top business programs for UG, public and private

[Anonymous]

Stop with the top school thing. You don't need to go to a top school to be successful.

It has to be the right fit for the student. There are plenty of people whop go to the top schools who never reach their potential because it wasn't the right fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the choice is between econ/some other degree at a tippy top school without a business major vs. top UG business school (say, econ at Yale vs. business at Michigan Ross, econ at U Chicago vs. ug business at USC Marshall) you are likely better off going with the former. But if your school of choice DOES have a business school, major.in.business. The recruiting opportunities coming out of say, Michigan Ross or Texas McCombs or Berkeley Haas or NYU Stern vs. majoring in econ in the college of liberal arts/arts and sciences aren't even in the same stratosphere. In fact, at my alma mater (Penn State), economics is more or less known as what you major in if you don't get into Smeal (business school).

Yes, that's because you went to Penn State.

ok, name a school where that isn't the case

At the other Penn school this sounds true as well ... Wharton is way more heavily recruited compare to their Econ for consulting/IB jobs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the choice is between econ/some other degree at a tippy top school without a business major vs. top UG business school (say, econ at Yale vs. business at Michigan Ross, econ at U Chicago vs. ug business at USC Marshall) you are likely better off going with the former. But if your school of choice DOES have a business school, major.in.business. The recruiting opportunities coming out of say, Michigan Ross or Texas McCombs or Berkeley Haas or NYU Stern vs. majoring in econ in the college of liberal arts/arts and sciences aren't even in the same stratosphere. In fact, at my alma mater (Penn State), economics is more or less known as what you major in if you don't get into Smeal (business school).

Yes, that's because you went to Penn State.

ok, name a school where that isn't the case

Any T20 with a business school. PP who was UG business and the son at an ivy is spot on. Name brand I-banks and consulting recruit from a select number of schools and care less about major. General industry looking for marketing, prod. Management, accounting, etc recruit regionally from UG business. So if your DC doesn’t get into a tippy toppy school, a UG business program is the way to go. But if they do, any major is fine (although internships or jobs during school do count).

Right, that is what I said in my pp. Not sure what going to Penn State has to do with anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn
MIT
Cornell
NYU
Georgetown
Berkeley
UCLA
USC
UVA
UMich

That is my kid’s rough list.

UCLA only offers ECon, not business undergrad. Publics are not direct admit, your kid will need to apply to the biz program after sophomore year at Mich and UVA which is why mine crossed those off the list. UT Austin has strong program and for some strong students direct admit. Too, Rice just added a full biz major I believe.

But overall a good list. Next level down would be

Emory
BC
Villanova
UMiami

Not for some. If you don’t get in direct, there is very small chance to get in later.

[Anonymous]

UVA undergrad business is ranked at no. 8 by USNews&WR. https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/business-overall

[Anonymous]

New Poets and Quants rating. USC Marshall on top.

https://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/rankings/poetsquants-best-undergraduate-business-schools-of-2023/?utm_campaign=Biz%20Dish&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=248159999&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--atsCluCqfx3itQjGkw5ruOj0PbH4BMn78-xjbOjZYAXOlOluDy9_AxbHBAAhNZOjboKjZOZYPVtEoYlui8ISO4C1KAg&utm_content=248159999&utm_source=hs_email&fbclid=IwAR0I_id40dbWyhMdrX1dwtnfJStQG3LPzIhhNE5gMQcaZL9YmmtKIfRtPd4

[Anonymous]

Business professor here.

All students need to take basic math, English, and social studies. This includes statistics, computers, and a year of accounting for lower-level business majors.
Undergraduates only take real business courses in the final two years. The undergraduate business curriculum is padded with required courses in every area: Accounting (one year), Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, Organizational Behavior/"Strategy", business law, etc. That leaves little flexibility for electives.

In contrast, an economics major has plenty of room for electives in math, statistics, or computer science. You could easily take 2 or 3 actuary exams before graduation. Or you could take electives in sports, music, languages, literature, or science. That is my preference.

[Anonymous]

If you get into a top 20 school, then you can major in anything and be in great position for a top finance or consulting job.

However, the actual business major matters when you get past that elite tier. Virtually every school that has a business major in the top 100 schools or so is going to have tougher admissions standards to the business program compared to liberal arts (similar to a lot of schools for engineering or computer science majors). You need higher academic credentials and expect a lower acceptance rate for business programs compared to the overall university.

Also, having performed a lot of on-campus interviews over the years, I highly recommend to visit the career services office at each place that you’re interested in. Does it exist? Which firms perform on-campus interviews there? Very importantly, which majors are allowed to utilize it? This is critical because a business school career services office often restricts its access to business school students. This means that an economics major in the liberal arts school often CANNOT use that career services office. That was certainly the case at the Big Ten school that I attended. So, I’d push back on some of the suggestions for an economics major in lieu of a business major if it’s offered at that school if that econ major doesn’t provide the same access to on-campus interviews. That makes a HUGE difference in employment opportunities.

