In @ Wharton 纠结中，请教

davidhuang

欣赏这种追求自己所求的气度.

我是业余游侠

楼主已经到了更高一级的境界了，赞一个！

windboy

I'd recomend Wharton over Yale, if no scholarship from y, though both are great, so congrats.

1) MBA is about buying an option. wharton will offer you more than y, in terms of school reputation, networks, etc. school ranking and reputation is very important. technicalities are less important in your case. don't expect to mba will ever change you fundamentally. it is like a club membership.

2) you may change your career goal in the future, so better go with the one that will return you more in a highly volatile environment.

cannedpineapple

In case you guys don't know already, I actually disagree with everything windboy has to say (see my thread if you want to know more... last time I disagreed with him, he showed me up as the high school kid that I was, who had never taken stats. Yikes! Hope y'all don't hold it against me that your great CD 版主 is not that smart after all..). Anyway so take my words with a hugeeeeee pinch of salt

1) All of your Pt #1 makes sense only when you view it from a certain lens. For someone going into non-profit, a non-profit director alumni is, I don't know, three million times more useful to your network than a PE CEO or something similar. There could be many more such alumni in Yale than at Penn. I have no idea.  Suffice to say at least that it's not as obvious as you would like it to be. I also not only expected, but also experienced an MBA changing me fundamentally. Maybe I'm just the exception here so you can ignore me... But I've learnt far more here than I have in any other two years of my life. Actually now that I think about it, maybe it means my ROI for these two years is higher than yours. Sometimes there is a benefit to not being so smart, eh? ROI is higher since the base that I begin with is lower!

2) I absolutely 100% agree with you. Our career goals are highly volatile. So we should diversify and strengthen the areas in which we're weak, so we can be more flexible about our goals in future and have more return in a highly volatile environment. To do this, it is only logical that all the non-profit people should do MBAs, and all the corporate people should do non-profit degrees- in case each set of individuals ever want to switch over to the other side. Consequently, I assume in your past pre-MBA life you were a non-profit guy, then. Power to you, for diversifying your skill set so broadly! I know I may not have the guts to make such a bold move..

PS: this is what happens when two U of C alums 'discuss issues'. As I said, take everything with a pinch of salt.

LZ, glad to know my (very lengthy!) post was of help to you.

I'd recomend Wharton over Yale, if no scholarship from y, though both are great, so congrats.

1) MBA is about buying an option. wharton will offer you more than y, in terms of school reputation, networks, etc. school ranking and reputation is very important. technicalities are less important in your case. don't expect to mba will ever change you fundamentally. it is like a club membership.

2) you may change your career goal in the future, so better go with the one that will return you more in a highly volatile environment.

-- by 会员 windboy (2010/3/29 3:51:55)

ruoyang

Mimi, 首先恭喜一下。

我也是做了1年多HR consulting,现在在上海世博工作，接下来会去MBA,而且已经拿了columbia的offer.我可以想象你说的lonely的感觉，但是我因为在纽约住过一年多，而且对Columbia其它的program也比较了解，所以就像Jason说的，可能会想多利用一些bschool之外的资源，不管是campus，还是nyc。

有一点我想通了，其实走我们这条路的，lonely是必然的--bshool的氛围和中国现阶段的发展水平都注定不可能有成千上万的人跟我们想法类似，互相inspire，齐刷刷地往non-profit奔去。只要不是想跟着众人一起走一条铺设好的corporate康庄大道的人，都是要做好自己设计道路自己寻找志同道合伙伴的准备。

不管你做什么决定，都祝福你。

Cortega

正因为那些商业知识在哪里学到的都差不了多少，所以对楼主来说他应该更看重MBA这个PROGRAM里学生，老师，校友和管理机构在NON-PROFIT这方面的资源和投入。在这点上无疑YALE要比W强。

I'd recomend Wharton over Yale, if no scholarship from y, though both are great, so congrats.

1) MBA is about buying an option. wharton will offer you more than y, in terms of school reputation, networks, etc. school ranking and reputation is very important. technicalities are less important in your case. don't expect to mba will ever change you fundamentally. it is like a club membership.

2) you may change your career goal in the future, so better go with the one that will return you more in a highly volatile environment.

