Engineering undergrad planning to apply for an MBA

<p>I'm a rising junior right now at Penn and I started studying for the GMAT and planning for my HBS 2+2 application. I'm planning to go to business school in a few years and apply to different MBA programs such as MIT Sloan, HBS and Stanford GSB. I still have 11 months left before I apply to HBS but i'm putting a lot of thought into it from now. My problem is, I'm very interested in studying business and especially want to go to HBS, but there's nothing special that I'm doing in college that would make me stand out. For instance, I haven't done any internships or research projects this summer simply because nothing out there seemed interesting enough to me (I was only interested in one job but I didn't get it). I'm doing nothing such as extracurriculars or other impressive activities. My spare time basically goes to reading about what I'm interested in or just hanging out with friends. The only thing that I <em>think</em> would distinguish me is that by the time I apply to HBS I'll have around 7 or 8 graduate-level engineering and statistics courses under my belt, but that's it. So, aside from work experience, what would you suggest I should do to be more prepared for the business school experience and look more appealing to an adcom? I don't want to waste my time on applications when I know I'm probably not qualified and at the same time I don't want to give it up.</p>

<p>Another question, I'm doing computer science at the Penn school of engineering and the program here basically allows me to study whatever I want for the remaining 2 years (I finished most of the required upper-level courses early). And I'm also seeing no point in taking more and more computer science courses if I'm not that sure that I'll be doing computer science after graduation (I like computer science itself but finding a job in my particular areas of interest is not easy). I simply don't want to take courses when I know that there's a great chance that I'm not going to use that knowledge in the future and just because I find them interesting (if it's interesting, I can read about it without having to take academic courses). So I'm thinking, for that reason, why not just take courses in other areas that I may be more interested in, like psychology or business, and at the same time take advantage of the Wharton school and it's great courses since I'm not really sure that I'll continue with computer science. A lot of courses in areas other than CS are interesting to me but it makes me feel dumb to take all these courses when my major is CS. I also looked at some courses in MIT's LFM program and the HBS MBA curriculum and many of them were similar to some undergrad courses taught here, which I think taking some of them may better prepare me for an MBA. What do you suggest?</p>

<p>Business school adcoms' main focus is your career path. Make sure you have a major that makes you employable if you fail to gain admission to HBS2+2.</p>

<p>Bump (10 chars)</p>

<p>@ RejectedFromMIT</p>

<p>If you don't think you're competitive for business school straight away, get a job in industry. You don't need to get an MBA immediately. This is why work experience can give you an advantage and improve your resume significantly.</p>