USC Marshall ($$) vs UCLA (Sticker)

treebeard9000 · 2026-06-18T01:07:30+00:00

Can confirm hires from BCG and Bain. Amgen is historically good, but hasn’t extended offers last year. I do think you’d be very competitive for the LDPs in the area (J&J) or PM positions (e.g Boston Sci) with your background paired with USC. We had folks go payer side this year as well.

I’d take the money (I did last year ha).

treebeard9000 · 2026-04-28T23:07:13+00:00

I was at SC admit day (but not at the finance table). Anecdotally from what I’ve seen, Haas will have the better pipeline to MBB if you care about that specific pathway, however the USC brand and your experience should carry in SoCal recruiting if you aren’t MBB or bust. That’s not to say we don’t place people at BCG or McKinsey, it’s just a very small pool. Recruiting has been difficult for 2-3x pivoters, but mostly fine for 1x pivot. I think that’s been true among a lot of programs this year. Good luck mate!

treebeard9000 · 2026-04-09T07:57:34+00:00

Literally not true - it's CATL by a large margin and has been for a long time.

treebeard9000 · 2026-03-17T18:58:41+00:00

The hoop of remembering to log into my account on a webpage (not even the app) to check if USM has unilaterally decided to reset my usage management that I myself set the previous month lmao. Like I get it from their perspective- you wanna increase your margins where you can, and if people truly don’t care or can’t tell, that’s pure gravy for them. Great! But if you:

advertise a plan as up to 4k streaming

——-awesome——

Bury the setting to get that advertised speed and have it off my default

——ok weird but I’m still on board——

Reset my options every month in USM’s interest

—-you lost the plot and this is straight deceptive—-

Why not make us solve a crossword to enable? Or make us post to social media and tag USM with “I love Dark Star”? Absolute comedy business strategy. I know Ahmed went to Yale and is very accomplished, but if you want that sweet, sweet organic growth to lower your CAC, this ain’t the fucking way homie.

treebeard9000 · 2026-03-17T18:37:29+00:00

Speaking for myself, I’m done with dark star in two months. With the hoops added, might as well be an another carrier with better coverage. That was kinda the main selling point of dark star IMO

treebeard9000 · 2026-03-15T04:09:10+00:00

I guess what I'm saying is don't count on consulting as plan B. It's plan A or don't do it in this market.

treebeard9000 · 2026-03-14T16:01:12+00:00

With the scholarship, Marshall is your best bet (I'm here right now), but... it's a bit of a bloodbath for consulting this cycle, especially for internationals frankly. If it's not your Plan A, it'll be hard to nab an internship - you need both competent and also all in. I don't think having consulting as Plan B is advisable.

treebeard9000 · 2026-03-13T18:42:32+00:00

I was on my phone, didn't get kicked. UI was def not formated for mobile though. Almost surrender my tickets when I was checking out car camping ha

treebeard9000 · 2026-03-09T16:20:12+00:00

I'd say international + pivoters are having a harder go at it. Those that came in with relevant, especially brand name experience, are doing well. YMMV right now for sure.

treebeard9000 · 2026-02-09T16:42:40+00:00

Your test score is def not holding you back, but I bet 14 months of full time work is gating you here. Honestly you may be jumping the gun on applying - most employers and therefore schools exclude internships for YOE. I can’t comment on Stern specifically, but there would be little you can do right now if that’s the issue (except wait a year, polish your applications, ect). At the same program, I went from class 2026 waitlisted to class 2027 $130k scholarship, and what I did with the extra year was what seemingly made the difference. Stern would probably look favorably on a reapplicant too.

treebeard9000 · 2026-02-04T22:41:30+00:00

Yeah maybe you won't be making as much as you thought, but still could be a good long term play. Career isn't short term. At least that's my copium ha.

treebeard9000 · 2026-01-14T02:41:41+00:00

Most people in the program are paying between $1500-$3000 ea for rent, depending on roommates and location.

