<p>is it truw that going to a lac gives u very little job oppertunities ? i am interested in business,econ and math and also want to have an A+ college experience, even though im drawn to LACs i hear that u dont get good job after graduating...im looking for a job (pref. finance) that gets me approx 50-60K on graduation at a big firm. </p>
<p>so is it worth going to an LAC over places like nyu stern, wharton, ucla, umich, uva, ut austin etc. thanks in advance :)</p>
<p>what’s a LAC? sry…</p>
<p>Liberal Arts College</p>
<p>Sadly, most kids feel that there should be lots of employers waiting in line at career centers at colleges.</p>
<p>Although there are some some colleges that have a number of employers who interview on campus, the vast majority of colleges don’t have that many employers interviewing on campus. It is USUALLY up to the student to find a job and develop a career. Say that last sentence five time to yourself! </p>
<p>The key is that you need to network yourself by keeping in touch with folks that have jobs. Always try to get internships during the summers or offtimes. Many times professors have connections ,which should be used as much as possible. Network, Network, Network.</p>
<p>That said, LACs have their pros and cons and have been debated on these boards.</p>
<p>The pros is that you get some of the best training for readiing, writing and critical thinking among that of any college. These skills will serve you well in the future. Moreover, you tend to get a closer relationship with both professors and other students.</p>
<p>One con is that they dont ordinarily prepare you for a job per se. There don’t normally offer vocationally oriented majors in LACs such as accouinting, and engineering ( although some LACs might have these majors). </p>
<p>Moreover, another con is that even if these majors are provided, kids generally are forced to take a lot more liberal arts that that of other universities,which means less courses in the major. This is why many LAC kids go on to graduate school/professional school.</p>
<p>Moreover, LACS tend to be quite small,usually have less than 2,500 kids and many times much smaller than 2,500. Thus, everyone tends to know you better than you may like.</p>
<p>I should note that, despite what was said above, there are a few LACs that also provide some excellent trade oriented majors. I don’t want you to think that they don’t exist. Harvey Mudd , for example, is a LAC that provides strong science oriented majors. Bentley College is a specialty school offering business oriented majors and is a sort of combination of LAC and business school that is quite good. In addition, both schools get a number of employers recruiting on campus too.</p>
<p>I should also note that some of the better known LACs tend to have more recruiters. Thus, Amhearst, Williams, Swarthmore, Haverford etc., do tend to get more recruiters.However, even here, you need to network. </p>
<p>However, what I said above does apply to most LACS.</p>
<p>This should have given you some degree of comparison between a LAC and university.</p>
<p>Babson college</p>
<p>For a job in finance, you can’t beat Wharton. I also can’t see any LACs matching the ability to get hired out of undergrad compared to Wharton, STern, and Ross (Mich). Williams, Amherst, and some other tippy top LACs place well, but not as well as the best business schools. if you want a LAC experience and similar recruiting one school to consider is Dartmouth.</p>
<p>The top MBA programs love LAC graduates, BTW.</p>
<p>Top MBA programs love people who show promise in the work place and leadership. Go-getting type A people fill up top schools, university or LAC. By time you apply for MBA programs your undergrad shouldn’t matter very much because you’ll have several years of work experience.</p>
<p>For all of the majors mentioned in the first post, all of the schools mentioned in the first post will get you more and better job offers. There are a couple top LACs that see a few good business/math job offers, but it really doesn’t compare to the offers that top business school grads get.</p>
<p>Top MBA programs love job experience, btw, not your undergrad.</p>
<p>Taxguy mentioned some very good points. I know this sounds terrible, but after seeing the majors you’re interested in, my response to your title would be “yes” because it just simply doesn’t make sense for you to pass up great finance programs which are practically guaranteed to get you a good job for a LAC that simply doesn’t offer anything as relevant to your field as a business degree and doesn’t have a comparable network in the field.</p>
<p>
No, they want both. </p>
<p>If you want to get into a top MBA program, you better have strong academic credentials and a degree from Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, Haverford, etc. definitely helps.</p>
<p>^ helps compared to what? Going to Michigan, UT, UVA, UCLA, etc? Don’t think so. </p>
<p>Agree with the previous poster’s point that undergrad institution isn’t all that important for MBA admission. Work experience is what matters. I assume that students out of top LACs are able to find good jobs, but I really don’t know much about LACs and will refrain from commenting.</p>
<p>Better colleges in general help you get better work experinece right out of undergrad, LAC or university. You’d be stupid to think that going to a top LAC gives you any advantage for jobs and MBA admission versus a comperable university.</p>
<p>
I’m sure MBA programs would rather take an applicant from Ball State with 7 years of good work experience, strong recommendations, and strong leadership skills over a 4.0 from Amherst with a year of soso work experience.</p>
<p>
Nope. Wrong.</p>
<p>The admissions officers at a top MBA program are going to choose a graduate of Williams, for instance, over a graduate of any of those schools, all things being equal (GPA, work experience, recommendations, etc.). </p>
<p>Sorry.</p>
<p>^what proof do you have? Top MBA programs might have more students proportionally from Williams than UCLA, but that is probably more a testimate to the types of students at both schools than the undergraduate institution itself.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is debatable. Unless one works in admissions, no one can prove that. Recently, Harvard as well as Stanford are starting to show some preference to young graduates (with 2 years of work experience or less) from top schools and top grades over older (>29) applicants with years of experience. This “age jihad” has been widely discussed among MBA consultants and applicants on other forums.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Very poor ■■■■■ job on your part. The fact is that ceteris paribus rarely, if ever, exists in MBA admissions and even if it did, the schools you are talking about THAT prestigious (like Stanford/Harvard/Princeton).</p>
<p>
cbreeze, can you point me to some of those discussions? Does this mean that an MBA is changing from a career changer to a sort of Undergrad -> 2 years as an analyst -> MBA -> associate type of track?</p>
<p>Are you familiar with Sandy Kreisberg? and Alex Chu ?
If you have time just read what they’ve written in the last year</p>
<p>[BW</a> Business Schools](<a href=“http://forums.businessweek.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=18068&nav=messages&webtag=bw-bschools&tid=10180]BW”>http://forums.businessweek.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=18068&nav=messages&webtag=bw-bschools&tid=10180)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.hbsguru.com/blog/[/url]”>http://www.hbsguru.com/blog/</a></p>
<p>[BW</a> Business Schools](<a href=“http://forums.businessweek.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=3140&nav=messages&webtag=bw-bschools&tid=66879]BW”>http://forums.businessweek.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=3140&nav=messages&webtag=bw-bschools&tid=66879)</p>
<p>[MBA</a> Admissions and Careers](<a href=“http://mbaapply.blogspot.com/]MBA”>http://mbaapply.blogspot.com/)</p>
<p>Read all the older posts as well.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Overall no, but this track is being used successfully by a lot of people.</p>
<p>an LAC is not a place to go if you see college as strictly a job-prep experience</p>
<p>Pardon me if I am being ignorant but I thought that if you want to get into a top MBA program, you have to be “special”<br>
Like you have to be some entrepreneur or you have to show how quickly you got promoted, etc during your work experience. </p>
<p>Even I can get an analyst job coming from a state school but how can that make me just as eligible to get into a top MBA as the other guy who may have done something out of the ordinary?</p>