Actually, Wharton doesn't offer a BBA program, either. The undergraduate degree offered by Wharton is a B.S. in Economics, regardless of concentration--in fact you can't even concentrate in Economics in Wharton anymore, although you used to be able to (speaking from personal experience ;)). It may seem like just semantics, but Wharton does emphasize a strong liberal arts component in its undergraduate curriculum:</p>
<p>
[quote] The emphasis on liberal arts.
We believe that students need a solid liberal arts education. That's why we require that one-third of your coursework be taken outside of Wharton. Want more? You can take up to 43% of your degree requirements in the arts & sciences. In fact, we want you to!
<p>Of course, the name of the undergraduate degree is also historically based, going all the way back to Wharton's founding as the first collegiate school of business in the world. :)</p>
<p>45 percenter, most elite undergraduate business programs emphasize the Liberal Arts. Cal, Michigan and UVa require one-two full years of classes at their respect colleges of Arts and Science before they can start taking classes at the B-Schools. But whether you call it BBA or Applied Economics, in the end, we are talking about a Business degree.</p>
<p>For accreditation by AABSBC, 50% of all classes must be taken outside of the area of business. This is true of the very worst accredited business school in the country to the very best. It has nothing whatsoever to do with how "elite" the business school might, or might not be. Because Wharton does NOT offer a business degree (but a BS in Economics), they actually require LESS in the liberal arts than those that do.</p>
<p>Let's agree that, from what we can tell, Wharton MAY be unquestionably the best undergraduate business school for DOMESTIC business, and not including either entrepreneurship or accounting/fiscal management. (Hey, that leaves them awfully circumscribed, doesn't it?)</p>
<p>I don't know about many programs besides Wharton's but there are so many options for interdisciplinary study that just can't be available everywhere.</p>
<p>Mini, I think we are talking about two very different things; actual quality vs perceived quality. In many academic arenas, actual quality trumps perceived quality. For example, chosing Yale over Caltech for a PhD in Physics just because Yale is better known would be unwise. Not so with Business studies, where reputation is everything, and that must be taken into account when rating programs. Even for International Business, Wharton is king. USC and Thunderbird (at the graduate level) may be ranked higher, but try telling any industrial leader in Europe, Asia or Latin America that South Carolina or Thunderbird are better than Wharton.</p>
<p>I am in a company that recruits very specifically for international business purposes (it is a large Indian conglomerate). We recruit at Penn (Wharton included), Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, Brown, and Yale. Not at the school that the rankings say is "#1 in international business"</p>
<p>Business school is networking. Wharton's network is going to beat the tar out of any other undergrad b-school network.</p>
<p>All MBAs are admission tickets into alumni networks. If you have the credentials to go to Wharton, Harvard, etc... go. But if you don't and you want to do international business Thunderbird is a good pick. I work in International Trade. A Thunderbird MBA will get you a decent job in the industry. And Thunderbird is well-known world-wide. </p>
<p>Regarding ilovebagels, if he is talking about recruiting for undergrads, Thunderbird doesn't have an undergrad program...that is why they don't recruit from there. Not to mention, if he is just at recruit firm/head hunter they are worthless. If he is in the HR department of a large Indian conglomerate...well there are few of those I would want to work for anyways....besides maybe ArcelorMittal, Tata or TCS.</p>
<p>i love bagels. how often do you guys recruit from Haas? wharton is my dream school but i have to be realistic and realize that haas might be best alternative choice and even then i might not even get into haas or even cal itself.</p>
<p>We don't. We don't even recruit at Stanford yet. We don't yet have a broad US recruiting presence but I'm sure once we did the first schools to be added would be Stanford, UChicago, Duke, Berkeley...</p>