<p>Having sat on an Ivy admissions committee, I can tell you he prestige/competitiveness of your undergraduate institution makes a huge difference. Strong candidates (grades, test scores, work exp., etc) from LACs are welcomed with open arms.</p>
<p>^ But we’re not talking about a top LAC vs. a tier 3 college, we’re talking about a top LAC vs. a top undergrad business school. If anything, wouldn’t the job offers a top business student receive give them a chance for more impressive work experience to put on the application?</p>
<p>When you talk about job offers do you mean all possible employment opportunities – or specifically, jobs in finance? If someone is sure they want to work in finance, then maybe an undergrad business school is the way to go.</p>
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There is a difference between being an analyst at McKinsey or Goldman versus being an analyst for a small accounting firm. How that plays in to MBA admissions, I don’t know.</p>
<p>right out of college, if you have a analyst position in Goldman vs an Analyst position in a smaller firm, it obviously would be to your advantage if you are working at Goldman. However, as you work longer and gain more experience, where you work doesn’t matter but what you do at work. Just become someone works at a famous firm does not mean they have learned more than you do and do a job better than you can. MBA take these thoughts into consideration.</p>
<p>^skimming through some of the posts cbreeze gave, it seems like top MBA programs actually prefer people from name brand companies. There probably are enough people from name brand companies with great experience, leadership, undergrad, etc. that they’ll take a sizeable chunck from top bank or consulting firm. If you think about the amount of screening taken into getting an analyst position at Goldman most people there will be the best of the best.</p>
<p>My cousing went to Washington and Lee and got a 3.3 there. He is now 24 and making $120,000 per year.</p>
<p>^My cousin was a pre-med major at NYU, then went for his JD/MBA at Fordham. His starting salary was around 250,000, and now he makes almost double that.</p>
<p>AWS are better for business than all but a handful of universities. This is really a poor topic.</p>
<p>Not only Amherst, Williams, and Swarthmore, but also Haverford, Pomona, etc.</p>
<p>^ AWS best refute the topic, but yes, you are right</p>