<p>Does the prestige of the undergraduate business school matter for MBA admissions?</p>
<p>I have decided that even if I get accepted I will turn down a number of prestigious Universities to go to a less prestigious one. I am doing this for my own personal comfort. However, in 4 years from now will this count against me? Or if I do good at my less prestigious university will I be fine?</p>
<p>Any help would be appreciated</p>
<p>I would say that your undergrad institution will indirectly effect your chances for admissions to a top MBA. The reason for this is because the quality of work experience is the biggest factor for MBA admissions, and attending a prestigious undergrad school opens door to IB and Consulting (the 2 feeder industries to top MBA programs). If, however, for some reason you are able to get a job in the above 2 professions from a non-target (really hard btw), and you perform well, then you undergrad school doesn't really matter.</p>
<p>This is an enormous correlation between caliber of undergrad institution and acceptance at a top 10 Business school. Yes, a big part of that is that top school undergrads get the best jobs at of college in general. I've known some connected kids who went to less than top 20 colleges, still got great jobs through dad and ended up at top B schools.</p>
<p>However, if you're avoiding top colleges for comfort, how comfortable would a top B school be? Many you will find at these schools will have been top of their classes at top colleges. These are competitive people to say the least.</p>
<p>I am not really avoiding top schools because of the competition. It is just I would like to go somewhere that will encourage me to find myself. ( I Know that sounds really corny but I just feel very lost. The school that I am planning on attending has the religious and moral guidance that I feel I need right now.)</p>
<p>I feel that if you get a 3.2+GPA and ~700 on the GMAT and 2 years of productive work experience, you will have as good a chance as most applicants.</p>
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I feel that if you get a 3.2+GPA and ~700 on the GMAT and 2 years of productive work experience, you will have as good a chance as most applicants.
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2 years only if your in investment banking. For other careers I think you'll need at least 4-5 yrs in order to impress the Adcoms.</p>
<p>Typically students who attend top undergrad schools also score very highly on the GMAT as well.</p>
<p>A good undergraduate college is absolutely not needed. Good work experience is needed. Good work experience correlates with "prestigious" colleges in many industries though. Engineering is not one of these though.</p>
<p>While investment banking and consulting may be obvious out of college jobs that may be the single largest filter, less than half of the classes of the top MBA programs come from these two industries.</p>
<p>inform, I admire your long term strategic thinking. :)</p>
<p>The prestige factor is usually not a major factor in MBA admission. In fact, I think it is hardly one to begin with. Looking at the student directory of one of the top 10 b-schools, I can say that the undergrad majors and institutions are all over the map. Most top b-schools do make a serious attempt to create a diversed class. E.g. only a quarter of HBS students came from i-banking and consulting [1]. See the class profiles on their websites. </p>
<p>[1] <a href="http://www.hbs.edu/mba/profiles/classprofile.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.hbs.edu/mba/profiles/classprofile.html</a></p>
<p>inform, </p>
<p>I believe your reason to attend a less prestigious school is valid. Nonetheless, make sure that the school you ultimately choose has a good track record of placing their students in career fields that may interest you. If i-banking or consulting is where you are thinking, beware many of them only recruit in few selected campuses.</p>
<p>Inform: Forget about prestige points right now. If you feel lost, deal with that first. One scenario if you don't deal with it first is that you end up going to the school that is less comfortable, you continue to feel lost, that begins to translate to aimless and non-performing, and you wash out. You'll have been much better off in the long run going with what's comfortable. Many people will encourage you to challenge yourself and go the tough road, but that's not necessarily the right choice, if you don't have your house basically in order. In a lesser sense, I went through the same process when I was offered a very prestigious job overseas after school. I went with my gut that told me to stay inside a comfort zone here in the States (I had already lived overseas in the same region previously); one of the best decisions I made in my life, it turned out to be.</p>
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The prestige factor is usually not a major factor in MBA admission. In fact, I think it is hardly one to begin with. Looking at the student directory of one of the top 10 b-schools, I can say that the undergrad majors and institutions are all over the map. Most top b-schools do make a serious attempt to create a diversed class. E.g. only a quarter of HBS students came from i-banking and consulting [1]. See the class profiles on their websites. </p>
<p>[1] <a href="http://www.hbs.edu/mba/profiles/classprofile.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.hbs.edu/mba/profiles/classprofile.html</a>
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</p>
<p>Well, another 10% came from VC/PE, 3% from investment management, and 6% from 'other financial services'. That means that 44% came from consulting or some kind of financial services.</p>
<p>Fair enough. I suppose it is also fair to state that majority came *outside * consulting or some kind of financial services. That's really the point I was trying to make to OP. </p>
<p>A subtle point worth mentioning: HBS class profile categorizes their students according to industry rather than job function. So, an IT guy from Citigroup will be counted under "financial" while a finance fellow from Microsoft will be counted under "high tech".</p>
<p>sure, the majority came from outside consulting / finance. The vast majority of HYP students came from outside top elite prep high schools. But your ODDS are much better to get in if you did. Similarly for top MBA programs, i imagine the admit rate for those coming from consulting / finance is better than those coming from, say, a programmer job at microsoft.</p>
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i imagine the admit rate for those coming from consulting / finance is better than those coming from, say, a programmer job at microsoft.
