Liberal Arts for Business?

College Search & Selection
1

Hi,

I’ve been scouting for LACs that would prepare me well for entering the business world. I was thinking of majoring in economics. I am also planning on applying to some nonLACs that have strong business programs (Emory and BC).
Are there any LACs that stand out in their economics program (or if they have a business program)? Are there any schools known to send off graduates to top MBA/Bschools?

I’ve toured Colgate already but I’m also looking for a more diverse community that’s not uptight. Not that Colgate isn’t fantastic, but I don’t really see myself fitting in completely. I would rank academics as first priority, so I wouldn’t mind applying to Colgate.
I’ve also visited Babson, but I don’t see myself taking classes just in business. I like having the whole palette. They do have other class requirements but the topics are limited.
I want to be able to do research over the summer (science) and attend a school with a strong study abroad program.

Do you have recommendations for safeties as well?
Thank you!

2

Lots of people refer to the IDEAS list: https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html. This list seems to be based primarily on the publication record of the professors in the department, though, and not necessarily undergraduate teaching or external opportunities. Still, it’s a place to start.

Another thing to consider are what colleges are good at placing student at top post-graduation jobs. Really, it’s the job you do between college and b-school that helps determine where you get in, but the top firms are competitive places that value prestige. Most of the top schools on that IDEAS list are probably going to be pretty well-known for sending their grads off to top consulting, banking, hedge fund, et al. types of places, though.

The University of Richmond might be a particularly stand-out place for you to consider. It’s a comprehensive LAC, but they do have an emphasis on business and they have their own business school with an undergrad program. You get a little of the best of both worlds. And the student body is relatively diverse (as far as top schools go) - 31% students of color, 13% first-generation college students. Richmond’s a pretty diverse city.

3

These LACs appear to send the greatest percentage of their graduates to top MBA programs:

Middlebury
Hamilton
Claremont McKenna
Bates
Amherst
Pomona

4

Williams’ econ program is outstanding and Williams grads are very well represented in finance.

5

Thank you everyone! @merc81 are there less selective schools that make the list? These are all reaches for me. Also I heard Bates is even more selective when it comes to woman. Why is that?

I am looking for schools that accept more than 20% in their admissions pool, as well as safeties! I have too many reaches and matches on my list and no safeties except my state school.

Thank you for helping out!

6

Based on course offerings, CMC’s economics department has a fairly strong pre-professional emphasis. You can compare the CMC economics offerings to those at Pomona, which has are more traditional liberal arts / pre-PhD emphasis.

Note that economics at less selective schools may be more likely to tilt toward a pre-professional emphasis, particularly if there is no actual business major. But some more selective schools without actual business majors may have some more pre-professional type offerings.

Remember that business is the application of various social studies fields like economics, sociology, psychology, as well as some math and statistics. So a student at a school without a business major could take applicable courses in those departments to get some background in the topics normally associated with business.

Note that MBA programs do not require a specific undergraduate major, but the more selective ones tend to prefer students who have good post-BA/BS work experience.

7

Lehigh, Skidmore, Wake Forest and maybe Depauw

8

Bucknell

9

The University of Richmond offers a hybrid program in business and the liberal arts.
http://robins.richmond.edu/undergraduate/bsba.html

Colgate (and maybe a few other LACs) seems for some reason to attract students with a relatively strong pre-professional orientation. This (rather than anything very unusual in their academic programs) may account for apparently higher average early-career earnings or job placements. Very successful business people have graduated from LACs that offer virtually no specialized business training at all. Examples:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Amherst_College_people#Businesspeople
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Williams_College_people#Business

Virtually any LAC can provide the academic credentials you’d need to enter an MBA program, but not the work/internship experience many employers and graduate business schools want to see.

10

Colleges are often hyped on CC as being “lottery ticket” admits, @penngirlpending. However, if you are a strong student, many doors will be open to you. Bates, for example, recently accepted 23% of female applicants (28% for males) and Colby 30%. Though far from easy admits, quality schools such as these are not impossible to get into either.

Schools accept female and male applicants in different percentages because these groups apply to certain colleges disproportionately and colleges (and students) prefer gender balanced classes. As examples, Bates has a higher acceptance rate for men, Colby has a higher acceptance rate for women and Hamilton is nearly neutral.

For the full source on post 2, search “Undergrad to MBA” in this forum. juillet’s link in post 1 should help you as well.

Grinnell matches some of your criteria.

11

I heard only 2 weeks ago from Gary Ross, Colgate’s Dean of Admission, that Colgate does not administer a quota system in favor of males despite the fact that recent classes skew roughly 55:45 female. The mandate is to accept the best applicants, as usual, and let the yield fall where it falls.

Go 'gate!

12

Dickinson. My D’s BF was an Econ major there and has a good job with one of the large consulting firms. My D was a humanities major there, also got a good job in business. They have an international business program, too (don’t recall if it is a major or minor, but you can Google).

13

Sewanee has a business minor program that you can combine with an Econ degree

http://www5.sewanee.edu/business/minor

14

@penngirlpending Usually MBA programs prefer that you have post-college job experience, instead of applying for the MBA right out of undergrad. Thus, focusing on a major and a college where you will get a good job when you graduate is important. All of the LACs mentioned above would be great for job and MBA resumes. But, many universities also have strong liberal arts and Economics Departments, and many have business schools, as you mentioned - Emory, BC. Other good undergrad B-schools incl UVA, Notre Dame, UNC, Wash U, Cornell, Michigan, Penn, USC, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, Lehigh, etc. You might not ever need to spend money on an MBA if you graduated from BC, Emory, or one of these others!

And, if you are concerned about size, some universities with decent Econ Departments are not that big - like Emory & Lehigh, but also William & Mary, Duke, Princeton, Dartmouth, Tulane, etc. I don’t know as much about the smaller “safety” LACs, as my sons both focused on colleges that have engineering. But, I was an Econ major back in the day, and both my husband and I have MBAs, and many of our sons’ friends are Econ or business majors, so I can relate to your interests.

One thing I remember about my MBA program at Duke is that the school seemed intrigued by kids who were not necessarily all Econ or undergrad business majors working on Wall Street. They kind of liked the interesting kid who was a Philosophy major who wrote a book after college, or a Political Science major who worked for a Congressman, or a Chemistry major who worked for a chemical company, or a Math major who went into the military, or an English major who became a teacher and wanted a career change, etc. I don’t know if that’s true any more, but it would be interesting to ask around, just in case you decide on a different major but still want to keep your options open for an MBA later. Regardless, it would be good to take some Econ, Stats, and/or other business classes in college anyway, to make sure you like them, before jumping into an MBA later.

Good luck!