Does geographic diversity matter for MBA admissions?

Graduate School Business School - MBA
1

<p>Ok, kind of a far out question and I'm a senior in high school, so graduate business school is at LEAST six years away. </p>

<p>But my undergraduate school will impact my job prospects, which affects grad school prospects, so that is kind of why I am posing my question. </p>

<p>I live in Ohio and it looks like my college choices will come down to Ohio State and South Carolina (I applied to some Ivies and other top schools that would would be considered targets/semi targets for i-banking type jobs, but it looks like my family will not qualify much for financial aid and parents have given me a number that they will pay and I have to work around that. Might do NROTC...but then I won't have to worry about finding a job after graduation!) . I got into both schools honors colleges, scholarships to both, so even though USC is out of state, it will be about the same cost as OSU, maybe even slightly cheaper. I also got into USC's international business program through the honors college.</p>

<p>I am leaning towards USC right now. I am aware that OSU is a better overall school and has a better b-school. But I am looking for something different and I am intrigued by USC's intl. bus. program (which is ranked #1 by US News, but doesn't get much respect on CC. But talking to students and people close to USC, they say that most IB kids at USC land pretty nice jobs and if you network really well and have a great resume, you can land a pretty sweet job, some in other countries).</p>

<p>So, right now, I am leaning towards USC. Worse comes to worse and I don't like it, I can always transfer back to Ohio and go to OSU, but I think I'll like wherever I end up going. </p>

<p>So, now on to my question haha. </p>

<p>Ok, so I really don't see myself living in Ohio when I am older. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice place to live, but I am not from here and don't really feel attached to it.
But I have a lot of family in Chicago and I really like the city.</p>

<p>I applied to Northwestern for undergrad, but I would really like to go to Kellogg for grad school.</p>

<p>So, I guess what I am asking is, would Kellogg like to see someone who lives in the South, say in Charlotte or Atlanta over some midwestern city? Kellogg probably gets a ton of applications from Columbus, Cleveland, Indy, Detroit, Chicago itself, etc... </p>

<p>whereas, I'm thinking most people that work in the South would be aiming for MBA grad school at places like Duke, UVa, Emory, Vandy, UNC, etc...</p>

<p>Of course, I could fall in love with, say, Atlanta and aim for Emory, UNC, etc..., but who knows 5 years from now what the world will bring. </p>

<p>So...could you follow my question? Would it give me a slight bump coming from the South and applying to business schools in the midwest like Kellog, Booth, Ross, etc...</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>My instinct tells me that this wouldn’t matter as much as it may for someone from an emerging economic region. And, by that, I’m talking Kazakhstan and not Kentucky.</p>

3

<p>Follow your interests. The top rated MBA programs pull from a wide range of individuals from all over the world. I don’t believe they favor people in their areas, but would rather see people want to come from far off places to contribute their diversity to the learning environment.</p>

4

<p>Ok thank you guys. </p>

<p>Still not exactly sure what I am going to do, but I’ve got a little bit of time to figure things out. </p>

<p>thanks</p>

5

<p>Work during school and take out some loans. Don’t forgo going to an Ivy school or a top school because you don’t want to work 20 hours a week or come out of school with 20-30-40K in debt.</p>

6

<p>FYI - Business school is more like 8-10 years away. </p>

<p>1 year of high school
4 years of college
3-5 years of meaningful and relevant work experience</p>

<p>MBA is utterly worthless without WE and no school worth its salt will look at you without work experience.</p>

<p>Go to the best UG school you can because that will set you up for grad school.</p>

7

<p>Thanks. </p>

<p>I would try to take out loans, but I would have to borrow somewhere to the tune of ~$20k a year…so I’d be about $80,000 in the hole when I graduate. From undergrad. </p>

<p>$20-30k would be reasonable, but 80k would just be a huge hindrance in the future. </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I hear that a lot, mostly on here though (though most people that say it, like you, sound very knowledgeable and smart), why is that?</p>

<p>Someone I know interviewed last week for the 6 year BS/MBA program. (School is decent, but from hear it is not exactly going to land him on Wall Street, but still probably a top 30 MBA program) He sounded all excited, but in the back of my mind I was thinking MBA’s are supposedly not that great unless you have been working for 2-4 years before getting one. But I don’t exactly know why.</p>

<p>anyways…</p>

<p>So, I’m still not exactly sure what I should do. I think both schools will provide me with options, OSU may have more, but South Carolina isn’t a terrible school by any stretch and has some great programs. Overall, OSU definitely has the advantage. </p>

<p>Not sure how accurate or updated this is, but at least it is objective and by an outside source. (note this is undergrad)</p>

<p>(under Alumni Affairs & Careers is where the job info is)</p>

<p>[University</a> Of South Carolina: Undergraduate Profile - BusinessWeek](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?)
[The</a> Ohio State University: Undergraduate Profile - BusinessWeek](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/rankings/undergraduate_mba_profiles/ohiostate.html)</p>

<p>Looks like OSU definitely wins, but USC is not exactly a slouch either.</p>

<p>Thanks again.</p>

8

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<p>Actually, I’d go one step further: the MBA is a near complete waste of money and time without experience. The companies that will consider hiring an MBA without experience will often treat them the same as college degree holders, including pay. The other thing is the value of an MBA for a lot of people is to allow them to switch – from consulting to finance, for example – and so someone who went straight through has robbed him/herself of that option.</p>