-- by 会员 windboy (2010/3/29 3:51:55)

Seraph1980

同意楼上，此外，Yale这个大环境也一定比Penn好，楼主需要更多的公共管理、法学院等商学院之外的network，这些方面Y都强得多。

olivermu

其实，我觉得non-profit和公益慈善还是有所区别的。后者的目的非常明确，让更多需要帮助的人得到帮助。而个人的资源和影响力最大化才是最重要的。很好的例子就是Celebrity Apprentice中的募资比赛。Non-profit涵盖的范围则更宽，可以是公益，也可以是个人的职业取向和发展，比如政府机构、事业单位。

从lz的动机和目的来说，可能与前者更接近，所以我不认为yale在non-profit这方面的优势可以成为选择去哪儿进行长达两年商学院学习的决定因素。

olivermu

觉得Yale和Wharton的non-profit program和network有本质区别，我不认为这是明智的看法。对决定回国发展的朋友来说，国外的资源其实是很难用得上的。商业上如此， non-profit的慈善和公益更是如此。

如果有人真正投身做过公益的话，会知道在国内，公益事业面临着比比商业远远大得多的限制和困难。做志愿者容易，做事业难。比如，申请一个慈善基金，时间的漫长和审批的复杂都是难以想象的。

REgirl07

I am a rd 1 admit currently working in the U.S.  Your question really reminded me of a blog I read when I was applying, so I decided to sign up for this forum to share it with you.

http://futurembagirl.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_archive.html

The blog was written by a Wharton '06 grad who went to Bridgespan (a very prestigious non-profit consulting firm in the U.S., closely affiliated with Bain) then transitioned into another non-profit role more recently.  You can really gain a sense of how someone with her background and aspiration came through the process.  I think her post below sums it up nicely.  In the end, I think business school is more than just about building a network, or learning certain things.  It's about stepping outside of your comfort zone and challenge yourself in ways that you otherwise wouldn't have done.  It's about meeting people who are completely different from you and who will challenge your most basic beliefs.  Not every bit of it is necessarily enjoyable, but it is absolutely necessary to transform you into a person that will better meet future challenges.  So I'd say, go wherever would challenge you the most and would force you to grow the most.  Best of luck!

"I was feeling all nostalgic since I’ve been blogging for two years, so I was looking at my first couple of posts and ran across this:

What do I want to be when I grow up?  I would like to continue to work
in the nonprofit world (once you go nonprofit you never go back!).  I am
interested in researching how entire industries and fields evolve, and in
organizational leadership.  I hope to work at a think tank or a nonprofit
consulting firm.

During my tenure at Wharton, I’ve tried to do EVERYTHING besides what I talked about doing in my essays.  I even (unsuccessfully – Thank God) tried to be an investment banker.  This year, I applied to a nonprofit consulting firm because I was interested in consulting and I thought the nonprofit twist would be a good fit.

It wasn’t until I interviewed with the consulting firm that I remember my passion for nonprofits.  For a year and a half I’ve talked about my work in terms of achievements and responsibilities but anyone who’s ever worked in the nonprofit sector knows those things – the numbers of your job – aren’t why your there.  You’re there because you believe in the mission.  You’re there because you see your work as contributing more to the world than additional profits.  So during my interview with the nonprofit consulting firm I actually got to talk about the mission of work I did and my passion for it, and it reignited my commitment for the field.  It reminded me what I wanted to be when I grow up.

After first round interviews with the nonprofit consulting firm, I started to feel like my recruiting journey was sort of like the Wizard of Oz.  I had to go on this rocky journey and went through many trials.  But in the end, I find out “There’s No Place Like Home.”  And after the first round with the nonprofit consulting firm, I decided I was going back to the nonprofit sector.

So what happened, you ask?  I got the offer from THE JOB.  I’ll be working for the nonprofit consulting firm, Bridgespan in San Francisco.  I’m extremely excited about it.

My journey to find my next job has been rocky.  But looking back on it, I realize that every single bit of it was necessary.  I learned how to network from IB recruiting, and from consulting recruiting, I learned how to do the dreaded case.  Both of things were necessary for me to get the job at Bridgespan.  Most importantly, I was reminded what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I’m still pretty bitter about how myopic and narrow-minded people in the for profit sector can be about the work done in the nonprofit sector.  And I still intend to talk to Career Management about some of my concerns.

But I’m really happy about where I’m going.  All through the recruiting process with Bridgespan I felt this fit, not unlike I felt when applying to Wharton.  I knew that’s where I should be.  I’m extremely excited that I’ll have the opportunity to do work about which I’m extremely passionate.

Because after all, There’s No Place Like Home."