Which B-School for you? Regional or Big Name? We Talk to Simon in Rochester

Ah the value of a small school! I’m doing interviews for our show on MBA Podcaster.com to answer the question of whether students should go to regional business schools or the big name schools. Yet, again, I hear that the personal attention students get at the smaller regional schools outweighs the glitz of the brand.

This time it is Greg MacDonald, the Executive Director of Admissions at Simon Graduate School of Business Administration in Rochester, New York. MacDonald says students looking at regional B-schools will find constants such as specialized reputations and tighter personal relationships with faculty.

He says Simon’s reputation is in finance and accounting. What Simon teaches, he says, isn’t trendy, and doesn’t change with the times.

Their placement ratio is about 93% at ninety days after graduation. Like other schools, Simon expects that, in this rough economy, it will drop. However, MacDonald predicts Simon with weather the immediate storm. He says smaller schools like Simon don’t rely on the program hiring of the brand schools – as in, particular companies guaranteeing they will hire a specific number of grads. At the regional schools, the personal relationships with company recruiters bode well in tougher times. MacDonald advises students check to see what the average salaries are ten years past graduation, and the industries alumni gravitate toward. That will give you good information to extrapolate whether the regional – or brand – school is the B-school for you.

Stay tuned for our show on MBA Podcaster. We’ll let you know when it’s available for listening. Please feel free to comment or ask questions here in the interim.