Worth The Risk

advantagious
Thu, 03 May 2007 23:17:52 +0000

They’re great, in general. I don’t know the specifics, but I know that the big financial companies are some of Brown’s largest recruiters and that UChicago has an incredibly renonwned economics department. I can’t imagine that Dartmouth grads are unsuccessful in the business world, either. Pomona is the farthest away from Wall Street and is probably the least well-known school (although every bit as good as your other choices, I am sure), but I would imagine that it is on the major employers radar as well.

If you do very well at pretty much any reputable school (and by reputable, I mean top 50-100 schools AT LEAST, not just the Ivies and top LAC’s), you will be able to find a job. Doing well at one of these schools? No contest, in my mind. There are very few people who are so short-sighted as to value a UChicago or Brown or Dartmouth grad as lesser than an equally qualified HYPMS grad, and while I’m sure that they exist, I wouldn’t want to be associated with anyone who DID look down on me coming from a very near equal like UChicago, so I strongly suggest that you don’t worry about it. I left out Pomona because I recognize that it is a little less well-known, but I would think that any employer worth his/her salt would be aware of the school and it’s top-notch rep. They should be, anyway. Again, do you really want to work for a company–if it exists, which I don’t think it does–that is so short-sighted that it will only hire grads from 4 or 5 schools in the country? I wouldn’t.

Besides, if you are so soley concerned with your future in business, you already have the undergrad prize: Wharton. I understand–and support, by the way–your desire to have a broader education (although I would imagine that Wharton is not totally business focused, but I don’t actually know that) than what an undergrad B-school would usually offer, but to worry that you won’t have career options coming from a Brown, UChicago, etc. is ridiculous. I can guarantee you that Wall Street is not all Wharton and HYPMS grads.

Amazingly, not everyone in this world graduates from HYPMS, and yet as I look around me, people manage to find jobs, survive, and even be happy!