Sorry if I’m piggybacking on OP’s thread, but what type of business ECs are looked on favorably by the more competitive schools? Are we talking FBLA type stuff or are internships and relevant work experience necessary?
The most recent Wharton admit I know ran a “dog-walking business” for folks in the neighborhood whose pets had gotten used to having them around during Covid lockdown but were slowly all going back into an office and no longer working from home.
It wasn’t Boeing, Goldman Sachs, Nvidia. Just a HS kid doing normal HS things- putting up flyers in the dry cleaners and bagel store, adjusting his prices when he realized he’d have no profit margin once he started recruiting older neighbors to help because he had school commitments during the day and needed to pay them.
What he DID have was superlative academics. Which I think is a factor folks ignore when talking about Wharton where being on the “future investment bankers of America even though I’m only 15” track seems to be the perception. You can still get into Wharton with strong rigor, signs of intellectual curiosity, and some sort of exposure to “commerce”- kid raises his prices on his garage cleanout business because the town dump increased the price of a permit? That’s an EXCELLENT essay.
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What is an example of a job / experience that a finance major might have in high school?
Clearly posters don’t agree on this topic, whether business or on that other newish thread about fit to major.
I can’t say if there are business schools where certain activities are necessary to be competitive for admission.
But, and again, for some of relatively selective schools, students should have some business and/or business adjacent activities during HS. And also like I said on the undergrad business fit to major thread…‘business adjacent’ is key here. Paid work, anything with leadership, raising money for robotics…those types of activities which some might not consider ‘business’, can support a business major/business intent.
some connected types show up with min-internships from investment banks. where i come from - something entrepreneurial, a fundraising accomplishment, running the school store or concession stand, comparing the heading of the club into running a business. School Treasurer or VP Finance if they have it. Class president. @skieurope move this to other thread if you think a better place.
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I know few ninth graders who are certain they want a career in business and focus on business related ECs (some students do and good for them). I think HS students should pursue their interests and work to make meaningful contributions.
IMO with thought non-business ECs can be used for a business related essay (ex. my S whose main activity related to community service arranged to have one discussion with the organization’s business director and wrote his essay about how he learned that the business world intersected with his desire to help others as funding/understanding the expenses of the program he worked with was important to its long-term success).
I don’t think this is a “one right answer for every situation” question. In fact, from another thread I know other posters have different opinions. YMMV. Truth is it may depend on the school and perhaps even the individual admissions officer
My general opinion is that HS students should use ECs to explore areas of interest and contribute time and energy to things they care about. No one or two business activities will guarantee admission to a hyper-competitive b-school. So my advice is to focus on the student’s growth and happiness.
yah -i’m guessing - don’t know - but guessing if we go to top schools, that most kids don’t have this stuff. I’m sure they have athletes and band members and work at the grocery store and walk dogs at the shelter and more.
But i’ll leave it alone - not a place to debate.
Lots of schools, by the way, the college as a whole - have questions that could stump. That’s where the thought process and creativity has to come into play.
But I’ shall let this one go from here.
Thanks for your thoughts.
i agree with this, but it is much harder at application time. that level of sophistication takes some talent at that age.
i guest lecture at business schools and when my son showed me the U-M Ross case study essay I almost fell off my chair.
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Eagle Scouts don’t need “business experience” . They’ve got built in, relevant skills.
Volunteers at the local food pantry don’t need “Business experience”. They are seeing every day the real world- the mismatch of inventory (three pallets of donated macaroni and cheese mix) and demand (homeless people have no way to prepare something which needs to be boiled).
Camp counselors don’t need “business experience”. Every day they face the challenge of maintaining state mandated counselor/camper ratios even when someone calls in sick, or a swim instructor has to take a camper to the ER leaving the waterfront unstaffed.
The social chair of the prom committee doesn’t need “business experience”. Once you’re done negotiating with the vendors, figuring out if there’s money in the budget for decorations, calculating the price of tickets, etc. you’ve got “business experience” aplenty.
Don’t make this complicated! Regular and ordinary HS students have plenty of relevant experience without needing access, connections, etc.
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Yep. People without the relevant exposure to current admission practices at certain schools just can’t understand. I chose not to state specific college names because, well, college confidential.
I routinely am ‘knocked off of my chair’
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those are all good, but weaving them into answers to essay questions that meet expectations - incredibly hard.
that was meant for @blossom
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Exactly. Eagle Scout is a great example. Many Eagle Scouts have no idea they have business experience, or even stem (by way of environment, math, wherever their scout journey has taken them.) Someone may have to help them think more broadly.
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YMMV. I would not have said my son was “sophisticated” as a HS senior – I think he just made it work. (And he was not looking at the hyper-competitive b-schools).
Interesting to see the different opinions on this question.
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my perspective - which may be only mine so sorry in advance.
some of these parents and kids seem less sophisticated, yet have some excellent stats. if they either used their passion for something and/or figured out how to “position” their stuff smartly (not easy to teach) they might do better in the process. Note I read my first book in college so I know how it is to be less sophisticated. I would have failed miserably in the business school blood bath as I am seeing it today. If I was an engineer… oh no.
? I don’t get this at all.
Incredibly hard? A kid who wants to study business as an undergrad- a pre-professional training program, ought to find it easy to write about their life experiences and why they’re interested in business. If they can’t- maybe the kid should major in econ or poli sci or statistics- or another discipline where you can launch a business career. I’ve posted before about the geology major who might have been the best finance hire I’ve every made. Had never taken a business course. But had modeled oceanic and volcanic movements to better predict eruptions and tsnunamis– and the Managing Directors couldn’t stop talking about the guy. Everyone wanted to meet him, even after it was clear he was getting an offer.
There are a lot of pathways to a business career. And if a kid can’t knock out an essay on “why business” at age 17, then there are multiple alternative pathways. Finding it “incredibly hard” might be the universe saying “what about urban planning?”
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i just did this with my son… 23x. it was very hard for me. i may be past my prime but i use to be quite good at this.
be aware the essay - “why business…” that is the layup. these are much more challenging than that.
When I worked as a college counselor, helping students brainstorm and structure these why major and other essays/case studies was really difficult even when they had supporting activities.
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that is also my experience
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Last year I was a judge at a startup competition. Most of the contenders were 25-30 years old, already had some business and/or entrepreneurial experience, MBA’s and a couple of Master’s degrees. One kid was still an undergrad.
The presentations were incredibly sophisticated, the competitors wandered the stage with Oprah-like presence and stagecraft. For the most part, they were pretty sophisticated business plans with a lot of “this is an Uber for X”– whatever the problem, someone was pitching an “on demand/peak pricing/direct to consumer” solution.
Who had the VC’s in the audience excited? The kid. The line of the money folks to meet him after the presentations was out the door. He didn’t have stage-craft, he didn’t have a sophisticated business plan, his wasn’t a terribly complicated tech or AI “solution” to a problem nobody knew they had.
What did have? A really, really good idea ready to launch if he got funding. And enough homespun market research to show that it was a really really good idea. And the chutzpah to enter a competition with people much older, more experienced, better financed than he was.
It was a nice reminder that the “expertly edited essay” and flashy presentation and whatnot is no substitute for authenticity. And authentic problem and a realistic solution, presented in a simple way without the benefit of ChatGPT.
Imagine that.