Things to know about the top business programs

College Majors Business Major
1

<p>Okay, since people don't get proper info on the undergraduate business schools, let me start a thread on some info that might be of concern to some students and their parents. For those in the know, feel free to add info of interest--but please don't clog this threads with arguments about which are the best schools--or why one business program is better than another. Start your own thread, please, if that is your intention. The point here is to provide info for people to use in making their own college choices.</p>

<p>So give info on the following items (or add items that may be of interest). Post your items so they relate to the numbers below.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Which of the schools on these "top" lists have business programs that are strictly in a business school? Which ones don't? Which of those programs are connected to a business graduate program, and which ones aren't?</p></li>
<li><p>Which schools allow you to go into a business program without even applying to the business school? Which ones don't?</p></li>
<li><p>Which schools have business programs that don't even start teaching the business classes until at least the sophomore year? Which ones don't even start teaching the business classes until at least the junior year?</p></li>
<li><p>Which schools allow you to transfer in from outside (that is, if you wanted to take business at a school like Penn, are you allowed to transfer as a sophomore or junior--and if so, only from Penn, or also from another college)? </p></li>
<li><p>Which school requires overseas study as part of the program? Which ones will at least accept some overseas business study as part of the graduation credits? Which ones don't?</p></li>
<li><p>Which business programs have separate business institutes or programs focused on certain fields, like taxation, entrepreneurship, investment banking, or consulting--and by this, I mean not just a major, but active separate academic activities, field trips, and guest speaker programs?</p></li>
<li><p>Which schools have business honors programs? Which don't?</p></li>
<li><p>Which requires foreign language courses in order to graduate? Which don't?</p></li>
</ol>

2

<p>I’ll start with two schools that I know well since my son has attended them both. First Indiana:</p>

<p>Indiana University at Bloomington:

  1. The undergraduate business school is a true business school. It is part of the graduate business school.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>You are required to apply to the business school, either as part of the original school application or during the freshman year.</p></li>
<li><p>Business classes can be taken as soon as the freshman year, although there is a “core” of 16 classes that must be passed to proceed on to the “I-Core” and business concentration classes.</p></li>
<li><p>You can transfer in as a mid-year freshman, sophomore or at the beginning of the junior year.</p></li>
<li><p>Overseas study is not required, but courses taken during overseas study can be applied to the graduation credit requirements. They have a standard agreement for education overseas at 20 universities–3 for overseas business courses.</p></li>
<li><p>They have specialized programs for entrepreneurship, consulting, and investment banking.</p></li>
<li><p>They have a separate business honors program, but you must be admitted by the end of the freshman year to qualify.</p></li>
<li><p>No foreign language programs are required to graduate, although 2 courses in international study are required.</p></li>
</ol>

3

<p>University of Virginia:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>The undergraduate business school is called the McIntyre Commerce School. The graduate business program is called the Darden Business School. There are separate from each other and occupy different parts of the campus.</p></li>
<li><p>You apply to the business school during your sophomore year for admission as a junior. There are a couple of courses required for business school admission that must be taken as a freshman or junior (mostly related to accounting and statistics and economics).</p></li>
<li><p>Business courses cannot be taken until the junior year after admission to the business school. </p></li>
<li><p>You can transfer as a sophomore admit to the regular college, or as a junior admit to the business program.</p></li>
<li><p>Overseas courses are not required, nor will they count towards business school course completion.</p></li>
<li><p>They have no separate programs, but do organize field trips for their business class. They do have a consulting major also.</p></li>
<li><p>Foreign language study equivalent to one year of college is required prior to admission to the business program. This must be taken prior to admission, although they offer a summer-long highly intensive program that does meet the requirement.</p></li>
</ol>