There were some WSJ rankings several years ago of career services offices and it honestly tracked pretty well with my experience. There were certain places outside of the top 20 that punched well above their weight in terms of getting their students on-campus interviews - Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Penn State all come to mind. In contrast, there are some top 50 schools that might have a superficially high ranking but really don’t do much help at all on the career services front behind pointing students to job postings.

Everyone is going to have similar accounting, finance, marketing, and information systems classes. To me, the differentiator for schools that are outside of the top 20 is the quality of their career services office. That serves as the direct access to a school’s network along with bringing employers directly onto campus. It’s amazing to me that there’s so much talk about ROI in a college education, yet I rarely see talk about how each school’s career services office works. That ought to be the top issue outside of the school’s reputation in the desired major itself for anyone looking at a business career.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you get into a top 20 school, then you can major in anything and be in great position for a top finance or consulting job.

However, the actual business major matters when you get past that elite tier. Virtually every school that has a business major in the top 100 schools or so is going to have tougher admissions standards to the business program compared to liberal arts (similar to a lot of schools for engineering or computer science majors). You need higher academic credentials and expect a lower acceptance rate for business programs compared to the overall university.

Also, having performed a lot of on-campus interviews over the years, I highly recommend to visit the career services office at each place that you’re interested in. Does it exist? Which firms perform on-campus interviews there? Very importantly, which majors are allowed to utilize it? This is critical because a business school career services office often restricts its access to business school students. This means that an economics major in the liberal arts school often CANNOT use that career services office. That was certainly the case at the Big Ten school that I attended. So, I’d push back on some of the suggestions for an economics major in lieu of a business major if it’s offered at that school if that econ major doesn’t provide the same access to on-campus interviews. That makes a HUGE difference in employment opportunities.

There were some WSJ rankings several years ago of career services offices and it honestly tracked pretty well with my experience. There were certain places outside of the top 20 that punched well above their weight in terms of getting their students on-campus interviews - Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Penn State all come to mind. In contrast, there are some top 50 schools that might have a superficially high ranking but really don’t do much help at all on the career services front behind pointing students to job postings.

Everyone is going to have similar accounting, finance, marketing, and information systems classes. To me, the differentiator for schools that are outside of the top 20 is the quality of their career services office. That serves as the direct access to a school’s network along with bringing employers directly onto campus. It’s amazing to me that there’s so much talk about ROI in a college education, yet I rarely see talk about how each school’s career services office works. That ought to be the top issue outside of the school’s reputation in the desired major itself for anyone looking at a business career.

This is very helpful. Which schools in the region would you say have great careeer services for business majors? In PA, DE, MD,WV, VA, and VA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you get into a top 20 school, then you can major in anything and be in great position for a top finance or consulting job.

However, the actual business major matters when you get past that elite tier. Virtually every school that has a business major in the top 100 schools or so is going to have tougher admissions standards to the business program compared to liberal arts (similar to a lot of schools for engineering or computer science majors). You need higher academic credentials and expect a lower acceptance rate for business programs compared to the overall university.

Also, having performed a lot of on-campus interviews over the years, I highly recommend to visit the career services office at each place that you’re interested in. Does it exist? Which firms perform on-campus interviews there? Very importantly, which majors are allowed to utilize it? This is critical because a business school career services office often restricts its access to business school students. This means that an economics major in the liberal arts school often CANNOT use that career services office. That was certainly the case at the Big Ten school that I attended. So, I’d push back on some of the suggestions for an economics major in lieu of a business major if it’s offered at that school if that econ major doesn’t provide the same access to on-campus interviews. That makes a HUGE difference in employment opportunities.

There were some WSJ rankings several years ago of career services offices and it honestly tracked pretty well with my experience. There were certain places outside of the top 20 that punched well above their weight in terms of getting their students on-campus interviews - Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Penn State all come to mind. In contrast, there are some top 50 schools that might have a superficially high ranking but really don’t do much help at all on the career services front behind pointing students to job postings.

Everyone is going to have similar accounting, finance, marketing, and information systems classes. To me, the differentiator for schools that are outside of the top 20 is the quality of their career services office. That serves as the direct access to a school’s network along with bringing employers directly onto campus. It’s amazing to me that there’s so much talk about ROI in a college education, yet I rarely see talk about how each school’s career services office works. That ought to be the top issue outside of the school’s reputation in the desired major itself for anyone looking at a business career.

Agree on the rest, but the first line is wrong.

