Hey, I just found out that I got into Emory. However, my prime interest of study is Business. I have gotten into another school which gives me a direct entry into its business school but it is not as prestigious as Emory. The only thing I need is to convince myself that it isn’t a gamble and that I can get into the business school after two years.
Is it extremely difficult or competitive to get into the business school? Is a huge chunk of the applicants rejected from Goizueta? Thank you!
I would like to know this too ^ is it possible to get into the business school not as a business major currently? I’m going in for English but I’m not 100% committed to that as a major.
Hi there, so you apply after ur 3rd semester or 4th semester and start b school junior year. Average accepted gpa is a 3.64 with around 70% acceptance rate.
So, as long as you do your prereqs and keep up a 3.7+ you should be good to go.
Is it easy to maintain a 3.7 GPA? @thecoolboy1234
You may have already found this webpage, but in case you haven’t, it provides the best summary of what’s involved in getting into the undergraduate business program:
https://community.bus.emory.edu/program/PreBBA/Shared%20Documents/BBA%20Admission%20Guidelines%20Spring%202016.pdf
In some ways it’s unfortunate to get past all of the college application/admission craziness and almost immediately be thrust back into a competitive situation where you’ll have to build a ‘resume’ and apply to a program with less than 100% acceptance.
That said, my take is that it’s very do-able. My son is currently a sophomore who just found out that he was accepted to the business program couple of weeks ago. In high school he was a kid who did well on SAT’s, etc., but had a relatively low GPA for Emory (3.4), albeit at a very competitive private high school. He had ‘meh’ high school EC’s. FWIW, his Emory GPA is higher than his high school GPA, so getting good grades there is pretty straightforward if you do your work. His EC’s there were also somewhat ‘meh’. Most importantly, he got two good letters of recommendation.
Some points I’d make:
– If you enter Emory with a semester’s worth of AP credits you can apply (and enter, if you’re admitted) after two semesters at Emory. A benefit is that in the unlikely event that you’re not admitted, you can re-apply after your third semester.
– Everything that you put on the resume that you submit with the application must be something that you’ve done since high school. So, if getting into the b-school is your aim you need to get involved in some of the organized activities on campus. Obviously there’s a ton to do there.
– It would be worth your while to take some smaller classes where you can develop a relationship with a faculty member, so you’ll have someone who knows you well enough to write you a decent LOR.
– Of course, there’s a diversity ‘hook’ for URM’s. If that’s you, then you don’t need as high a GPA, etc. If that’s not you, you want to realize that the quoted average GPA for admitted students of 3.6 includes kids with lower GPA’s who had a hook that you might not have.
– In some ways Financial Accounting is the equivalent of Organic Chemistry for premeds. Don’t sign up to take this course your first semester. Get adjusted to college life first.
The listed admit rate is 70%. Obviously that’s not a number that’s set in stone, and if more kids in your class are interested, the admit rate will go down. But all in all, it’s a question of betting on yourself. If you think that in terms of academic ability you’re more or less around the average of kids admitted to Emory and if you make getting into the b-school a priority (as opposed to partying and/or playing video games) once you get there, you’ll get in. Another way I’d put it is, if you don’t think that you can get into the b-school with these sorts of requirements and odds, how competitive are you going to be when you enter the business world (from a lesser school)?
My son and I did a lot of homework about this stuff. Feel free to PM me if you think I can be helpful.
P.S. to @Kasami – Your major is irrelevant, as is any prior demonstrated interest in business (my son had none – didn’t even take Economics in high school). You simply have to take the prereq’s and a standard course load, including one semester where you take at least 16 credits.
@NinjaTurtle1 Well, I guess that really depends on your attitude and work ethic! But a 3.7+ is definitely do-able.
Also, I know alof of people even below a 3.65 (the average accepted score) that got accepted because they were just dedicated in getting in. Also, you don’t need to focus too hard on extracurricular. The b-school wants to see some sort of commitment but it isn’t like college applications where you have to do anything amazing to get accepted.
