<p>Do MBA programs take into consideration the school you went to for undergrad, or do they look more at the GPA?</p>
<p>Say for example Guy #1 graduated from UC Berkeley and got a decent GPA. Not great, but decent. And Guy #2 graduated from UC San Diego and got a higher GPA. Both majored in something irrelevant to business. And both have work experience after undergrad.</p>
<p>Which would have a better shot at getting into the better MBA programs?</p>
<p>Also, on a side note, would your undergrad major matter? Like would a business school be more likely to take a guy who majored in econ with a slightly lower GPA or a guy who majored in, say, communications, and got a slightly higher GPA? Or would it not really matter?</p>
<p>Business school isn’t law or med school. Your GPA/GMAT are threshold indicator, past a certain point, higher ones will not help you. Your UG (even major) plays a minimal role, true for law and med as well. The only time your major comes to the table is if you have a liberal arts education and scored low on GMAT quant, and you are applying for a finance school. </p>
<p>Work experience is much more important. If you think a better UG will get you better opportunity for work experience, that’s the only time UG may matter.</p>
<p>I don’t say this to sound critical, but the higher GPA/worse school argument is a bit like the college question about “which is better: As in regular classes or Bs in AP classes.” </p>
<p>Realistically there are far more candidates than spots, and the application process is intended to take a “holistic” view of each candidate. So people with 750 GMAT scores will be rejected, as will those from top schools. With that said, many other people with those profiles will be accepted, so it’s worth trying to do the best you can wherever you go and then hoping for the best. It’s a bit of a crapshoot anyways, so put your best foot forward and the system should, generally speaking, treat you fairly.</p>
<p>Also, while it seems crazy, post-MBA employers do pay attention to previous work experience, undergraduate education and test scores (I was even asked for SATs!). This type of stuff is particularly important if you attend a top school that has grade nondisclosure, as the companies must seek out other data points in the absence of your MBA GPA.</p>