Emory is NOT a target (maybe a semi-target?) school though which is what I am trying to say (being a target school for some companies seems to correlate with region with the northeast and the upper midwest having a notable advantage). Most of those other schools have very high SATs (which finance firms, especially on Wall Street are known for targeting) in their b-schools, substantially higher than Emory’s (all have SAT means 1400+, Emory has not hit that since the last I checked. Perhaps the class of 2021, when it enters will hit this target, but this is only because the new SAT seems to be scored such that the high 1300s and 1400s are more accessible to high achieving students than on the old). The fact still stands that those at an elite school DO NOT need to major in finance. Top performing students at elite schools with more quantitative econ. courses or math majors still get access. Given this, I am not that convinced that a b-school curriculum offers too much of an advantage alone (regardless of what major you choose, you certainly need to intern to enhance access. That is likely more important than very specific coursework). Now I’ll admit that the network and career center of GBS could certainly ease the interview process, but I think how special the curriculum is overall is over-rated at most business schools (don’t involve NYU in a conversation…seriously. We know why it is a target). You would also want to gain access to certain classes (perhaps the ones you mention) or opps that let you get directly involved in overseeing finances of some entity (I think Emory has this investment club).
Will you have time for that? That is the question, because your schedule will be full of course work. Will it leave time to access some of the more hands on classes. You have to think about how you’ll go about that if you decide to do that. Also, does UVA offer Arts and Letters students access to Business classes (even if a limited amount like GBS, which I think allows up to 4)? If you go aiming for GBS, you need to really, really plan to hit the ground running as soon as you get to ECAS. You need to knock out the pre-reqs if they do not accept them (please contact someone in econ about course equivalencies ASAP, or you will be sitting in basic econ. classes desparately wanting to “reclaim your time”) and you need to immediately get involved in things happening in the b-school or elsewhere that gets you involved in the business world that could perhaps converts to an internship position, before you even get to GBS. It seems like another thing that many people in GBS get access to internships before admissions. This is another reason that it is difficult to see the effect of the business school curriculum versus the students’ agression.
Also, the point is with the econ. thing is that they do not care about the grades and are so dumb that they do not offer placement tests. Your syllabus could be identical and they still discriminate likely because they want a higher headcount in those intro. courses. It is quite sad.
Also, do not use LinkedIn: You know that isn’t a complete picture. It provides “some” data. I think soemthing like Poets and Quants has much better data (like insider data). Emory is fine considering its location (in 2014 or 2015, it was like 32 for WS) and lower scores, but I don’t think number 32 screams target. Perhaps outside of that, it is fine, but if you only want WS (which sadly, seems to be the case for many regardless of how well finance pays in general), maybe not as much.