Quick Question: I got into a couple of schools, but I cannot decide where to go. The rank for these schools are almost at the same level. How should I choose?

Quick Answer: We always say "go to the best school you can get in to" which means go to the highest-ranking for what you want to do. Now, if the schools you're considering are at similar ranks, there are a number of factors to keep in mind.

First, you’ll want to be sure to check out the employment stats at each school (the adcom can provide them to you if you can’t find them on the school’s website) to ensure that the companies you want to work for are frequently employing graduates of the program.

In addition to that, you’ll want to see what locations alumni tend to end up in. Are they located in places where you would like to live? The location of the school itself is honestly not a meaningful factor – this is only 1-2 years of your life – but you do want to be sure that alumni are finding jobs afterwards in the location where you want to live.

Finally, you’ll want to gauge which school you feel the most connection with from a cultural standpoint. Do you “click” more with students at one school vs. another? Do you genuinely feel more excited about the people and professors at one of these two schools? So much of the value of a grad degree is the network you build, but you’ll only be able to effectively build that network if you connect well with the people at the school.