<p>The prefer for you to do a liberal arts major such as Economics, or something in Engineering.</p>
<p>Some numbers from HBS Admit Profile</p>
<p>Undergraduate Majors </p>
<p>Humanities/Social Sciences 42%
Engineering/Natural Sciences 32%
Business Administration 23%
Other 4%</p>
<p>HBS doesn’t like business majors and yet 23% of it’s admits have business majors? LoL. Great case you are making, especially when you consider that very few of the elite undergrads even have a college of business.</p>
<p>HBS has a disproportionate number of top college grads and few top colleges offer a business major.</p>
<p>Not making a case, really… Just saying you dont necessarily need a business major. Hello?</p>
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<p>Your thread title states: “MBA Programs don’t like Business Majors.” Hello?</p>
<p>haha nice argument. FAIL</p>
<p>They like job experience a lot more than any particular major, and business majors usually do pretty well in that department so no, I would definitely say they in fact DO like business majors.</p>
<p>^exactly. A lot of people go into “business” but didn’t major in business administration but econ, seeing as not a lot of colleges offer business as an undergrad degree. Since Econ falls under social science I would lump a good portion of that percentage in with the business and say that probably 40+% majored in business or econ. The reason engineer is so large is because for people like me, an engineer, the thought of business is entirely new. Thus, we need the education, unlike econ and business majors who really need more of the network and the letters behind their name.</p>
<p>I’ll play devil’s advocate for a second.</p>
<p>I don’t know about Harvard, but it seems to me that most MBA programs start with the expectation that the admittant has little formal training in business but has on-the-job experience. So, MBA classes can seem to be some of the same classes that undergrad business majors take, because the expectation is that the MBA admit wouldn’t have been in a major initially with these classes. This is, in fact, the reason why many schools don’t even OFFER undergrad business classes – because they can teach those undergrad level courses in some MBA program.</p>
<p>[If</a> You Know You’ll Get An MBA…](<a href=“Bloomberg Businessweek - Bloomberg”>Bloomberg Businessweek - Bloomberg)</p>
<p>If you want to major in business for undergrad, then what’s more important than an MBA is a certification in whatever field you want to go in (CPA or CA, CMA, CGA, whatever, CFA, CFE, these are all specialized certifications…)</p>
<p>However, if you are not initially a business major (say, you’re an engineer), then as you move up the ranks, you’ll eventually have to become acquainted with the business side of things. This is what the MBA is for.</p>
<p>I think the TC worded things awkwardly. It’s not that MBA programs don’t like business majors or anything. It’s just that if you are a business major, you really don’t need an MBA. Get a more useful, relevant, target certification.</p>
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<p>Undergrad level courses shouldn’t be taught in an MBA program. There is certainly some overlap for business students, but there is also overlap for engineering students (with operations/statistics courses). That being said, the redundancy is not as much as you would expect. While the BBA coursework serves as a base of knowledge, it is not necessarily given much attention in an MBA program. Much of that material is covered in the massive amounts of readings or within a prep package given to the students prior to the first seemster. Class discussions and Harvard business cases will generally look at the material from an management level perspective, which is totally different than what is learned in BBA.</p>
<p>Also, one should have learned far more on the job than they ever learned in undergrad, and are likely to have forgotten much of what they learned in undergrad anyways. So who is the coursework really more redundant for: The Biology major from Harvard that worked as an Ibanking analyst for two years, and worked in private equity for another year; or the Finance major from SMU who was a commercial real estate broker for 4 years?</p>
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<p>I don’t necessarily agree with this. Sure, if you want to be a Big 4 accountant, an MBA is not necessary but a CPA is. However, if you want to be an executive then you may need an MBA regardless of your undergrad (this is why so many engineers come back for their MBA). Many of the elite jobs virtually require an MBA (ex: strategy consulting).</p>
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<p>That’s what a part-time MBA paid for an employer is about. However, the vast majority of engineers at top schools are getting their MBA because they either can’t advance in their position/career (which generally has nothing to do with knowledge), and/or because they want a career change altogether.</p>
<p>BTW, I’ve seen that article posted several times. It really doesn’t qualify anything it says. The girl is a biology major at HARVARD. 'nuff said.</p>
<p>While there is some overlap, I think the MBA versions of similar sounding classes are less nuts and bolts and more how to apply this area to overall mgt of the company.</p>
<p>I think that most people that did their undergrad in business don’t get their MBA unless their employer tells them they want them to. </p>
<p>That means that a lot of business majors don’t need their MBA, where as liberal arts majors decide that it might be a good idea.</p>