Why I'm choosing Duke over MIT

I know a lot of people are trying to decide between schools and offers right now, so maybe you'll find one man's internal dialogue interesting. Mine is a classic case of putting the rankings aside and finding the program with the best overall fit. It's also a case where a lot of intangibles add up to something very tangible.

I am fortunate enough to have been accepted at both Fuqua and Sloan. After B-school, I intend to pursue a career in the healthcare industry. Fuqua has an amazing Health Sector Management program that I'm excited about. I was doubly fortunate to be also accepted to MIT's Biomedical Enterprise Program. This small 3 year program involves a Sloan MBA + a Master's from the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences Technology division. (Just writing "Harvard-MIT" makes me want to pause and reconsider this whole decision.) Three months ago, Sloan's BEP was my first choice. Heck, after I interviewed there, I said "If accepted, how could I not go?!" But after weeks of meditation on the subject, it's become a very close call. Here are my reasons why:

1) Boston vs. Durham. My wife and I are expecting our first child in a couple of months. Boston is great and all, but it's not the ideal place to be a poor student raising a baby. Durham on the other hand, offers plenty of new, spacious housing with super low rents. Even better, no lead paint! If I were 26, Boston would be the most exciting place in the world; however, I'm 30, I lived in Manhattan for five years, and my wife and I just escaped to the suburbs -- I'm not exactly going to get excited about Boston's wide selection of bars at this point.

We know no one in Boston, and moving back into a city has no appeal for us now that we've experienced the convenience of car ownership and big box stores. Plus, the Raleigh-Durham area has a huge number of pharma companies. It's not as concentrated as Boston, but there are plenty of opportunities.

2) Cost. I know, I know... don't let the money be a factor. But would anyone go to HBS if it cost $1,000,000? At some point, the money has to become a factor. My number is somewhere around $155,000. Believe it or not, that's the post-tax net difference in cost between the programs for me. That includes the extra year of lost wages due to the BEP's third year, the dramatically higher cost of housing in Boston, and the scholarship money Duke is offering me. (It also factors in the 3rd year fellowship money from the BEP and the value of a second internship there.)

"That's peanuts in the long run," you say. Well, not really. Consider that $155,000 as an annuity -- just put it away in the bank and never touch it. It would pay me $8000+ a year, every year, for the rest of my life, working or not. Granted, I might earn substantially more out of MIT, or maybe I wouldn't. But $155,000 is enough money to make a difference in one's finances for the long term.

3) The Intangibles. Well, they're quite tangible, actually. Little factors, like North Carolina's amazing weather, make a big difference on your overall quality of life. Also, my family is within driving distance of Durham, so my child might actually know her grandparents. Plus, Fuqua has amazing facilities and the most supportive partners program at any top B-school.

They say "Don't make your decision based on the facilities... Or the weather... Or the housing... Or the location." Sage advice indeed, but at what point do all of those things add up to one very important factor? Duke just seems to have them all.

What may have sealed the deal was seeing that Fuqua is ranked in the top 10 in every field by Business Week and several of the fields that WSJ polled recruiters on. Sloan is tops for things like operations, supply-chain, and technology. But Fuqua is in the top ten in just about everything: marketing, international business, technology, healthcare, etc. That sort of broad capability appeals to me.

I know, I know... boohoo for me, having to decide between two top programs must be terrible. But it's a huge commitment of time and money, and you only get to do this once. It really has been a difficult decision because it's such a close call. But I think I'll feel a huge weight off my shoulders tomorrow if I overnight my deposit to Fuqua.