Hi I’m a student from the Midwest graduating from high school this year.
I have had the desire to major in finance for a long time now and I am excited to be one step closer to fulfilling that goal.
Ultimately, I would like to become a financial planner, investment banker, or a lawyer. Therefore I have the desire to attend law school or grad school after college. In regard to grad school I understand many view five years of experience as advantageous and I don’t want to sound stubborn or immature when I say this is not what want. I would like to request those assisting me to refrain from challenging me on why this is my decision. Thank You!
Alright here are the business schools I have to choose from. Note: I have direct admittance to all of these schools.
Indiana University-Kelley School of business
Positives: Top 10 rank. I’ve heard their two week I-Core program junior year is rigorous, which that excites me. Also, everyone in Bloomington seems genuinely kind.
Biggest Concern: Size of the school
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
Positives: Top 20 rank. Generally a much smarter student body in comparison to Indiana and Miami of Ohio. Or at least that’s what I have heard.
Biggest Concern: Size of the school
University of Miami(Ohio)
Positives: Extremely nice staff based on my visit to the school. They have a new freshman year business curriculum integrating aspects important to business such as history and coding. If I receive enough AP credit this year I can graduate in three years.
Biggest Concern: Possible lack of notability and rank.
University of Miami(Coral Gables)
Positives: Very intelligent student body based on statistics. Ideal size. A different geographic area of the US in which I can analyze thoroughly key demographic in terms of popular markets. I can have more opportunities to practice the Spanish language. Arguably the best school in Florida.
Biggest Concern: Possible ack of notability and rank. Note: Please factor out financials when picking from this list.
What I want in a school.
-A good business program specifically finance
-A smart student body
-A well rounded school
-Great volunteer opportunities
-Social students with many interests
-A place I can call home for the next 3-4 years
-Most importantly, I know 90% of getting into a Grad or Law school is on my performance, but which school if I do well there will have the best reputation and give me the best chance of getting in to the top Law or Grad schools in the nation.
About my Acadmeic rigor
9 AP courses
10 AP Tests
5 of those AP courses and tests I am taking this year.
Thanks!
What is the financial aspect? MBA and law programs are expensive, so debt it whether your parents can help out with grad school is important in this decision.
My parents will assist in paying for MBA or Law School. I’m fortunate and grateful to come from a family that is fairly well off with one sibling. For the sake of this question I would people to refrain from factoring in financials. In addition to that, aside from Miami in Florida, my scholarships make the cost to attend the other three schools all about the same.
The only people who are going “challenge your decision” about trying to get into a top MBA program without meaningful work experience are the MBA programs…
Yes. You can want to skip the work requirement as much as you would like. But they won’t ignore it. Given all your info, I’d go to Kelley.
It is possible to get into a top law school with no experience (although about 75% of applicants have worked for at least a year) but it is virtually impossible to get into a top MBA program without 2-5 years of meaningful work experience. Lower tier MBA programs won’t have that as an absolute requirement. As noted by @intparent It doesn’t matter what you want – it is what the schools want that is the deciding factor.
I agree with Kelly as a good choice.
If you want an MBA, why would you go to an undergrad business school? It doesn’t help you get into a good MBA program and can possibly hurt.
@brantly In my experiences, going for an undergraduate business degree won’t hurt in MBA applications as there are many different business disciplines that one can study. As one example, if you look at the Harvard MBA class profile 45% of the class studied business or economics as an undergraduate. While I agree it is not necessary to have a busienss background, it doesn’t seem to hurt either.
http://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/class-profile/Pages/default.aspx
Thank you very much for you advice.
Thank you for your advice arc! I obviously will take much more time to think this out. Do you have a suggestion on which undergraduate school would be the best for me?
Well although I may agree an undergraduate finance degree may not enhance my chances at getting into prestigious MBA programs, I do not want to go to college and spend money on something I’m not passionate about.
Brantly do you have an opinion on which school I listed? In regard to which one I should choose.
Thanks a ton!
I agreed that Kelley looks like a good choice. Good luck!
Thank you!
@collegehopeful6 I’m not an expert in the different programs. I’m just a fan of a liberal arts education, especially if there are plans for grad school to specialize.
Yeah, I understand what you mean. Unfortunately for me I applied to some liberal arts schools with business schools as well (so they make you get a liberal arts education and a business concentration), but I chose the more competitive ones and didn’t get in.
Thanks for your opinion! Always open to consider other ideas 
Kelley is well regarded.
If you do not want to work prior to the next step, go to law school. Keep an open mind now bc things can change.
Thank you!
What were your stats to get into those schools? I am considering applying to all 4 of them.