<p>I've been looking @ a lot of colleges such as tufts and columbia and they don't have a business school and majors such as finance. What do people at these schools usually study if they want to go into finance when they graduate? The only major that seems close enough to me is economics...</p>
<p>Economics or other liberal art majors but for wanting to go into a business field typically economics is studied. </p>
<p>Also don't go and say that universities such as UPenn, UMich, NYU, Berkley, MIT, UVA, and UT are not good schools because they have undergraduate business programs.</p>
<p>.... Emory, WashU, Cornell, Georgetown...</p>
<p>the closest thing to study would obviously be economics.. but it doesn't really matter what you study. i've seen stat, math, bio majors that get business jobs.</p>
<p>and also northwestern and uchicago have top econ programs without undergrad business schools.</p>
<p>same for harvard and stanford don't have undergrad but they do have business schools.</p>
<p>Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia....most grads have econ degrees and work as Investment Bankers or consultants and go to get their MBA after a couple of years.</p>
<p>To get into banking and consulting its the school's name that matters not what you study in it. Get into one of the top school which is recruited and major in whatever you wish. Figure out some generic story to tell in case you are asked why you majored in XXX. Thats all there is to it. </p>
<p>In these industries the name of the school matters significantly more than the study area. There is a good link online of Dartmouth history graduates. A very large number of bankers in that list.</p>
<p>Just to clarify, I think you mean these schools don't have undergraduate business schools. Almost every school you mention has a graduate business school--and many rank in the top 15 nationwide, for example:
Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern, Duke, Dartmouth, Columbia, Yale, UCLA, and Chicago. (Penn, MIT, Michigan, USC and UC Berkeley have business schools ranked in the top 15 at both the undergraduate and graduate levels).</p>
<p>In fact, the only school that has been mentioned here that doesn't have a business school is Princeton.</p>
<p>What's better: going to a school that is highly recruited but has very competitive students that all want to do i-banking, or going to a school that's less recruited but that you'll guarantee yourself a good GPA, activitities, etc? I'm already in school and everything, but I just want do know everyone's opinion about choosing the right school.</p>
<p>It seems paradoxical that going to Wharton might be the answer to everything when in fact everyone in Wharton might be killing each other for that i-banking job. Doesn't that mean you could have LESS of a chance of getting that job since you have to prove that you're better than all those elite classmates? Or is prestige/recruiting still more important? It just seems like the prestige a school has, the more competitive the students will be, which in turn leads to only a select few getting that prestigious job.</p>
<p>Redhare> The thing is nearly anyone at W who has a brain can get a banking job because of its ties to the industry. Read up on Bern's posts about kids with 2.9 GPAs getting positions. They are basically in a class of their own (not to mention people who get HF positions...my friend's bro who graduated W in 06 got one). You need to look at the percentage that get banking jobs compared to the entire class. If its a high number then thats a better school than some school with a low GPA.</p>
<p>In banking GPA matters significantly less than the name of the school. Its not like medical/law school.</p>
<p>And would you say the same for schools right under Wharton as well?</p>
<p>redhare, i don't think i would say the same for other schools...wharton is definitely the golden ticket into ibanking.</p>
<p>Calcruzer,</p>
<p>I don't think I've seen any ranking that puts USC in top-15 at graduate level.</p>
<p>"I don't think I've seen any ranking that puts USC in top-15 at graduate level."</p>
<p>I second that, Sam. The best rank I have seen for USC is #18.</p>
<p>I am not sure I agree with you on this one. Roughly half of the top 25 universities in the nation have excellent business schools:</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)
Cornell University
Emory University (Goizueta)
Georgetown University (McDonough)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
University of California-Berkeley (Haas)
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (Ross)
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (Kenan Flagler)
University of Notre Dame (Mendoza)
University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
University of Virginia (McIntire)
Washington University-St Louis (Olin)</p>
<p>Schools like NYU, USC, UT-Austin etc... may not be top 25, but they are still highly regarded and they too have top B programs.</p>
<p>I personally recommend majoring in Economics at the undergraduate level anyway. I did and I had no problem collecting good job offers before even graduating. But if you really want to major in Business, there are many excellent universities that can accommodate your academic needs.</p>
<p>Alexandre, how much math did you do with your Economics degree? Should I do Calc 1, Calc 2, Linear Algebra, AND Multi-variable calculus? That seems a bit much to me and while I'm good at math, I don't enjoy it. So how much math really is involved in the Econ degree if you're shooting for a finance job?
Oh, and what college did you go to (if you don't mind telling)?</p>
<p>I recommend at least Calc I and II as well as intro and intermediate classes in statistics. Those are necessarily "required" at all Econ programs, but most top Econ departments require those classes. </p>
<p>Calc III, Linear Algebra and DFQs are a plus, but not necessary.</p>
<p>I attended the University of Michigan for my undergraduate studies.</p>
<p>If the school in question has an undergraduate business program (that also happens to have a concentration in economics within the business program) and also an economics department in the liberal arts college, I assume the general consensus is that one should probably study econ in the business school to leverage themselves when it comes time to recruiting? (especially if the business school often has extra perks when it comes time for the process)</p>
<p>I would say yes. Two reasons--(1) lots of jobs require a business degree in their job postings--which you would then have, and (2) lots of schools have placement offices just for their business schools in addition to the regular one for the entire school. Having the ability to go through the business one (which sometimes is the only ones certain recruiters will visit) is a major advantage.</p>