<p>Hey,
I’m an Electrical and Computer Engineering freshman at Cornell University. I’m an Indian citizen.</p>
<p>Here’s my High School Resume</p>
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<p>I want to do an MBA from the top-notch schools after graduation.</p>
<p>1.) What are my chances?</p>
<p>2.) What should I do for the next 4yrs to improve my chances?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance :D</p>
<p>You do realize that your high school record will have no bearing on a MASTER’S degree, right?</p>
<p>MBAs don’t care about your highschool grades and SAT scores. Get a good GMAT score and work experience.</p>
<p>I’m considering working for a year or 2 as an engineer before applying to a B-school. Would you advise that?
Also, anything I could do at Cornell to boost my chances?</p>
<p>And do they not even look at ur HS Report? I thght it was a requisite…</p>
<p>No. High school grades/accomplishments are effectively rendered null and void. Your undergrad GPA, GMAT, and work experience are what matter for grad school.</p>
<p>Working isn’t necessarily a bad idea.</p>
<p>Work experience is welcomed at the top business schools. I would assume there’s some connection to business in your work field even if you are an engineer.</p>
<p>Working for a year or 2 as an engineer isn’t going to be good enough work experience for getting into a top MBA program, try 5 or 6. However a year or 2 as an Ibanking analyst or a consultant would be much better.</p>
<p>So, as of now, you guys advise me to just focus on maintaining a good GPA?
Would B-schools consider research experience and participation in events like RoboCup? or does have to be only Business related?</p>
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<p>This forum is obsessed with I-banking. Seriously.</p>
<p>Just an observation.</p>
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<p>Focus on enjoying college. Don’t worry, you have plenty of time to worry about your MBA.</p>
<p>Yeah, don’t obsess about grades. You might become too one-dimensional. Get good grades, but go to parties, get drunk, wake up next to random strange coeds, and make sure you get a full experience. Basically, don’t be a nerd. Be a cool guy with good grades.</p>
<p>Arjun, you need more than 12-24 months of work experience to get into a top MBA program. Most top MBA programs expect at least 36 months of work experience…and they prefer 48 months. That’s especially true of Engineers because Engineering is project related work and it takes time to really prove oneself in that domain. Obviously, going to a school of Cornell’s stature will help, especially if you can maintain a 3.5+ GPA. A 700+ on the GMAT is also pretty much expected. But the work experience is what’s really going to make the big difference. Your reasons for wanting to get an MBA will also be an important determinent.</p>
<p>“Arjun, you need more than 12-24 months of work experience to get into a top MBA program. Most top MBA programs expect at least 36 months of work experience…and they prefer 48 months.”</p>
<p>What do Ibankers do?</p>
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<p>Oh, I don’t know about that. I know a number of engineers at HBS, Stanford, and MIT Sloan who have only 1-2 years of experience as an engineer. This is especially so at MIT Sloan, which seems to be club central for engineers who want their MBA’s, including a significant number of engineers with only 1-2 years of experience. I don’t think anybody would dispute the notion that HBS, Stanford and Sloan are top MBA programs. </p>
<p>I would also shy away from any words like ‘need’. The fact is, there are a small handful of students at the top MBA programs who don’t have ANY work experience. There are people who get their MBA right after undergrad. There are people who get their MBA right after getting a master’s degree in some other subject, or after their PhD. Some schools even have special programs that allow you to do this. For example, Wharton allows a few of its undergrads to ‘submatriculate’ into the MBA program, hence getting a BS+MBA in 5 years. Most of these submatriculants will obviously have very little full-time work experience apart from perhaps summer internships. The MIT chemical engineering department has a special program, the so-called “Chemical Engineering Practice School Program”, in which students not only receive the PhD, but can also work to receive a joint MBA from the Sloan School if they fulfill certain requirements and spend an extra year at MIT. Most PhD students don’t have any work experience (studying for your PhD does not count as work experience).</p>
<p><a href=“http://undergrad.wharton.upenn.edu/policies/submatric.cfm[/url]”>http://undergrad.wharton.upenn.edu/policies/submatric.cfm</a>
<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/cheme/graduate/phdcep.html[/url]”>http://web.mit.edu/cheme/graduate/phdcep.html</a></p>
<p>Nevertheless, I agree that it is extremely difficult to get into a top MBA program with no work experience. Not impossible, but very difficult. Most admittees will have significant experience.</p>
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<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment_banking[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment_banking</a></p>
<p>Is it hard to obtain a job for work experience in the business field (I-Banking, or some other business oriented work) if you’re coming out of undergrad college with a degree in engineering?</p>
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<p>Well sakky I beg to differ. Where’s Wharton?</p>
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<p>I believe Sakky mentioned those specific schools because he knows engineers who received admission to those MBA programs.</p>
<p>Note, he never says they are THE TOP MBA programs. He says they are TOP MBA programs. There is a difference. He’s saying the schools he mentioned are up there, NOT the only ones that are up there.</p>
<p>He even mentions Wharton as a school that accepts kids with a lack of work experience. Did you really bother to spend any time reading his response?</p>
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<p>Geez, there’s no need to be confrontational.</p>
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<p>You have a funny definition of confrontational.</p>
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<p>thats my question as well…also wat internships shud one do while in engineering school if he/she is aiming for a MBA,technical or financial types??</p>