How does a student get into business school? Confused about the process

College Majors Business Major
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My son is thinking he might want to study business. How does it work?

-Does a student apply directly to the business school of a university, for freshman admission?
-Can he do two years of general ed and then decide to major in business? If he does that, is it disadvantageous?
-What happens if he gets a BA in Econ, for example, and decides to get an MBA?
-He is aware that his education is what he makes of it, so if he chooses a college that isn’t particularly highly ranked, would
his entrance into business school depend on a GMAT score and college grades?

If there is a link to information about this, feel free to post it here. Please help shed some light on this process.

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Short answers:

Depending on the program, students can do direct entry into a business major as undergrads, or can start undecided (or other) and then declare an undergrad business major. Still other schools offer combined undergrad and MBA programs.

Most top tier MBA programs prefer students who have real work (and management) experience before they apply. Those programs will look at undergrad transcripts and GMAT (sometimes GRE) scores in addition to experience. The ranking/reputation of the undergrad college is less important to the process than the transcript and scores.

An undergrad degree in Econ, for example, is not a disadvantage - and some top business schools prefer to accept students who did NOT major in business undergrad. Liberal arts degrees in a wide range of fields can be outstanding preparation for an MBA… the biggest issue is math. Students who want to enroll in a top tier MBA program will need to show evidence of strong math skills.

I also sent you a pm.

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I don’t know a whole lot but can share what my experience has been. So there are lots of little colleges that have an undergraduate business administration degree or a Marketing degree or other type business degree.

There are some great (name brand) colleges that have an undergrad business degree, and if you get that BS in Business Administration from that college, the colleges say you may not need the MBA. (i.e. Wharton)Those undergrad bz degrees from “those” colleges, maybe impart just as much knowledge as the MBA (2 year program) from those colleges. Those colleges are: Wharton (Penn) is ranked #1 by USNWR and UC Berkeley Haas and MIT are tied for second in USNWR ranking for undergrad business degree.

If say, you major in Econ at a LAC or other university (STEM) or other major and want to go to graduate school to get an MBA, conventional wisdom dictates that you work first for 2 - 3 years in the field, then apply. Admission is based on your GPA, GMAT or GRE score and rec letters and business experience.

My daughter is graduating next month from Berkeley Haas. For UCB, you can’t apply directly to the undergrad business degree program at UCB. You have to get in first (she was an Econ major), then apply to Haas at the end of your Sophomore year. This is in direct contrast to Wharton where you can apply and go right in freshman year if accepted.

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I’m going to try to answer your questions as best I can. Feel free to PM me if you have follow-up questions.

UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSIONS
For undergraduate there are different options depending on the school. The information can typically be found on the website. The choices are:

–Some colleges (not too many) let students move in and out of a business major with no restriction. Here he would apply to the college and choose a business major.

–Many colleges have distinct business schools/programs. In those cases:

a) Some colleges have freshmen apply directly to the business program/school. They will either be accepted or rejected from the college’s business school. (ex. Fordham, Wharton).

b) Some colleges take some students as a direct admit to the business school but will accept students looking for business into the liberal arts school. (ex. IU - Kelley) Students can then try to apply for an internal transfer to the business school. The ease of making such an internal transfer will vary dramatically from one college to another and often some prerequisite courses have to be taken in order to apply for an internal transfer. It is important to look at statistics/information posted online.

c) Some colleges admit no students directly to the b-school and have them apply for the program after one or two years at the college. (ex. Berkeley - Haas). Again the percentage of students getting into the program will vary wildly from college to college. Students looking into this typically take a group of courses as prerequisites so they are prepared to enter the b-school and can graduate in 4 years.

TRANSFERRING INTO B-SCHOOL
Undergraduate business programs have their own core curriculum in addition to any general ed requirements of the school. Unless a student takes some of these requirements in the first two years, it might be difficult to start off as a liberal arts major, transfer into a b-school after two years and graduate in four years. My feeling (with my S) was that it would be easier to start off in the b-school and switch out if it turned out to not be his thing (he happened to stay in the b-school). If your son wants to start off in liberal arts and has transferring into the b-school in the back of his mind it is something he should discuss with his academic advisor early on. He should understand the probability of making such a transfer upfront and should try to take some basic core business classes starting as early as freshman year (ex. economics, calculus, statistics).

MBA REQUIREMENTS
He certainly can get into a MBA program with an economics degree. He can also get into a MBA program with an English (or frankly any other) undergraduate degree. There are no prerequisites for MBA programs, even the very top tier schools. They want to get students from varied educational backgrounds and work experiences to come together in a class. My H went to Wharton for a MBA and had classmates who were in business, engineers, a test pilot in the Navy, an opera singer etc. My friend’s D is at Wharton now and one of her classmates is a former NY Giant football player.

Keep in mind that undergraduate education is but one component needed for a top MBA program. To be a competitive candidate one needs excellent undergraduate GPA, top GMAT scores, great essay and letters of recommendation, and a minimum of 2 - 5 years of meaningful work experience demonstrating increasing levels of responsibility.

ECONOMICS V BUSINESS – This is a bit of an unsolicited comment but it may be helpful as your S seems to be debating his path (if not feel free to ignore).

It is important to understand that economics and finance are very different majors. Economics is a liberal arts course of study and gets very theoretical at the upper levels. In contrast if you go to an undergraduate business school you will take a business core with introductory classes in subjects such as accounting, finance, IT, marketing etc. and then you will major in one of those disciplines. I’m not saying that one path is better than the other, but they are different. I would take the time to look at the coursework (can be found online) for both a finance and an economics major and see if one path is preferable.

Good luck!

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Thanks, fabulous responses!