Georgetown Business School

[pat78]

My daughter is a HS Senior and has been accepted at G'Town in the Bus. School. Also in at Michigan, waiting on Wharton at Penn. Please let me have your thoughts, good, bad, and otherwise, about your school. How is the overall experience? Obviously DC is an exciting place. What are the internship and recruiting situations re: the business school? Are/were you happy with your choice of Georgetown? Would you go there again? (We saw the school in August last summer). Nice location. Do the students get out and about much, around the city? General impressions of your classmates and faculty? Thanks for your input.

[washingtonhoya]

The business school is behind some other colleges, definitely behind Michigan and Wharton for undergraduate programs, but it is on the rise starting this year. The new MSB Dean, George Daly, came from NYU, where he took Stern from a decent business program to a top 5-10 program in the country, and he's already said he plans to do the same with Georgetown. The business school doesn't attract the same "name" professors as the School of Foreign Service at GU, but there are still a number of good professors. The most popular, and arguably strongest, majors in the MSB are Accounting and Finance, and a lot of companies that recruit at Georgetown are looking for those majors.

The groundbreaking for the new MSB building was two days ago, and the building should be completed near the end of the academic year 07-08. This will definitely be a major benefit to the business school and should help it develop in strength. For more information about the new building, go here msb.georgetown.edu/alumni/new_building/

The University as a whole is probably MSB's strongest feature. It's smaller than Penn and a fraction the size of Michigan. It's excellently situated in DC so that you can feel that you're on a self-contained campus, but downtown and the Mall is still only a couple minutes away. And the cultural/historic opportunitiies in DC can't be replicated anywhere else in the country.

As a high school senior, I got into Michigan, Wharton, and Georgetown as well, and I'm still extremely glad I made the choice to come to Georgetown. Hands down, it was the best choice I've ever made. (And it only marginally had to do with college basketball considerations.)

[SFHoya99]

I also got in Wharton and Georgetown for undergrad business. I didn't apply to Michigan. One thing to remember in regards to "rankings" is that those are based on the graduate business schools; not the undergrads. Whereas Georgetown grad and undergrad share a lot of the same professors/curriculums, not all schools do. I'd inquire at each to see if those rankings are really indicative of the undergrad education.

As for the professors, I thought they were great. Many of mine were refugees from schools like Kellogg who preferred to teach undergrad over MBAs (but Northwestern doesn't offer undergrad business).

There's a couple of things to remember when picking an undergrad business school. One, you're probably going to go to get your MBA at some time. For me, I actually "saved" Wharton somewhat for that (it is harder to get in if you also went undergrad) though Penn probably wouldn't be my choice now.

The other is that while you are going to get an education, Undergrad is you chance to also get an education in the liberal arts, anything else that interests you, and socially. Penn always gave me the impression of churning out top finance guys straight to Wall Street. Which is wonderful. But Georgetown can do that, too -- all the while making me take classes on Philosophy, Theology, Sociology, Psychology, Government, History, etc, much more than most schools. I'll be honest with you. I use those classes just as much in business than I do half my finance classes.

You really can't go wrong with any of those schools academically. Your daughter should visit and pick which school feels most comfortable to her. I disliked Penn's campus and fell in love with DC. I loved the atmosphere I felt on my trip to GU. It was the best decision I have ever made in my life to go there.

[washingtonhoya]

sfhoya99 said:

There's a couple of things to remember when picking an undergrad business school. One, you're probably going to go to get your MBA at some time. For me, I actually "saved" Wharton somewhat for that (it is harder to get in if you also went undergrad) though Penn probably wouldn't be my choice now.

The other is that while you are going to get an education, Undergrad is you chance to also get an education in the liberal arts, anything else that interests you, and socially. Penn always gave me the impression of churning out top finance guys straight to Wall Street. Which is wonderful. But Georgetown can do that, too -- all the while making me take classes on Philosophy, Theology, Sociology, Psychology, Government, History, etc, much more than most schools. I'll be honest with you. I use those classes just as much in business than I do half my finance classes.

