<p>I've been looking online, and I can't find a solid answer. Does one actually need to take economics or accounting courses during undergrad to get into a Top MBA program? Assume one graduates from Cornell with a 4.0 as a psychology major (no business class experience) and aces the GMAT. Would one stand a chance? Would one need to work for a few years and then apply?</p>
<p>IZ DON'T KNOWZ.</p>
<p>put your question on the Parents Forum…someone there will know.</p>
<p>Depends on the school. Some schools, like Kellogg at Northwestern, favor people with business experience (at least a couple years). Other schools will accept people straight from undergrad with a variety of degrees. Probably need to talk to admissions at the schools you are interest in.</p>
<p>Most elite MBA programs like seeing 2 years of job experience after undergrad. My roommate who is planning on going to the business field, is graduating college in 3 years, and getting a job at a firm in boston for 2 years. He then plans on applying to MBA programs. He told me that elite schools like seeing business experience.</p>
<p>No. And while You will need work experience, no requirement for it to be in business per se. MBA programs seek to create a diverse cohort: taking students from any majors, life and work experience.</p>
<p>Young students now seem to identify “business” completely with finance and Wall Street, but that is only a portion of what business schools teach. As “business” developed as an area of academic inquiry, and business schools established themselves as legitimate educational institutions whose students learned things worth knowing, much of the faculty came not from economics or accounting but from other social sciences like sociology or psychology. Things like “management” and “marketing” take up a fair amount of acreage in the b-school geography, and they have a lot more to do with psychology than with economics. (Not that psychology and economics don’t have a fair amount to do with each other, but that’s another discussion.)</p>
<p>You do not need any econ or accounting to get in to business school- but you will need to demonstrate that you actually know what is taught (and are interested in learning it) in order to be credible to an MBA admissions committee.</p>
<p>My classmates in business school (a hundred years ago) were a very diverse lot- including a successful soap opera actress-- but everyone had some demonstrable business-centric element to their application (the soap opera actress wanted to move from in front of the camera to the deal side of the entertainment industry). So a course in econ or accounting is certainly not going to hurt your crediblity.</p>
<p>Thanks for the answers!</p>
<p>You don’t <em>need</em> to take econ or accounting to get into a top b-school - it is not as key as, for example, work experience. I would say there’s little added value in getting an MBA directly after graduation - companies that come recruiting to b-schools are looking for some experience, and don’t want to pay an “MBA salary” to someone who hasn’t yet had a full time job.</p>
<p>Business schools will look to your quantitative ability as markers to your ability to succeed in the quantitative parts of their program (schools that are quant focused, like URochester, will place more of an emphasis on this), but that can be demonstrated in a variety of ways, including doing well on the GMAT. Plenty of b-schools also have a “math camp” type pre-matriculation activity that will allow you to brush up on math skills.</p>
<p>As an English major who only took a couple econ classes (101 and 103!) and go into a top b-school, it’s definitely possible. Working for a few years will definitely increase your chances, but if you’re interested in getting things settled now, look at programs like the Harvard Business Schools 2+2 program, Yale SOM’s Silver Scholars, Simon School of Business’s Early Leaders, etc.</p>
<p>Looking at your post history, you appear to have aspirations for law, med and business school. While multiple degrees can be helpful, I <em>hope</em> you’ll work a few years to pay for them!</p>