<p>What are the top schools to get an Undergrad degree from in order to get into a top business school?</p>
<p>UMass, Bunker Hill, Massasoit, Johnson and Wales</p>
<p>Jizuaz! Can people just read previous post before posting the same crap?</p>
<p>Any top-tier school will do--simply b/c they lead to better employment opportunities after graduation. In reality, all that truly matters is your work experience--and what you did there.</p>
<p>I really think that your undergrad school doesn't matter. Graduate with a 3.2+, choose a career that is unique and make a doccumentable impact.</p>
<p>I think that Wildflower is being a bit sanctimonious by saying "top-tier school". Obtaning a professional job after college and making an impact within the company are the top qualities looked for. They also like to select people from unique industries. I was told this information by admissions people at the University of South Florida, University of Tampa and the University of Florida.</p>
<p>I'll have to agree--but only to a point. I say top-tier school b/c they open more doors to their graduates. If you can get meaningful work experience and the rest of your application is compelling, you should do well in the process.</p>
<p>Everything else being equal, simply going to a big name (highly ranked) school in the geographic area you are looking at is the best decision.</p>
<p>"Everything else being equal, simply going to a big name (highly ranked) school in the geographic area you are looking at is the best decision."</p>
<p>Unless there are so extra-ordinary financial problems (or you receive a full ride from a lesser-ranked school), I don't think anyone can refute Mr Payne's post.</p>
<p>
[quote]
They also like to select people from unique industries.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well, I don't know if they like it THAT much. At every top B-school, the vast majority of students are former consultants, bankers, or engineers, or military officers.</p>
<p>"Well, I don't know if they like it THAT much. At every top B-school, the vast majority of students are former consultants, bankers, or engineers, or military officers."</p>
<p>Sakky, I don't think he was referring to top B-schools (ie top 20). I mean, look at the sources.</p>
<p>I understand what the sources are. But the OP was asking about top B-schools, and I think it bears mention that the top B-schools all tend to want the same thing.</p>
<p>I disagree, I think that the top programs admit many "consultants, bankers, or engineers, or military officers" simply because these people make up the large majority of the QUALIFIED applicant pool.</p>
<p>Average Years of Work Experience and Average Age</p>
<p>These criteria are nearly uniform across all the top business schools. The difference between the successful applicant at Stanford or Harvard and the applicant who is only successful at the bottom 5 of these MBA schools is that the "stereotypical" student at Stanford or Harvard has a remarkable resume with many accomplishments and rapid promotions whereas the "stereotypical" business student at USC (Marshall) or Vanderbilt (Owen) has achieved one or maybe two promotions in his or her 4 to 5 years of work experience and had nothing exciting or dramatic to report in the application essays to the top schools.</p>
<p>Notice there is no mention of undergraduate school or industry type?</p>
<p>So, are you suggesting that a porn producer would be a quicker ticket to a top MBA school?</p>
<p>No, most schools have some sort of ethical standard that they expect from students, I don't think that porn producer would fall under that guideline-with Berkeley being the possible exception LOL.</p>
<p>
[quote]
These criteria are nearly uniform across all the top business schools. The difference between the successful applicant at Stanford or Harvard and the applicant who is only successful at the bottom 5 of these MBA schools is that the "stereotypical" student at Stanford or Harvard has a remarkable resume with many accomplishments and rapid promotions whereas the "stereotypical" business student at USC (Marshall) or Vanderbilt (Owen) has achieved one or maybe two promotions in his or her 4 to 5 years of work experience and had nothing exciting or dramatic to report in the application essays to the top schools.</p>
<p>Notice there is no mention of undergraduate school or industry type?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>True, there is no FORMAL mention of undergrad school or industry type. Yet the fact is, such a mention is implied, for the simple reason that certain undergrad schools tend to get people better jobs and certain industries tend to promote people faster and/or provide better opportunities. The fact is, consulting and banking are considered to be prime career fields for advancement simply because of the nature of the work - there is a lot of opportunity to see interesting things and develop quick responsibility. On the other hand, there are plenty of organizations that shall remain unnamed that are basically 'sleepy' in that not a whole lot ever happens, where promotion and responsibility tend to come via seniority rather than by merit, and where ambition and initiative are often times frowned upon. It's hard to build a resume that will make you worthy of a top MBA school if you get stuck in one of these jobs. </p>
<p>Furthermore, certain undergrad programs, notably the most prestigious ones, are more likely to get you into a top consulting/banking job, because that's where they recruit. Goldman Sachs recruits at Harvard. Goldman Sachs does not recruit at UMass-Boston. Can you still get an offer from Goldman Sachs if you go to UMass-Boston? Sure. But it's a lot more work you have to do just to get noticed. </p>
<p>The point is, when you say that consultants,bankers, engineers, military officers and the like have seized their opportunities, that's just saying that in those jobs, there are opportunities in those jobs that are available to be seized. In other words, it's not just about seizing whatever opportunities are available to you. It's also about putting yourself in a position where there are many opportunities so that you can seize them.</p>
<p>Top undergrad school: BERKELEY!</p>
<p>"I was told this information by admissions people at the University of South Florida, University of Tampa and the University of Florida."</p>
<p>Great, but they don't speak for the admissions personnel for top schools.</p>
<p>Uhm, first off, Florida is a top B-school, averaging the rankings puts Florida well within the top 8.5% and better of US programs:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cba.ufl.edu/rankings.asp%5B/url%5D">http://www.cba.ufl.edu/rankings.asp</a></p>
<p>GMAT Average</p>
<ul>
<li>Top 20 nationally (#19) with score of 674
(My comment:GMAT higher than Cornell)</li>
</ul>
<p>U.S.News & World Report Best Graduate Programs 2007</p>
<pre><code>* #41 Overall
* #20 Among Publics
</code></pre>
<p>Which MBA? (The Economist) 2005
UF's Overall ranking</p>
<pre><code>* #80 Worldwide
* #30 Overall in the U.S.
