IU Kelley vs SMU Cox vs SCU Leavey

@ProfessorPlum168: wrote: “I probably would have made up the salary difference in 2 or 3 years. This was 30 years ago, so I’m sure things are different now.”

Recent salary & earnings for first year hires with and without an MBA degree at a management consulting firm:

New Hires With Undergraduate or non-MBA masters degree:

$85,000 base salary, up to 10% of base salary as an annual performance bonus, signing bonus of $10,000, relocation of up to $5,000.

Same firm/company for First Year New Hires With An MBA or PhD degree:

Base salary $150,000 (several competitors at $165,000), $25,000 signing bonus plus an additional signing bonus of $17,500 for returning MBA student interns, guaranteed end of year bonus for all new MBA hires of $30,000 plus eligible for an additional $15,000 bonus based on first year performance, plus up to $80,000 tuition reimbursement for second year MBA tuition.

So max package of $108,500 for non-MBA first years versus $317,500 for those with a new MBA degree.

geez @Publisher I’m so far removed from my MBA nowadays, I should re-explore things lol.

Go to Indiana. My issue with SMU and SCU isn’t the schools themselves - it’s getting an undergraduate management degree, which I don’t consider a very marketable degree.

So would you say that the entrepreneurship and corporate innovation degree would be valuable in the job market even if I decided against starting my own business?

Interestingly enough, an Eagle Scout I was working with last year had the same choice of schools. Kelley, Cox and Leavey-ended up going to Cox. My understanding is that even though Kelley has the higher ranking, Cox has a strong alumni network. For the record, Cox was his final choice.

I would say so. The problem with most undergraduate management degrees is that they are too generic, and you’re unlikely to be hired as a manager in a particular field unless you first have direct, hands-on work experience in that field. One of my daughter’s old boyfriends had an undergraduate management degree, and he was working as a service counter agent at a muffler shop. That sounds very typical to me.

I disagree on Management and know lots of kids with great first tier investment banking jobs with a management degree. I do agree however that SMU connections are very strong and that Cox has great job placement. I do think to some though Kelly carries more prestige.

And @DylanAll yes I would think the social connections you make at SMU will be very strong in terms of future connections. And For FWIW you will have the most fun by far at SMU.

Avoid “General Management”, but “Management” as in “name of your college” (like Binghamton’s “School of Management”) is fine. You have to decipher the implicit differences. At Cox, that “general” major is called “General BUsiness”. I’d pick one of the other majors and add a solid minor as well as a minor/concentration (if you can hack that, or just take the relevant classes)

It’s good to have solid courses in Economics and Statistics, regardless of major.
International Business without mastery of a foreign language/culture+study abroad is pretty useless, with them pretty valuable.
Marketing requires a minor in Data Analytics/Business Analytics/Applied Statistics nowadays.
Business Analytics, on its own, is also very quickly growing field.
Entrepreneurship is hot with students but not as solid, which is why it’s a concentration, not a major. (A concentration is added to any Business major to specialize it further.)
Note that out of the 3 students highlighted, 2 have both a BA and a BBA, and the third one seems to have been involved in Finance with a Consulting concentration.

But would you say that the title or focus of an undergraduate degree is still important even if I plan on getting an MBA?

If you want an MBA from a top program, you’re better off double majoring in BA+BBA or majoring in Economics with a strong Math background, in Stem especially cs, or a ‘traditional’, ‘rigorous’ liberal art such as Philosophy. If you plan on an executive MBA completed while you’re working the main point will be your job performance.

@DylanAll: The title or focus of your undergraduate degree may be important even if you plan on getting an MBA.

The difficulty in addressing this question is that you have no definite career objective or plans (which is okay as an 18 year old high school senior). and that your reason for desiring an MBA is not clear. For example, do you want an MBA in order to advance in your current job or to switch industries or are you targeting a specific career & specific employers within that field. Or would a 10 month specialty master’s degree be a better option than an MBA ?

Among your three current options, probably best to limit your choices to either IU-Kelley or SMU-Cox due to lower cost & to superior job placement with respect to both internships & to full time job offers.

If you wanted a career in management consulting or in investment banking, then certain undergraduate schools–and not necessarily business schools–would be recommended. If you were targeting accounting/Big 4 work, then a much larger number of business schools would be fine.