<p>I am only a freshman in high school, but I have a few questions that I need cleared up. These might be stupid questions, but I would greatly appreciate anyone that can clear up my confusion. I understand the difference between graduate and undergraduate schools, but I am still having a small problem on what I need to do. For example, just for the sake of argument, say I want to get an MBA from Harvard University. How much previous education should I have to apply to the MBA program? An undergraduate school and what else? Or is an undergraduate school enough? And if I plan to pursue a career in management, what majors or classes should I take in an undergraduate school? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>The requirements for Harvard Business School, or any other top MBA program for that matter are:</p>
<p>1) An undergraduate degree in pretty much any field of study. The four most common types of undergraduate majors that end up at top MBA programs are:</p>
<p>Engineering: ~25%
Business: ~25%
Economics: ~25%
Other: ~25%</p>
<p>But others, I mean almost any major you can imagine, from Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Math and Phsyics to Anthropology, English, History, Political Science, Psychology and Sociology. </p>
<p>For example, the undergraduate majors of Columbia's latest class of 515 first year MBA studentswere as follows:
Business or Commerce: 113 (22%)
Economics: 134 (26%)
Engineering: 77 (15%)
Humanities: 88 (17%)
Sciences: 57 (11%)
Other: 46 (9%)</p>
<p>At the University of Chicago MBA program, the numbers were pretty similar:
Business and Commerce: 156 (28%)
Engineering: 104 (19%)
Economics: 99 (18%)
Science: 49 (9%)
Humanities: 47 (9%)
Other: 93 (17%)</p>
<p>Of course, the quality of the undergraduate institution matters to a point (most successful applicants graduate from top 50 universities and top 50 LACs), and successful applicants typically graduate with GPAs in the 3.3+ (preferably over 3.5) range.</p>
<p>2) At most top MBA programs, close to 100% of the applicants have at least 2 years of full time, post-undergraduate professional experience. On average, successful applicants have 5 years of work experience. Those with fewer than 4 years of work experience typically worked in the highly intense fields of IBanking and Management Consulting, where most entry level employees are expected to get an MBA after 2-3 years. Over the course of one's professional experience, MBA programs want to see signs of management potential. It is unlikely that an applicant who hasn't had a couple of promotions and excellent performance reviews would get into a top MBA program. It is possible to go straight to a top MBA program without work experience, but only exceptional applicants manage that feat. Generally speaking, candidates with fewer than 2 years of full time experience make up less than 3% of an MBA class.</p>
<p>3) GMAT: That's the MBA equivallent of the SAT. It is scored out of 800 and typically, the mean GMAT score at most top MBA programs hovers between 690 and 710.</p>