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| University of Rochester William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration |
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1999 Profile Update School Profile School Statistics Graduates' Comments: The class of '98 at the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration has worked very closely with administration and faculty to implement several additions to enhance the excellent education received. These include a coffee stand that also raises money for charity, a student writing center to assist fellow students with job search correspondence, a compulsory mock interview schedule, and assistance and development of a plan to increase female student percentages. We have put our own hard work behind previous grievances to make the school a great place to attend. To illustrate how confident we all are that the school is worthwhile, our class gift was pledged at over $145,000, which is greater than all previous years' pledges added together! --Marketing Assistant The school and student body are starting new efforts to enhance alumni relations. The graduating class gift is "life-time" E-mail for all past alumni, and alumni clubs are starting in large cities, including New York City, Boston, and San Francisco. The high international population gave me a broad exposure. International classmates included a government economist from Russia, bankers from Asia, and import/export dealers from Latin America. The Simon School's small size does truly give students the ability to interact with the administration. I personally had a two-hour meeting with the dean regarding some of my ideas, and the following year the administration announced some changes directly related to what we discussed. On several occasions, the members of the administration held "town meetings" with the student body. Although not all top companies officially recruit on campus, Simon's reputation enabled me to complete my own job search. In addition, the number and quality of companies recruiting on campus has significantly increased in recent years. As a result I received seven job offers for internship or full-time -- four offers resulted from official "on campus" interviews and three offers from my efforts, with Simon's help. --Investment Banking Associate Simon is a good school, though it's very much of a finance school. If you don't study finance, too bad -- you have to swim on your own.--Sr. Business Analyst I believe that Simon is a great value, conjoining the advantages of a small school and the academic quality of a large business school... The quantitative and qualitative skills required by most courses are in good equilibrium for achieving the incorporation of concepts in our minds, without scaring soft-skill students. Simon has returned me with valuable concepts and tools that I will carry along my life, utilizing them for screening opportunities and solving business problems effectively. --No career path given Simon School has very strong strengths in finance, and students have benefited a lot from its high-quality course offerings. If it was not located in a remote area of New York State, it would be a top 15 school for sure. --Trainee in Global Energy Market Program The finance education I received was superior to many schools'. After spending a summer in New York with an investment bank, I found my education allowed me to more than adequately compete against students from some of the "big name" schools. Also, although our alumni network may not be large, the alumni are very supportive. I also found that the Simon name was known on Wall Street. I was able to interview with nearly every investment bank on the Street and received three offers. I just had to be more aggressive and go visit the banks in person. For students that did not get top jobs at banks or consulting firms, there was usually a reason. They either did not know exactly what they wanted or were not willing to take the time and go to New York or London to search for opportunities. --Derivatives Associate ...[As] much as the academic portion of my MBA has exceeded my expectations, the Career Services and Placement Department has disappointed me. In my opinion, this is one area that is keeping the school from achieving a top 10 ranking. For the most part, students are left to find employment almost exclusively on their own. The Career Services Department needs to improve both the range and quality of company recruiting. For instance, in my situation not one investment management firm either recruited on campus or was referred to me by Career Services for an off-campus interview. --No career path given Unfortunately, the Career Services Department drags down all career placement questions. If Simon would hire a very good career services department and be able to recruit students slightly more qualified, it would be the cream of the crop. --Family Business I have no complaints about the quality of the professors -- they are excellent. Unfortunately, they tend to leave for better positions at more prestigious schools, such as Harvard. If I could choose again, I would probably seek a program that included more organizational behavior-related courses. Rochester relates everything to economics, but that doesn't help a whole lot when you're trying to figure out how to manage people and negotiate with others. It's a great place for consulting wannabes, but not for those with managerial ambitions. --Operations The international diversity found at the Simon School provided me with the necessary network and cultural knowledge for today's global environment. The fact that most of the first-year courses are 80% team-oriented provides hands-on experience on how to deal with interpersonal relations not only with people of your same nationality but of different ones.