Hello gents, as some of you know, I was recently accepted to the full-time MBA program at UPenn Wharton with a 50% scholarship (full tuition for one year). Today I was accepted to the full-time MBA program at NYU Stern with a full scholarship (full tuition and fees for both years). I’m leaning towards Wharton but the full scholarship at NYU is nothing to brush off. What would you do? Factors I should consider? Thanks for any insight.
Wharton Kid. Make Drumpf proud
Wow! That is awesome. Congratulations! I’d probably go full scholarship given the high cost and all, but I don’t know what direction you’re looking at after graduation.
Higher salary out of Penn will payback the difference in cost in 2-3 years and compound after that.
Damn, that’s tough. I guess look at the PE placement statistics of each, especially salary stats and maybe talk to some alumni. If the difference is negligible and you think you can overcome it (which I’d say you can) then I’d be tempted to go NYU purely on ROI. On the other side, I think cost of living at NYU could be higher as a negative and the student body has a real douchebag stigma to it so you’d probably blend in better.
jk
I’m honestly not sure it would though. Assuming you’re targeting PE at either school AND able to make the jump, then I’d expect earnings to be comparable. But if they are noticeably different then I’d go UPenn.
Edit: I’m changing my vote to UPenn. Fuck it, you only do it once. Plus you still have that opportunity cost of two years down, might as well make the most of it.
If you intend to work in finance, going to the better school is worth way more than $100k. I mean, you know the compensation range for associate, VP, etc. Trust me, when you are 5 years out of there, one year’s tuition will mean almost nothing.
I mean, do you want to spend the rest of your life explaining that you got into UPenn but had a full ride at Stern or do you want to just stay you went to UPenn.
All very good points. It’s looking like UPenn. Can’t hurt to bring it up to Penn and see if they sweeten the pot. Doubt it though…I mean, it’s UPenn.
Scholarship aside, NYU is a cool spot. Tough call.
From the advice of someone who could not get into penn - nor receive a scholarship from NYU - i’d suggest penn. Said differently, your a genius kid, trust your gut.
NYU has a great rep but Wharton is in its only little tier just below hacksaw and above everything else. Don’t leave the door open for regret, you’ve got a very good discount to attend an excellent school. It may give you opportunities that can’t be bought.
I have the best words, Stern offered full tuition and Wharton can only afford half. SAD!!! I have a good brain, everybody knows this.
Wharton no question.
Yeah so… the middle opportunities at UPenn or NYU are probably comparable. Plus, since you got into a better school, I would also assume you rank relatively high in the NYU spectrum. What is different though, is that certain elite opportunities are much more prolific among highest tier schools. Penn doesn’t have quite the aura of Harvard or Stanford, but it is shiny enough to get you into the ring. It would be a mistake, in my opinion, to shut these out to save what I would consider a very small amount of money.
I would just add that Ohai is one of the few on this forum to have apparently attended one of these schools based on his comments and he’s probably one of the only ones on this forum to consider that a very small amount of money. So to the extent that those things may be related, I’d be inclined to follow his advice. That would be my take, anyhow.
^ +1
“$100k, nbd” - Ohai
No brainer, Wharton kid.
I would definitely let Penn know, as they can clearly afford to extend the scholarship 1 year. Never did an MBA and don’t know what MBA scholarship funding is like, but they may need you depending who they have on the wait list.
Either way you have do go Wharton though. You’re really just playing poker with them on the scholarship.