aspect of the MBA program while Chicago is more geared toward the academic focus. I am not saying that Chicago students are anti-social or that Kellogg students do nothing but throw keggars and screw around, but I think you will spend more nights with your head buried in a book going to Booth than you would at Kellogg.
Don't know if you've seen this thread: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/kellogg-vs-booth-private-equity
Some good points to be found there.
the people at kellogg seem to have enjoyed their MBA experiences a lot more. They go out often, students are very sociable and outgoing, and the culture is just more laid-back. Booth is quite cutthroat, due to the intellectual culture and the emphasis on finance. My friends there did not enjoy their experiences too much; they could not wait to graduate and get out.
First of all, the level of academic focus at any top business school is not all that rigorous. If you choose to put the effort into going after a 4.0 in business school, then your priorities are off and you're going to sacrifice what should be a fun two-year experience. As far as Booth, specifically, is concerned, the stereotype of it being a place where there's an increased focus on academics and students are more serious about their studies is incredibly overblown. When you compare schools that are relative equals like Booth and Kellogg, you'll find that there's not really a lot of differences between the people at the two schools. Personalities and interests are similar (MBA students are in a general a small, self selecting crowd), motivation levels are similar, pedigrees are similar, and what people want to do after school are very similar, with different mixes in the fields students recruit for. Booth definitely does NOT have a cutthroat culture. Chicago has grade non-disclosure (Kellogg does not), so there's not a lot of motivation for students be cutthroat in their approach.
The real difference in the two schools comes down to their locations. Because Kellogg is in Evanston, students tend to flock together when going out, and the class as a whole is tighter than those other top schools that are located in more urban environments. Booth is different because of its location in Hyde Park. The majority of students choose not to live in Hyde Park, and tend to choose either downtown neighborhoods or a little further north in Old Town, Lincoln Park, or Lakeview. The student population that does choose to live in Hyde Park is largely an international crowd, mostly made up students from Asia and India. The impact of this is that the class is not as tight across all 550 students, but there is a large and tight knit community of students that, if you choose to be a part of, you'll find yourself going out with 3 to 5 nights a week.
In a nutshell, at Kellogg the social culture of the school is thrust upon all the students (this definitely isn't a bad thing). At Booth, the social culture is something that students self-select into. If you're anti-social and you don't make an effort to make friends and go out and have fun, then you very well might not have a great time at school. It's a shame that somebody would waste an opportunity like that, but frankly, it's their own damn fault if they choose not to spend time around their classmates.
If jjc1122's friends were really that unhappy at Booth, then I assume they didn't make much of an effort to enjoy their experience.
Go to Columbia..that place is way better...
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