Yeah, those were the two other things I forgot to mention. Cura personalis and all that...I definitely didn't get a sense of that at either Wharton or Michigan.

[utraquehoya]

If you're able to attend a GAAP weekend, you might consider it. They generally help students decide whether GU is for them or not. There're two left.

www.georgetown.edu/undergrad/admissions/GAAP/AcceptedStudents.htm

[Gold Hoya]

The other posters have touched on several of your questions so I'll get to a few of the other ones.

Internship/job placements: Coming out of MSB, your daughter's job prospects will basically be the best opportunities possible (given the economic environment that prevails in 2009-2010). I graduated in 2000 and had the chance to interview with great financial institutions, consulting firms, and product companies. People who graduated in 2002 had to do a bit more work, but the people I know from that class are currently quite successful.

Classmates/faculty/city: Your daughter will be very integrated with the rest of the university. Many of my best friends from Georgetown are the people from my freshman floor and fellow staff members on The Hoya (our newspaper); however, business school students build a tight bond as well. Students work together on projects quite a bit, and that extends to helping each other with the recruiting process, problem sets, computer problems, and really anything you can imagine. Keep in mind that most classes in the first two years are common among all Georgetown students. While I worked hard, and learned a ton, I had plenty of time to experience DC and college in general.

Another note: SFHoya makes a good point about MBA; I'm currently at the University of Chicago for that very degree. The most prevalent US undergrad institutions among my U of C classmates include Georgetown, Penn, and Cornell, plus locals University of Illinois and Notre Dame. I also know Georgetown alums who went to Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Penn, and Kellogg for MBA - these combine with my institution to represent the top MBA schools.

As you might guess, I loved my experience and would make the same choice now. Of course, as other posters have stated, the best guide for your daughter will probably be her gut instinct, so I encourage her to attend the accepted students events at both Georgetown and Michigan.

Please let us know if more questions come up.

[HoyaTex22]

I would also encourage your daughter to think name brand. At the end of the day, there are a number of other undergrad business schools that have higher technical rankings than G-Town, however you would be crazy to go there versus G-Town. My experience is that employers typically hire based upon the overall G-town brand versus just the G-town B-school brand (which is still strong and on the rise).

If your daughter is hard core business and wants to do wall street, she would be hard pressed to turn down a Wharton degree, which is the undergrad gold standard. Just be aware that this is a very intense program that will likely lack the "college experience." If she wants a more well rounded experience, I would choose G-town versus her other options (i.e., Michigan - based upon name brand, etc.).

Speaking from the finance perspective, G-town grads do very well in Wall Street, particularly in the non-quant side that requires both critical solving and presentation/social skills (i.e., Investment Banking, Cap Markets, Private Equity). You're not going to find too many of us putting together sophisticated trading algorithms though - which is good, unless you like living in the basement chained to a computer.

[Gold Hoya]

hoyatex22 said:

You're not going to find too many of us putting together sophisticated trading algorithms though - which is good, unless you like living in the basement chained to a computer.

And if you work for a few years after undergrad and realize you like that, just get an MBA with an analytical finance focus at U of C or MIT.

[DFW HOYA]

There should also be some discussion about students who aren't looking at Wall Street or NYC. I can discuss this at some detail offline, but bear in mind that a lot of business grads aren't headed there.

[Joe Hoya]

There's always the advantage that B-school kids don't go to class more than once a week.

[SFHoya99]

dfw said:

There should also be some discussion about students who aren't looking at Wall Street or NYC. I can discuss this at some detail offline, but bear in mind that a lot of business grads aren't headed there.

I didn't go Wall Street or NYC and never really intended to do so.

