<p>I'm having a dilema on which route I should take. I'm planning to major in finance/economics in the business field at an undergrad school, but many say that after you get your MBA, your undergrad degree is meaningless. Is this true?</p>
<p>I live in MN and will be applying to UM Carlson as a safe school, 99% of the people graduate there with a job because MN offers a lot of opportunities. But my goals are Cornell ED/Berkeley/NYU/Ross. All of those would be way more expenssive than Carlson, so I'm not sure if it's worth it. What would be your suggestions?</p>
<p>And does going to a top undergrad business school raise my chances of getting into a top MBA program or is it soley based on work experience?</p>
<p>I’m kind of in the same situation you are in. I’m majoring in Finance/Economics and I also want to get my MBA from one of the top schools. I plan on working after I get my undergrad for a couple of years and then pursue my MBA. I don’t think it will be worthless right after you get your undergrad because you do plan on working right? However, I’ve been told people through companies, just talking to people that once you do get your MBA, your undergrad won’t really mean that much.</p>
<p>It kind of makes a difference if you do attend a top school, but it also depends how well you do wherever you attend. I’m in Chicago and I plan on either transferring to either Loyola Chicago or DePaul. They aren’t really top schools in the whole country, but they are well known in the Chicago area. But in your case you should go where you think is right for you. MBA schools look for people from different schools, not only from the top schools. I’ve known plenty of people that have gone from small schools to top mba programs.</p>
<p>There are differing opinions on this. Personally, I would go with the cheaper tuition but in the end you have to do what is best for you.</p>
<p>The thing is that good work experience may be easier to come by if you attend a top school. So, I would determine what I want to do postgrad and see the placement stats by the various schools. If you want to work in MN post grad, this decision is probably a no-brainer.</p>
<p>If you are a very high academic performer, then save the money and go to MN. You should not have a problem setting yourself apart from the other students and getting offers from the top recruiters at MN (I’m assuming that consulting companies etc recruit there).</p>
<p>That being said, if you want to go into Ibanking, then you should probably not choose MN.</p>
<p>I would actually think he has a better chance of getting into investment banking from UMinnesota than consulting, but not that great a shot of either.</p>
<p>^ Sorry, I meant ibanking in NYC. Perhaps you are right though. Consulting often recruits regionally which is why I stated that. I don’t know a whole lot about who recruits from UMinn though.</p>
<p>VectorVega,</p>
<p>Does undergrads from top schools usually go straight into i-banking? Or is it possible that once you get an MBA you can get into i-banking?</p>
<p>Undergrads do get hired into Ibanking at the analyst level. MBAs get hired into Ibanking at the Associate level (which is obviously higher).</p>
<p>There is an investment banking forum on this site:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/investment-banking/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/investment-banking/</a></p>
<p>I stole this list from that board. It is the Merrill Lynch Summer Analyst Class for 2007 and should give you a better idea of where the NYC Ibanks are recruiting their talent:</p>
<p>Harvard: 13
Princeton: 11
Dartmouth: 10
Penn (Wharton & CAS): 7
Duke: 7
Yale: 6
Stanford: 6
Columbia: 5
Michigan: 4
MIT: 4
Berkeley: 3
Williams: 3
Cornell: 3
UVA: 2
Brown: 2
UNC: 2
Indiana: 2
UCLA: 2
NYU (stern & CAS): 2
Amherst: 2
USC: 2
Wellesley: 2</p>
<p>Yes your undergrad is pretty much meaningless after you do the MBA (even for getting into business school there are more relevant things than the school you attended fot ug. GMAT, experience, essays, letters of recomendation, etc.)
However, if you go to a very good undergrad school chances are higher for you to get a better job after graduation, which means you would probably get the better experience, which means you have higher chances of getting into the top business schools. So your undergrad school won’t be relevant to get selected in a top school, but it will be important in setting the path to getting into one.</p>