Only Go To A Top X MBA Program (Otherwise It's Not Worth It)

It depends on what you want it for. If you are trying to get into a highly competitive field, then obviously you want a top school. If you just need to check a box for a job you already have (i.e. government) then University of Phoenix online will do the trick. Obviously, there is a wide spectrum in between those extremes. I think in terms of banking, from what I have observed and researched, it depends also on your network before your MBA. If you are a career switcher with no friends in the industry you are planning to switch to, you want a top school with an alumni network you can leverage and a school where the top banks recruit from (top 15?). If you have a strong network prior to your MBA, then you can leverage that as well, and your MBA can probably be top 25-30? Just shooting from the hip here though.

IB - top 10 (if you want the top bulge/boutiques)...makes no sense since the hungrier applicants are at non-target schools, but it is what it is; the non-target schools they go to, they usually only take 1-2 kids so it's VERY competitive PE - top few (HBS, Stanford, Wharton, Sloan (VC), Columbia/Chi/Kellogg); but having said that, most people won't become associates at a PE fund right after MBA unless you worked at one prior to MBA; the road to GP is a bit more circuitous so MBAs don't matter as much as you'll probably have had heavy operating experience HF - doesn't matter as much, being in a city where you can recruit and do internships while you go can be helpful (eg columbia)...columbia's value investing program is a definite plus

Also remember that within the top universities some are stronger in specific fields than others. Also, a lot factors into what area of the country you want to work in. Top 5 are great, but there are a lot of specialized top schools so it really depends on what your ultimate career goals are.

I don't necessarily agree with just top 10 for banking--Stern, Darden, Yale, Tepper, Tuck, are all out of the top ten on BW:

Top Ranked U.S. 1  University of Chicago (Booth) 2  Harvard University 3  Northwestern University (Kellogg) 4  University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) 5  University of Michigan (Ross) 6 Stanford University 7 Columbia University 8  Duke University (Fuqua) 9  Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) 10 University of California - Berkeley (Haas) 11 Cornell University (Johnson) 12 Dartmouth College (Tuck) 13 New York University (Stern) 14 University of California - Los Angeles (Anderson) 15  Indiana University (Kelley) 16 University of Virginia (Darden) 17 University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler) 18 Southern Methodist University (Cox) 19 Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) 20 University of Notre Dame (Mendoza) 21 University of Texas - Austin (McCombs) 22 Brigham Young University (Marriott) 23 Emory University (Goizueta) 24 Yale University 25 University of Southern California (Marshall) 26 University of Maryland (Smith) 27 University of Washington (Foster) 28 Washington University - St. Louis (Olin) 29 Georgia Institute of Technology 30 Vanderbilt University (Owen)

I personally would only go to Harvard to get my MBA, but everyone's situation is different. I actually am in a position that allows me to become successful in finance (one day) without ever getting an MBA; therefore I will probably never get an MBA - it is too expensive especially after adding back opportunity cost on top of board, tuition and other expenses.

Schools that are strong in finance are mostly the top schools. Chicago, Penn, Harvard, etc, all top for finance. As far as AM/HF, for AM I would really look at a CFA and a MBA or maybe just a CFA. For HF, an above poster really answered that. Top MBA for HF is always great, but probably more NYC based schools would give you an advantage.

HBS is good for everything simpley because it is HBS and people will give an appendage for the opportunity to go there...but it isnt "known" for finance. It prides itself on making CEOs and top managers with soft skills. The top 4 finance schools are Wharton, Chicago, Columbia, Stern, IMO. I think the last one isn't as prestigeous, but being in downtown manhattan is invaluable if your goal is a finance job in NYC.

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools…

there are too many variables to generalize...it depends on where you are in your career, your salary, your undergrad prestige, your future goals.

still, speaking about finance specifically - the top schools were already listed. since you are targeting highly competitive finance jobs your best bet is to research the student profiles of those schools and work on building your story until you are ready.

i will also add that i do not think you can go wrong with a top 10 mba because the network and prestige of those schools will tend to be good to excellent for whatever you want to do. your eagerness should make up any difference.

I would add that you need to do some quantitative research if your goal for a B-School is purely as a platform for launching you into finance. For example, while most of the "Top Schools" here put a large number of people into i-Banking, you have to look at ratio as well (% of the class that is going into banking). You'll find that some of the ones towards the bottom of the top-10 or in the early teen's place as high or higher % of their class into Finance. Most schools also give you a breakdown by employer. This was a surprising revelation for me and in the end had a big impact on where I finally decided to go.

I would add that you need to do some quantitative research if your goal for a B-School is purely as a platform for launching you into finance. For example, while most of the "Top Schools" here put a large number of people into i-Banking, you have to look at ratio as well (% of the class that is going into banking). You'll find that some of the ones towards the bottom of the top-10 or in the early teen's place as high or higher % of their class into Finance. Most schools also give you a breakdown by employer. This was a surprising revelation for me and in the end had a big impact on where I finally decided to go.