Random easy major won't cut it even in T20.
Some with history, phyolosophy, etc. may get lucky, but most of the students getting into top finance or consulting are Business, Econ, CS, STEM

Hence,
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?166027-Harvard-University&fos_code=2301&fos_credential=3
Harvard English = $43842
Harvard History = $60,343
Harvard Social Science = $62,452

[Anonymous]

Poets & Quants just published their 2023 list of top UG business schools. Some surprises there.

https://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/rankings/poetsquants-best-undergraduate-business-schools-of-2023/5/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you get into a top 20 school, then you can major in anything and be in great position for a top finance or consulting job.

However, the actual business major matters when you get past that elite tier. Virtually every school that has a business major in the top 100 schools or so is going to have tougher admissions standards to the business program compared to liberal arts (similar to a lot of schools for engineering or computer science majors). You need higher academic credentials and expect a lower acceptance rate for business programs compared to the overall university.

Also, having performed a lot of on-campus interviews over the years, I highly recommend to visit the career services office at each place that you’re interested in. Does it exist? Which firms perform on-campus interviews there? Very importantly, which majors are allowed to utilize it? This is critical because a business school career services office often restricts its access to business school students. This means that an economics major in the liberal arts school often CANNOT use that career services office. That was certainly the case at the Big Ten school that I attended. So, I’d push back on some of the suggestions for an economics major in lieu of a business major if it’s offered at that school if that econ major doesn’t provide the same access to on-campus interviews. That makes a HUGE difference in employment opportunities.

There were some WSJ rankings several years ago of career services offices and it honestly tracked pretty well with my experience. There were certain places outside of the top 20 that punched well above their weight in terms of getting their students on-campus interviews - Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Penn State all come to mind. In contrast, there are some top 50 schools that might have a superficially high ranking but really don’t do much help at all on the career services front behind pointing students to job postings.

Everyone is going to have similar accounting, finance, marketing, and information systems classes. To me, the differentiator for schools that are outside of the top 20 is the quality of their career services office. That serves as the direct access to a school’s network along with bringing employers directly onto campus. It’s amazing to me that there’s so much talk about ROI in a college education, yet I rarely see talk about how each school’s career services office works. That ought to be the top issue outside of the school’s reputation in the desired major itself for anyone looking at a business career.

This is very helpful. Which schools in the region would you say have great careeer services for business majors? In PA, DE, MD,WV, VA, and VA?

P&Q 2023 ranking based on Outcome

https://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/rankings/poetsquants-best-undergraduate-business-schools-of-2023/4/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you get into a top 20 school, then you can major in anything and be in great position for a top finance or consulting job.

However, the actual business major matters when you get past that elite tier. Virtually every school that has a business major in the top 100 schools or so is going to have tougher admissions standards to the business program compared to liberal arts (similar to a lot of schools for engineering or computer science majors). You need higher academic credentials and expect a lower acceptance rate for business programs compared to the overall university.

Also, having performed a lot of on-campus interviews over the years, I highly recommend to visit the career services office at each place that you’re interested in. Does it exist? Which firms perform on-campus interviews there? Very importantly, which majors are allowed to utilize it? This is critical because a business school career services office often restricts its access to business school students. This means that an economics major in the liberal arts school often CANNOT use that career services office. That was certainly the case at the Big Ten school that I attended. So, I’d push back on some of the suggestions for an economics major in lieu of a business major if it’s offered at that school if that econ major doesn’t provide the same access to on-campus interviews. That makes a HUGE difference in employment opportunities.

There were some WSJ rankings several years ago of career services offices and it honestly tracked pretty well with my experience. There were certain places outside of the top 20 that punched well above their weight in terms of getting their students on-campus interviews - Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Penn State all come to mind. In contrast, there are some top 50 schools that might have a superficially high ranking but really don’t do much help at all on the career services front behind pointing students to job postings.

Everyone is going to have similar accounting, finance, marketing, and information systems classes. To me, the differentiator for schools that are outside of the top 20 is the quality of their career services office. That serves as the direct access to a school’s network along with bringing employers directly onto campus. It’s amazing to me that there’s so much talk about ROI in a college education, yet I rarely see talk about how each school’s career services office works. That ought to be the top issue outside of the school’s reputation in the desired major itself for anyone looking at a business career.

This is very helpful. Which schools in the region would you say have great careeer services for business majors? In PA, DE, MD,WV, VA, and VA?

P&Q 2023 ranking based on Outcome

https://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/rankings/poetsquants-best-undergraduate-business-schools-of-2023/4/

Keep in mind that salary is heavily influenced by COL. Schools that send a lot of kids to NYC (looking at you, Wharton and Gtown) will naturally have higher salaries, but that doesn’t mean much if you’re trying to compare schools for brand management positions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you get into a top 20 school, then you can major in anything and be in great position for a top finance or consulting job.

