Undecided - 03-25-2024 | Clear Admit DecisionWire

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March 25, 2024 1:39pm ET

Enrolled: Undecided

Admitted: Berkeley / Haas , USC / Marshall $

$Full

, UT Austin / McCombs $

$35k/yr

Applied: Berkeley / Haas, Harvard Business School, Northwestern / Kellogg, Stanford GSB, USC / Marshall, UT Austin / McCombs

Entering Year: 2024

Post MBA Career: Consulting Companies: Bain, BCG, McKinsey

GRE: 326

GPA: 3.51

Location: Texas

Notes:

31yo / white male / veteran with 10yoe

Looking to pivot into GM consulting or strategy post MBA. #1 post MBA location for me is California (specifically the Bay Area) because I grew up and have family there. Wife wants Texas for the same reason. Cal has always been a dream school of mine but the lack of scholarship is a bummer. Using 100% Gi bill.

Like (2)

Show Comments (6) Last: April 3, 2024

cmt2991 Likes Earned: 37 Additionally: due to the GI Bill covering 100% of McCombs tuition, the scholarship will go straight to me to use for cost of living. That along with the GI Bill’s housing stipend will go a long way to allowing my wife and I to have a comfortable life in Austin. Mainly concerned about consulting opportunities out a lowered tiered school compared to Haas which is a target for MBB whereas McCombs is only a target for Bain and BCG. (3)

anon19326 Likes Earned: 35 Hey, congrats on all your acceptances! I'm also a veteran faced with a similar situation of acceptance at a higher tiered school (GI bill covering it) vs. unfenced $$ (that would go in my pocket) at a lower ranked school. My approach is to visit both schools and see how I vibe with the student population and faculty. Here's one question for you: is $35k/year for 2 years a life-changing amount of money, especially when you look at the $192k consulting median base salary from Cal versus the $175k consulting median base salary from UT Austin? Granted, those stats likely take into account living in the Bay versus Texas. But also look at post-MBA emplacement. Only 6.7% of UT Austin grads end up on the West coast and Northwest, whereas 75% of Cal grads end up in the West. Overall I'd vote for you to go to Haas, especially because your GI Bill w/ BAH benefits would still cover those tuition and fees. It looks like it would better long term benefits in line with what you want. I also acknowledge the decision-making process I just presented doesn't take your wife's opinion into consideration, so I understand her perspective is a huge point as well. Best of luck! (3)

cmt2991 Likes Earned: 37 I really appreciate the feedback. I’ve already been to the McCombs campus and when interacting with the student (specifically the vets club) I was blown away with how involved and collaborative they were. They also went out of there way to ensure prospective students that spouses and partners, otherwise known as cohort 5, were included in a majority of activities. This goes a long way towards making my spouse happy as we move to a new city. While I haven’t interacted with too many Haas students I know that the school parallels a lot of the Bay Area’s values. Having grown up in and around Oakland I think I’ll be able to fit in. Wife isn’t crazy about living in California but I’m trying to sell the angle that you outlined: that Haas will be better career wise post MBA. Besides the top line salary differences, McCombs 43% consulting placement from 2023 was reported by Adcoms as a high water mark and that they expect that to recede back to around its 2022 placement of around 30% for the class of 2024. This is roughly in line with Haas’ 27% placement. Just wondering if the outcomes of those placements (specifically MBB) is worth the loss in scholarship money over the two years. (3)

anon19326 Likes Earned: 35 No problem. Yeah I feel like McCombs had an impressively involved vets club, so I understand that being a big factor in your decision making. Have you brought the financial concerns up to Cal yet? I just denied an acceptance offer from a T15 school because I would have had to cough some money up even with GI Bill and Yellow Ribbon, then the school contacted me this morning offering me a scholarship to offset my costs. I think because schools are particularly selective with how many slots they allocate to vets, you may have that leverage in convo with Cal. (2)

anon10646 Likes Earned: 783 Just a note that consulting/IB salaries are uniform/not location adjusted. The 192k would suggest McKinsey/Bain (who pay 192k) are median placement from Haas. 175k would suggest median placement is EY-P/Accenture etc from McCombs. Haas may have more sponsored MBB returners, but still the higher ranking/overall student profile would trend to more MBB success. (3)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1695 More details on this decision in this episode of Wire Taps: https://www.clearadmit.com/2024/04/mba-wire-taps-346/ (0)