4

<p>Here’s some info on USC:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>The undergraduate business program is connected to the graduate business program. Both are in the Marshall School, which is solely dedicated to business.</p></li>
<li><p>You apply to the business school during your sophomore year for admission as a junior. There are a couple of courses required for business school admission that must be taken as a freshman or junior (mostly related to accounting and statistics and economics).</p></li>
<li><p>Business courses cannot be taken until the junior year after admission to the business school. </p></li>
<li><p>You can transfer as a sophomore admit to the regular college, or as a junior admit to the business program. They specifically reserve many of their transfer spots for California community college transfers, who are given priority in the application process.</p></li>
<li><p>Overseas courses are not required, but are heavily encouraged. They do apply to graduate credits, and even to specific course requirements.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>6.I know they have specific programs in both management consulting, and in leadership development (one of the best in the country). They may have others I am not familiar with.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>There is no separate business honors program, but they will give you a business honors designation at graduation if you meet a specified GPA level.</p></li>
<li><p>Foreign language study is not required, but cultural and diversity courses are required.</p></li>
</ol>

5

<p>hey Calcruzer…did your son transfer to USC? I thought he stayed at IU?</p>

6

<p>UT Austin:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>The McCombs School of Business teaches both undergrads and MBA students.</p></li>
<li><p>You need to be accepted into the business school to be a business major, and standards are much higher than for liberal arts or natural sciences.</p></li>
<li><p>One of the things I like about UT is that you can start taking business classes your first year.</p></li>
<li><p>You can transfer from other schools at UT or from other universities, but the emphasis is on your college work at that point for admissions. </p></li>
<li><p>McCombs encourages overseas study and has lots of overseas options. UT will bring the cost down to regular tuition in almost any place on their list and will count certain credits earned overseas toward your degree.</p></li>
<li><p>UT has the Business Honors Program, which has amazing opportunities. They have annual contests with business themes. The guest speakers are impressive as well. This semester we have 4 high-profile businesspeople coming, including Michael Dell of Dell Computers, a top executive from Intel and I don’t recall the other two, but they were all top executives from companies I’d heard of.</p></li>
<li><p>The Business Honors Program at UT opens lots of doors all over the world. Also, USC is trying to model a program after it.</p></li>
<li><p>I think there is a foreign language requirement only if you did not take the required amount of a certain language in high school. I took 3 years of Spanish in high school and that covered it.</p></li>
</ol>

7

<p>Thanks a lot these are very helpful. I’d like to see info of more schools like NYU, Emory, Notre Dame, Georgetown, etc.</p>

8

<p>sorry had to put it out there that you spelled UVA’s school of commerce wrong its McIntire :)</p>

9

<p>University of Notre Dame,
Hey, i’m just a freshman, so don’t hold these too accountable- they should give you a rough estimate though.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Straight up undergrad business for 3 years. 2 year MBA prog or accelerated 1 year for graduate school. There is a 5 year Engineering/ MBA dual program, but I heard that’s hard to get into.</p></li>
<li><p>Allows you to decide what you want to go into after ur first year, hence the first year studies program. No limit on business program size as far as I know. However, you do have to state your intended major on the app.</p></li>
<li><p>Already stated, sophomore year and up.</p></li>
<li><p>Transfers are accepted, but really hard; I think it’s 3.7-3.9 GPA at Holy Cross, which is the #1 transfer college feeder of Notre Dame.</p></li>
<li><p>Study abroad is not required. Credits are given in some locations; for instance, the b-school specifically has university sites in London and Australia that offer business courses/ university requirements, which add 3 hours of credit per course taken towards your degree. Almost 50% of ND students study abroad, I believe.</p></li>
<li><p>Which business programs have separate business institutes or programs focused on certain fields, like taxation, entrepreneurship, investment banking, or consulting–and by this, I mean not just a major, but active separate academic activities, field trips, and guest speaker programs?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I don’t know yet, haha.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>No honors program; can graduate with latin honors; however, for finance, they have a limit on course selection and whatnot, so they add up ur SAT, a grade in a class, and something else to see where you rank amongest finance majors. kinda like a weed-out thing i guess. (Not sure about everything else)</p></li>
<li><p>For the Mendoza college of business, no language is necessary (unless you want to travel to ND locations around the world that req. languages- ie: Spanish for Toledo, Spain), but the Arts and Letters section (college devoted towards liberal arts) requires 1-2 years. This is relevant b/c some choose to dual degree in business and arts. ie: finance and poli sci.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Hope that helps</p>

