[商学院活动] Wharton vs. Chicago Booth

denny0518

Chicago definitely has the momentum advantage on Wharton right now (actually, they probably have the momentum advantage over every top 20 program).  That said, however, changing a perceived brand value of a school is a hard and long process.  Given Wharton's huge alumni advantage (something like double the alumni base), it will take a while for Booth to pass up Wharton from a brand perspective. 

 

That said, in 5 years, I expect Booth to make some serious headway on closing the already small gap between the two schools.  In this time frame, I don't expect Booth to pass up Wharton, but it wouldn't suprise me if they're considered more equal than they are today (actually, I think they're pretty equal, but enough people claim a huge difference - i expect the numbers preaching the huge difference to decrease in the next 5 years).  Even if Booth doesn't catch up entirely to Wharton, I fully expect Booth to have successfully pulled away from Kellogg/MIT/Columbia.

 

If Chicago can keep up the momentum for a decade, or so, that's when things get interesting, as you'll have enough new alumni to start to make a very profound impact on the brand...

soundsgood

Wharton's bigger and better known in a wider variety of circles.  Chicago is also a super premium "brand", but doesn't have as wide an appeal.  In certain elite financial circles (hedge funds, quantitative asset management, academia), Chicago's brand is arguably superior, but to the general question of brand Wharton's is so established that I don't see the situation changing that much in 5 years.  Who knows though, stranger things have happened.

luckylulu

Probably the usual....Booth tied with Kellogg and MIT at #4.  US News is loath to let their rankings change much.

smallkiddy

A lot of people are fond of saying Chicago is making such a big move.  However, even if they receive the entire $300M gift (and they may not because the gift was made through the combination of an up-front payment, an income stream from stock, and equity interest) they still are only pulling roughly even with Kellogg's endowment as it currently stands.  Realistically, what is Chicago going to do that will displace H/S/W or allow them to pull away from MIT/K?  You better believe all of those schools are also going to engage in major fund raising campaigns to get their already large endowments even larger (thus pulling away again from Chicago).

 

Having a new name is nice.  But, Chicago really is not going to be able to poach from the schools above it (in terms of professors) on a large scale.  Therefore, you can assume the top five-six programs will remain rather constant in the foreseeable future (IMO).

 

What exactly do you see as the big differentiator that will catapult them past Wharton?  The facts bear out that it certainly will not be the recent gift.  They'll need a couple more of those big gifts to possess an advantage in terms of economic capital.  Booth is experiencing a bit of a "halo effect" due to the new branding and the gift that created it.  Mind you, I believe Booth is a great school.  But, its new brand has not come close to even starting to permanently reposition the school amongst the top B-School brands.  The only people touting such a repositioning are those from Booth itself.  None of the schools traditionally ranked above it have even bothered to acknowledge the gift as a significant B-School "ecosystem" concern.

 

starryshen

Endowment is one of many assets a school uses to strengthen itself.  Chicago has historically had a smaller endowment than some of its peer schools (MIT, Kellogg, Wharton for example).  The question is now, with $300mn extra, how much better can Chicago do?  Historically, Chicago has done fine vs peer schools with more money...now they don't have that disadvantage, at least relative to certain schools (W, H, S, they stilll have the money advantage).  So if Chicago with its old endowment = MIT and Kellogg, does Chicago with $300mn more > Kellogg and MIT?  No one will know the answer to that question for a while, but it certainly is a fair question to ask. 

nbhd

这又什么好争的，Wharton是big three, Chicago还是和Kellogg, MIT, Columbia是一个tier的

xsj706

I agree that it is an interesting question to ponder.  Furthermore, it will be interesting to see what they can do with an endowment that achieves parity with some of the other top programs.  I simply do not believe you'll see any substantive movement for a long time and none of us has any idea what the B-School landscape will look like (or be impacted by) in the next decade-too many variables.  Therefore, when choosing a school I believe it is best to go based on what you know now as opposed to what "might" occur in the future.  Right now (and for the foreseeable future) Wharton clearly has a stronger brand and network.  That being said, I do not believe the "delta" between the two programs is that vast for most of the industries they place students into.  I do believe Wharton clearly has a decided advantage for several niche financial specialties.

momiji0626

of course, Wharton

ljy1902

booth和wharton差了一个档次吧

xsj706

QUOTE:

以下是引用ljy1902在2009-6-9 17:56:00的发言：
booth和wharton差了一个档次吧

 

精确的说 只差了0.5个档次