<p>Or do they only recruit at undergraduate schools and pay for students' grad school? </p>
<p>Thanks......</p>
<p>Certainly companies recruit for graduate students. They even have graduate student career fairs at some schools. Why wouldn't they?</p>
<p>I thought that most students who go to graduate school already have a job lined up for them from undergrad school, and the company they're working for is paying for the tuition. Or is this a rare situation?</p>
<p>Most students in graduate schools (at least in the sciences/engineering) are PhD students on fellowship/TA/RA, and have their tuition paid by the university/adviser/special fellowship, plus a monthly stipend. </p>
<p>Masters students are far more likely to take the route you've described, but even then it's not always the case. There tends to be one or two masters students in the engineering classes here (Princeton), compared to 15-30 PhDs.</p>
<p>You seem incredibly confused about the whole thing, which is fine because I was too when I was just starting out in college. Check out:</p>
<p>So, does the undergraduate school you got your bachelor's degree from matter in terms of admission to grad schools? Or is GPA along with standardized test scores more influential in gaining admission? The only reason I'm asking this is because I was accepted to UIUC and Michigan next year, and I'm having trouble deciding which school to go to. UIUC will be much cheaper than Michigan which means I can afford graduate school. However, in terms of prestige, Michigan is the school to go to which also has more companies recruited at campus, and therefore, I will be offered a better job there. And if the undergraduate school you graduated from has an affect on admissions to graduate school, I will have a better chance of getting in if I go to Michigan. BTW, I'm planning on majoring in finance. Bezel56, I read the article on the website you gave me, and it did clear some things up for me but I still don't understand some points. I really appreciate your help though.</p>
<p>The prestige of your undergraduate school is not nearly as important as a strong GPA, good letters of recommendation, and decent GRE scores. If you're planning to major in finance, I'm going to assume that you are not interested in a PhD, so you will in fact have to pay for graduate school (probably an MBA or other type of masters degree). Thus, saving money may not be a bad idea, but whatever small amount you manage to save will be pennies compared to what you'll have to pay for an MBA at a decent school. Also, you usually work two years out of school before going back for your MBA.</p>
<p>When you say 'graduate school,' you could mean many things and each one is very different. Are you interested in professional school (i.e. MBA, MD, JD, etc.) or graduate school (PhD, MA, MS, etc.)? Look up the terms on wikipedia if you do not know what they mean.</p>
<p>As Bezel said, especially if you are planning on doing an MBA, you should look into taking the cheapest possible route in undergrad so that you have the cash to spend on your MBA. Companies who see you graduated with an MBA from Sloan or Wharton won't give a damn where you did your undergrad.</p>
<p>I neglected to mention this: the poster above makes a good point. Where you get your MBA is FAR more important than wherever you did your undergraduate. People go to top schools (i.e. Harvard Business, Wharton, Sloan, etc.) not only to take classes and learn, but to network with other people. I've heard this is in fact more valuable than the classroom work.</p>
<p>The same is true with graduate school (i.e. PhD, etc.) to some extent; prestige DOES matter when it comes to finding post-docs and fellowships. </p>
<p>Prestige in undergrad however is far overrated. I went to what many consider a 'prestigious' school for undergrad (Notre Dame), and people in my graduate class who went to 'typical' public state schools are oftentimes smarter than me. Graduate schools recognize that behind all the hype, the smartest people at State Public U. are probably just as smart as the brightest at Harvard. </p>
<p>Just make sure your undergraduate school is accreditted regionally and a place people will have heard of, and you'll be fine.</p>
<p>I agree with all that is being said in this thread.</p>
<p>However, if you do want to do finance and get a job on Wall Street upon graduation, I think that Michigan would have a tremendous advantage over UIUC simply due to the extensive amount of recruiting that goes on at Michigan by all the big Wall Street firms for having a top b-school. My brother attends Ross at UMich and I am constantly surprised at the access he has to the business world (online e-books, paid memberships to Vault, etc...). While I do agree that MBA prestige is much more important than undergraduate, going somewhere like Michigan may give you a heads up in getting your first job out of college. Work Experience is an aspect that all the top MBA programs value.</p>
<p>Funny you should say that Welsh0913. My dream is to work on Wall Street, however, I am planning on attending graduate school right after I get my bachelor's degree. So, after reading all the posts on this thread, I came up with a solution that I hope will work.</p>
<p>Go to UIUC, major in business or economics and save myself $100,000. Within a year, I hope to get to a good grad school like Ross which has extensive recruitment from Wall Street firms (Goldman Sachs) and get my dream job. </p>
<p>The only problem with this situation is that I won't get any job experience besides internships. I also don't know if it's a good idea in general to go to graduate school at 22 -23 years of age. </p>
<p>What do you guys think?</p>
<p>Tennis - You may find that you don't need grad school at all. When I worked as a programmer for a proprietary trading company on the CBOT, I don't think any of our front line analysts (and definitely floor traders) had more than a bachelor's (and very few in finance or similar fields). There were a handful of math/physics PhDs doing the hardcore modeling, guys like me implementing, and the rest of the folks using the tools, their training, and intuition to make big wads of money. So if that's your interest you probably won't need anything beyond the BS.</p>