10

<p>Some of the USC info isn’t correct. So I’ll redo the parts that were wrong.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>The undergraduate business program is connected to the graduate business program. Both are in the Marshall School, which is solely dedicated to business.</p></li>
<li><p>You must apply to the business school to be in the business program. You may enter the business school as a freshmen, in which case there are no required classes to apply. If you want to be in the business program once you’ve started at USC, you will need to take several classes before you can apply.</p></li>
<li><p>Business courses can, and are, taken immediately after acceptance. Case in point, I’m a sophomore, and I’ve already taken 2 business courses in the business school and will be taking an additional 2 this semester.</p></li>
<li><p>You may apply directly to the business school for transfer assuming you have completed the required pre-requisite classes. And a certain number of spots are NOT necessarily reserved for CCC students. USC is a private university and does not need to save a certain number of spots for just CCC students. While they DO take a lot of CCC students, they are not necessarily reserved just for them.</p></li>
<li><p>Overseas courses are not required, but are heavily encouraged. They do apply to graduate credits, and even to specific course requirements. If you study abroad through the business school, you will fulfill all of your concentration courses. If you do it through CLAS, you will only receive elective credit.</p></li>
<li><p>There are technically only 2 majors. Business Administration and Accounting (through the Levanthal School of Accounting). Business Administration majors choose a concentration. Not sure if there are any special “events” for each concentration.</p></li>
<li><p>There is no separate business honors program, but they will give you a business honors designation at graduation if you meet a specified GPA level, which I believe is a 3.5 (not sure if that’s overall GPA or business GPA).</p></li>
<li><p>Foreign language study is not required. The cultural and diversity classes required are USC required classes, not Marshall specific. Also, a language requirement is not necessary to study abroad via Marshall.</p></li>
</ol>

11

<p>Thanks for all the info everybody–keep the details coming.</p>

<p>ifailed calculus,
My son did stay at Indiana Univ and will be graduating from there (Kelley Business School)this coming May. However, we do know a bit about USC since he and I did some research on the school (including visiting) prior to him applying there as a transfer, and he did attend summer courses at the Univ of Virginia. He was in the final “cut” at USC, getting a “spring grade request”, but did not make the cut for admission. (It takes about a 3.6 to 3.7 GPA minimum to get admitted as a transfer.) And even though I’m a UCLA MBA grad, I have to admit that USC is a world-class, top-notch business school.</p>

<p>alkaboy,
A couple of notes–while it is true that USC doesn’t reserve spots for CCC students, they have historically taken 40%-50% of their transfers from this pool for over 20 years. I do appreciate you also updating the info on the Levinthal school of Accounting which I definitely should have included.</p>

<p>and sandra_ny2011–sorry about the misspelling and thanks for the correction. We all make mistakes, but lately I think I make more than most people.</p>

12

<p>Note that the Holy Cross cited above is the unranked college formerly known as Holy Cross Junior College founded in 1966 near Notre Dame and not the tier one College of the Holy Cross west of Boston founded in 1843.</p>

13

<p>University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School</p>

<p>Note: its official name is the Wharton School, not the Wharton School of Business or whatever.</p>

<p>1. Which of the schools on these “top” lists have business programs that are strictly in a business school? Which ones don’t? Which of those programs are connected to a business graduate program, and which ones aren’t?</p>

