Yale versus Cornell for a full-time MBA?

Graduate School Business School - MBA
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<p>Greetings! I am a new member of this site and would appreciate any feedback members here could offer on my situation - I have secured admission to both the Cornell (Johnson) and Yale SOM programs and am trying to decide which one to pick. My interests lie in general management and entrepreneurship.</p>

<p>So far, I am leaning towards Yale. Based on my research, Yale has a better brand name, a more "ranking-immune" reputation which is useful over the long term, and a stronger network. On the flip side, it has a younger MBA program and seems to have a weaker placement service. The salaries and employment percentages for both universities (taken from their websites) are neck to neck.</p>

<p>It would be helpful if you could share your opinion. As I am traveling right now I can access the web only sporadically, but I shall try to visit the forums and chat back once every day.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for your help!</p>

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<p>its all about placement....choose Cornell..not a hard decision</p>

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<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=123584&highlight=yale%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=123584&highlight=yale&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Thank you sports684 and monydad for your responses; you have given me something to think about. Personally, I am not overly concerned with the placement service as it covers only the first job (and Yale and Cornell employment percentages were neck and neck for 2005); my real consideration is the value of picking one school over the other over the next 20-30 years.</p>

<p>Regards,
feanor_estel</p>

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<p>Congratulations on gaining admission onto the elite programs.</p>

<p>If I were you I would find out what approach the programs use in exploring business - one may be more quantitative while the other may use a more holistic methodology. Which way of study appeals more to you? The link Monydad has provided is excellent as it provides wonderful insight into both programs. It is much more informational than Sports684's insignificant whelp about "placement". </p>

<p>Good luck</p>

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<p>Thank you for your advice, eternity_hope2005! I am sorry that I did not reply earlier; I got married recently and I hope that this is a good excuse :).</p>

<p>I have decided to go to Yale - I feel that their placement is good enough and the brand name is solid enough. The rest is in my hands as a student.</p>

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<p>did you only apply to those two?</p>

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<p>No, these are the ones I got into.</p>

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<p>I agree with sports684. Yale isn't exactly strong in business.</p>

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<p>What are your credentials btw.. Undergrad College,GPA,Major, GMAT, Work Exp. etc... im interested in those schools so I want an idea.. thanks :)</p>

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<p>Hi Rolen27,</p>

<p>There are no 'ideal' credentials so to quite an extent my background is not pertinent to your prospects.</p>

<p>My GMAT score is 760. Additionally, I have more than six years of experience as a software engineer at Microsoft. My undergrad was in Computer Science; my GPA was quite average but I went to a well recognized university.</p>

<p>All the best for your application!</p>

<p>Regards,
Feanor_Estel</p>

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<p>I hope you dont mind me asking, did you also apply to wharton or HBS those are my dream dream dream schools </p>

<p>also that is the one concern I have with MBAs. You said you have had over 6 years of work experience. I don't know how I would work and then go back to school (and out of the workforce) when Im 28 and still support my family (if I have a family at that time)? What do you think of this? </p>

<p>Thanks again :)</p>

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<p>feanor_estel what other schools did you apply to? You have a high GMAT and good work experience so I'm curious to know which schools would reject you.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
also that is the one concern I have with MBAs. You said you have had over 6 years of work experience. I don't know how I would work and then go back to school (and out of the workforce) when Im 28 and still support my family (if I have a family at that time)? What do you think of this?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I don't know if this is going to make you feel better or not, but the average age of matriculation at most of the top B-schools is between 27-29. So a lot of people are confronted with the same problem that you have delineated, yet they decide to go to B-school anyway. </p>

<p>If this is a serious issue, you can always consider getting your MBA part-time. Many of the top B-schools, such as Kellogg, Chicago, and Columbia, Berkeley Haas, and Michigan run part-time programs. Wharton does too, in a sense, through its Executive MBA program which is a de-facto part-time MBA. MIT offers the Systems Design and Management program (SDM) a joint program between the Sloan School and the School of Engineering. SDM is not really an MBA program, but is somewhat related to it through the Sloan affiliation. SDM can be completed on a part-time distance-learning basis. </p>

<p>
[quote]
You have a high GMAT and good work experience so I'm curious to know which schools would reject you.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Well, to put it in perspective, I know people who have excellent work experience and top GMAT scores (750+) who nevertheless not only got rejected from many B-schools, in many cases, they didn't even get invited for an interview at those schools. </p>

<p>Furthermore, I know a guy who got into a number of top B-schools such as Wharton but turned them down because his job was going really well so he decided he wanted to keep working. The next year, he applied to a number of top schools (some of them were the same as the ones he got into before, some were different)...and didn't get into any of them. So he then applied again the following year and didn't get into any schools again. </p>

<p>The point is, B-schools admissions are highly highly fickle. You never really know where you will get in and where you won't. You may find yourself surprised to get into schools that are reaches, and rejected from schools that you thought would be slamdunks.</p>