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(4.3) |
The thing that makes Simon quite famous is its Pricing program. If you intend to make career in this regard, do come to Simon. It is good and employers love it.
The main criticism is the career center support. You practically have to network/research on your own. They do not even provide the list of the companies that do/do not sponsor. Each student has to make one of his own. Besides, Rochester is a small city which means for networking you have to travel and again on your own. Simon is target school for too few companies. So, unless you have connections in some specific company you are targeting, your job hunt is a challenge.
Has some other drawbacks but not significant such as very very cold classrooms. Let me put it differently. They have AC on in the winter! Do they freeze us on purpose or some one just like it cool is a mystery to me but I have to occasionally leave classroom to get warm which of course affects academics. Moreover, many b-schools subsidize public transportation costs and it is a very big deal for those that have no car. Simon does not do it, which is annoying. Another thing the school needs to work on is providing housing for international students. You are practically on your own here. If you are lucky (literally - it is a lottery) you get a room in dorm (3 dorms, at least in one of them expect mouse and cockroaches to be your friends) if not live off campus but it is super hard to find anything decent before coming. I rented a basement for super expensive price just because I had no idea how else have some roof over my head. However once you are here, it is manageable to find something, but again when you arrive it is peak season, so expect to pay extra.
Curriculum is fine but faculty is a little tricky. In my year the school hired bunch of new profs and not all of them were good. Now I understand why the school rankings have dropped. They did so for a reason.
On the good part, well. I have not been in other schools, so can't really compare but from what I heard from other school students, I find it hard to find some really good parts. Of course the school is better than the average but around its peers, it loses. What do I mean is that for instance Olin B-school pays for your visit for National Black conference (where there is a real chance to get a job), Simon does not. However, it worth to say that Simon preps its students quite well for such occasions. It is also cheap in terms of food however expensive in terms of housing. In Olin, a friend of mine pays 300 per room in 2B1B, here expect to pay 600 and above. So make your own judgement. Rochester is a boring city and some part of it is really really dangerous.
To end it on a good note, if you are careful, well-planned about your recruitment, the school does provide good resources (wall street prep, peer review, etc) to succeed. But you have to work extremely hard.
Overall BSchool experience (3.0)
Schools contribution (3.0)
Classmates rating (2.0)
Student body, diversity
Alumni Network
Pricing
Curriculum, Classes, Professors
Career opportunities provided by school
Totally blown away with the ROI, culture, career building, and leadership opportunities that Simon provided me. My experience at Simon not only helped land me in a product role in FAANG (MANGA?) right out of graduation, but equipped me with the skillset (pricing, negotiation, market research, etc.) to excel. The icing on the cake is that some of my best friends in life are my classmates - it's wonderful to take trips across country to reconnect.
When applying to b-school, I was looking for quant heavy schools that I saw as an extension of my engineering background. Simon checked this box, but more importantly, Simon was the school that I had the strongest fit with. Ironically, "fit" is hard to quantify, but the pre-acceptance on-campus Simon events made me feel welcome, included, and excited about attending school here. I highly recommend that students apply, weigh the ROI (scholarships vs. starting salary), and check out an in-person event at Simon.
Don't leave Simon without taking a class with Prof Mitch Lovett; I highly recommend Market Research & Pricing classes.
When you're applying, please reach out to alums & get a feel for the community that Simon brings.
Lastly, huge shoutout to the world-class staff at the school. Between Admissions, the Benet Career Management Center, and the Office of Student Engagement - Simon has the absolute best people that truly elevate the student experience.
As of writing, Amazon & Microsoft are two of the largest employers.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (5.0)
Classmates rating (5.0)
Curriculum, Classes, Professors
Student body, diversity
Culture & Student Support
Finance
Marketing
Investment Banking
Tech
Brand/Ranking
I graduated from the Simon Business School in 2017. I am very disappointed with my experience from that program. The area is filled with crime, drugs, and alcoholism. The program is a cash cow for the school, leaving many of the graduates with extreme life-damaging student loans without a good enough job to pay for it. Nobody outside of Rochester has even heard of that program, so the brand name is pretty much useless. The on-campus recruiting opportunities are horrible. The program definitely did not meet my lowest expectations. I wouldn't do this program again, and wouldn't recommend it for anyone else.
