I need to decide between these two schools. On the one hand, MIT has a great reputation and everybody knows of the brand. I think that UNC is lesser-known but it actually has a better ranking in Businessweek. Plus, it's cheaper and that's definitely a plus.

My career goals are to go into management consulting.

Read: How to use LinkedIn to find the best school www.find-mba.com/board/33571

MIT Sloan probably has the edge here. It's placed a lot more people into management consulting-type roles, and the big 3 (McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, and Bain) are usually always some of the top recruiters of students. Plus, salaries are higher.

Good info, thanks. So you don't think that UNC's higher ranking in Businessweek would give it any kind of edge?

Businessweek recently revamped their ranking methodology, which gave schools like UNC a boost, but others like Sloan lost ground.

For the life of me I can't figure out what gives UNC the edge in this ranking: Sloan has around 20 percent higher salaries, along with being a much more selective program.

Also, the FT rankings, which tend to judge on salary outcomes and success at placing in industries like consulting, put Sloan in the top 10 and UNC nowhere near the top 10.

That said it's always good to do the research through the LinkedIn method Duncan suggested. See where grads end up and if that lines up with your expectations.

Popularity with recruiters is a complex thing. For a long time Purdue MBAs got the most job offers, over 4 per student, because the graduates had lower expectations than students from other schools. UNC serves a strongly regional market with a distinct work culture, and is very possible the leading business school in the entire South. Sloan is a better school, but it's possibly not even the best school within a 3 mile radius.

[Edited by Duncan on Dec 03, 2014]

Thanks guys. No offense to anybody living in North Carolina, but I'd rather not work in that region so it looks like I'm going with MIT.