Maximize Chance for MBA - Minor in math/stats or philosophy?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Los Angeles
1

<p>I know that the MBA programs look for three critical knowledge development:</p>

<p>1) Economics & Business
2) Quantitatives
3) Critical Thinking & Writing</p>

<p>Right now, I'm just a regular Econ major. I'm looking for a minor, and I'm trying to decide between Statistics and Philosophy. The reason that I chose those specific minors are because one (stats.) may develop quantitative side of knowledge while the other one (philosophy) may help me develop critical thinking & writing side of knowledge. I have to choose one. Which would you recommend?</p>

<p>Note: I'm relatively comfortable with Stats., but I'm actually kind of scared to move on to upper-division stats class because I'm horrible with quantititative analysis type of problems, which I heard constitute most of upper-division math classes. Also, I've never taken any Philosophy classes before, and I heard some of them are absolutely difficult.</p>

<p>P.S. Don't even recommend me doing BizEcon or Accounting Minor because I'm no longer eligible to get into either of them.</p>

2

<p>If you want an mba there's only 5 things you need to know. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Work Experience</p></li>
<li><p>Work Experience</p></li>
<li><p>Work Experience</p></li>
<li><p>Work Experience</p></li>
<li><p>GMAT</p></li>
</ol>

3

<p>Untrue.</p>

<p>Although Work Experience may be the most important factor, the admission com. also tend to favor applicants with strong background in the three factors I mentioned above. I understand the courses you take as undergrad. play very little factor in MBA admission (compared to other Grad. Programs), but it is wrong to say that they play no factor at all, and in the end, the admissions committee would prefer someone who took courses that enhances quantitative and/or critical thinking skill than someone who flooded his/her transcript with irrelevant courses like art or foreign language classes.</p>

<p>That being said, I was just curious minoring in which would be more helpful for me.</p>

4

<p>
[quote]
Although Work Experience may be the most important factor, the admission com. also tend to favor applicants with strong background in the three factors I mentioned above. I understand the courses you take as undergrad. play very little factor in MBA admission (compared to other Grad. Programs), but it is wrong to say that they play no factor at all, and in the end, the admissions committee would prefer someone who took courses that enhances quantitative and/or critical thinking skill than someone who flooded his/her transcript with irrelevant courses like art or foreign language classes.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>If this was the case then biz majors, or econ majors would make up the vast majority of mba students. Look at chicago, most students majored in a humanities/social science. Obv an econ major would help you net a much better job out of UG than say a history major would and that would count towards work experience but the typical biz/econ major is one of thousands when applying to biz school. </p>

<p>I think a minor in math/stats would help you get a better job out of ug, and therefore a better chance at getting into a top mba, but what you minor in isn't going to mean s**t come mba admissions. </p>

<p>
[quote]
and in the end, the admissions committee would prefer someone who took courses that enhances quantitative and/or critical thinking skill than someone who flooded his/her transcript with irrelevant courses like art or foreign language classes.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>If that was the case then the top 5 mba programs would be filled entirely with people that have quant majors and worked at ib/pe/hf/consulting before getting their mba. </p>

<p>If you really believed what you said then you wouldn't be asking this question because it's pretty obvious, if you use your logic, which minor you should take.</p>

5

<p>
[quote]
I think a minor in math/stats would help you get a better job out of ug, and therefore a better chance at getting into a top mba, but what you minor in isn't going to mean s**t come mba admissions.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Look here, I'm not totally ignorant of the whole MBA admissions process as I've done tons of research on it already. Yes, I know that work experience is BY FAR the most important factor when it comes to MBA admission. But one of the things that adcoms require is the undergraduate transcript. If everything that mattered for MBA was just work experience and GMAT, then the adcoms wouldn't even bothered requiring that extra requirement for the sake of their time and effort. Needless to say, the Adcoms DO consider the type of courses you took, and one reason why they look at it is to see the substance of the classes you took. A strong undergraduate record with mixture of quantitative courses, critical thinking, and writing courses will demonstrate the applicant's suitability for the MBA program. Of course, these qualities can be better demonstrated through performance at work, but it would definitely boost up the applicant's chance if what he/she took as undergrad are relevant to what the adcom are looking form.</p>

<p>Also, I want to MAXIMIZE my chance of getting in. I want to do everything I can from now on to maximize my chance to get into top MBA programs. And one way I want to maximize it by is to take relevant courses, and possibly minoring.</p>

<p>BTW, thanks for the suggestion of Stats.</p>

6

<p>math/stats</p>

7

<p>I always hear that work experience counts the most but what constitutes as great work experience? Some leadership position? What characteristics in a job are they looking for?</p>

8

<p>
[quote]
math/stats

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Thanks again.. but I just found out that I have to take some math classes in order to even be eligible to take upper-division stats class... <em>sigh</em> so I guess stats/math is no choice for me. =/</p>

<p>
[quote]
I always hear that work experience counts the most but what constitutes as great work experience? Some leadership position? What characteristics in a job are they looking for?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Due to the demand for diversity in applicants, adcoms look for any kind of work experience, ranging from the typical professional feeder industry (Investment Banking, Consulting, Accounting, Marketing, Advertising) to the less traditional industries like journalism, research science, military, government, etc.</p>

<p>In another word, the adcoms don't care about what kind of job you had before MBA as long as you:</p>

<p>-Understand how complex organizations work (Knowledge)
-Have had the opportunity to take initative to solve technical and organizational problems (Leadership)
-Know where you are headed (Ambition/Goal)</p>

<p>You can show these qualities in pretty much any industry as long as you are not flipping burgers. The key is: The Adcoms want to see that you've accomplished SOMETHING, and what I mean by accomplishment is whether you successfully took on the responsibility, and even better, whether you did something that you did not have to and made something better. This can be anything from managing people, projects, and asset; performing complicated analysis; struggling through difficult decisions; and bringing about changes. This is what they mean by "Leadership". </p>

<p>The adcoms also want to see whether you were successful in the Real World. This could be shown through promotion of title, increase in salary, and addition of responsibilities. The purpose of MBA is to pick out the ones with management potential and "training" them to be a future leader in tomorrow's World, so logically, they want to see if you've been on top of game during that 3-5 years of "brief preview time" of what you'll be facing for the rest of your post-MBA life.</p>

<p>As long as you demonstrate these qualities and show it on your essay/resume, then you'll be a competitive candidate.</p>

9

<p>^^ Perfectly said. Top 5 MBA programs are filled with consultants, financial advisors, and investment bankers....just as often however they are filled with nonprofits (in fact I believe 2 of the top 5 MBA's have more nonprofit people than IB'ers) which can range from a community organizer, peace core volunteer, and teach for America teachers. Most people have ~4-5 years of work experience before they apply, which gives them a solid chance to develop their leadership skills, show what they can do, and show how an mba will get them to where they want to be.</p>

10

<p>i would recommend majoring in math or physics if you want to go into consulting or finance. the field is changing rapidly and quants are in high demand</p>

11

<p>So you don't want to do anything difficult, but you want to be highly paid?</p>

12

<p>When did I ever say that I wanna be highly paid?</p>

13

<p>You don't really need a minor. Can't you just take stats and philosophy classes, instead of minoring in one and losing out completely on the other?</p>