Hi Jon,
Not sure if you are still sticking around in the forum. But I'm gonna give it a shot cuz I'm torn here
You have given many candid and professional opinion and suggestions throughout the whole time, and being there with us throug probably the roughest time in our lives. I really appreciate it.
I would appreciate if I can get your opinion on choosing between Darden and Anderson. I got admission from Darden, scholarship of 1/3 tuition, and in-state tuition which is $10K less than out-of-state tuition for two years. In total, I can save approximately $40K in two years. I didn’t get any scholarship from Anderson. I want to do corporate finance post-MBA in the US. My biggest concern is job. If Anderson can significantly boost my chance to get a reasonable job in the US, especially on the west coast, I can care less cost from a long-term perspective.
My background is Bachelor’s in accounting from China, Master’s in accounting from McIntire School of Commerce at University of Virginia, CPA, three years of work experience in audit in the US with one of the big four accounting firms.
This is kind of long. I’m just gonna write my thoughts around the two schools. If you don’t have time to read the whole thing, it’s okay to stop here. I would appreciate if I could get your opinion.
- I heard Anderson has a really strong position in California for finance. However, Darden is not quite recognized as a finance school.
- I thought job market in California is bad. However, through my conversation with a current student, the impression I got is that the job market there is not bad. Chinese students (with Chinese passport) in Class 12 all got internship through campus recruiting.
- I have really big concern about my visa. As I work in DC area, I know that pretty much everything is related to the government. They rarely hire international students. So there are not many opportunities in DC area which is probably the area where Darden is recognized most. Going to other cities on the east coast, as a Darden student, I will face competition from many better schools, some of which are very good at finance. However, I heard the concern of visa in California is nearly zero. They didn’t face too many problems related to the citizenship status. And there are pretty much only three best schools in California, a really big state with many big cities. Among the three schools, Anderson is best recognized for specialty in finance. Also, in LA, UCLA is the best school, if I may say. Even though Darden has a higher ranking now, UCLA is like No. 3 on the west coast. But there are quite a few schools better than Darden on the east coast.
- A personal reason is that I really like the west coast. I want to live on the west coast. If I go to school on the east coast, the chance to get a job on the west coast is nearly zero.
Cost I've paid is deposit with Darden and deposit for my apartment which in total is probably $2K. This is a small number comparing to the scholarship. Moving and setting up life all over again is a big cost too. I don’t know if I should throw away the scholarship, and pay much higher tuition and living cost in LA.
Thanks a lot.
Alice
-- by 会员 pinkbrand (2011/5/18 11:04:16)
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发表于 2011-5-14 07:18:45
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