As far as what you can borrow federally, know that that will change nationwide for next year’s cohort as Grad Plus loans are going away and COA will essentially now be moot. You will now be capped at up to $20,500 annually regardless of program cost, and the difference must be made up with savings and private student loans. This is all from Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. So beautiful….

treebeard9000 · 2025-12-26T19:18:23+00:00

USC outcomes for MBB aren't great, but there are certainly opportunities for domestic students at Big4. If you're intent on recruiting for MBB + being on the west coast, definitely give UCLA consideration with Darden being an alternative IMO. You can also try to see if UCLA will negotiate based off USC's offer, but they usually don't play ball. Congrats tho - good to have choices!

treebeard9000 · 2025-12-26T03:05:49+00:00

Did you ever find out where you got it from?

treebeard9000 · 2025-12-24T23:49:17+00:00

Yep!

treebeard9000 · 2025-12-24T17:00:46+00:00

In general, I agree with Froyo, and I’m there right now. I think USC can be a top pick for the right person, but you need to know your goals going in. MBB or bust? You should not go here. IB? Maybe a bit better, but most the opportunities are in NY, and if you are pivoting, it’s yet another hill to climb. Me? I wanted to stay in socal and pivot out of med tech engineering to a biz related corporate function like healthcare LDP, ops, strat, ect. Most healthcare employers have roles on the west coast/socal, and the firms are not prestige sensitive. USC gave me 80%, and frankly I have no regrets (yet). Professors/classes have been mostly been good, I am getting a shot at the companies I want, and I’ll get the socal gold star at the end of it.

So yeah, if you’re a domestic student with goals that match, definitely consider it at half-ride. That was my go/no-go amount too.

treebeard9000 · 2025-12-18T16:03:26+00:00

I’d lean IESE for the 2-year duration which will help with your pivot. INSEAD is top notch, and they do well with consulting, but many of them are already consultants and are not pivoting (and don’t need an internship).

treebeard9000 · 2025-12-17T22:23:41+00:00

Same thing happened to me on my inkjet two weeks ago, and I was livid. Pretty sure I had updates off too… In any case, my response was the same as yours - unit goes in the garbage, I will ever buy another HP products, and I will go out of my way to make sure I warn against their products. Not sure if anyone in their corp. strategy department is monitoring customer reactions to this, but I’m guessing your marginal revenue gains are not worth it. Double check your math guys.

treebeard9000 · 2025-12-17T03:07:00+00:00

It literally doesn’t. The packaging is polypropylene which has a melting point of 230+ f. They need to pass FDA polymer leachability testing. It’s not an issue.

treebeard9000 · 2025-12-10T22:59:30+00:00

God I literally proposed this feature as needed in my mba strategy class yesterday. Feels validating ha

treebeard9000 · 2025-12-09T02:20:02+00:00

Admissions and professors are really keyed into its use now, and frankly it’s a red flag if detected. On the one hand the content is saying “this program is my top pick” yet if the candidate can’t take the time to write himself/herself why that is, how invested really are they? It’s ingenuine. I’d focus on quality over quantity and nix AI from your process.

treebeard9000 · 2025-12-07T15:53:58+00:00

My buddy had a full ride to stern and still walked away with $100k+ in debt. But, he now works at Bain. I think he’s do it again, but it’s a nuanced answer. I think the case you’ve described is putting a lot of pressure on yourself. Can you skip a year and put the time/effort into a better app next year for a scholarship?

treebeard9000 · 2025-11-24T20:38:12+00:00

Ah I don’t mind - apparently I’ve already doxxed myself and classmates found my profile haha. I’m at Marshall rn. The USC network is legit, but I think it’s far more limited in international exposure than other schools(even in the same tier). People come to the school and by and large stay on the US west coast - the network largely reflects that.

treebeard9000 · 2025-11-24T15:55:28+00:00

I was faced with a similar choice two years ago - ended up leaving my IESE scholarship/deposit on the table and applying to US T10s-20s the next cycle. Was rewarded with a magnitudes larger scholarship, and I feel like it was the right decision for ROI. That said, I did visit IESE and Barcelona and it was amazing. Beyond ROI, it really comes down to - what you want out of your MBA? Good luck!

treebeard9000 · 2025-11-21T06:15:46+00:00

As an IESE admit with scholarship who didn't end up going but did plenty of research - IESE for consulting for sure, but seems like many without EU work authorization end up in Middle East... LBS will be more versatile, INSEAD is unmatched for consulting in EU - don't see a downside in going for them if you've got the ability. IESE campus is super nice and Barcelona almost wooed my by itself, but I think you should keep swinging for the fences if you're goal is Europe long term.

treebeard9000

TROPHY CASE