<p>Hey guys, I've got a question I was hoping someone could answer. I am going to be a junior at Pitt next year, majoring in political science and history. I have been considering law school; however, lately I have become interested in business. I was wondering if anyone could tell me if it is common at top-30 business schools (Georgetown, UNC, Maryland, Boston College, and UVA are some of the ones I'm looking at) to have students from liberal arts majors. How does that affect admissions? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>You're UG major doesn't matter, but you need at least two years of work experience.</p>
<p>Really? I thought work experience was only necessay at the top programs. You need it for the schools I listed, too?</p>
<p>Work experience is necessary for any graduate business school that is worth a crap...which includes many programs that aren't even listed in the "top 50"</p>
<p>Hi Bob,</p>
<p>The point of attending business school is to really enhance your current knowledge of the business world or your current job function. It's great that you are looking to the future about what you want to do, but you are probably five years away. I've talked to many MBAs the past few years and they all have different ideas on the perfect years of work experience. One recent grad (who's a director of sales at where I work) insists on a minimum of five years. He thinks without five years, it wouldn't benefit you as much. Another friend of mine encouraged me to attend a top B-school after two years. </p>
<p>For me, four years was perfect. I've learned enough. Have been a project leader and worked with the people side of technology (I work in IT) and knew that an extra year of people complaining wouldn't help me all that much. Here's the thing though, everyone suggested years of experience...</p>
<p>I don't think it's a matter of the "requirement," it will be more beneficial to you. I'm not sure you will be able to see what I mean just yet, but if you follow my advice and the advice that other successful MBA grads gave me, you'll have a much better experience.</p>
<p>Regarding the off-beat liberal arts majors, it's perfectly okay to major in these subjects. My Georgetown interviewer majored in Sociology. I would recommend though, that if you don't study a business related undergrad major to attend a two-year program (unless you've had many years work experience) vs a one-year.</p>
<p>I'm a Chemical Engineer on my way to get an MBA after 8 years of work experience. I think I wanted to after about 4, as that is about when I started to understand the business books I was reading and finding Econ to be exciting.</p>
<p>As for the odd major, and a little bit of trivia, Alan Greenspan was a Music Major (Juilliard, of course) before he joined the financial world.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help, everyone. I appreciate all the advice.</p>