Wednesday, April 12, 2006

No Decision Yet

It's difficult planning without a decision. And it's difficult making a decision when there are so many factors involved.
  1. Johnson sweetens the deal saying the $20K is for both years. Very tempting, but...
  2. UCLA impressively moved it's way to #10 in the US News rankings. Comparing career stats, more tech companies recruit there than my other admits (and this LA-born chicka has been dying to return to Westwood with its glorious weather), but...
  3. Chicago is stronger than the 2 in reputation, analytical focus, and data-driven marketing. Traveling there numerous times within the past year, I've grown to love the people, the facilities, the academics, and the culture, but...
  4. If Stanford gives me a sign of hope next month, hands-down its program is the best fit for my personality and my career goals.
In my comparison of Chicago and Stanford's 2005 employment records, I surprisingly discovered that:
  • At Chicago, 82.7% of accepted positions were "school facilitated." At Stanford, it was only 56%.
  • However, at Stanford, 13% of accepted positions were from alumni and 15% from family/friends. At Chicago, only 2.7% was from alumni and 4.3% from family/friends.
This shows how strong a "networking school" the Stanford GSB is.

20 Comments:

Blogger MJ said...

a great, albeit tough, choice to have. i am not a rankings nut, but all things being equal, strictly from a career standpoint, i think chicago has a slight edge. having said that, you would still have to consider things like school culture (very diff at chicago vs anderson), fit, specific career goals and weather!

hope you get into stanford so you don't have to make this decision!!

April 12, 2006 3:21 PM  
Blogger Scott said...

Sounds like you are in a really tough spot ;)

Isn't it funny how the stats for the top 10 or 20 schools can point in one direction or another, but seldom agree. Is school facilitated or strong alumni more important? Is Stanford's SF lower because the students didn't need it?

I have a feeling you will do fine where ever you land.

April 12, 2006 3:24 PM  
Blogger brownoski said...

no mention of MIT?

April 12, 2006 5:20 PM  
Blogger MJ said...

don't blame me. i'm still recovering from the loss of myspace! they took it off 2 days ago! now all i have are the blogs, but it gets frustrating not being able to comment when you want to! at least you have victoria's secret..well, i have victoria's secret too but for very different reasons....anyway, moving on....

you've got all the bases covered regarding the decision. you just want to be careful not to micro-analyze too much, cuz it's easy to get lost and overwhelmed (it probably won't happen to you but it's been known to happen). i'd also put your heart/gut feeling pretty high up on that list since they're all great schools and you can't go wrong with any of them (now there's a line you haven't heard before :)), so at some point you gotta follow your instinct.

April 12, 2006 5:58 PM  
Blogger Marina said...

Definitely tough choices. Is there a Chicago deadline? What about a Stanford decision date? Are you giving your MIT spot to Brownoski?

I am not ready to strip in front of my future classmates just yet ;)

April 12, 2006 7:31 PM  
Blogger MBA Jackass said...

just focus on building a strong Chicago blogging community. that's the important thing here :)

April 12, 2006 8:54 PM  
Blogger Jerry Blank said...

the strength of the alumni network was very important to me when selecting which schools to apply to. i don't think you're going to get a strong network at ucla. i don't know anything about chicago. and cornell . . . well, if you're thinking about the weather, ithaca is definitely NOT the place to be. lol.

stanford does seem perfect. and i hope it comes through for you. barring that, i would probably not select ucla if i were in your position. but i have ulterior motives for saying that, so you should probably just completely ignore the remark. lol.

per your question on my blog, i am actually a blue. so i made sure to stick around to see what would happen that night. sorry, no autographed britney pix to share.

April 12, 2006 9:46 PM  
Blogger FooBarMe said...

I am going to Foothill. They also have online versions of the Financial Accounting and the Statistics Class. Same material but more work than the in-class version.

April 13, 2006 9:07 AM  
Blogger Bschool Diva said...

This is a big decision for us ! I like Chicago. I think you (sorry, we) should go there.

April 13, 2006 1:53 PM  
Blogger AynRand2008 said...

Personal fit, personal fit! I just wrote a blog about my decision making process. You can check it out for your reference. The good news is that there is no bad choice here. :-)

April 13, 2006 5:35 PM  
Blogger Ash said...

if you are keen, I can put you in touch with someone i know who went to Anderson, and came from a tech backgroud (Cisco) and is currently in Boston (her hubby is at HBS right now). I am sure that she can shed some light on Anderson and its potential for techies....though I feel that you should goto Stanford :)
my take on b-skools is to goto a skool which has "fewer of my types"..
nehow if you are keen to talk to this girl, lemme know
ciao ciao and best of luck with the decision making process
cheers
Ash

April 14, 2006 12:57 AM  
Blogger Marina said...

I am sure you will get PLENTY of goodies if you go to your admit weekends :)

How the heck did I miss the iPod vending machine at the metreon???

April 14, 2006 6:31 AM  
Blogger MJ said...

if you want the feeling of being in high school again (in addition to the other giddiness you're feeling :) ), go to westwood!

so what does your guy have to say about the choice? which school will be closer to him? is that a factor at all? (don't mean to be nosy, just something i thought of)

April 14, 2006 4:12 PM  
Blogger MJ said...

coudn't agree more on the two yrs not being that long part. and i.was.not.being.nosy. :)

April 15, 2006 5:43 PM  
Blogger FooBarMe said...

I wish I knew that you would be enrolling. We could have gone to "school" together.

April 17, 2006 11:43 PM  
Blogger laserlikefocus said...

I have been fine. Just so caught up with non MBA stuff that I almost forgot I am on 2 waitlists :)

Caste system has a long history in India. And no 2 people would agree as to how it came about and who is to blame. In any case the net result today is that you are born into a caste (like you are born into a religion). But unlike religion you can't convert. There is a pecking order in the caste system with higher and lower castes. The way this can affect you could range from anything between 'not at all' to 'getting burnt for marrying someone from the wrong caste'. Neither of the extreme cases are very common but they exist.

Yes, it's quite a challenge to get into IITs. But I was indulging in a lil hyperbole :)

April 18, 2006 5:00 PM  
Blogger Bschool Diva said...

I NEED AN ANSWER!!! ;-)

April 19, 2006 9:57 AM  
Blogger SgHama said...

We won't be going to school together, but definitely come for Winter Carnival at Tuck!!!

April 24, 2006 6:21 PM  
Blogger Bschool Diva said...

This once was my favorite blog but then I_will_make_it stopped posting. So sad. (I am trying to make you feel bad....is it working?)

April 25, 2006 2:11 PM  
Blogger Bschool Diva said...

This once was my favorite blog but then I_will_make_it stopped posting. So sad. (I am trying to make you feel bad....is it working?)

April 25, 2006 2:11 PM  

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