The curriculum isn't really applicable in the real world. Classmates were rude and very competitive. The classes are graded on a curve, and many classmates cheat. Cheating was quite a big problem when I attended.
Some people find jobs. The program usually uses the graduates that find good jobs to advertise, but many graduates end up working in a warehouse or end up unemployed. I didn't feel like the career support was good at all.
Overall BSchool experience (1.0)
Schools contribution (1.0)
Classmates rating (1.0)
Facilities
None
Entrepreneurship
Career opportunities provided by school
Location
Culture & Student Support
Simon punches far above it's rankings. The professors are world-class, the small school atmosphere allows you to interact with faculty on a personal level, and the support from the Admissions Team, Office of Student Engagement, and Career Management Center is incredible. If you're interested in attending a school and truly becoming part of the community, Simon is for you. If you're interested in attending a school and just floating by, Simon's not your pick. I got into a top 5 business school, but choose to attend Simon because of the potential I saw. I'm proud to say that I'll be interning at Amazon next summer and could not be more proud of the opportunity, an opportunity I received because of Simon.
Get ready to be challenged! You will be challenged extensively, but you'll learn SO much in the first few months. It's like boot camp for data!
You name it- Amazon, Facebook, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Google, Accenture, Deloitte, BCG, Bain, McKinsey- we have recent alumni at all major institutions.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (5.0)
Classmates rating (5.0)
Curriculum, Classes, Professors
Career opportunities provided by school
Culture & Student Support
Consulting
Finance
Marketing
Investment Banking
Facilities
Simon provided an amazing MBA experience. Although some may look at the location as a negative, and it certainly has its downsides, a positive is that it forces students to hustle and work hard to get their internships and jobs. This work ethic translates into incredible career success - just compare Simon's 5-year post-grad salaries to other schools'.
Simon also has a more diverse student body than most business schools, with a high percentage of female students and international students. This diversity of thought contributes to the quality of education received.
Consider the value and ROI as you look at MBA programs. Simon provides an incredible value.
Finally, I made some amazing friends during my time at Simon. The MBA program is much more collaborative than other programs I considered, and there's a great culture among the student body.
The marketing program is extremely strong in quantitative, data-driven coursework, in both B2B and B2C courses.
Know what you want and come prepared to work. If you want opportunities handed to you on a silver platter, Simon is not for you - and the business world is going to be a tough place as well. The recruiting process for highly sought-after companies is becoming more and more competitive, and starting earlier. You will need to attend and succeed at the MBA career fairs if you want to be placed at most big-name companies.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (5.0)
Classmates rating (5.0)
Curriculum, Classes, Professors
Student body, diversity
Culture & Student Support
Consulting
Finance
Marketing
Entrepreneurship
Career opportunities provided by school
Location
While still in the top 30-ish full-time MBA programs, Simon was actually the lowest ranked of all the schools I applied to and was accepted at. At the time, I was in a relationship and decided that Simon offered a chance to stay relatively close to my girlfriend while still providing a well-rounded curriculum and education in a highly ranked program at a school with a fantastic regional reputation. In retrospect, I couldn't have made a better decision. Especially considering the relatively small class size at Simon, there are so many unique opportunities to learn and gain practical experience and skills there that I never had a shortage of things to talk about in any interviews or networking calls. In fact, I'm incredibly lucky to have chosen Simon. I originally intended to pursue a career in Equity Research, but after taking advantage of the opportunity to work as an Analyst for the Simon School Venture Fund in my first year, then managing the Fund in my second year, I can't imagine working outside of the startup/venture investing space and having even a fraction of the passion I developed while working on real deals, investing real dollars and later training and managing my successors. And that's just one of the multitude of opportunities you get at Simon you don't get everywhere else. I even got to live, take classes, network, and make new friends in Japan for a term through a student exchange program.
Somewhat unexpectedly, I soon realized that the caliber of faculty at Simon is second to none. Having previously earned an MPA degree from the #1 ranked Maxwell School (sorry Harvard, but you're still #2), I thought there might be a small step-down in experience, teaching capability, or accessibility of Simon's faculty compared to my Maxwell experience, but this turned out to be one of the strongest aspects of my MBA experience. Whether learning valuation and negotiation in "Cases in Finance" from Professor Jarrell or the due diligence and term sheet items that are crucial when 'papering the deal' in Professor Couch's Private Equity course, I'd confidently put my new knowledge and skills to the test against recent grads from any top-10 MBA program.
