What schools should I be considering?

[chynaxdawl]

Hi everyone,

Beat the GMAT's an amazing resource and I'm hoping some of you can help point me in the right direction for programs I should be considering. At the moment, I'd like to be admitted to Kellogg, Booth, and Columbia.

I'd like to do marketing but may also do finance, but the industries I'm most interested in are luxury goods/retail, entertainment/media, and hospitality/travel. I think NYU would be a good fit as they have a Luxury Marketing specialization and also an Entertainment/Media/Technology one. But NYU isn't as highly ranked as the other schools I listed, which also have marketing/finance and Columbia has a media specialization. What would you recommend? A more highly ranked school or a program that better fits what I'm interested in? And is it possible to become too specialized? I don't want to limit my employment opportunities.

TIA!

[Stacy Blackman]

Hi chynaxdawl,

Kellogg, Booth, Columbia, and NYU are all great business schools with excellent reputations. When looking at schools, you should consider where you would like to be post graduation. The programs you have listed are either in Chicago or NYC; do you have a preference on where you would like to work post-graduation? If you, for example, are absolutely certain you want to be in New York, then you should give more weight to certain programs. Second, I encourage you to look at companies you would be interested in working for and seeing the target programs where they recruit students from. This is an important factor that most candidates don't consider.

I hope this was of help. Please let me know if I can answer any other questions.

Best,

Conrad and the Stacy Blackman Team

[chynaxdawl]

Hi chynaxdawl,

Kellogg, Booth, Columbia, and NYU are all great business schools with excellent reputations. When looking at schools, you should consider where you would like to be post graduation. The programs you have listed are either in Chicago or NYC; do you have a preference on where you would like to work post-graduation? If you, for example, are absolutely certain you want to be in New York, then you should give more weight to certain programs. Second, I encourage you to look at companies you would be interested in working for and seeing the target programs where they recruit students from. This is an important factor that most candidates don't consider.

I hope this was of help. Please let me know if I can answer any other questions.

Best,

Conrad and the Stacy Blackman Team

Thanks! Those are things that I am considering and worry me...I'm from Southern California and I prefer to go to school out of state (preferably in a big city). And I know eventually I'd like to return to SoCal so I hope that going to any of those schools wouldn't leave me stranded...do you have any thoughts? I'm hoping these programs have strong enough brand recognition that I could be employed almost anywhere and if I can't come back after graduating, maybe I can get a job somewhere that has other offices that I can transfer to or have a big enough name to come back.

I've been looking at the list of recruiters that the programs post on their site but considering that the industries I'm interested in are unconventional and the lists are not wholly comprehensive, I don't see too many listed. Since I'm interested in luxury retail, entertainment, and travel/hospitality I think that LA and NYC would be the best places to be nearby (but as I said before, I want to get away from LA).

If you have any additional input...that would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

[Diquach]

I'm in a similar boat. I would like to attend a school that allows me the flexibility to move back to Southern California when my wanderlust has settled. My area of study interests are the same as well.

[Stacy Blackman]

Hi chynaxdawl,

Thanks for responding. What I also recommend is that you contact the career center at each MBA program to talk about where students end up working post graduation. Career centers tend to be very open and honest about this information. You can also ask about students who ended up moving to Southern California.

Attending an MBA program in the location you want to spend your career in has a lot of benefits. One of our counselors was accepted into Harvard Business School and Haas, and chose Haas in part because she knew she wanted to stay in Northern California. To this day she still taps into her network at the business school. The programs you are targeting though in New York and Chicago have great reputations.

I hope this was of help.

Best,

Conrad and the Stacy Blackman Team

[karishmaaries]

Hi Everyone,

I am from India and looking to do an MBA at the US or Singapore.

I have just started the research on the schools I could be applying to. Could someone guide me as to where I could start?

And by when could I keep a cut off for completing my GMAT if most colleges have application deadlines by mid November.

I have completed by Bachelors degree in Computer Science(3 years) and am working now. Will complete an year in May 11'.