I don't know what to do?

<p>I am a high school senior and really don't know what I should major in. First of all I would like to say thank you for all of you who take the time out to read this rather lengthy post. I am posting this thread in the B-School section because I would assume that it's readers have a greater knowledge of the business world and what is necessary to succeed in it.</p>

<p>I think that my major will largely depend on whether or not I am accepted to a top university. Here is a list of the colleges to which I am applying in order of my preference.</p>

<p>Dartmouth College-Early Decision, I receive notification on Wednesday
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Wake Forest University
Brown University
Duke University
North Carolina State University
University of North Carolina Charlotte- Accepted
Lynchburg College in VA- Accepted with Scholarship</p>

<p>Basically, the question is whether I should choose a liberal arts major possibly history english or econ, or a business major. I have heard that it doesn't matter what I study as long as I do well in my major and graduate with a high GPA. Is this true at both top-tier colleges such as dartmouth and state schools such as UNC-Charlotte? Right now I am kind of thinking that if I go to Dartmouth, Brown, or Duke I can get away with a liberal arts degree but with the others I should have a business major. Is my thinking flawed? And if I do not go to a top college for undergrad are my chances of B-School admissions and jobs diminished? Also I am sort of thinking that an MBA would only reiterate what I learned from my BSBA, so one of these degrees would not be worth it. Also I have heard of 5 year MBA programs where you get your undergrad business degree and your MBA degree withing 5 years. From my prior knowledge, an MBA is not worth it unelss you have work experience. What do you think of these programs?</p>

<p>I guess i've typed a bit much. If you can answer some of these questions I am sure that I will have more later.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

<p>also a stupid question, but if anyone could tell me how to quote, like when you make the text show up in a darker gray box and it says quote in the corner. I'm fairly new to the forum, and forums in general.</p>

<p>If you are interested in business, I see no reason to major in English or History. Both are relatively worthless majors and I would only recommend them to someone with a high level of interest in one of those subjects. Econ would work though, as would any business or engineering major.</p>

<p>Your job prospects probably will be diminished at worse schools, particularly if they are smaller or lesser known. However most of the schools you are considering look quite good.</p>

<p>Don't do a 5 year MBA program. If you go for your MBA, go to a good graduate school (such as Duke, UNC, or Dartmouth).</p>

<p>to quote something, do like this: !!!!!!quote!!!!!! this is what I'm quoting !!!!!!/quote!!!!!!</p>

<p>Just replace the !!!!!! with the appropriate brackets[ ]</p>

<p>
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Quoted

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<p>You CAN major in anything at Dartmouth, Brown, or Duke but I would recommend Econ with a potential double major in whatever you'd like. As for a place like UNC-Charlotte, you won't be able to get the same level job regardless of major.</p>

<p>Also, where I am from these schools are the big ones that everyone would want to go to. They are the HYPS of NC. I was just wondering if someone could tell me about the national recognition of these schools</p>

<p>UNC-Chapel Hill
North Carolina State University
Wake Forest University
Davidson College</p>

<p>What do people outside of north carolina think about these schools? I left Duke off of the list because we all know duke is a reputable institution.</p>

<p>I would say UNC business school has the edge over the rest, with Wake and Davidson next. NC State is a step down.</p>

<p>Might make more sense to wait until the choices are in and then talk about things with all the information in hand.</p>

<p>I don't know anything about Davidson or NC State but I have to question what a school like Davidson would offer you that NC State wouldn't. Davidson is a liberal arts university with 1700 students, while NC State has over 30,000. Even if NC State is the stepchild to UNC/Duke, I would expect it to be recruited heavily just based on its size. Davidson may look a bit better on the resume, but if recruiters aren't recruiting there what is the point? (and I would also assume that NC State has a stronger network)</p>

<p>I would strongly disagree with this. Its the quality of the contacts, not the number. A Davidson grad is likely to go out of his/ her way for another Davidson grad; an NC grad might buy a drink for you at a bar. Also places like Davidson tend to have strong loyalists in various business circles. I've seen my friends from LACs do very well.</p>

<p>VW: I've never seen the data, but the prestige difference is probably enough to offset the size difference.</p>

<p>I would have thought Davidson was the strongest of that group, with UNC and Wake Forest about even a little bit behind. </p>

<p>"VW: I've never seen the data, but the prestige difference is probably enough to offset the size difference."</p>

<p>This is difficult to quantify, but one attempt to measure it could be the number of grads listed under Bloomberg profiles. NC State has 336 and Davidson has 251; certainly more than offsetting the fact that Davidson is 1/18 the size of NC State. Granted, the listing is heavily slanted towards people in business and law, but is a rough approximation of school strength.</p>

<p>Keep in mind too that Charlotte, 20 miles from Davidson, is home to both Wachovia and Bank of America and that Davidson graduates do very well in getting jobs with those banks. There is a good amount of corporate recruitment at Davidson, which is very highly regarded by people who have heard of it. (As a general observation, often made on various CC threads, remember too that most people have not heard of most liberal arts colleges, but people who do know about them tend to be well educated and often influential.)</p>