* #17 Among Publics in the U.S.
</code></pre>
<p>Financial Times Global MBA 2006
UF's overall ranking</p>
<pre><code>* #96 Worldwide
* #57 Overall in the U.S.
* #26 Among Publics in the U.S.
</code></pre>
<p>Research ranking</p>
<pre><code>* #26 Worldwide
* #22 Overall in the U.S.
* #8 Among Publics in the U.S.
</code></pre>
<p>PHD ranking</p>
<pre><code>* #30 Worldwide
* #22 Overall in the U.S.
* #12 Among Publics in the U.S.
</code></pre>
<p>Value ranking</p>
<pre><code>* #10 Worldwide
* #1 Overall in the U.S.
* #1 Among Publics in t(he U.S.
</code></pre>
<p>Career Progress ranking</p>
<pre><code>* #21 Worldwide
* #5 Overall in the U.S.
* #1 Among Publics in the U.S.
</code></pre>
<p>Second: John Kraft is the president of the AACSB:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.aacsb.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.aacsb.edu/</a></p>
<p>Oh yeah, he is also the Dean Of the University of Florida's Warrington School of Business.
"-John Kraft, Dean, Warrington College of Business at UF and Chairman of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business"</p>
<p>So, yeah, I think that he would have insight on what a top B-school would want. I would also think that he would train his admissions personell in this model.</p>
<p>I suppose we have a different definition of a "top" program then. If yours is strictly numerical (top 8.5% or better of all US programs), ok, that's fine. But if the reality is that recruiters and other institutions only consider the top 15-20 institutions as truly elite/prestigious/whatever vs. other schools that are good/solid schools, well, top 8.5% isn't going to cut it.
You ask recruiters at some of the most exclusive companies/firms in the world which schools they consider the "top" programs, I guarantee you that UF will be rarely (if ever) mentioned. I challenge you to ask your future classmates and professors to list the schools that will open doors into these organizations, and then to see where UF falls amongst them.</p>
<p>Look, I understand that there's pride in ownership -- nobody wants to believe that the school they go to isn't that great... but pride doesn't trump reality. UF is a great regional school... but doesn't carry far beyond that.</p>
<p>"The Top Programs </p>
<p>Harvard, Stanford, MIT Sloan, Kellogg and Wharton stand out consistently amongst their peers, and have historically been considered the most prestigious MBA programs. They are also considered the best programs today. Two other notable programs are the University of Chicago and Columbia Business School. In fact, the deans of Harvard, Kellogg, MIT Sloan, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia and Chicago, meet regularly to share benchmarking information, and generally consider each other to be peer schools.
After these seven schools, other well known and highly regarded programs include:</p>
<p>Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College
Haas School of Business, University of California-Berkeley
Yale School of Management
NYU Stern School of Business
Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
Anderson School of Business, UCLA
Darden School of Business, University of Virginia
Collectively, there are about 15 schools in the United States with a claim to "top 10 status" in one area or another."</p>
<p>Thanks for the link. I see your point, everything is relative. I don't want to be an I-banker and am very happy in my current industry, so UF is a GREAT school for me! I am sure that should I move to the North East, for my goals, a UF degree will suit me better than most other schools in the country. By the way, the link also states </p>
<p>"On the other hand, if you graduate first in your class in finance at NYU, get a 780 on the GMAT, and work at Boston Consulting Group for three years, the admissions committee at Stanford Business School could decide theyve already let in enough people like you, and the spot could go to someone with a 3.2 GPA in English who worked in a NGO in Africa."</p>
<p>and </p>
<p>"Of course, most of the applicants to top schools are reasonably successful in their careers already, so your essays need to distinguish you from others in your peer group. Your peer group those applicants who are most like you is who you are competing against primarily. For example, any top school could fill up their entire class with analysts from consulting firms with high GMAT scores and GPAs. But they wont. Instead, they will have a certain number of spots for such applicants, and someone who was a sculptor would not be competing for one of those spaces. This makes some peer groups more competitive than others in any given year. Most schools will say that every candidate competes against every other candidate, and from a certain point of view this is true. Someone could be a consultant, and even though they have already let in more consultants than they would like, he could bring something so special to the class from other experiences that they decide to let him in too. But in such a situation, the candidate likely wont get in on strong numbers alone."</p>
<p>This tells that the author of the link provided agrees with me that top B-schools do, indeed look for variety in the admissions process and do not want everyone to fit a cookie cutter mold.</p>