Most importantly, your GPA can be low but as long as your pre-req gpa for b school (5-6 courses) are solid then you’ll have another strong change. Let me know if you have any other question!
@AsleepAtTheWheel : It is often not the “hook” that explains GPA discrepancies. The b-school is for pre-professionals (hardcore ones at that for the most part) which means you will also get plenty people switching from pre-med/health. STEM GPA plus a rush to finish b-school pre-reqs can significantly lower GPA’s and b-school adcoms are “real” enough to take it into account (which is much more generous than graduate professional schools). Pre-business students not double majoring in the college can more easily engage in GPA management schemes than someone in another major or who is entertaining both pre-med and pre-business or some second major and pre-business. The hardest pre-bschool and b-school classes are curving around B+ (and this is after curving DOWN in some cases) whereas a difficult science section may curve or end up closer to B- with, in general, more competitive students, and harder exam types (like financial may still be multiple choice for example and its perceived difficulty may reflect how some struggle with math…and not particularly hard math. I personally think DSci requires more thinking skills and decent math skills. Gen. chem would be more like financial…and ochem with a difficult or even medium instructor would be DSci on steroids. The b-school, depending on concentration, has much harder classes students have to go through unless one wants to call Allison’s B-law course as a pchem equivalent?)
@bernie12 – Understood. Different versions of the statement that not all GPA’s are created equal. A 3.4 by a URM or from a courseload chock full of 18 credit hour semesters with science, labs,etc. is worth more than a 3.6 from a Theater major.
It may be worth pointing out that in terms of grade inflation, at least the b-school and the Dept of Economics have a ‘grade distribution policy’ that introduces some limit to the number of A’s and B’s.
I made the analogy between Financial Accounting and Organic Chemistry in that they are courses that are more demanding than the average Emory course and can separate the wheat and the chaff in a way that weeds out some of the less qualified applicants. That said, although I (as an ex-Chemistry major) might prefer taking Organic, most b-school kids would rather take FA, which is certainly less intellectually demanding and less time consuming.
@AsleepAtTheWheel I think they instituted that grade distribution not only because they got in trouble but because it helps the b-school actually gauge performance in the lower division courses. However, I don’t get the point actually. If your grades are insanely high for a college course, make it more rigorous instead of doing numerical deflation. IMHO, a class should never be so easy that on such distributions the grades are curved downward. However, I think “high” grades are normal in the social sciences. I hear complaints when averages are below 85 and hear ear fulls when between 75 and 80. The 60-80 range is normal in the sciences and anything beyond is considered an easier course. I wonder if the b-school or employers would just get used to seeing lower grades if economics courses at Emory tier (in terms of UG econ. rigor) got harder. I think lower grades (not mostly A’s) is normal at schools known for the intensity of their economics programs (normally due to the mathematical rigor.
And yes, I guess financial does that. I just wish they ran it more like either DSci or Business econ. where tests are not only multiple choice (I think it is always poor to weed based on “trickiness” and better to weed based on ability to do cognitively demanding tasks…you get better students emerging from it and it stimulates better learning tactics). Business econ. apparently isn’t that hard but at least asks for the right skills (I would honestly recommend it over general econ. despite the general courses appearing to have easier exam formats. They are graded on the same curve anyway). One must actually read magazine or journal articles/excerpts for B-econ. exams (with Smith I think) which builds the skills you need for maybe those case-based and research intensive business courses that encourage you to learn and extrapolate on the spot.
Also between ex-chemistry majors- Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen many schools (even elites) with most organic chemistry instructors teaching no better than say a very average biology instructor at stimulating or demanding critical thinking (as in a not particularly intellectually demanding ochem course. I used to see students post things like: “ochem is a bunch of memorization” and was like: “Huh?” but then I saw that at many schools it is), but in the case of Emory, the course seems exceptional across the majority of sections (in terms of how many students are taught). There is always at least one memorization based/“meh” level problem solving section each semester, but they never really have more than 1/3 or even 1/4 of students. Cannot say the same for elsewhere. Those who really struggle in ochem at many other schools are probably almost as likely to struggle in a voluminous biology course. Because of this, averages in the course at these schools are no different from those biology or general chemistry sections. These schools seem to let physics and math do the work of the chemistry department, but Emory is among the many elite publics and privates where chemistry does the work (several elites are known for high pre-health attrition being blamed on chemistry courses).
