Obviously Kellogg and Booth, and then I'd imagine Ross, Kelley, Mendoza.
Does it matter which school you go to to place in Chicago, or do most top schools give you the ability to move there? Is regionality really an issue for placing?
I see a lot of the alumni at major schools are in NYC and SF and Boston ahead of Chicago. Is that an issue of the schools not placing well in Chicago or people simply choosing other cities over Chicago?
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It's not hard to move to Chicago, it's just simply a preference issue. Anyone at Columbia or Haas who wants to go to Chicago easily can, you just have to tell recruiters early on you have that preference since most of the alumni tend to stay in those big coastal cities. But recruiting isn't any tougher, at least not for MBA students.
I literally had a firm offer to fly me out to Chicago after one phone call with a VP because I expressed interest. Another friend of mine decided post offer from a NYC BB he wanted chicago instead, they found him a spot. If your school team wants you to get an offer, you'll get one, no matter what city it's in.
Anecdotal: There was a faculty member at my undergrad that I talked to about getting an MBA. She was telling me that as an alum of a top 10 school out East, the students placed really well everywhere but they always had trouble placing people in Chicago. I'm not sure why, and I don't remember if she elaborated but that was her observation (that was before 2000 though). Although if you think about it, in Chicago you have two top 7 business schools that are less than an hour apart and business school recruiting is largely regional. Especially since Chicago is the largest city in the Midwest and where most of the "big finance" jobs are. TL:DR it's probably a little bit of both.
Being in Chicago helps a lot for networking though....plus the culture tends to be more "who you know" vs NYC(more pedigree).
Top schools either grad or undergrad will be Booth and Kellogg. Also look at Michigan and Kelley for undergrad.
General rule of thumb is that if you are dead set on a specific metro that recruiting in that city will be easiest if you attend the top ranked university in that state(a few exceptions like Harvard/Wharton exist).
Neither Booth nor Kellogg has undergrad
Simply self selection. IB and Tech are two big feeders, and they're in SF and NYC. Booth Ross Kellogg dominates Chicago a lot, and they're helpful for you to save traveling time. At Ross the train to Chicago doesn't take long offsetting the air pain. I dont like Chicago for taking hours between downtown and airport, but still it's a dream for many tiny city folks and you lose bigly if you got to fly often from wherever into that crowrded OHare to do anything downtown.
I think a lot of people choose NYC/SF over Chicago because they're considered more glamorous? Chicago has nearly the same amount of jobs as those cities. Any of the schools you mentioned, plus well known programs throughout the country (Duke, Texas, Cal, ect) and large regional ones (Wisconsin, Illinois, Penn State) will give you access to companies that would let you work in Chicago.
Wisconsin places pretty well. I know people who have gone to DB, GS, JPM, HL, etc. What firms are you interested in?
If I got an MBA I'd be aiming for MBB or one of those financial institutions u mentioned (that level)
Not sure about the banking side of things. But if you're aiming for MBB Chicago, your best bets are Booth, Kellogg, and Ross. Good chances if you're at other MBA business schools ">M7 schools as well, there's just less interest in Chicago from folks at those schools.
And to answer your question. If you're at a top school, you won't have issues placing in Chicago. Low representation of coastal school alumni in Chicago is due to self selection.
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