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<p>Well, that’s just a simple restatement of the higher cost of living in NYC, which has already been established. You can obviously get an apartment in NYC that is just as clean and large as any in Chicago…you just have to pay for it. </p>
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<p>Sure, but Chicago has a significantly higher per-capita crime rate than NYC. Frankly, I’d rather be bit by bedbugs than be mugged.</p>
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Thanks for pointing out the obvious. Really appreciate it.</p>
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1 out of every 15 NYers dealt with bedbugs in 2008. What’s the chance of you getting mugged in Chicago, assuming you are not stupid enough to venture to any of the rough neighborhoods in the South Side? If you really worry about getting mugged in Chicago, you are probably worrying about way too many things.
[New</a> York City Battling Public Bedbug Infestation](<a href=“http://www.emaxhealth.com/1506/new-york-city-battling-public-bedbug-infestation]New”>http://www.emaxhealth.com/1506/new-york-city-battling-public-bedbug-infestation)</p>
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<p>Well, you’re the one who brought up the notion of tiny dirty apartments. Nobody has to live that way, if they’re willing to pay.</p>
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<p>I think most people would trade bedbugs for even a small chance of being mugged, or worse.</p>
<p>[Chicago</a> crime data (formerly chicagocrime.org) | EveryBlock Chicago](<a href=“http://chicago.everyblock.com/crime/]Chicago”>http://chicago.everyblock.com/crime/)</p>
<p>Chicago has a high density of crime in bad areas due to gangs, but is very crime-free otherwise. I’ve lived on the South Side of Chicago for 3 years, and basically, you’re guaranteed your safety if you don’t journey out alone, even after midnight. In fact, I regularly walk home (which is about 10 blocks away from the library) at 2 to 3 am, and I’ve never had any problems.</p>
<p>Post-MBA salary ($)</p>
<ol>
<li>Stanford - 118,384</li>
<li>Harvard - 113,880</li>
<li><p>Penn-Wharton - 112,223</p></li>
<li><p>Berkeley-Haas - 108,428</p></li>
<li><p>Northwestern-Kellogg - 107,638</p></li>
<li><p>Columbia - 106,246</p></li>
<li><p>Dartmouth-Tuck - 105,198</p></li>
<li><p>Chicago - 104,757</p></li>
<li><p>Michigan-Ross - 103,045</p></li>
<li><p>Virginia-Darden - 102,903</p></li>
<li><p>Duke - 101,764</p></li>
<li><p>Yale-SOM - 98,420</p></li>
<li><p>Cornell-Johnson - 97,990</p></li>
<li><p>UCLA-Anderson - 95,922</p></li>
<li><p>USC-Marshall - 93,886</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Average GMAT score</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Stanford – 730</p></li>
<li><p>Berkeley-Haas – 720</p></li>
<li><p>Penn-Wharton – 720</p></li>
<li><p>Harvard – 719</p></li>
<li><p>Chicago – 717</p></li>
<li><p>Yale-SOM – 715</p></li>
<li><p>Columbia – 713</p></li>
<li><p>Dartmouth-Tuck – 713</p></li>
<li><p>UCLA-Anderson – 712</p></li>
<li><p>Northwestern-Kellogg – 706</p></li>
<li><p>Virginia-Darden – 702</p></li>
<li><p>Michigan-Ross – 701</p></li>
<li><p>Cornell-Johnson – 700</p></li>
<li><p>Duke – 691</p></li>
<li><p>USC-Marshall – 690</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Applicants : places</p>
<p>Stanford – 20:1
Berkeley-Haas – 16:1</p>
<p>Yale-SOM – 13:1
Dartmouth-Tuck – 12:1
Harvard – 10:1</p>
<p>Columbia – 9:1
Northwestern-Kellogg – 9:1
UCLA-Anderson – 9:1
Virginia-Darden – 9:1</p>
<p>Cornell-Johnson – 8:1
Chicago – 7:1
Michigan-Ross – 5:1</p>
<p>Penn-Wharton – na
Duke – na
USC-Marshall – na</p>
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<p>Even if that was the case, that’s a rather cold-hearted way of looking at crime. Think about what you’re really saying: that as long as you avoid certain areas of Chicago - whether in the South Side, gangland territory, or where have you - you can avoid crime. In other words, the denizens of those wretched areas may be robbed, raped, and killed, but that shouldn’t really matter to you because you don’t have to go there. Uh, wouldn’t a preferable solution be that *nobody<a href=“or,%20at%20least,%20fewer%20people”>/i</a> in Chicago should be robbed, raped, or killed? Why exactly is it acceptable for crime to happen to some people in Chicago as long as you’re not one of them?</p>
<p>Now, don’t get me wrong. I enjoy Chicago quite a bit. It’s easily one of the 10 most interesting cities in the country. Chicago is clearly outpacing every other city in the region (Exhibit #1: Detroit). </p>
<p>I’m simply saying that crime is sad no matter to who or where it may happen.</p>
<p>In order to get into a top 10 B-school to somewhat counterbalance a low undergrad GPA you do need a high GMAT score and of course a few good years of professional work experience. As a Poli Sci college graduate, <em>what</em> constitutes professional work experience that all these top b-schools rant about? Can anyone help here?<br>
