The Application Process

BTG Community,

Calling all admission consultants, students, alumni, and other people in the know! I want to live and work in New York City- preferably Manhattan. I am confident that an MBA from an NYC business school can help make my dream a reality. I also want to study full time in NYC. These leaves me with the following FT MBA options:

Columbia
NYU
CUNY Baruch
Fordham
Iona College
Pace University
St. Johns University

US News and World Report only ranks Columbia and NYU, 9 and 10 respectively. How do the other schools compare with one another?

If any additional information is needed, please let me know.

Thanks,

columbia and NYU are top b-programs so they belong to a different category
the second best thing in NYC can be fordham, strong and good reputation
the rest are not as prestegious
last year i applied to NYU and was rejected coz my GMAT & work experience are not good enough
this year i applied to fordham and still waiting for their response
if i had 700+ GMAT and excellent experience i would choose NYU; in my opinion it's the best, i don't care if columbia is ranked higher
good luck

I would say be careful with Rankings... because the criteria for each publication is different. For instance you said that Columbia & NYU are 9 and 10 in US News, but in Business Week Columbia is 7 and NYU is 13... and then again Business Week is also the publication that ranked Stanford 6th below U of Michigan Ross! (which still amazes me)

the Columbia brand is stronger than NYU. I too live in NYC, so this is a debate that's near and dear to my heart, as I have friends that attend both schools. If I got into both schools I would choose Columbia. It's a better b-school in all honesty.

I agree with Rasha4 that these two schools are in a class of their own. The only time these two schools should show up in the same list as the other schools is when you're talking about schools in NYC, such as this one. And yes I would say Fordham would be the next best...

I agree with the below posters. Fordham would be the next best school (after Columbia and NYU). While NYU is a popular school, Columbia is more competitive and consistently ranked higher. As for the other schools on your list, you need to find a program that most appeals to you. If you aren't going for a high ranking, top tier school, the most important criteria is to find a school that matches your needs - is it strong in what you want to study? Do you like where you would live? Where do you feel like you fit in? Size of classes? Teaching method?

All the other schools you mentioned will be similar in terms of admissions and job placement, what is most important is to be able to defend your choice of why you went where you did. If you have a great reason for attending Pace v. St. John's (felt much more at home on the campus, really enjoyed the classes I attended when I visited, etc.) then that is the criteria on which you should base your decision.

Good luck!