Which Business School to Choose?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I want to major in Economics or Finance and go into banking and investment. I've 'narrowed' (from about twenty schools to eight) my search down to schools that I think would be good matches. If anyone has any input on my chances or advice on which would be best and why, it would be greatly appreciated!</p>

<p>Notre Dame: They've got a great undergraduate business program, and while it doesn't offer and econ major, I've heard that it's not impossible to double major. Plus, they don't consider SAT Writing, which was my weakest score.</p>

<p>Cornell: Ivy League with a top ranked business school. Like Notre Dame, they also have the added bonus of not factoring in SAT Writing. I was a little confused about the fact that their business school is housed in Cornell's College of Agriculture, though. It seems like courses would have a more agri-business slant to them, but that's just my inference.</p>

<p>Boston College: Carroll has a really good undergrad program, and the school seems to have a real nice atmosphere.</p>

<p>Georgetown: I don't know to much about them, but they have a pretty good business program, and along with BC and Notre Dame make up a sort of trinity of top Catholic schools in the US.</p>

<p>Emory: Logistically it's the most practical; the Oxford Campus is within commuting distance from my house.</p>

<p>U Virgina: They have probably the best ranked business program of any public school in the US.</p>

<p>U Mich: Ross is also a really good school.</p>

<p>U Georgia: This would be my safety school. They have a good business program, although it's not as strong as the others.</p>

<p>My Stats for the first three years of high school are:
SAT: 2070 (M - 740, CR - 700)
Unweighted Core GPA: 3.73
Weighted Core GPA: 4.00
Class Rank: 90-91st percentile out of about 350 students
4 AP Courses: US History, Statistics, US Gov, Econ (5, 3, 5, 5 on the tests respectively)
Senior Year Schedule: AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC, AP Literature (year-round), Advanced Enviro Sci, AP Enviro Sci, and Yearbook (year-round)</p>

<p>I've been class president freshman year, class treasurer sophomore and senior years, Student Government president junior and senior year, Beta Club co-vice president senior year (and member all four years), Gavel Club treasurer senior year (and member junior year), Varsity Academic Bowl Team member junior and senior year, and a member of Students Against Destructive Decisions four all four years of high school. I've also written for my area's local paper, gone to Boys State, volunteered at a food bank, and organized a few charity fundraisers for different causes.</p>

2

<p>Can your family afford all those schools? And why do you have to choose? You should apply to them all and see where you get in (as long as you like and can afford your safety).</p>

3

<p>With respect to Emory–are you applying to the main campus, or to Oxford? They are different entities–Oxford is a two year program for students who want a smaller atmosphere for the first two years of college, or whose academics are not quite yet at the level for main campus. At the completion of two years at Oxford, those students transfer to Emory.</p>

4

<p>Business School? Princeton can use a guy like you, Joel96.</p>

<p>Ha. Really, you should listen to Erin’s Dad. If you’re applying to all of these schools, they have to choose you first. Let them do that. Then worry about the cost. Then your shortlist will get shorter and you might not need our biased opinions on which school is the “best”. The best for whom? For you, no? How on earth is anyone on CC ever going to tell you that?</p>

5

<p>I’m applying for Army, Navy, and Air Force ROTC Scholarships (another issue unto itself) to finance tuition, and I plan on working to pay for the rest during the summer. I plan on applying to most of them, but if I could knock a few off the list it would be nice, just for the sake of saving money on application fees. Regarding Emory, I plan on applying to the Oxford Campus. My stats are more in line with what they accept, and it makes a lot of sense logistically.</p>

6

<p>Ok good stuff, so you want to knock a few off that list of eight. Which ones are you definitely applying to?</p>

7

<p>A few comments:

  1. Ross is great, but UMichigan has very few preferred admits to the business school. Most people have to apply after freshman year. It is competitive so there is a risk of not getting in to the b-school. You could still major in economics, but that is in the liberal arts not business school.
    2)Does Emory’s Oxford campus have a business program?
    3)It seems to me that you have a tremendous gap between your top schools (which are reaches for almost everyone) and UGa. I would consider adding in a couple of other schools that fit in between (Villanova, Fordham Lehigh, Tulane would be just a few examples).
  2. I’m not sure anyone can explain why Cornell’s business school is in the Ag school, but it is a pure business program not related to agriculture.
  3. Notre Dame like many other schools offers economics as part of the liberal arts school (College of Arts and Letters in this case) rather than the business school.
    Good luck.</p>
8

