I am an economics undergraduate student. I have a few questions:
I've read many times that admissions departments for MBA programs like to see students that have prior work experience before they apply for the MBA program. In other words, it is very difficult to graduate with a BA in economics in the Spring and start an MBA program in the Fall. How true is this? Also, if this is the case, what types of jobs are MBA programs wanting to see? I'll have a BA in economics... What opportunities will this open for me to work before my MBA?
What's the difference between a MA in economics and an MBA in terms of employability? In terms of admissions? Is it easier to go straight from a BA in economics to a MA economics program without work experience? What about a PhD in economics? PhD in business?
Yes, it is more common to go right into a masters program in economics than it is to go right into a MBA program from college.
Your econ department should have a list of jobs that previous students have. Econ majors get hired into a range of business, government, or nonprofit jobs.
PhD in econ are looking for students who have completed a certain set of math courses. Typically three semesters of calc, a semester of linear algebra, and real analysis. Some business PhD programs also have those requirements.
What about a master’s / PhD in finance? What are the differences for job opportunities and admissions requirements for finance graduate school rather than economics graduate school or MBA?
What about employment after your BA?
Works experience begets work opportunities. Why do you think you need a bunch of credentials to be employable?
It’s time for you to visit your school’s career office.
I am in the same boat. Graduating with a BA in Economics in a couple of weeks, now looking into graduate programs in Economics and Finance. While an MBA does require work experience, MA/MSs in Financial Economics/Applied Economics/Financial Economics/Finance typically do not. Many also say that MBA right after college would not necessarily be the best choice, as it may be more beneficial to you as a student to actually have work experience in the field. There are also a couple of MBA programs I heard of that do not require work experience.
I would assume the MBA programs that do not require work experience are the less competitive, as Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, etc can demand work experience and get away with it.
Perhaps I will understand further down the road, but I want to pursue either economics or finance in an academic fashion. I don’t see myself working in industry; I’d prefer to work in research or academia. However, I avoid advanced calculus because I hate math and I avoid pre-MBA work because I don’t want to take a gap in my schooling only for the purpose of taking a gap.
It certainly is a dilemma. Originally I was planning on pursuing law school, but after fully researching potential employment prospects for new JDs, decided that it would be much safer to go with Economics or Finance. It also seems to be a widespread perception that MBA programs teach somewhat vague skills compared to Finance/Applied Economics graduate programs. I, myself, cannot either confirm or refute that idea as I am not an MBA student.
I’m in the same boat. I’m quite interested in law school as well, but I don’t want to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for something that’ll land me a $60,000 government job if I’m lucky.
I’m most likely going to end up pursuing graduate school (MA / PhD) for economics and I’ll just treat the math as a hurdle I have to overcome.
Exactly, the law school situation makes me wish I was born in the 70s, when law school was cheap and graduates didn’t have any issues finding employment in the field. I also fell in love with economics and the way it applies to everything in life. It appears that for many in the field of finance the ultimate goal is a CFA charter, which is often compared to an MBA. In order to acquire a CFA charter, you have to pass three series of exams and have 48 months of work experience in the financial industry. If you study yourself, it will only cost around $5000. But if you would rather work in the academia, PhD in economics should be the most rewarding route.
Most MBA programs now require at least two years of work experience before applying. You are going to be running a company, you have to work. There are many masters in finance, masters in economics, financial economics, financial engineering etc that do not require work experience that you can apply to right out of college.