<p>The business program at Penn is offered through the Wharton School (which has a graduate program) and awards students a Bachelor of Science in Economics with a concentration of your choosing. The College of Arts & Sciences also awards a degree in Economics through its Economics Department, but it is a Bachelor of Arts. The difference is that the B.S. degree is more practical and pre-professional. You only take 1 course in the econ department, and that’s ECON 010 - Economics for Business, your first semester of college. After that, you take courses in the Wharton departments, like finance, accounting, management, marketing, insurance & risk management, statistics, real estate, etc. So you kind of learn economics with an emphasis on application rather than theory.</p>

<p>2. Which schools allow you to go into a business program without even applying to the business school? Which ones don’t?</p>

<p>You apply to 1 of Penn’s 4 schools out of high school: the College of Arts & Science, the School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, the School of Nursing, and the Wharton School. You’re either in the business school when you get your decision letter in March or you’re not.</p>

<p>**3. Which schools have business programs that don’t even start teaching the business classes until at least the sophomore year? Which ones don’t even start teaching the business classes until at least the junior year?
**
You begin your freshman year with a micro/macro accelerated class (ECON 10) and an intermediate micro class (BPUB 250) in the fall and spring semesters. In the spring you also take an operations management/computer applications class (OPIM 101), and many students also begin the statistics courses (STAT 101 and 102) freshman year; these three are part of the Core.</p>

<p>In your sophomore year students generally complete the majority of the Core, especially ACCT 101 (financial accounting), ACCT 102 (managerial accounting), FNCE 100 (corporate finance), and FNCE 101 (intermediate macroeconomics), and they complete the STAT sequence if they haven’t already finished. The last 2 Core classes are MGMT 101 (intro to management) and MKTG (intro to marketing), which some students delay until later.</p>

<p>You choose the rest of your courses in junior and senior year, completing 2 more requirements, 3 “breadth” classes (any department you want), 4 concentration classes (which determine your concentration in finance, real estate, actuarial science, etc.), and taking additional classes if you want more than one concentration.</p>

<p>4. Which schools allow you to transfer in from outside (that is, if you wanted to take business at a school like Penn, are you allowed to transfer as a sophomore or junior–and if so, only from Penn, or also from another college)?</p>

<p>You can apply to transfer internally to Wharton, but you must wait until the end of your freshman year and complete certain requirements, and admission is based entirely upon your college GPA. Generally you need a 3.8 or so, which is extremely difficult, so do NOT use this as a “back door” to get into Wharton. If you really want to study business, then apply to Wharton out of high school. The internal transfer option should only be used if your interests change while you’re here.</p>

<p>It’s also possible to enter as an “external transfer” from another university.</p>

<p>5. Which school requires overseas study as part of the program? Which ones will at least accept some overseas business study as part of the graduation credits? Which ones don’t?</p>

<p>It isn’t a requirement, but many students do. Wharton will accept business class credit for the “breadth” requirement but only from certain schools. But if you want you can just fulfill non-business requirements while you’re abroad, in which case you have many more options.</p>

<p>6. Which business programs have separate business institutes or programs focused on certain fields, like taxation, entrepreneurship, investment banking, or consulting–and by this, I mean not just a major, but active separate academic activities, field trips, and guest speaker programs?</p>

<p>I’m not entirely sure what this is asking for but [here](<a href="http://whartoncouncil.org/WC/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=9&Itemid=67]here[/url]'s"&gt;http://whartoncouncil.org/WC/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=9&Itemid=67)'s&lt;/a&gt; a list of recognized Wharton-affiliated organizations, which are overseen by the Wharton Council.</p>

<p>7. Which schools have business honors programs? Which don’t?</p>

<p>Wharton students can be Joseph Wharton Scholars, which is part of the university-wide Ben Franklin Scholars program. You are invited to the program soon after you receive your acceptance letter, and you can also apply throughout your first 3 years or so.</p>

<p>8. Which requires foreign language courses in order to graduate? Which don’t?</p>

<p>You need to take 4 courses of a single language or demonstrate competency with a placement exam or board scores.</p>

14

<p>No Ross yet?</p>