<p>Even if you're totally into the banking or M&A side of things be aware that the big name firms will want to train you in their way of doing business - once you have the basic skills they'll do the rest. Here at Penn, the big firms recruit the College as well as Wharton but for different types of jobs - the Wharton types seem to go into the "management consulting" type jobs and the CAS kids into the more creative research and analyst roles. (Or so it appears to me - I'm in Classics, headed for Classical Archaeology in grad school.)</p>
<p>Although I can't speak to Ross, Wharton strongly prefers its grad students to have real-world experience though of course there are exceptions. </p>
<p>And always remember, the "A" in MBA is for "administration" - at its core, it is a degree for managers (often pointy haired!)</p>
<p>And don't overlook Chicago for that first job!</p>
<p>Oh, and remember how you looked at the world after the 8th grade? the change between now and graduation is pretty near as big! So relax, get ready for my Buckeyes (my first undergrad degree back in the 70's) to kick Illini tail for the next four years and have a great summer!</p>
<p>I'm a big Ohio State fan too, even though my brother goes to UMich. </p>
<p>The only problem that I can foresee with your plan tennis is that all top MBA programs require several years of work experience (between 2-6 at least, depending on the field) before you are competitive for admissions. If you read around these boards, you will see that its the norm for top MBA admissions. While the top schools do admit a very small percentage of students directly from undergrad, these students usually are exceptional in that they have already started successful companies or something similar.</p>
<p>Hey Welsh - sorry about your brother! I'm facing the fact the UM's Classical Archaeology program is basically the best there is... and I, umm, errr, might have to, well, kinda, spend a few years at that school up north...</p>
<p>At least Coach T seems to have their number.... maybe I'll be able to sneak into the visitor's section at the Big House every other year!</p>
<p>PS - my son goes to Penn State - I've got another year of sneaking in wearing Blue and White and singing Buckeye Battlecry <em>VERY QUIETLY</em> when we score.</p>
<p>Too bad I'm not a Florida fan, because with all the OSU peeps in this thread, now would be a prime moment to do some gloating! Alas, I am a USC supporter...</p>
<p>I think there has been some pretty good advice given in this thread. I would, however, say that if your dream is to work on Wall Street, you can't go wrong getting a MBA at a school such as Northwestern or Penn. This isn,t to say that you necessarily NEED a MBA to work on Wall Street, but you will definately have less hoops to jump trhough to get there if you do an MBA at a good school.</p>
<p>As several posters have already commented, the difference between grad school prestige as opposed to undergrad prestige in the job market is night and day. In some fields, such as law, undergrad prestige is almost completely overlooked when applying to grad school. If you know you will excel in undergrad and you know that you eventually want to do an MBA, there is really no better bet than going somewhere inexpensive, local, and somewhere you will enjoy spending the next four years of your life.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If you know you will excel in undergrad and you know that you eventually want to do an MBA, there is really no better bet than going somewhere inexpensive, local, and somewhere you will enjoy spending the next four years of your life.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well, the problem with that strategy is that admissions to top MBA programs (and I gather by context that we are talking about top MBA programs) hinge heavily on the quality of your work experience, which itself hinges upon the quality of the job that you get. It's easier to get a high quality job with a top employer if you come from a top undergrad school. Let's be honest. Most college grads, especially from the lower-ranked schools, end up in mediocre jobs where they just don't have significant opportunities to build a work record that will be useful to get into a top MBA program.</p>
<p>That's what I thought. However, I don't think that there is that much difference between UIUC and Michigan. Both schools are in the top 50 overall with Michigan being #24 and UIUC being #42 according to US News and World Reports.</p>
<p>I can assure you that the number of financial firms and i-banks that recruit at Michigan are significantly more than UIUC irrespective of US News rankings.</p>
<p>UM has one of the top undergraduate and MBA programs in the nation and feed dozens of kids up to BB firms every year.</p>
<p>sakky,</p>
<p>Your statement is patently false. MBA programs don't look at WHERE you worked, they look at what you did while you worked there. I personally know two kids who went to Michigan State for their undergrad, graduated, worked for two years in unprestigious managerial positions, and then both went on to do an MBA, one at Northwestern, the other at Michigan. I have also spoken to people who teach in business faculties, and they have told me in a very convcingin way that MBA admissions hinge on what your work experience consisted of, not where it was. Harvard Business School doesn't want some kid who went to work for Goldman Sachs after undergrad then loafed around did nothing for two years before applying for an MBA.</p>
<p>College admissions have changed alot. We are no longer in an age where you go to Yale, than go to Europe and travel for a year, than come back and work for dad for a semester, than get accepted to Sloan.</p>
<p>Original Poster, don't listen to anyone who tells you undergrad prestige matters, because, apart from ver few field, it just doesn't.</p>
<p>So is undergrad prestige or where you work at important in getting into grad school??? Different people are stating different ideas and I don't know who is saying the right thing....</p>
<p>I was under the impression that michigan and northwestern MBA program are not that "prestigious". When I hear somebody talks about top MBA program, I often think they refer to harvard, stanford and wharton.</p>
<p>I also agree that undergrad prestige does not count so much for MBA, but I think it's still important. I don't mean to attack you jmleadpipe but from reading your previous posts I get the impression that you're really anti ivy-league and other prestigious colleges. I wonder why...</p>