What Undergrad Major to take to get into a top MBA program?

Graduate School Business School - MBA
1

<p>Is a good undergrad school necessary? </p>

<p>Is it a good idea to major in economics/finance during undergrad school and then go to a top MBA grad school? More importantly, what courses should I take in undergrad and in what field should I get my bachelor's?</p>

<p>Or should I get an undergraduate major in engineering? I personally like economics/finance better. What kind of undergraduate major do the top grad schools like to see?</p>

2

<p>I am particularly thinking of Wharton Business.</p>

3

<p>Undergrad Majors at Wharton Business Scholl</p>

<p>Humanities/Social Science 44%
Engineering/Math/Science 26%
Business 25%
Other 5%
[Wharton</a> MBA: Class Profile](<a href=“http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/mba/student-life/class-profile.cfm]Wharton”>Student Life - MBA Program)</p>

<p>try to compare that to techie school like Haas or Sloan</p>

<p>Berkeley-Haas
Engineering 26%
Economics 24%
Business 20%
Social Sciences 11%
Humanities 5%
Natural Sciences 4%
Computer Sciences 3%
Math 2%
Other 5%
<a href=“Full-Time MBA Program | Berkeley Haas”>Full-Time MBA Program | Berkeley Haas;

<p>MIT-Sloan
Business and Commerce 25%
Computer Science 8%
Engineering 29%
Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences 30%
Science and Math 9%
[Class</a> of 2012 Profile - MBA Program](<a href=“http://mitsloan.mit.edu/mba/experience/classof12profile.php]Class”>http://mitsloan.mit.edu/mba/experience/classof12profile.php)</p>

4

<p>Definitely economics, hands down no questions asked. Economics is almost always graded easier than business majors, and is actually smiled upon more favorably by adcoms. Part of the reason is because many top undergrad universities do not offer business undergrad majors, and instead only offer economics.</p>

<p>Cynical but true, adcoms at these MBA programs turn a blind eye to the fact that average grades in business majors are much much lower than average grades in economics programs for precisely the reason that they prefer to admit their own, and their own are econ majors.</p>

<p>Wharton might be an exception because of its renowned undergrad business program, but the econ major will only help.</p>

<p>The toughest part about coming out with an econ major is landing a job, especially in this economy. It’s sort of an all-or-nothing: either you get a big-shot job in consulting or banking or you get nothing impressive at all, so you have to be sure to get very good grades (but that shouldn’t be too hard, per the above).</p>

5

<p>At top business schools like Harvard, Wharton, etc. there are going to be a lot of people who majored humanities (English literature, art history) as undergrads at HYP, Dartmouth, Stanford, Columbia, Penn, Brown, etc. There are going to be a lot of econ majors from those schools as well:
<a href=“http://poetsandquants.com/2010/06/28/harvard-business-school-vs-stanford-graduate-school-of-business/[/url]”>http://poetsandquants.com/2010/06/28/harvard-business-school-vs-stanford-graduate-school-of-business/&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://poetsandquants.com/2010/09/01/wharton-vs-harvard-business-school/3/[/url]”>http://poetsandquants.com/2010/09/01/wharton-vs-harvard-business-school/3/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>However, at the next tier of business schools (Booth, Tuck, Kellogg, Columbia, etc.), you will find a lot more finance/accounting majors from top state flagships, BC, BU, NYU, USC, etc. and far fewer humanities majors:
<a href=“http://poetsandquants.com/2010/07/02/chicagos-booth-vs-northwesterns-kellogg-school/[/url]”>http://poetsandquants.com/2010/07/02/chicagos-booth-vs-northwesterns-kellogg-school/&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://poetsandquants.com/2010/07/15/columbia-business-school-vs-tuck-school-of-business/[/url]”>http://poetsandquants.com/2010/07/15/columbia-business-school-vs-tuck-school-of-business/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;