GU's career center was very helpful, but I would say that corporate finance, marketing, etc. are less likely to spend large sums on recruiting than Wall Street or Big Four Accounting do. Recruiting is much more regional. Even in '99 I had to work a bit to get back to the west coast and still have a job before grad (course, you can always move to the place and get a job then). My point is that if you are wedded to working in a certain place, it will help to go to school near there.

Then again, you shouldn't be wedded to a locale at age 18 anyway.

I think my advice holds. Ignore specific rankings. Don't worry so much about your major, getting a job, etc. College is a time for exploration and development and I don't mean drugs and sex. You learn a lot in and out the classroom, and once you have a job, that job will pay for an accounting course.

They won't pay for a philosophy or literature course.

Go where the fit seems right. Not comfortable, necessarily, but make sure the whole package fits you. Don't pick a school simply on an accounting program, etc.

[washingtonhoya]

I think I need SF to be my guru.

[SFHoya99]

LOL. You could do better.

My first advice? Find a way to stay five years. Working doesn't suck, but man...college. [sighs wiShut uplly]

[hoyachick]

I'll just throw in my two cents as business school alum (and one of the rare females lurking around these parts...)

First of all, congratulations to your daughter - it's always nice to have an embarassment of riches when it comes to deciding on a school.

I loved my experience at Georgetown, would go again in heartbeat and would recommend it to anyone. That said, I'll agree with the posters here who recommend going to as many admitted students events as she can so she pick the school that's the right fit.

Regarding the B school, I had great experiences with professors, who were approachable, willing to help and available outside of class. I've been out of school for awhile, but when I was there, teaching assistants were few and far between. They might proctor exams and lead study sessions, but your interactions by and large were with the profs, which isn't the case at some bigger schools. From a classmate perspective, the students are bright and hardworking, but not cutthroat. It was a very work hard, play hard atmosphere.

I think the advantage to Gtown is that your first 1-2 years, you are taking a lot of core liberal arts classes, which really does give you a great education. In fact, I flirted with the idea of transferring to the College to pursue another major (which instead I made my minor), but it was great to have the option and not be pigeonholed from the day I walked into the school as a "business student." As others have mentioned, you also get to interact with both classmates in business and other schools.

There's on-campus recruiting for jobs and internships, which is how I got my junior year internship at a firm in NY, which became my full time job post graduation. I'll say that 10 years out of school, the "name brand" still serves me well. When I left my old job, having Georgetown on my resume helped. First words out my CEO's mouth in my interview at my current job was "Georgetown, great school."

Lastly, regarding getting off campus...it all depends on the person, but the opportunity is there. People take advantage of the city to varying degrees, but it's a fun and exciting place. I had friends who had a variety of off-campus activities, internship, volunteer opportunties, etc.

Oh, and our basketball team is way better than Michigan's!

[reformation]

Good interview with the new dean in today's Financial Times. He seemed to have a good and practical vision and was reasonably plain spoken--(unlike most senior GU admin) --looks like a good hire for GU

[pat78]

Thanks for all of the input. I do believe that my dauther will be attending Georgetown. Can you post a link to the Financial Times article? Again, thank you for your interest and comments.

[nodak89]

pat78 said:

Thanks for all of the input. I do believe that my dauther will be attending Georgetown. Can you post a link to the Financial Times article? Again, thank you for your interest and comments.

tinyurl.com/z83gl

[TBird41]

pat78 said:

Thanks for all of the input. I do believe that my dauther will be attending Georgetown. Can you post a link to the Financial Times article? Again, thank you for your interest and comments.

Congratulations! I'm sure she's making the right decision and will love her 4 years here. And, if she's going to be a Hoya, she needs to make sure she gets signed up for Hoya Blue--http://hoyablue.tripod.com

(and don't forget about basketball season tix).

And no, I can't help myself--freshman/prospective students set off my Hoya Blue saleman instincts.
;D

[Nevada Hoya]

Good job, TBird! And congratulations to the daughter of pat78! I'm sure she will love her four years at GU.