<p>I really like Notre Dame BC, and Cornell. I got to visit ND briefly over the summer and loved the campus, and I’ve called BC a few times for information and everyone I’ve talked to was real nice and helpful. Cornell was the same way. I’ve done some research on U Mich, UVA, Georgetown and Emory, but I still feel like I don’t know enough about them. As for UGA, I’ve lived in ‘Dawg Country’ all my life, so it just makes sense to join the bandwagon of people at my a school who are applying there early action and see what happens.</p>

9

<p>happy1:</p>

<p>Thanks for the input. That was one of my concerns about Michigan. Ideally I’d like to go to a school which accepts directly into the business program, rather than risk essentially wasting a year or two if I don’t get accepted later on in college. I think I heard UVA is the same way with their business school, but someone would have to verify that. We had someone come talk to us at my school about Emory, and they said all of the programs offered at the main campus are offered at Oxford, too. Now that you mention it though, I’m not sure if you automatically go from Oxford to the business school in Atlanta after two years, or have to reapply in some form or another like at Michigan.</p>

<p>And about UGA, there is a pretty sizable gap, like you said. I’m applying early action per the advice of my counselor so that presuming I get in (knock on wood), I’ll be able to breath a little easier come December just knowing I have a backup.</p>

10

<p>Not sure why Cornell’s business school (Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management) is part of their College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Makes no difference to students, except those from NY pay about 15k less since it’s a land-grant college within Cornell.</p>

11

<p>Why are you not considering NYU and UNC?</p>

12

<p>^
NYU was actually one of the schools that I managed to scratch off of my list. I visited NYC a couple of years ago, and didn’t like the city’s feel at all. Stern is a great school, but the city coupled with what I’ve read about the atmosphere of the University were enough to turn me off. As for UNC, I never felt a real drawing to Chapel Hill like I have towards the others I mentioned. It would be a good idea to do some more research on them now that you mention it, though.</p>

13

<p>ROTC scholarships are highly competitive and are no slam dunk. Make sure you have the money talk with your parents about what they can afford. You might also look through the stickied threads at the top of the financial aid forum here for possible merit aid schools.</p>

14

<p>Do any statistics on the average GPA/SAT/Physical Fitness test scores of ROTC Scholarship recipients exist? I’ve been able to find a few data points online, but nothing comprehensive. If anyone could post them, it would be a huge help.</p>

15

<p>I would go with Notre Dame BC, or Cornell. They are each different so I won’t rank them. You should visit each campus and see where you would rather attend.</p>

<p>Notre Dame is a pretty campus, with a good reputation for undergradute business, although the academics of the school often take a hit because the school is more widely known for sports unfortunately. It is in the middle of no where, but there are few schools with more beautiful campuses. </p>

<p>BC has a similarly beautiful campus and but has the benefit of being located near a major business market, which will be helpful when it comes time to get an internship. Carroll is a fantastic business school and highly ranked, although not as high as ND or Cornell.</p>

<p>Cornell is an Ivy league school, so you know you are getting the best academically from the institution as a whole. Few of the Ivy League schools actually have undergraduate business programs, so it is a unique offering. As with ND, it is in the middle of no where but the campus is stunning. Unlike ND, Cornell feeds well into a large market (NY), so you wouldn’t have as many problems if you are worried about summer internships.</p>

<p>Georgetown is better for government and public service type careers, not business. I would rule it out if you would rather focus on business.</p>

<p>Your stats are good enough that I don’t think you need to look at public schools, if you can afford these privates.</p>