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I don't have any evidence to agree or disagree with this statement. Do you? But, I've been told by some b-school admission officers that candiates outside the traditional fields (consulting & i-banking) often bring to the class some very unique set of work/life experience.</p>
<p>I would say, Dallas808, that you are 100% on the mark. While there may be many more people from consulting or finance who have long considered themselves on the "MBA track," business schools clamor for all kinds of diversity, including industry, functions, gender, race, etc. So I would imagine that for two candidates roughly equally qualified one from consulting and one from, let's say, technical biotech sales or programming at Microsoft, the latter would get the nod before the former. And since IB or consulting firms actually value industry experience, those wanting to switch into those industries from the other functions are also valued at the hiring edn. The fact is, though, IB and consulting or the sort of catch-all generalist MBA track jobs. So people may have the misconception that for entrance to a program people with experience in those fields will necessarily be favored. Now, on the other hand, it may be harder coming from one of the other fields to demonstrate leadership potential of the kinds programs look for. But that's a different question.</p>
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I would say, Dallas808, that you are 100% on the mark. While there may be many more people from consulting or finance who have long considered themselves on the "MBA track," business schools clamor for all kinds of diversity, including industry, functions, gender, race, etc. So I would imagine that for two candidates roughly equally qualified one from consulting and one from, let's say, technical biotech sales or programming at Microsoft, the latter would get the nod before the former. And since IB or consulting firms actually value industry experience, those wanting to switch into those industries from the other functions are also valued at the hiring edn. The fact is, though, IB and consulting or the sort of catch-all generalist MBA track jobs. So people may have the misconception that for entrance to a program people with experience in those fields will necessarily be favored. Now, on the other hand, it may be harder coming from one of the other fields to demonstrate leadership potential of the kinds programs look for. But that's a different question.
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<p>At the very end of your post, I think you hit upon the core of the issue - that the potential that you can demonstrate to a B-school is endogenous to the job you have. Let's face it. Some jobs give you more opportunities than others, and do it faster. By working for 2 years at an investment bank or consulting firm, you get exposed to a wide range of business issues and have ample opportunities to demonstrate business ability - probably as much as you would get in 4 years of working at a regular job (but of course you're also working about twice as hard in IB or consulting). Ultimately, that's why B-schools (and future employers) value prior consulting/IB experience so much, because you do get that exposure and seasoning. If you're a programmer at Microsoft, you could have very easily spent your whole career doing nothing more than programming, and thus have no opportunities to demonstrate broader business knowledge.</p>
<p>furthermore,
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And since IB or consulting firms actually value industry experience, those wanting to switch into those industries from the other functions are also valued at the hiring edn.
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if a better phrasing of your point would be, "IB and Consulting firms, when looking to hire new MBA graduates, prefer those MBA candidates with industry experience (i.e. a microsoft, biotech, etc.), then you are flat wrong. I have witnessed firsthand that, at the very least, consulting firms pretty much just want to see consulting experience on the resumes of the MBA people they are looking to hire. Even people with previous experience at, say, McKinsey IT are looked upon unfavorably. For those without any previous consulting experience, getting hired as an associate at a consulting firm requires an extraordinary set of professional experiences. The list of rejected Wharton resumes I could show you, for example, would be staggering.</p>
<p>These firms are looking to hire more of "their own", not give chances to those without experience that indicates they have the requisite skills. Nobody wants to be the first to take a chance on somebody, certainly not those promising $120k base salaries to start.</p>
<p>Which is pretty funny. How do consultants consult in an industry with which they have no experience?</p>