Undergrad Business Majors Not in a Separate School?

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>Hi, I am undecided about going into business or medicine, and for some colleges, you have to choose one of them and apply to a specific school (ex: UPENN school of arts and Sciences for medicine or UPENN Whatron for Business)...</p>

<p>I was wondering if you guys know of undergrad programs (preferably top 75/100) in which there is one undergrad college for business/medicine and maybe other majors. This is so that I can decide after a year or 2 of getting general credits done with...</p>

<p>Maybe we can start a list..</p>

<p>Harvard College
Columbia (engineering is the only separate one)</p>

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<p>There is no undergrad school of medicine. You just need to take the premed classes required. </p>

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<p>I would recommend doing a bit more digging since most if not all colleges that will award a Bachelors with a business major typically have a separate undergrad business school. What typically is “housed” within a liberal arts college or school (within a university) would be economics - but I am not sure I have seen an actual business major (e.g. management, accounting, finance, marketing) within that setting. The Columbia program is pretty unique - but I am pretty sure it is a program you apply to once you are already there (e.g. as a sophomore). The other thing to look into is whether it is feasible to handle the degree requirements for a business major and the coursework required for medical school. That will vary by school. </p>

<p>FYI - Penn/Wharton has a wonderful health care management department. Within the graduate program - there are typically a lot of doctors who decided to go back to get an MBA. But I am pretty sure there is an undergraduate program as well. </p>

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<p>@Erin’s Dad --let me broaden it up to undergrad school of science VS undergrad school for business.</p>

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<p>First of all, you can major in business and take pre-med classes. I have heard, mostly here on CC, that medical schools don’t really like business majors - but it is possible to do that. It’s possible to do it across schools within a university, too, at most universities.</p>

<p>Columbia does not have an undergraduate business major, by the way. The special concentration in business management (which I think is relatively new) is a complementary program that’s designed to go along with a major.</p>

<p>Harvard also does not have a concentration in business. I’m not aware if they have a program like this.</p>

<p>There’s also no reason you can’t go into business and medicine. On the less-education-required side, there’s healthcare administration, actuarial work in a health insurance firm, pharmaceutical sales and marketing, etc. You can also do an MD/MBA, practice as a physician for years, and then move into medical administration and management by running your own department of a hospital, then maybe moving up and up. You don’t need an undergraduate business major to get an MBA, either.</p>

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<p>thanks… Also, for clarification, by business, im talking about majors such as economics and finance and by medicine, im talking about science majors such as biology and chemistry</p>

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<p>At my kids’ undergrad, you don’t get admitted to the B school until junior year. So it is easy to do the premed prereqs, even if you end up being a business major. I think the pre-business students are in the A&S. Even if they’re not, you can be a business major and be premed. No problem. </p>

<p>For instance, a student could be an Econ major and take the premed prereqs. You seem to think that once you’re in one college that you aren’t allowed to take classes in another college. That isn’t true. After all, Core classes will be in A&S, even if you’re in Engineering or the B-school or wherever.</p>

<p>That said, some schools offer Econ in BOTH colleges…in A&S …and in the B-school. </p>

<p>My son was an engineering major, so he was in the College of Engineering, but he took his premed prereqs within the College of Arts and Sciences…no big deal. </p>

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<p>As already noted, there’s no university with an undergraduate medical school. If you want a list of all the colleges that don’t have an undergraduate business school, the easiest process would be to start with a list of those that do, then strike them off the list of every college in the country.</p>

<p>If you want a list of every college where a particular student could take both economics courses and biology courses, it’s going to be an extremely long list.</p>

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<p>@ThereAreLlamas My Question is If you can tell me top colleges that have only 1 Undergrad college for science and economics (or other business-like majors). In other words, im looking for undergrad programs where u can apply to one school (instead of SPECIFICALLY applying to the School of Arts and Sciences or School of Business).</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>Economics is rarely in a school of business. It’s usually in the school of Arts and Sciences. U of Oklahoma is one example. U Dayton is another. </p>

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<p>Wharton also offers a dual degree called the Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management. You should check it out. </p>

<p><a href=“About the Program | Penn Life Sciences & Management Program”>http://lsm.upenn.edu/program/about&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>At Alabama, Econ is offered in two colleges…In the B-school…and in A&S. I think one requires more math, but I’m not sure. </p>

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<p><a href=“http://courseleaf.ua.edu/artssciences/economics/”>http://courseleaf.ua.edu/artssciences/economics/&lt;/a&gt; indicates that the economics major has a standard track (one semester of calculus required, one semester of non-calculus-based statistics required, econometrics not required) and a quantitative track (multivariable calculus, linear algebra, calculus-based probability, calculus-based statistics, and econometrics required, though the economics courses do not have math prerequisites beyond frosh calculus).</p>

<p>It appears that the choice of standard versus quantitative track does not depend on being in the arts and sciences or the commerce and business division.</p>

