<p>I am currently in the process of obtaining my B.A. in Philosophy from UCLA. I am very interested in going to business school, and having a profession in the business field. I've heard that many philosophy majors tend to score high on the GMAT. I have numerous business classes under my belt. I graduate from UCLA in two years. So, can I apply and successfully get accepted into a high-tier business school despite only having a B.A. in Philosophy and not something like business admin, finance, or biz econ? (Bearing I have a competitve gpa, high gmat, etc.) Or can you only go to business school with a undergrad degree in something business oriented?</p>
<p>Uh…in case you didn’t know, very few people get into a good business school straight after getting their bachelors. It is required by most b schools to have a few years of work experience before applying. So try to land a job in the business field with that phil degree and then think about getting an MBA.</p>
<p>^Yeah I know that, I was planning to work for 2-3 before business school anyways. Can you get a job in the business field with a phil degree?</p>
<p>Absolutely, without a doubt. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if there is a much higher percentage of MBA holders who did not have Business-related majors than those who did.</p>
<p>There’s the train of thought that having an undergraduate business education teaches you to think like every other person in business, which can severely limit your creativity and resourceful analytical skills. Obviously there’s no concrete answer to this, and I don’t know if I support it myself, I’m just saying that all of those History, International Relations, Philosophy, Psychology, and Engineering undergraduate students who want to apply their knowledge towards business often do so by picking up the business know-how through an MBA.</p>
<p>Whether or not you can get a job at all with a philosophy degree depends entirely on you. If you have the skills that an employer needs, then yep! If not, then no, because somebody else will have them. While your education should obviously be your primary focus right now, I’d still start looking at is being asked by jobs that you’re interested in, because graduating with a bachelors in Philosophy and no relevant job skills will place you in direct competition with the tens of thousands of other graduates who also know how to think, but not do. There certainly is a limit to how much you can prepare, but every step you take is one step ahead of somebody else that you are competing with.</p>
<p>Truthfully get internships now. Your only shot at a IB job or business related job in middle management is through work experience.</p>
<p>As said before graduating with no work experience and a philosophy degree will basically mean you will not find a business job.</p>
<p>Study hard for GMAT get 700+ and do as many internship now as possible. That your only shot.</p>
<p>IIRC most Philosophy degrees end up being the majority of the MBA/Law School/Med School applicants due to the limit options of a B.A in philosophy</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses!
Are there any philosophy majors in here that want to have a career in business?</p>
<p>^ me too…im gonna be entering ucla in the fall as a phil major and hope to get an MBA</p>
<p>Harvard has a lot of profiles of their admits if you have time to kill. I’m sure other schools do also.</p>
<p>[2011</a> - MBA - Harvard Business School](<a href=“http://www.hbs.edu/mba/perspectives/students/2011/]2011”>http://www.hbs.edu/mba/perspectives/students/2011/)
[2010</a> - MBA - Harvard Business School](<a href=“http://www.hbs.edu/mba/perspectives/students/2010/]2010”>http://www.hbs.edu/mba/perspectives/students/2010/)
and [Class</a> Statistics - MBA - Harvard Business School](<a href=“http://www.hbs.edu/mba/perspectives/class-statistics/]Class”>Class Profile - MBA - Harvard Business School)</p>
<p>From the last link, only 26% were business majors. Consulting was the top pre-MBA industry.</p>
<p>You rarely need an actual business degree at the undergraduate level to get into a good MBA program. Most of these schools show engineers as the dominant major and that makes perfect sense given their line of work/chance to get management positions. Just get as much work experience you can before you graduate (internships) and then try to grow within a company after you graduate. There’s a reason why most of these top schools have an entering class age of 26-28.</p>
<p>Yeah if you go to a top school like Stanford, UCB, or UCLA, your chances of getting an MBA at a top school are pretty good. I have a few family members who went to Stanford as English majors then got into investment banking after getting their MBAs.</p>
<p>That 2011 class has alot of economics/finance degree in undergrad.</p>
<p>The rest are MIT/Stanford/Princeton poly sci/journalism</p>
<p>[Alice</a> Yang - Profile Detail - MBA - Harvard Business School](<a href=“http://www.hbs.edu/mba/perspectives/students/2011/ayang.html]Alice”>http://www.hbs.edu/mba/perspectives/students/2011/ayang.html)-A biological Anthropology major</p>
<p>is the only really interesting one.</p>
<p>After graduating in 2003 she spent 6 years helping in Haiti and other areas. </p>
<p>Look to do something along those lines.</p>
<p>@Cupertinotransfr I’ve met a few English majors and they actually do very well. It’s usually a double major with English/blank and more often than not the English part of their degree landed them their jobs. Marketing and consulting jobs btw</p>
<p>But to get a job after graduating from undergrad prior to entering business school, would we need to take more business oriented classes, or are there specific areas in the business field which would be suitable for a humanities type person. I strongly agree that getting work experience for 2-3 prior to admission into a business school is key, but I am just worried how we would get a job suitable to the likings of a business school</p>
<p>Basically theres 4 types of job that Business school love.</p>
<p>Judging from the HBS site. </p>
<p>Investment banking/Hedge Fund/Banking- Citibank-Goldman Sach- etc bigger the better</p>
<p>Consulting Work- </p>
<p>Non-Profit/Global Initiative type work - UN work , Habitat for humanities, peace corp, etc</p>
<p>High Tech- Microsoft, google etc especially if your a electrical engineer .</p>
<p>You would probably need to find a job in group 3.</p>
<p>Wait, but I thought you needed calculus to get into business school? How could a social science or humanities major (who didn’t take calculus) get into a top business school? I’ve heard stories of applicants having to take math courses at UCLA extension before applying to business school. I have heard of non-business majors getting into EMBA and FTMBA programs, but not the main MBA programs.</p>
<p>Might be different at other schools but at UCI </p>
<p>you need a year of calculus + stats as undergrad graduation requirement for social sciences.</p>
<p>@peterr86 Not true! Poli Sci majors @ UCI are not required to take Calculus.</p>
<p>I’m at UCLA. I’ve already taken stats. Should I take a full year of calculus to be ‘eligible’ for business school?</p>
<p>Calculus is pretty much fundamental if you want to work in the business field to begin with.</p>
<p>@Lakerss I think courses in Calculus or high scores on the GMAT are necessary for business school. If you never took calculus and you score low on the GMAT you will not get into a good business program. If you take calculus and receive high grades this will help if you end up scoring low on the GMAT.</p>
<p>Bottom line is if you’re serious about business school you should be taking calculus, differential calculus, etc.</p>
<p>@virtuscience</p>
<p>good post.</p>