It is simply very difficult for a college grad (especially in this recession) to get “professional work experience” being freshly minted from undergrad. How can social science majors meet this requirement and be very competitive? It seems to me that this prerequisite is somewhat capricious or maybe even disparate given the difficulty of getting a “professional job” straight out of undergrad for a social science major, esp. since “professional jobs” are reserved for those who come out of professional schools/advanced degrees!</p>
<p>Defeats-the-purpose much, Harvard and Stanford? Anyone know how this works?</p>
<p>Berkeley-Haas stats are looking really good. No wonder why it has been ranked #3, although I think HBS, SGSB and Wharton should be above it in this ranking, or any ranking for MBA for that matter. Dartmouth should be inferior to Haas though as the data suggest.</p>
<p>^Anyone know?</p>
<p>baller4lyfe</p>
<p>That’s your purpose,their purpose is to admit/graduate the students that will satisfy the corporate recruiters, make lots of money and come back and recruit more students from them. </p>
<p>But as to how to find a professional job- do your homework, know the general area that you might want and why you want it, network among all your contacts, ask for “informational interviews” so that you learn more about what you want and meet more people in a relatively non-threatening environment, and ask them for names of people who might be able to help you learn more, and keep going. I haven’t done it myself, but I have seen people who have who got very, very good jobs eventually.</p>
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<p>Each ranking emphasizes different things. Some will put Haas at the top, others Tuck at the top and always Harvard/Stanford/Wharton and a couple of others are going to be in the mix. The changes are owing to weightings and probably the need to change things up and not be obvious.</p>
<p>I think in the top 3, it’s kind of looking like this these days:</p>
<p>Harvard</p>
<p>Stanford</p>
<p><strong><em>More or less</em></strong> tied: Booth/Chicago; Haas/Berkeley; Wharton/Penn</p>
<p>Throw in a host of other schools like Kellogg/NW, Tuck/Dartmouth, and MIT/Sloan and you round out the top 10. </p>
<p>At that echelon, who cares? It’s about where you want to live and cultural fit. Perhaps also what you want to do.</p>
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These numbers look really low.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>probably base salary, i figure stanford and berkeley will drop a few spots after bonuses are counted for compared to the more finance focused east coast schools</p>
<p>I agree that the salary reported was only base salary. The average MFE compensation package for Berkeley’s fresh MFE grads is $150,382.00. I don’t think MFE grads make substantially more than MBA grads. In fact, according to the MFE website, the average starting base salary for MFE grads is $102,713.00. So, it’s more likely that Haas MBA grads total compensation packages would go over $160k. [Placement</a> Reports, Master of Financial Engineering Program - Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley](<a href=“http://mfe.haas.berkeley.edu/careers/placement.html]Placement”>http://mfe.haas.berkeley.edu/careers/placement.html)</p>
<p>MFE grads are more rarified in terms of quant skills than MBAs and I wouldn’t be surprised if the grads of a top-tier program like Berkeley’s make substantially more than the regular MBAs. For one thing, MFE hirees are going into a rarified set of financial institutions…</p>
<p>^ Haha…higher pay for more technical skills versus some of the touchy, feely stuff you can get in a MBA. ;)</p>
<p>Yeah, friends who went to top b-schools like Haas and Wharton have told me that they could have learned the vast majority of what they learned in a semester or even less… It is kind a liberal arts for the business world degree whereas the MFE at least at Berkeley/Haas is hardcore.</p>
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<p>Yes, I think you hit it on the head, or at least were very close. And it goes back to what someone said in an earlier post about does it matter at this level and my follow-up about fit being the most important thing.</p>
<p>Was talking to an Ivy-educated admittee to the Wharton Lauder program recently who has thus far been languishing on the wait list of his first choice, Haas. Why? Because he feels the fit is better and he is entrepreneurially as well as West Coast-minded. And he’s right to wait to see if Haas gives him a nod…Numbers-wise, those odds aren’t looking so good, but Lauder is not a bad fall-back position, is it – even if it is something of a disappointment (and he’ll probably go to Wharton/Lauder and just love it)? I didn’t ask if he had been admitted/declined anywhere else because it seemed to be a sensitive topic.</p>
<p>The point being it is an East Coast-West Coast thing quite likely, and probably also an industry thing. But it does go both ways. If you want to do something entrepreneurial or in tech, frankly I don’t think you can do better than Stanford or Haas/Berkeley. But applicants would do well to have back-up plans because both schools combined have smaller full-time MBA programs in terms of students than Harvard, Wharton, Chicago…and they are excepting Harvard more selective.</p>