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<p>The University of Chicago is an example of a very selective school with a single undergraduate college. It has no business (or finance, or marketing) major, but it does have a highly-regarded economics department. Other selective universities that have a single undergraduate college include Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Brown. Some others (such as Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Stanford, Tufts, and Vanderbilt) do have separate undergraduate schools for some fields (such as engineering), but no separate undergraduate business school. So you’d major in economics/other, with or without pre-med courses, in the school/division of arts & sciences (or whatever it’s called at that school). </p>

<p>At all of the above, you do not have to choose at application time between business or a liberal arts major. In fact, none of them offer business majors. You also do not have to commit to a pre-med track at application time.</p>

<p>Rice does not have an undergraduate business major, but does offer a “Managerial Studies” major within its School of Social Sciences. Applicants must choose one of the six schools at application time, but later can transfer into a different school (without faculty approval, except for the music or architecture school).</p>

<p>Cornell’s governance model is a little unusual. One can major in “Applied Economics and Management” (AEM) in the Dyson School, which falls within the College of Agriculture and Life Science. Cornell applicants choose one of 7 undergraduate colleges/schools as a primary choice at application time, with the option of also applying to one alternate choice. I don’t know how easy it is to transfer among colleges/schools once you enroll. Presumably, one could take pre-med courses as an AEM major.</p>

<p>National universities in the USNWR top 30 with undergraduate business schools/colleges/divisions:
Notre Dame, Boston College, Washington University St. Louis, UPenn, Emory, NYU, CMU, Georgetown.
Like professional sports stadiums, these schools usually are named after somebody who donated a bundle of money; CC cognoscenti often will use those names (“Stern”, “Tepper”, “Mendoza”, etc.) The procedures vary for applying to these schools. Example:
<a href=“http://admissions.nd.edu/admission-and-application/prospective-first-year-students/new-business-major-policy/”>http://admissions.nd.edu/admission-and-application/prospective-first-year-students/new-business-major-policy/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Liberal arts colleges generally do not (almost by definition) offer business majors. One exception is the University of Richmond, which does have a business school (“Robins”). However, like all other undergrads, prospective business majors start out in a liberal arts program. You enter Robins after declaring a major (<a href=“http://robins.richmond.edu/undergraduate/academics/business-administration/facts.html”>http://robins.richmond.edu/undergraduate/academics/business-administration/facts.html&lt;/a&gt;).</p>

<p>Personally, I prefer the idea of making every undergraduate a first class citizen of a single undergraduate college. The application process is maddening enough without having to go through it a second time to get into a specific major or to transfer between schools.</p>

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<p>You shouldn’t be terribly concerned with which colleges have unified undergraduate college which covers both the sciences and business field. Rather look into schools which do not practice direct undergraduate admission into the College of Business or whatever the school choose to call it. You will have many more options that way. For instance at Emory and the University of Oklahoma, freshman cannot apply to the B school. They either start out in the College of Arts and Sciences or Oxford as is the case with Emory, or in the University College or Honors College as is the case with OU. This way freshmen can take both pre-biz classes and other courses and then decide what their major will be.</p>

<p>Additionally, many schools which do have direct freshman entry into the bschools do not make it terribly difficult for non business majors to switch in, provided they’ve completed the pre reqs. </p>

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<p>Of course, the reality is that free choice of declaring or changing major requires that the school have enough resources to maintain excess capacity in each major, so that unexpected increases in popularity of any major can be accommodated.</p>

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<p>Brown has a program that fits the bill. Although not AACSB-accredited, Brown BEO is Brown’s undergraduate business program, one of those that isn’t housed in a separate school.</p>

<p>As for business majors vs. med school: you may be better off making a MD/MBA your first choice…</p>

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<p>“National universities in the USNWR top 30 with undergraduate business schools/colleges/divisions:
Notre Dame, Boston College, Washington University St. Louis, UPenn, Emory, NYU, CMU, Georgetown.”</p>

<p>According to tk21769, public universities don’t exist. Please keep that in mind when you read his comments. </p>

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<p>^ Yes, I should have included the following state universities:
Berkeley, UVa, UNC-CH, and Michigan.
These 4 schools all rank in the USNWR top 30. They also have business schools that grant undergraduate degrees and that rank in the BusinessWeek top 15 (<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?). Many other state universities in the USNWR top 100 also have undergraduate business programs.</p>

<p>For many good students, the in-state flagship represents the best bang for the buck and is the school to beat. At top state universities, the undergraduate business major often is in a separate school. If you are shopping the national market for colleges, you’ll find that most state universities do not give very generous need-based aid to out of state students. However, for some families, their net costs still will be cheaper than a private school with aid.
<a href=“Best College Values, 2019 | Kiplinger”>http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-public-colleges/index.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>If you go to say, Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences and study economics and biology vs. if you go to Yale College and study economics and biology, your experience will be somewhat different because there are differences between the two universities. The extent to which those differences would be directly attributable to the existence of the Wharton undergraduate program is virtually nil, I think. To the extent the existence of an undergraduate school of business has any relevance, it would more likely be a positive for someone torn between business and medicine as a career, not a negative.</p>