Undecided - 04-05-2018 | Clear Admit DecisionWire

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April 5, 2018 4:00am ET

Enrolled: Undecided

Admitted: U. Chicago Booth , Columbia $ , MIT Sloan $

Applied: Berkeley / Haas, U. Chicago Booth, Columbia, MIT Sloan

Entering Year: 2019

Post MBA Career: Technology Companies: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft

GRE: 330

Location: DC

Notes:

Come from heavy finance background and want to break into tech. Had anecdotally bad experiences with Booth, so it's between Columbia and MIT, which both have given me fellowships. I love NYC and hate Boston, but really liked the vibe at Sloan...still, hard to turn down a massive fellowship at CBS for a smaller one at Sloan.

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Show Comments (7) Last: April 6, 2018

grichmond Verified User. Likes Earned: 1151 First off, congrats on landing three M7 admits - plus some scholarship dollars! In light of your expressed goals and preferences, I'd say that the benefits of MIT Sloan are as follows: 1) placement into tech jobs, 2) stellar reputation overall in the tech domain, 3) close-knit community, 4) stunning facilities, 5) generally accepted as the higher-ranked school vs. CBS. The cons are that you dislike Boston and that you are getting $80K less in scholarship money from the school. On the Columbia side of things, it sounds like the key benefits are: 1) you love NYC, 2) you are getting more scholarship money, 3) like most top schools, the program sends a good deal of graduates into tech jobs. On the negative side, I'd say that you may find that your NYC location, and the broad interest in finance/asset management at CBS could tempt you back into that domain if you struggle finding something in tech... Meaning, if you really want to turn over a new leaf and dive headlong into tech, you might be wise to avoid attending a program that is very well known for finance and located in the US financial capital. I should also mention that the campus experience (or 'vibe', as you put it), is going to be very different at these two programs. Go to the admit events if possible and make your choice from there. Best of luck! (0)

anon46588 Likes Earned: 2 wow - very helpful and well thought out response below! If you don't mind me asking, what anecdotal bad experiences have you had at Booth? (0)

anon72647 Likes Earned: 0 GRichmond - great thoughts. I would add Sloan is very integrated into the Boston/Cambridge ecosystem (versus HBS for example which is in its own bubble). So, if you really do not like the city, that may be tough. Congrats on the huge scholarship $$ at CBS - I can see why that's tough to pass up. The good news is that placement in tech is growing across the board and it is somewhat less competitive than finance/consulting to break into. From this perspective, you should be successful at either school, though of course MIT will have a slight edge (though, there are also many more classmates you will compete with who are interested in this; keep in mind there are a huge number of engineers and tech professionals at Sloan). (0)

anon14320 Likes Earned: 1 OP: In general, 1) Quality of student body, knew quite a few people rejected at all other M7s but at Booth. Loses a lot of cross-admits and has highest admittance among M7. Great facilities and professors, though. ; 2) Seems to over-sell themselves to prospective students on rankings the point of being off-putting; 3) Don't want to commute 30 min to school; 4) Afraid that rankings boost from donation is only temporary, as they don't have the same legacy alumni network at CBS - sorry, but older pre-2000 Boothies seem much more 'meh' on the network; 5) Brand dilution from all the evening / weekend/ PT programs. I'm from the Chicago area and I feel almost everyone in the city has a degree from 'Booth', even though it may not be the FT MBA - but obviously they don't say if they were in FT / PT / Evening / Weekend; 6) Got ghosted on an informational by an alum while I was on the fence, so that left a bad taste in my mouth; 7) Know 2 people personally who graduated who still don't have jobs - yes there are these types at every school and Booth's placement in general is super stellar, but the closer you are to it...the more real it feels (0)

anon14320 Likes Earned: 1 OP Again: I also already did bulge bracket IBD and am in PE now, so if tech recruiting is easier than those two - I'm fine with the competition at Sloan. I also want to try my hand at entrepreneurship and recruit for companies like Nike / Blizzard / Zynga which sees even less competition from the Google an Facebook chasers. (0)

anon28599 Likes Earned: 76 Congrats! I hate to say it, but breaking into tech with no prior background is not that easy. So I would definitely go with Sloan here. You already have a strong finance background, and by going to CBS you will just be pigeonholed into a "hardcore finance bro". Sloan would diversify your background, and signal to potential employers that you are serious about tech. No better way to show that, then by picking MIT. Don't worry about competition, Sloan is incredibly collaborative with a great culture and social life, and like all MBAs 85+% are looking to switch careers. Plus if you might also have interest in entrepreneurship, Nike, Zynga, etc you are preaching to Sloan's choir (best in retail/supply chain/product mgmt roles). Plus more prestige, more competitive to get in = better classmates. The 60k difference doesn't matter here, you will be going to a lucrative industry, and Cambridge is cheaper than NYC. Best of luck!! Congrats again with your great options! (0)

anon14320 Likes Earned: 1 OP: Thanks anon! Solidifying my decision for Sloan here. I can afford the $ difference. (0)