However, the actual business major matters when you get past that elite tier. Virtually every school that has a business major in the top 100 schools or so is going to have tougher admissions standards to the business program compared to liberal arts (similar to a lot of schools for engineering or computer science majors). You need higher academic credentials and expect a lower acceptance rate for business programs compared to the overall university.

Also, having performed a lot of on-campus interviews over the years, I highly recommend to visit the career services office at each place that you’re interested in. Does it exist? Which firms perform on-campus interviews there? Very importantly, which majors are allowed to utilize it? This is critical because a business school career services office often restricts its access to business school students. This means that an economics major in the liberal arts school often CANNOT use that career services office. That was certainly the case at the Big Ten school that I attended. So, I’d push back on some of the suggestions for an economics major in lieu of a business major if it’s offered at that school if that econ major doesn’t provide the same access to on-campus interviews. That makes a HUGE difference in employment opportunities.

There were some WSJ rankings several years ago of career services offices and it honestly tracked pretty well with my experience. There were certain places outside of the top 20 that punched well above their weight in terms of getting their students on-campus interviews - Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Penn State all come to mind. In contrast, there are some top 50 schools that might have a superficially high ranking but really don’t do much help at all on the career services front behind pointing students to job postings.

Everyone is going to have similar accounting, finance, marketing, and information systems classes. To me, the differentiator for schools that are outside of the top 20 is the quality of their career services office. That serves as the direct access to a school’s network along with bringing employers directly onto campus. It’s amazing to me that there’s so much talk about ROI in a college education, yet I rarely see talk about how each school’s career services office works. That ought to be the top issue outside of the school’s reputation in the desired major itself for anyone looking at a business career.

This is very helpful. Which schools in the region would you say have great careeer services for business majors? In PA, DE, MD,WV, VA, and VA?

P&Q 2023 ranking based on Outcome

https://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/rankings/poetsquants-best-undergraduate-business-schools-of-2023/4/

Keep in mind that salary is heavily influenced by COL. Schools that send a lot of kids to NYC (looking at you, Wharton and Gtown) will naturally have higher salaries, but that doesn’t mean much if you’re trying to compare schools for brand management positions.

Seems like you wouldn't need an MBA coming out of Georgetown bba. Salaries are so high

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you get into a top 20 school, then you can major in anything and be in great position for a top finance or consulting job.

However, the actual business major matters when you get past that elite tier. Virtually every school that has a business major in the top 100 schools or so is going to have tougher admissions standards to the business program compared to liberal arts (similar to a lot of schools for engineering or computer science majors). You need higher academic credentials and expect a lower acceptance rate for business programs compared to the overall university.

Also, having performed a lot of on-campus interviews over the years, I highly recommend to visit the career services office at each place that you’re interested in. Does it exist? Which firms perform on-campus interviews there? Very importantly, which majors are allowed to utilize it? This is critical because a business school career services office often restricts its access to business school students. This means that an economics major in the liberal arts school often CANNOT use that career services office. That was certainly the case at the Big Ten school that I attended. So, I’d push back on some of the suggestions for an economics major in lieu of a business major if it’s offered at that school if that econ major doesn’t provide the same access to on-campus interviews. That makes a HUGE difference in employment opportunities.

There were some WSJ rankings several years ago of career services offices and it honestly tracked pretty well with my experience. There were certain places outside of the top 20 that punched well above their weight in terms of getting their students on-campus interviews - Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Penn State all come to mind. In contrast, there are some top 50 schools that might have a superficially high ranking but really don’t do much help at all on the career services front behind pointing students to job postings.

Everyone is going to have similar accounting, finance, marketing, and information systems classes. To me, the differentiator for schools that are outside of the top 20 is the quality of their career services office. That serves as the direct access to a school’s network along with bringing employers directly onto campus. It’s amazing to me that there’s so much talk about ROI in a college education, yet I rarely see talk about how each school’s career services office works. That ought to be the top issue outside of the school’s reputation in the desired major itself for anyone looking at a business career.

This is very helpful. Which schools in the region would you say have great careeer services for business majors? In PA, DE, MD,WV, VA, and VA?

P&Q 2023 ranking based on Outcome

https://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/rankings/poetsquants-best-undergraduate-business-schools-of-2023/4/

Keep in mind that salary is heavily influenced by COL. Schools that send a lot of kids to NYC (looking at you, Wharton and Gtown) will naturally have higher salaries, but that doesn’t mean much if you’re trying to compare schools for brand management positions.

Seems like you wouldn't need an MBA coming out of Georgetown bba. Salaries are so high

Yes you don't need MBA if you have a good undergrad degree and began a good career.

You would usually look at that option if you are rich and got bored, or you got laid off.