Business Premed! Can't Decide

<p>I have a strong interest in business (finance, investment banking), but I'm pretty sure in the end I want to be a doctor (neurologist).</p>

<p>I've been waiting for my Stanford decision for two months and haven't started applications for anywhere else. I just got my letter from Stanford, didn't get in. I need to figure out where I should apply. </p>

<p>I don't know if I should look for a good undergraduate business program to into and then take premed prerequisites or if I should find a strong premed school and take business courses. I'm leaning towards business major because I know I'm going to be science for 4 years after that in med school anyways. Please help, and quickly. I need to start applying and writing essays.</p>

<p>Current schools of consideration:
UPENN (Wharton)
NYU (Stern)
USC
University of Texas -- Austin (Best in state choice)
Cornell
Wash. U in St. Louis</p>

<p>so basically your stuck between which will make more money? i don't think you could have legitimate interest in both</p>

<p>"so basically your stuck between which will make more money? i don't think you could have legitimate interest in both"</p>

<p>Thanks for your useless input and incorrect assumptions. Remember what happens when you assume? And what's wrong with money as a motivational factor; if someone wants money, let them make it. </p>

<p>If I were you I'd pursue a university that has a "good" premed program; it sounds like your ultimate goal is med school. All those schools are good in busiess and premed, though stern and wharton are kinda just business. Perhaps go undecided for a year, then pick which path you want to go down?</p>

<p>Some of the schools I initially intended on applying to (like Pomona) don't have undergraduate business degrees, but great premed programs. Are schools like Pomona not good for business or is an economics degree comparable to an undergraduate business degree in finance? Thanks.</p>

<p>EDIT: btw, It's not which will make more money, it's the fact that I love helping people (doctor), but I like being a leader and taking risks, but I don't want to not be educated and make stupid choices when investing. I hope I can be a doctor and a serious investor on the side, although that seems like a lot to do at once. We'll see how everything goes down the road.</p>

<p>bump 10char</p>

<p>There are some LACs with good pre-med and business programs. It is very common to do both. Just do not take cost accounting and organic chem the same semester.</p>

<p>Do you have any recommendations for good LACs that offer undergraduate business?</p>

<p>i'm not sure about the other schools, but for wharton, you could concentrate in health care management (or anything, really) and take penn's excellent premed courses as electives; both would compliment either of your potential career paths.</p>

<p>I can assure you that there is NO dilemma! There is no such thing as a good pre-med school, just go buy a USNEWS and pretty much the best placement goes directly down that list. In fact in my experience the perceived top "premed" schools like JHU, WashU, and Cornell are actually not that great as they weed out so many perspective students and attract way too many pre-meds. Both my roommates went to JHU and they joke that JHU is a HORRIBLE place for premed unless you are at the very top of the class there and that is no easy feat!</p>

<p>Similarly for business you don't need to go to a business school!! In fact is that the most highly recruited schools don't even have business programs! The most recruited schools are ALL the Ivies, Stanford, Amherst, Williams, Chicago, Northwestern, Duke, and a few others. A school like Dartmouth, Duke, or Brown for example will blow away business recruiting from any undergrad b-school except Wharton (and on par with Sloan and Stern...think about it, the top firms are elitist and they want students from the Ivies plus, regardless of the training). Look at grad placement at WashU for example vs. schools like Dartmouth, Brown, Amherst, and Duke. WashU is ranked 41 in this area while the others are all in the top ten. Similarly if you look at recruiting an Ivy will have 4/6 elite consulting firms on campus while the "undergrad business schools" like USC and WashU might only have 1 or MAYBE two of these types of firms!</p>

<p>To emphasize the point, I was an ANTHRO major and I got into a top 5 MBA as the youngest in my class and worked at an elite consulting firm after school!</p>

<p>BTW: If you are very sure you want to go to med school but are just looking to b-school for actual course learning (ie you want to have a business understanding) then you don't care about recruiting and in that case go to the highest ranked undergrad school with a business concentration. Brown offers business courses (commerce), as do UNC, Michigan, Wake Forest, Cal, and a couple others.</p>

<p>Slipper 1234, </p>

<p>Please check WASHU olin's website for their placement: <a href="http://www.olin.wustl.edu/wcc/pdf/AnnualReportBSBA.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.olin.wustl.edu/wcc/pdf/AnnualReportBSBA.pdf&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

<p>Their placement record has been improved over the last few years, along with its rankings. Deloitte Consulting, Ernst & Young, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, PwC are among the top 10 hirers in 2006.</p>

<p>Holy Cross-Top30 LAC near Boston-offers very good pre-med and accounting degree. HC is also SAT optional.</p>

<p>But cj those aren't the top firms. Places like Ernst and Young and Deloitte hire at many many schools, and for a variety of roles beyond management consulting. If you look at that report not one WashU grad was hired at McKinsey, Bain, BCG, and the like in true strategy consulting and lots of the top banks are missing as well. The Ivies do much better.</p>

<p>cj3051 thats nothing to brag about... any decent college places well in accounting like PwC</p>

<p>If you are considering a small LAC with excellent pre-med reputations and business depts., look at Washington & Lee, Holy Cross (though they just do Accounting), Franklin & Marshall, Claremont-Mckenna, Bucknell. These are east coast colleges. I am associated with one 0of these schools and I have had two students over the past ten years get accepted into med school, but go into Finance instead. Granted, at a small LAC, the business curriculum offers fewer options, but companies do not care about that as much as the rigour and quality of the school.</p>

<p>The WashU employment report honestly isn't that impressive at all.</p>