The Biggest Myths About Your Favorite Business Schools

 

Myth: Chicago Booth is just a finance school.

Reality: “I think Booth is often represented as a Finance school, but we have lots of other strengths! I think Booth doesn’t get enough credit for the depth of its entrepreneurship resources and coursework. The entrepreneurship lab courses alone are enough to fill a schedule for multiple quarters. I have personally been focusing on strategy, marketing, and operations classes. As a result of Booth’s build-it-yourself curriculum, you can tailor your coursework to whatever you would like.”
Brian Carlson, University of Chicago (Booth)

 

Myth: “Team Fuqua” is a marketing gimmick

Reality: “That couldn’t be farther from the truth. There isn’t one definition of the term, Team Fuqua, as it can have different variations for different people. Ultimately though, Team Fuqua is the idea that Fuquans, whether current students or alums, are all on the same team and when one of us succeeds, we all succeed. This notion is how we define our culture and it has shown true in countless ways during my time at school, and even prior to school when I was considering whether to come to Fuqua. The sense of camaraderie and ambition, rather than competitiveness, is what makes this community so special and its one I’m proud to be a part of.”
Audrey Dotson, Duke University (Fuqua)

 

Myth: Rotman is a competitive and individualistic cohort.

Reality: “I was quite happy to be wrong about that. Of course, putting 270 bright overachievers in the same group is bound to bring out competitive spirits from time to time. Yet, Rotman students overwhelmingly choose to help one another and resist the most toxic parts of ‘grind culture’.

So many instances when I expected classmates to use situations to advance their own agendas, they instead pulled one another up to succeed together. If you didn’t realize there is a reading for strategy class (sorry professors), your classmate was quick to send you their notes. If you weren’t getting enough talking time at a networking event, your friend was bound to invite you to chat with the group. If you needed someone to case prep with for an upcoming interview at a firm, the other three candidates interviewing at the firm were lining up to prepare with you. In particular, I was so grateful to go through the Kearney recruiting process with one of my classmates. It was useful to discuss our feedback and Kearney’s interview style so that we could both better our chances of being successful. We often joke saying “Rotman against the world”, but over time it has become truer as we continue to trust and uplift one another.”
Cyrena Lockert, University of Toronto (Rotman)

 

Myth: “You have to stay in Atlanta after graduation because that’s how recruiting works at the school.

Reality: “This couldn’t be any further from the truth! While many students will intern and work full-time in Atlanta, when I graduate, I will have classmates working in Los Angeles, New York, South Korea, China, UAE, and many other places. Goizueta has a strong domestic and international footprint. Just this year, we saw advertising for Goizueta in the New York subways!”
Breanna Spurley, Emory University (Goizueta)

 

Myth: Berkeley Haas is “exceedingly” student-run when it comes to events and initiatives because administrators don’t care.

Reality: “Although students play a major role when planning events, some people made it seem as if the administration and program office did not care about the plight of the students. And that part could not be farther from the truth. There are people like Tyrone Wise, Eric Askins, Élida Bautista, Om Chitale, Brandi Pearce, and Hoyt Ng who care SO much about supporting student life and culture. Each individual was an invaluable thought partner and leader when it came to creating positive change for the student body. I also came to realize that the reason the student-run myth exists is because none of those administration leaders seek credit or public recognition for the behind-the-scenes work they do to make Haas great. They let students be at the forefront, even when they were crucial to the success of an event.”
Torrey Mayes, UC Berkeley (Haas)

 

Myth: HEC Paris implies the school is in Paris.

Reality: “It should be named HEC “Almost” Paris! Indeed, we are extremely lucky to benefit a splendid campus lost in nature, with a very rich fauna and flora. But we are located 20 minutes outside of the city.

Having lived in Paris for the past 5 years, it did not make a big difference to me and allowed me to re-discover a region of the greater Paris area which I was not familiar of. I believe the campus is the perfect set up to immerse in the great ecosystem of the school, with so many different programs, nationalities, sports, and extra-curricular activities. It is also through horse riding, for instance, that I sharpened my understanding of human nature and convincing people. The richness of our scholar cursus at HEC Paris also lies in our side activities that broaden our scope!”
Anna Pozniakoff, HEC Paris

 

Myth: Everyone lives in Marylebone and on Baker Street in London.

Reality: “While most students do, there are bunch of us that live in different London boroughs. London is a HUGE and diverse place. Marylebone is wonderful, but there’s a whole city for students to explore – and us locals love having people come visit our own distinctive areas.”
Maddie Forman, London Business School

 

Myth: Vanderbilt Owen recruits from the South and then places them back in the South after graduation.

Reality: “Initially, I expected that I would be one of few from the Midwest and East Coast and in a small group who aimed to work outside of the South after business school. I was very pleasantly surprised to see the wide range of geographic, national, and professional backgrounds that my classmates bring and am equally excited to see that my class will spread across the U.S. and the globe after business school, a strong indication of Owen’s global network.”
Jacob Schrimpf, Vanderbilt University (Owen)

 

Myth: Kelley only places people in consumer-packaged goods companies or in brand manager positions.

Reality: “While we do send lots of people to Kellogg’s, Dominos, P&G, etc., we have a huge group of students going into almost every industry, including technology. One of my goals coming to business school was to transition from small tech to enterprise tech.

As soon as I got on campus, Kelley’s Graduate Career Services coaches directed me to 10 different alumni at five different technology companies (Intuit, Salesforce, Microsoft, Google, and Intel) to help me start networking and identifying where I most wanted to go after graduation. Through those connections and alumni support, I landed my dream internship at Salesforce in Customer Success.

My experience with the Business Marketing Academy also helped me land my role in technology. I studied business-to-business sales and marketing, product management, and product marketing, getting exposure to some of the most common roles for post-graduate MBAs. Kelley has an incredible marketing program, but I would caution anyone from putting us into the “marketing only” box. The Kelley program and Kelley alumni can help you get wherever you want to go.”
Sam Yoder, Indiana University (Kelley)

 

Myth: Saïd Business School is only for those interested in Social Impact.

Reality: “I believe that the school’s focus on creating business leaders who are able to create sustainable solutions to solve world-scale problems is being misinterpreted as a focus on ‘social impact.’ Yes, we do care about social impact, but not at the cost of business success. In today’s world that has gone through 2 years of fighting a pandemic, people are aware about the importance of seeing businesses as capable of solving problems outside financial returns. It’s not just that businesses are capable of doing it, it’s that businesses are more than ever, obligated to act in wholistic ways. So I believe it’s time to change the myth that Saïd Business School is only for those interested in Social Impact, instead we should say ‘Saïd Business School is creating leaders to solve world-scale problems.’”
Asha Scaria Vettoor, University of Oxford (Saïd)

 

Next Page: Wharton School, MIT Sloan, Michigan Ross, INSEAD, and more.