Guys, the Goizueta website keeps mentioning the average SAT score for admitted students. This really scares me because I was accepted to Emory with quite a low SAT score. How much weight does the SAT have and am I at a disadvantage here?
@NinjaTurtle1 : It doesn’t matter (it is an average). They likely mention it so that it is accessible to those comparing it to other elite BBA programs and to demonstrate that the business school students are as “strong” or stronger than those in the college based on board scores. This is unusual at non-elite schools. Typically the trend is that students with lower scores end up in the business school. I wouldn’t worry about your admission to the b-school more so than how well you can do in more difficult MC based classes in which case your GPA is likely more informative in predicting that.
@NinjaTurtle1 : Also, consider this: Do you really think a program within a university would select against you based on something you did in HS after you’ve been there for two years and succeeded academically? Wouldn’t make much sense. As evidence that they are mainly interested in that and “leadership”, their SAT fluctuates every year. That doesn’t happen at schools or entities pre-dominantly interested in scores. They increase every year at such places or remain flat.
@NinjaTurtle1 – The webpage that I linked to above contains the following paragraph under the heading of academic achievement that they’re looking for in the selection process:
“The Admissions Committee reserves the right to consider SAT or ACT scores as part of the admission process. In particular, if a student has little or no qualitative coursework (these include non-quantitative writing requirements and humanities courses) then the verbal section of the SAT will be used to gauge a student’s abilities in that area. A low score on the verbal section of the SAT can have a negative impact on a student’s admission if they have not demonstrated success in college-level writing and humanities coursework. Conversely, a student who has struggled with quantitative coursework may partially mitigate weaker academic performance through solid evidence of quantitative ability on the math section of the SAT.”
I have no particular insight into this other than the way I interpret this paragraph, which is: If you do well GPA-wise with a balanced and challenging curriculum then your SAT’s will be no consideration whatsoever. But business school or no business school you shouldn’t go to Emory if you think that it’s over your head academically. I doubt that it is.
@AsleepAtTheWheel : Wow, thank you for posting that. That is kind of silly, shouldn’t a person who has a high SAT, but cannot perform decently in say, intro. econ, DSci, and financial telling? Seems like not such a good idea. What is the point of excusing one who was able to perform on a standardized test, but then cannot in the actual college classes (which for most pre-bus. people are not very hard)? I suppose in the brightest cases, it allows them to take into account rigor of curriculum. Essentially, if an ambitious student challenges themselves (they have a high SAT and math APs and decide to take classes such as multivariable and/or CS courses, or sciences) and falls short a couple of times (as many will in courses that actually challenge), they can fall back on that and say, “oh, maybe these courses were just hard”. However, I would not do this favor for those with the more typical BBA type of schedule (as in plans to be a single major and definitely has no plan of double majoring in math, chemistry, physics or CS- all curricula that require more quantitative work than normal).
@bernie12 Maybe they take the SAT scores into account in some cases, but maybe they don’t. Maybe they use them for ‘wiggle room’ when there’s an applicant that they want to accept or reject (for whatever reason, legitimate or nefarious) and they can’t justify it based on other “objective” criteria. Just my cynical self talking.
That is the feeling I kind of get as well, but for once I tried to look at the positive. In general, other than for course placement, I do not believe SAT/ACTs should be used for any internal award or programmatic admissions especially after more than a year of course work.
^ I completely second that @bernie12
Thank you so much for all your inputs, its been of great help!
@NinjaTurtle1 – Great. Post a note on this thread after you’ve made a decision.
Best of luck!!
@AsleepAtTheWheel @bernie12
Had to reply to thank you people again! Just put my deposit down for Emory. SO excited to begin this fall!!!