ROSS VS STERN

[shyamprasadrao]

My short-term career goal is to pursue my interests in technology product management. I am looking for startup companies where I can play a much bigger role and not just stick to product management but also in strategy/business development.

ROSS

Pros
Class Size is big and given the amount of team work I am sure I will have a lot of networking done for the future.
MAP - I consider MAP better than Stern's DBI primarily because of the length of the program.
M-Trek - Again this is better than Stern's 10 day pre-week event although the drinks at Stern are on the house.


Cons
Faculty - A close friend of mine took a couple of courses he doesn't attend regularily. He was not at all impressed with some of the professors who were teaching. That said, he was close enough to confide in me. I have not found a person in Stern who will tell me the real cons of the school that specifically.
Location - The number of trips my friends make to find jobs is a concern. Ideally this should not bother me given my needs. But I do not rate their career services better than Stern's. I think my job search will be more difficult from Ann Arbor.

STERN

Pros
LOCATION - badly want to try big city life. Trust me NY is better than Bombay & London and congested crowd in NY is not as bad the ones I have experienced elsewhere.
Again LOCATION - the list of start-up companies/options(Google,Facebook) available in NY is just too much to ignore
Evening courses - It is a big plus for me as I have unrhythmic sleep pattern.
EMT Specialization is more attractive than High-Tech in ROSS
Faculty - I like their faculty mainly because they are not just a bunch of PhDs but people who work elsewhere. In sum more realistic than ROSS.

Cons
Again LOCATION - extremely expensive and living in Jersey City may not be an option given the intensive recruiting that takes place in first year.
Class size - I am not sure if I can find enough folks who want to specialize in EMT.

I have visited both the schools twice. Made quiet a few friends. The culture rather attitude of students in both the schools is almost the same. Very humble and down earth people, including professors. Please provide your inputs and advice if I should change my line of thinking.

[Jon@Admissionado]

Well, I'm assuming you are talking about applying next year? OR have you already been admitted to both programs and you need to decide? Anyhow if you haven't applied yet, obviously you would apply to both. I would say that Haas is right up your alley too, and there may be a few more schools. As for which school is better for you: you seem to have a good handle on things and from what you wrote you yourself seem to be more excited about Stern, so I think you already have your answer.

[shyamprasadrao]

Thanks a ton. I have been admitted to both the schools. I got rejected at Haas. Now I have to make the best of what I have. Stern is great but I am not able to rationalize my gut. I think I am heading to Stern for NY and I am not able to convince myself that location as important factor as anything else.