S/o business school admissions
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Anonymous
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I guess this could go for any department/school where admissions are limited, but it seems like business schools (and engineering) especially seem to have far higher supply (students wanting to major in that field) than they do demand (# of seats).
We’ve noticed that some schools you are admitted directly as a freshman, while others you take a series of courses and then apply to the business school usually after freshman or sophomore year. Other schools, like UW-Madison, seem to admit a batch as incoming freshman (top applicants) while the others who indicate they want to major in business are admitted to UW-Madison’s school of arts and sciences as “pre-business” and then apply as sophomores. Is there a preference for which one? Im assuming direct admit is the way to go...but I just want to crowdsource this one. Or...let’s say the kid is direct admitted to a slightly “lesser” program (say UW-Madison) but then isn’t directly admitted to a higher ranked program (say Michigan). What would the preference be there?! |
Anonymous
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Apply to multiple schools that offer business. Choose the best school that accepts you...
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/business-overall https://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com |
Anonymous
| Since you are asking/talking about business schools, I want to make a correction to your description. The supply is the number of seats in undergraduate business major (in a business school or the total of all business schools) and the demand is the number of high school graduates applying to that one business school (or the total number of high school graduates applying to all the business schools). |
Anonymous
+1. You are so kind for tactfully correcting the OP. I read it like “hoW ironic in a post re business but WTF”! |
Anonymous
LOL- yes, I worded it backwards. Thanks. -OP (not a business major but does understand the concept of supply and demand :oops 
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Anonymous
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Depends on the school, but generally speaking, the old “bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” adage comes into play here. Many schools make it very difficult and/or exceedingly competitive to get into business programs if they aren’t direct admits (and I believe Michigan is notorious on that front). I know that my alma mater of Illinois, which is essentially in the same tier as Wisconsin for admissions standards, it’s actually much more difficult to transfer into the business program as an existing student than to transfer into the engineering program (despite the highly-ranked UIUC engineering program having more difficult incoming freshman admissions standards compared to business). Business majors seem to be the most desirable transfer options for (a) liberal arts majors that have figured out that their majors won’t get them a job and (b) STEM majors that have figured out that their majors are way too hard for them. As a result, existing student transfer standards are often even more difficult than direct admissions as freshmen.
In that respect, a direct admit to Wisconsin Business is worth more than getting into Michigan LSA without a direct admit to Ross. You’re generally better off with a direct admit to any upper tier business school than a general liberal arts admissions to a non-Ivy/Ivy-level school (which generally don’t even have business majors). |
Anonymous
| * PP here. I meant that most Ivy/Ivy-level schools don’t have business majors (with Penn, MIT and Cornell being the primary exceptions). |
Anonymous
| Yes, similar situation as with direct admits to Indiana-Kelley. |