16

<p>Here’s another thing, Joel. If you’re ok to major in Economics, then why are you looking exclusively at Business Schools? Econ is offered almost anywhere as a social science, including many excellent Liberal Arts Colleges. If you’re looking at getting into finance, you can start to specialize in grad school. Most Ivies, for example, only offer Econ, and this doesn’t stop their students from finding their way into finance in large numbers. And that’s only partly because they attended an Ivy. It’s also because they have the broad theoretical and quantitative skills received from some other (non-business) discipline, such as economics or STEM.</p>

<p>This leads to the debate about whether it is “better” for an undergrad to go to business school; or to study something that might be considered “less practical”, such as economics/science/math, but which provides a great theoretical/quant background producing highly marketable skills.</p>

<p>I think that’s something you need to consider, if you haven’t already. IMO, you shouldn’t be dead-set on Business School, if you are. I believe an Economics/STEM major outside of business school is an equally good or better option. The exceptions would be if you are sure a BBA is going to be your terminal degree, then by all means, go to business school and launch yourself into business from undergrad; or if you are certain you can be accepted into one of the nation’s finest business programs (maybe MIT, Penn, Michigan, Berkeley), then that would be an opportunity that’s tough to turn down.</p>

<p>The good news is that you could still study economics at any of the schools on your shortlist. I’m sure they’re all solid for undergrad econ. The bad news is that maybe you’ve eliminated many colleges that would otherwise be a fantastic fit for you, simply because they don’t have an undergrad business school. </p>

<p>So what’s happening here Joel96? It looks like you have sufficient quantitative skills that you could easily pursue an Economics major with a fair amount of Math thrown in, outside of Business School. Why so much love for the Schools of Biz?</p>

17

<p>^ You make a good point.</p>

<p>My logic is that a degree from a high ranking business school would be a better catalyst for breaking out into the finance and banking sectors. An arts degree in econ would probably work well too, but I really want to make sure I’m geared more towards the private sector than towards a government job. I’ve talked to reps from these schools, and from what I’ve learned it’s not impossible to double major when the degrees are somewhat similar, like econ and finance. Notre Dame for example only offers econ as an arts degree, but they have a good amount of students double major in econ and finance through their business school.</p>

<p>If that’s not an option I would definitely be open to getting a non-b school econ degree, though. I know an employer isn’t going to look down on an econ major because he or she went to an arts school, I’d just prefer to have the business background for practicality and because that’s what interests me.</p>

18

<p>I’m not so concerned about the double major. I’d be more concerned that you’re excluding some great schools from the mixer. </p>

<p>Don’t assume that a BA in Economics with a minor in Math from, say, Haverford, is more likely to lead to a government job than a private sector job. That’s not the case. But yes, the BBA is probably going to be more “practical” than Economics if there’s a good chance you won’t be going to grad school. But a BA Econ with an MBA or MA/MSc will set you up quite nicely to work anywhere, especially if you’re game to add a quantitative minor or two. </p>

<p>You also have to consider just how an “inflation” of credentials exists out there today in the job market. Fewer good jobs mean kids are now staying in school when they otherwise wouldn’t. Bachelor’s degrees are staying in school to obtain Master’s. Master’s to PhDs. Entry-level banking jobs that you could get 10 years ago with a BBA are now going to the MBA or the MSc Finance. I can vouch for that. </p>

<p>So IMO, anyone interested in a business career these days should own up to what “degree inflation” has done to the job market. I’m not trying to frighten you, just make you realize that grad school should be a distinct possibility down the road. When it is, the BA Econ gets added to the drum and suddenly your options get magnified. LACs with great teaching become practical.</p>

<p>You’re looking at some good options regardless. There’s nothing stopping you from a BBA and then grad school, too, if that’s what you prefer. Or if you can swing a double major, all the better.</p>

19

<p>Another question that comes to mind, where do you see yourself living when you’re 25? You noted that NYC doesn’t appeal to you. If you see yourself living in the SE, then the higher regional prestige of Georgia, Emory, UVA, UNC is something to consider.</p>

<p>If you end up in the SE, I don’t know, does a degree from Boston College even carry as much pull as Georgia or UNC?</p>

20

<p>^ I feel more of a connection with the Midwest. My family is from Ohio, and I really like the region.</p>