--Operations Simon School is excellent. Its finance and accounting programs are exceptional and extremely helpful, from both academic and practical points of view. The school employs an integrated approach in teaching and emphasizes analytical thinking and problem-solving skills. The quality of faculty in the areas of finance, accounting, and operations is extraordinary. The school needs great effort in improving the quality of the marketing concentration, which I believe to be very poor among top-25 B-schools. In order to overcome the negative consequences of Simon's comparatively small size, the school also needs to strengthen its alumni relationship and enhance its reputation in corporate circles to achieve greater future success. --Marketing To students coming into the program, the Simon School is very explicit in what it promises: access to professors, international student body, quantitative and economics-based curriculum, and the ability to respond quickly to student needs. The school delivers on all these promises. --Marketing It is abundantly clear that the faculty loves what they are doing. As a whole, they exceeded my expectations with respect to individual talent and commitment. It was not uncommon for them to give out their home phone numbers, agree to meet with you during inconvenient (for them) hours of the night, or even throughout the weekend. --Marketing In the past, Simon has been criticized for its Career Services Department. I believe that the people who make these comments are those that expect the school to hand them a job offer along with their diploma. Those who put forth the effort to do a proper career search (with Career Services' assistance) were successful. My experience with Career Services was nothing but pleasurable. I had a tremedous amount of interviews with highly respected corporations. --Finance The Simon School is an outstanding academic institution and is continually improving... The school does need to look at one critical issue. While the academics are incredibly strong, I believe the workload at times is too high. A slight reduction in course load will lead to better job search results, and in turn, more satisfied and wealthier alumni.--Finance The finance program is superb. The faculty is generally available. The facilities are excellent. The best asset outside of the faculty is the international diversity. --Finance The MBA experience at the Simon School emphasizes the importance of teamwork in finding effective solutions to complex problems. The course work is demanding but not excessive and allows students to expand all of the business skills necessary for success. Students' efforts have recently led to the initiation of an annual consulting case competition involving other MBA programs, the creation of a non-profit coffee company, and the organization of a minority business high school challenge. These projects exemplify the administration's support of student endeavors outside the classroom. --Finance I feel the school has come a long way in the short time that I have attended Simon. The teaching is superior and is probably on the level of Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton. The administration is very responsive to the students' needs for more time off for the career search as well as other areas. The administration still needs to look at further improving the career services office in order to further increase the number of job offers to Simonites. --Finance After working full-time for the past eight years, I decided to return to school to attain my MBA. I selected the Simon School, because it is a quantitative program with a reputable finance department. The full-time program was small enough (220 students approximately) to facilitate my return to academics, without being lost in the crowd. The program was culturally [diverse]. I now have a global network of friends that I can call on in the future. The teamwork in the first year has prepared me for my career. I did not have a finance background, but the program has improved my quantitative skills dramatically. I believe that this program will prepare anyone for a successful career in finance. --Finance The smaller size and relative youth of the Simon School have worked to its advantage, in that Simon students have access to top-notch, personalized instruction from leaders in every field, and to outgoing, well-placed alumni who are willing to give us the time, energy, and contacts that are vital to successful networking. Through time, the Simon School's reputation can only continue to climb in the rankings. The facility is superb, with, for instance, state-of-the-art technology in the classrooms, and videoconferencing capability in the career services office that has placed students in internships around the world. Recent graduating classes, moreover, are highly dedicated to strengthening Simon connections as alumni and have contributed class gifts of unprecedented levels toward this goal. Still further, post-MBA placement from Simon continues to diversify. The school is known for its excellent finance and economics departments, and yet, there are as many classmates of mine who are entering consulting and marketing fields as those going into investment banking or sales and trading. Finally, I found Rochester a pleasant city in which to live during my MBA years. The cost of living is low relative to larger cities, people are friendly, and the golf courses are outstanding! Moreover, my spouse was able to resume her professional career after we moved here without any difficulty. --Finance The Simon School has a unique program, Vision, designed and run by students that develops programs beyond academia. The teamwork development that occurs during first-year orientation surpasses what occurs in the real business world today.--Consulting The Simon School provided me with an education that far exceeded my expectations and allowed me to transition from one career to another. However, Simon needs to reevaluate its Career Services Department, which is terribly understaffed, and as such, provides little assitance to students from non-traditional backgrounds. It must also reevaluate its excessive emphasis on "teamwork." --Consulting ...Although it has a reputation of a quant school, non-quant students performed very well throughout the curriculum. I came to Simon wanting to switch careers, and it provided me with the tools which has allowed me to move into the consulting industry. My fellow students were a close-knit group, creating many opportunities to interact beyond the school-sponsored activities. The size of the full-time class, around 220, allowed students to get to know almost every other student at Simon. This even carried over to interacting with the other classes (years) while we were here. --Consulting ...the camaraderie among students at the Simon School is not seen in other top business schools. We drive each other to the airport for interviews, coach each other for interviews, and swap books to help each other out. We spend vacations together and look forward to hanging out at the local pub after classes... --Accounting Back to Top 1999 Profile Update School Profile School Statistics |
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