To Fin or to Mark

Well Well Well...
For someone who seems to be so sure about his short term and long term career goals, i am now one helluva confused soul. The whole thing started when i began collecting info reg schools to short list the ones to which I'm gonna apply. Now came in the concept of schools which are strong in a particular specialization. That is where my confusion starts.

For all these days, i was this "I want to get into Finance" kinda guy. Do i say that coz it is cool to say so - NO!!! I decided on Finance coz i loved it. I loved the stuff i read up on finance, i loved the stuff i read abt finance guys and bankers. I really wanted to be a Finance guy, after my MBA ofcourse. And i know I will do well in the job also - I feel I'm more suited for it.

Now, precisely like the usual confused soul I am, I've begun to like whatever I read about marketing too. And yeah - the stuff i read about marketing guys impresses me much as well. So - does that mean i want to become a marketing guru - May be!!!

The thing is - i don't have a clear choice at present. That i think will not change, however much i dig in this direction. Guess the post appears as confused as i am now. The decision I've come to is this: I will apply to schools that have both these specializations, which kind of bring in companies from both the domains and i will decide on my specialization during the course of my studies. There is no way by which I am gonna know the finer points of both these types. It's a personal choice and I dont wanna follow the words of others.

Now the big question is, what does this change??? This changes the choice of schools. The good news is that the schools where i wanna be aren't bad in Marketing as well, while this new found love on marketing brings in one Mark heavy school, Kellogg.

Let's get going with the stats, based on the % of grads placed in various functions (with total number of student inside braces):

       School            Finance Roles    Marketing Roles
      Harvard(895)          31               22
      Stanford(371)         31               15
      Wharton(825)          22               14
      Chicago(520)          59               07
      Columbia(502)         50               09
      Kellogg(535)          24               30
      London(no info)       38               -

So - apart from Chicago and Columbia, which are finance HEAVY (atleast half the class has Fin guys), the other schools are okay in both the specializations. I am now confused over applying to London - looks like I need to dig more.

As far as the US schools are concerned, i guess i will apply to the ones in the list above. Though Columbia and Chicago are so very heavy in Fin, I am ready to go there and take the chance. But I'd be throwing the kitchen sink @ the first 3 in the list - pull out everything to get into one of those :) Let us see - hope i don't have to worry abt the other schools at all.

So that's the list for the time being. I must start working on the application packets of these schools, do a lot of profiling and all that crap. Long way to go...

Jus for the record, here comes the "other" schools (abt which i haven't decided as yet and hopefully wont have to decide at all), in the same order

       Tuck(262)             35               18
      Yale(215)             47               13
      Stern(364)            56               20
      Duke(402)             39               27
      UCLA(329)             43               20
      Ross(434)             30               30

Statistics Courtesy: Best Business Schools - Forbes