Is a top school worth it?

tetrishead
Sun, 23 Dec 2007 20:56:57 +0000

Also, do you know if there is much of a ceiling in consulting? I figure that at some point I might want to get my MBA but only if i need it. and do you think that cmc certification is necessary to advance in consulting.

I don’t really think there’s a ceiling because consulting can theoretically be so many things. I have no idea if a CMC certification is necessary to advance, I always believed it was the equivalent of a Cisco/Juniper certification for IT people- nice to have, maybe helps you get a foot in the door, makes employers more comfortable, but not the reason people will hire you outright.

What do you guys think about going to great business school at a not so great state university. I am talking about the Finance program at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. If you can pay in-state for Kelley, and you can also get into top publics like UNC, UVA, what would be the better option. Kelley’s finance program was ranked no.7. Does it make more sense to pay extra OOS tuition for UNC or UVA (if money is a slight problem)? (I am in IU, considering a transfer)

That’s a tough question. As usual, it depends on a lot of variables. If the extra tuition will make your life appreciably harder, then no, you shouldn’t transfer. IU -> UNC isn’t the same as IU -> Wharton or Tepper or something. If your transcript is good enough that you think you can transfer out to UVA you might want to consider getting in touch with them about AccessUVA, which IMO is probably the best financial aid plan any public university in this country has. You might actually pay less at UVA if money is an issue for you, and that’s worth exploring.

The main thing is getting everything you can out of your undergraduate experience. Milk every resource your school offers and it should keep you busy no matter where you go to college.

For MBA admissions, the prestige of your undergrad does play a role (so I hear). Would the fact that Kelley is in IU (not a top school), hurt my chances when I apply to B-schools after a while?

Prestige actually doesn’t play as much of a role as people think. It plays a role, yeah, but pretty much everything plays a little role. GPA is important, because b-schools are moneymakers for colleges and they submit their statistics to rankings- the more ‘elite’ the average incoming student, the better the program looks.

For most business schools, though, the main three things are (1) can you afford it, (2) GMAT, (3) work experience. A poor undergraduate background can hurt you, but it can’t take you out of the running like those other things can. Going to IU won’t hurt you, but having a GPA in anything below the top 10% of your graduating class might.

while we’re on this topic how about UIUC’s finance? I’m def sure I want to do consulting after graduation but my reasoning is that I want to go the entrepreneurship route after getting exposure to a lot of different industries. I have my own company right now and I can see myself staring a larger venture down the line.

Anyways, assuming I get in to NU and Uchicago, I was wondering if it would be worth it. Money would not be much of a problem. It’s just that I know I can be top top here at UIUC but I’ll be in the middle (most likely) at NU and Uchicago. Keep in mind that I want to end up at top MC firms.

Any advice??

Careful. In consulting you’ll see a lot of caveats to contracts that prevent you from starting certain businesses for X amount of years after leaving the company you’re with. I don’t know much of anything about UIUC’s finance program (which doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad), but if you’re interested in consulting you’d probably be better off taking an accounting track and double majoring in a language or something specialized that you enjoy. Consulting != finance, they’re going to look for different things out of college.

What I’d say is that if you’re worried about your “position” relative to other students and money isn’t an issue that NU would probably be your best bet. Chicago is a rough school. A 3.4 at Northwestern or, hell, even Harvard isn’t going to be the same as a 3.4 at Chicago. I know people who do great right out of Chicago, but you’re really limited in what you can do there re: graduate studies at GSB (not much of anything). Kellogg, however, just started two ‘certificates’ in financial economics and managerial analytics for undergraduates, which would allow you to get some experience focused on what you want from a premier b-school.

Between the three, I’d recommend NU because I think it’s the best overall match since you know what you want to do in the future. I’d actually pick UIUC over Chicago too because they’re likely to have more focused ‘vocational’ style programs than Chicago does. Prestige is going to matter coming out of undergraduate, though, so a choice between UIUC and Chicago would have to be up to you if money plays no role.