<p>I will be attending Duke University this fall. I've always been interested in business and as of right now, I think I would like to pursue a career in business (if not business, probably communications). Duke doesn't have business as a major, but it does have economics. However, when I went to the pre-business seminar, they said to major in anything you are interested in, because your major is not particularly important for getting into business school, but you should have a wide range of classes. Is this true?</p>
<p>Also, they emphasized the importance of calculus. Is it better to take calculus while actually in college, or is it okay to use your AP scores to get credit for it? How far should you go in calculus to be competitive for business schools?</p>
<p>The answer to your first question is yes. I'll put it to you this way. Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and Princeton undergrads cannot major in business and yet they are arguably the most successful of all undergrads at getting into B-school later on. Choose any elite MBA program and you will find that they are absolutely chock-full of former HYPS undergrads.</p>
<p>Calculus is useful to know but not really essential. Honestly, in B-school, unless you want to do highly theoretical finance or operations research, calculus is not necessary. I'll put it to you this way. Arguably the most quantitative and mathematical of all the elite B-schools is MIT-Sloan, and yet I know plenty of Sloan MBA's whose calculus skills are modest at best, and in some cases, nonexistent. </p>
<p>I would say that a good knowledge of statistics is significantly more useful than is calculus when you're in B-school.</p>
<p>I majored in Economics and I was accepted into 3 of the top 8 MBA programs. I recommend you learn a foreign language and take some math and stats courses. Also hone your computer skills, especially Excel and PowerPoint. On the professional side of things, you certainly want to look for internships in an industry you are interested as soon as you are settled at Duke. I will tell you this, only 20%-30% of MBA students at top 10 MBA programs majored in Business. Just as many majored in Engineering and Economics. The remaining 20%-30% majored in traditional disciplines, like English, Biology, Political Science, Psychology etc...</p>
<p>Alexandre - I should be looking into internships already? Can I get internships in the industry for the summer after my freshmen year, I heard it was hard unless you are at least a rising junior. Where do you suggest I look? Thanks! :-)</p>
<p>Start looking for summer internships as soon as you can. There is no rule that prohibits Freshmen and Sophomores from uploading their resume on the University Career Office website. Have the career office look over your resume and then, upload it. Once you do that, you can look at the schedule of visiting companies (on campus information sessions and interview dates) and request the companies to put you on their schedule. Furthermore, once your resume is uploaded on the Duke career website, recruiters will have access to it. </p>
<p>Also go to the career fairs with your resume handy, although at Career Fairs, you are better off taking Business cards and emailing your resumes to the people rather than simply giving them a hard copy of your resume.</p>