Hello. I would like everyone's opinion. I received an offer from both NYU Stern and Columbia. Stern gave me a full tuition scholarship, but Columbia gave me minimal money. What are your opinions? I would like to join a top consultancy post graduation (MBB) and would like to work outside of NYC. Long term I may begin entrepreneurial work abroad (emerging markets, Africa), such as infrastructure development. Does a Columbia MBA outweigh an NYU Stern full ride in the long run? will be 31 at graduation. Married no kids. Interested to hear insights. Thanks!
And yes, you're in a bit of a pickle aren't you?
A good pickle, but a pickle nonetheless.
We actually did a whole series of posts on this exact topic on the EssaySnark blahg last year - here's the first one: https://essaysnark.com/2012/03/school-x- ... th-part-1/
(And we had done a previous series before that too which may be of interest: https://essaysnark.com/2012/02/the-bsers-dilemma-part-1/ )
Mostly what we say in response to such questions is - finances aside - choosing a school is a personal decision, and how you feel when you interact with their community should carry a lot of weight. Both of these are excellent schools (EssaySnark feels they're about comparable now - some may argue that Columbia is "better" based on the Ivy League thing but they've been slipping in the past few years while NYU is definitely improving - we talk about this in a bunch of blahg posts too, here's one: https://essaysnark.com/2012/10/columbia-and-nyu/ and here's where we examined the Columbia slippages last fall: https://essaysnark.com/2012/09/columbia- ... -favorite/
Graduating with minimal debt is a pretty big deal, but the student loans aren't going to cramp your style if you succeed as a consultant (obviously). Both schools are going to set you up for success in terms of the right education, the right resources, and the right connections. With these two particular schools, we'd fall heavily on the 'culture' angle, and see how you feel about them. Which one wants you more? (That question may be obvious.) Which one do you want more? And we'd caution you against listening too much to other people - this needs to be your decision.
There's a gazillion more bits o' advice on the EssaySnark blahg; you can keep busy for the rest of the day by starting with just those first links we provided. If you have specific questions on either of these schools for us, don't hesitate to reach out - you're in an enviable position but that doesn't mean it's gonna be easy to decide!!
EssaySnark
