Ask Clear Admit

Dear Clear Admit:

I value your opinion. I am making my final decision about which college to attend as an undergrad. Currently, I plan to eventually go off to Business school and I have several questions, the answers of which may influence my choice of undergrad. college:

1. How valuable is attending an undergraduate business program such as USC-Marshall or George Washington U. Business school? How important would a business major from a school like Brandeis or Cornell be?

2. Is it better to major in business or to major in a different subject, such as math, computer science or biology (perhaps with a business minor)?

3. How important is the undergrad institution that you receive your B.A. from in the MBA admission process? Schools I am considering include Brandeis, GW, USC, Cornell, Pomona and Berkley. How do differences in GPA from different schools factor into the MBA admissions process, i.e. say a higher GPA from Brandeis vs a lower GPA from Cornell (for Example 3.8 vs 3.5)?

4. What is the overall benefit of an undergraduate business major vs an MBA?

Thanks for your help.

Dear Nyandika,

Thanks for your post! Please see my answers to your questions below:

I value your opinion. I am making my final decision about which college to attend as an undergrad. Currently, I plan to eventually go off to Business school and I have several questions, the answers of which may influence my choice of undergrad. college:
It's impressive to see that you are planning so far ahead. You raise some excellent questions, and I've offered my thoughts to each of them below.

1. How valuable is attending an undergraduate business program such as USC-Marshall or George Washington U. Business school? How important would a business major from a school like Brandeis or Cornell be?
Studying in an udergraduate business program (or pursuing a business major in college) isn't actually that important if you plan to get an MBA. For starters, doing so will not distinguish you in the applicant pool (as there are many ugrad business students who apply to MBA programs). In addition, studying business as an undergraduate might render certain aspects of the MBA as a bit repetitive - although you could certainly place into higher level courses upon your arrival at those b-schools that accept waivers. To be frank, you'd likely be better served studying another topic that interests you or pursuing a broad liberal arts degree, while ensuring that your take calculus, statistics and economics (and do well in them) as a part of your undergraduate coursework. This will help you to become a more well-rounded, broad-based leader.

Of course, the key thing to keep in mind here is that no matter what your major is, you'll need to ensure that you perform well academically. In other words, getting a 4.0 at Wharton's ugrad business program is going to be better than securing a 3.1 in philosophy in U.Penn's regular ugrad program, etc.

2. Is it better to major in business or to major in a different subject, such as math, computer science or biology (perhaps with a business minor)?
Assuming you perform very well at a top school, it's likely better to major in a different subject. This will broaden your horizons and help you stand out. Also, if you intend to pursue an MBA, you will certainly receive a broad-based management education down the road anyway.

Having said that, majoring in biology might lead the adcom to think that you are/were med-school bound and shifted gears, unless you can display a strong track record of interest in bio-tech/pharma (the business side), etc. I should also mention that computer science isn't necessarily going to help you stand out either - as a good portion of the applicant pool will have studied this as well. In many cases, a basic math or economics major from a top ugrad program (while securing strong marks) can be a recipe for success (as can other majors like philosophy, history and political science - assuming they are coupled with some coursework in econ, stats and calculus).

3. How important is the undergrad institution that you receive your B.A. from in the MBA admission process? Schools I am considering include Brandeis, GW, USC, Cornell, Pomona and Berkley. How do differences in GPA from different schools factor into the MBA admissions process, i.e. say a higher GPA from Brandeis vs a lower GPA from Cornell (for Example 3.8 vs 3.5)?
Assuming you have narrowed your list to a group of schools that you feel a strong 'fit' with, then you should ideally attend the best program you get into. For example, Pomona - ranked by US News as #6 in the nation for liberal arts colleges - is clearly a very attractive option. Beyond that, the only two 'top 25' options on your list of universities are Cornell (#14) and Berkeley (#21).

To more directly answer your question, I'd say that a 3.3 from Pomona or Cornell will be better viewed than a 3.5 from Brandeis. Of course, ideally you'll also select a school based on your fit and interest in the subjects they specialize in, etc.

4. What is the overall benefit of an undergraduate business major vs an MBA?
My experience has been that adcoms like liberal arts majors (e.g. non business/non-engineering), as long as those candidates can prove that they are up to the task for the MBA curriculum (by showing a strong GMAT quant. result and previous strong marks in quantitative coursework). I would also say that admissions officers feel that liberal arts majors typically bring stronger written and oral communications skills to the MBA classroom and have more of the well-rounded leadership abilities than other more-traditional candidates.

At the end of the day, you should ideally attend a top school, select a major that you are passionate about and perform exceedingly well in class. You should also stay active outside of the classroom by devoting yourself to a couple of XCs.

Best of luck,

Graham

Graham:

Thank you so much for your answers!

Do you think an economics major is better fit than a business major in undergrad for MBA? Just curious.

Dear GMAT12,

Thanks for your post!

It's hard to definitively state that an economics undergraduate major is better than a 'business administration' major - as there are so many variables in play in terms of which undergraduate programs we're talking about, who the candidate is, grades earned, etc.

I can say the following, however:

1) Business administration majors are relatively more common in the applicant pool than economics majors (although neither are minorities in the pool by any stretch).

2) In many cases, admissions officers may view an economics major as being slightly more 'academic' than a business major - in other words, the difference between a more career/vocational oriented undergraduate degree vs. a liberal arts/academic focus.

Keep in mind that most MBA admissions officers are looking for bright students who can contribute to the b-school experience and who are ready to excel in core disciplines like statistics, accounting, finance, marketing, operations, management, etc. At the same time, they aren't looking to fill the class with candidates who have already extensively studied the majority of the subjects on offer who and are merely sleepwalking there way through familiar material to collect a credential and move on.

Best of luck,

Graham