Because of my chosen career path, my recruiting experience was largely outside the norm for typical MBA students at Simon. While Simon does get some company and recruiting visits, they are somewhat less than at schools closer to the biggest US cities and with larger class sizes, as I came to know when meeting students in other programs. To combat this, the new (and fantastic) career services team organizes regular trips to NYC, Philadelphia, and other cities and schedules a number of alumni and recruiter events for the students. In my case, VC/PE firms don't typically have organized recruiting programs so my internship and job search were largely my own responsibility. But again, my experience working for the Simon School Venture Fund provide more than enough opportunity to make contacts and build a network to draw from when seeking out job opportunities.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (4.0)
Classmates rating (5.0)
Curriculum, Classes, Professors
Student body, diversity
Specialization in a particular area (e.g. Finance, Consulting, Healthcare, etc)
Consulting
Finance
Management
Location
Facilities
Simon has many strengths that have proven completely invaluable to me. We definitely need to work VERY hard, but once you reach your summer internship, you will see how useful is what you have studied.
Top school by percentage of scholarships and amounts, Simon is truly transforming itself thanks to the leadership of Dean Ainslie. This will show very soon as a higher ranked school, that is where Simon belongs.
Personally, I came to expand my knowledge in Finance and Accounting, and it has provided me way more than what I was expecting.
For future applicants, if you are ready for 2 years of heavy work - 100% worth it by the way, to establish a strong bond with your classmates given the size of the class, and enjoy being in a smaller city where you can focus, Simon if for you.
Faculty and curriculum are simply perfect, one can simply check their backgrounds to realize their value. On the other hand, check how many Profs from all the Top 10 schools studied at Simon before; have you heard of Ken French?
It is a small size class, approx 100-120, so it is not a target school for many big names (the ROI of going on-campus for just interviewing 5 people is low). For that, any applicant has to keep in mind that networking by yourself - together with all the training and help provided by the career management center, will be key for your placement success.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (2.0)
Classmates rating (4.0)
Curriculum, Classes, Professors
Culture & Student Support
Admissions Team
Finance
Marketing
Management
Career opportunities provided by school
Simon Business School has an excellent curriculum that helps the students focus on multiple aspects of the business school process. The high student diversity and strong faculty helps students not only focus on the studies but also keep a high level of student interaction among clubs and outdoor events. The teachers are extremely qualified and supportive of the different industries the students want to approach. The student career management Centre is strong and so is the small bit diverse alumni body. The winter is a great experience for students coming from warmer climate. It gave me the career I wanted from day one of business school. It couldn't get better.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (5.0)
Classmates rating (4.0)
Curriculum, Classes, Professors
Student body, diversity
Brand/Ranking
Consulting
Finance
Investment Banking
Entrepreneurship
Facilities
1. Simon's ratings have improved from #36 to #33 in the last few years according to US News. Rankings obviously differ based on which publication you are looking at, so it is not a useful metric, beyond a certain point. The "brand" created by the university has a larger and more sustained impact especially for recruiting.
2. The Simon website explicitly states that shuttle rides are free for university students.
3. Unsure what weather you expected while planning to move to upstate NY, if not harsh winters.
4. Unsure how the cost of living, especially housing, can be compared between Missouri and NY state.
Hi UVrays- if you are a student, welcome your review!
Or are you an admitted incoming student?
PS. I would say that part of St. Louis are also very very dangerous. That is an accurate statement about almost any major US city unfortunately…
Thank you dear @uvrays for your insightful comment, however not accurate to my statements. Let's try to clear them:
1. I have no clue what's your point here, so skipping
2. Please read carefully; I am speaking about PUBLIC, transportation, not shuttle.
3. Please read carefully; I am speaking about classroom, not outside
4. Dear, only in NYC housing is expensive, in the rest of NY state it is cheap. Even in ROC (further than College Town) you can find very good housing for very good price. I was trying to refer that housing near school is costly, while housing near other b-schools may not be so.
Again, whether you accept my review or not, up to you. But read carefully before making your judgement.