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(4.5) |
I am about to graduate from RBS. Three years ago, I had another offer from a Top 10 or 20 private school in the Northeast region and debated whether to go with that school or RBS who gave me a substantial amount of scholarship. I have no regrets having chosen RBS.
My advice to those in similar circumstances is is to focus on your post-MBA career goal. If you want PE or I-banking at a bulge bracket, or if you want to go to strategy consulting at one of the stagey firms, go with NYU or Columbia. Rutgers offers a lot better return on investment If you are interested in corporate finance or supply chain at large pharmaceutical or non-pharma firms. Some of my classmates are going onto Verizon, J&J, Merck, Pfizer, Campbell Soup, Mars, just to name a few, after having spent substantially less for their education. Students from Rutgers, Harvard, and Columbia are treated equally by prospective employers once they get interview invites from the firms
Pros
Many of the instructors have extensive industry experiences. This not only gives you practical and up-to-date industry knowledge but also connections if you are to actively pursue them.
Secondly, as someone with sole focus on the healthcare / pharma industry, my MBA experience could not have been any better than what I am getting at RBS. There are very few schools that offer courses such as "Pharmaceutical" Marketing Research or "Pharmaceutical" Product Management.
Thirdly, the school apparently has a very reputable supply chain program. I see that students in this area are getting scooped up left and right. Supply chain / operations might not be very sexy 10 years ago, but modern firms procure goods from across the globe, and supply chain is now a very important and complex field. As far as I know, there is a shortage of MBAs in this area, and RBS is one of the stop choices for large companies.
Lastly, the student body is quite diverse. Many of my classmates are in their 30’s, quite a few in their mid-30's if not older and have life-science-related advanced degrees (PhDs, MDs, PharmDs). Yet, we work together very well on group projects.
Cons
The school wants to maintain its reputation as #1 in job placement. That means that a lot of pressure is on the Career Management Office. Some students, who are interested in areas that the school is not particularly strong at such as investment banking, asset management, business development or non-pharma strategy consulting, feel that the Career Management Office tries to steer them into corporate finance or something else that the school feels they are good at. But many seem ignore that pressure and work on networking anyway. What the school calls "consulting" in their employment statistics is mostly supply chain / ops consulting, not strategy, though some do go onto pharma / life sciences strategy consulting every year.
Just like most other MBA programs, the school apparently downplays the difficulty that some international students go through in obtaining employment in the US. Visa sponsorship is a major hurdle. In addition, depending on where they are from, the language and/or cultural barriers seem to make it very difficult for some. Ones who graduated from US or Canadian undergrad / non-MBA graduate institutions and worked in the US before coming to the MBA program seem to have it easier than those who came to the US to join the MBA program. I heard that all of my classmates obtained summer internships in the end, but that includes those who went back to their home countries to find internships.
Some students came to Rutgers because they are interested in pharma marketing. It is, however, difficult for students with no previous pharma commercial experiences or advanced degrees in life sciences to get into pharma MARKETING. The lack of pre-MBA experience in pharma does not seem to impact the chance of getting in if you are pursuing finance or supply chain / ops / procurment positions in pharma companies.
Overall BSchool experience (4.0)
Schools contribution (4.0)
Classmates rating (5.0)
Curriculum, Classes, Professors
Student body, diversity
Location
Specialization in a particular area (e.g. Finance, Consulting, Healthcare, etc)
Pharmaceutical
Finance
Marketing
Supply Chain Ops
Alumni Network
Rutgers Business School is a great school with knowledgeable professors who are highly regarded in their field. With the school's proximity to wall street and as well as several pharmaceutical and consumer goods companies, the student body is diverse, bringing the different perspectives and experiences that come with it. This allows students to build relationships and network with proffesionals from nearly every industry, leading to some great career opportunities post graduation. In addition, the career services department does a great job taking advantage of RBS's location and the numerous fortune 500 companies that surround it. I would highly recommend RBS to anyone looking to earn their MBA.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (5.0)
Classmates rating (5.0)
Student body, diversity
Career opportunities provided by school
Location
Facilities
Finance
Marketing
Investment Banking
Management
Alumni Network
Brand/Ranking