Importance of college choice for getting into MBA programs?

Graduate School Business School - MBA
1

<p>So I’m trying to decide which college to go to, between UNC Chapel Hill, William and Mary, SUNY Binghamton, and Cornell’s Applied Economics and Management program (I’m on the waitlist for Cornell, but unlike most Ivies, they usually take enough people off the list that it’s still worth considering). After college I’m not positive what I want to do, but it’s most likely going to be either business school (after working for a few years) or law school. Now I know from the law school forum that your specific college doesn’t matter that much for law school admissions; that most of what they consider is a candidate’s GPA and LSAT score. </p>

<p>What I was wondering is how much a particular college can affect admissions to business schools, particularly the “top” schools (I guess like top ten or fifteen-ish). I live in New York, so Binghamton would be like $18,000 a year vs. $30,000 for the other schools, (My parents are paying for part of my tuition, but not the whole thing, so if I went to UNC, W&M or Cornell, I’d have to take on about $50,000 more debt.) However, I would be willing to take on the additional debt if it would be an investment, because I plan on going into a high-paying field (specifically finance or entrepreneurship), and also because I think I’d probably enjoy UNC, W&M or Cornell somewhat more anyway. But would they actually affect my ability to get into top business schools?</p>

<p>Also, would going to one of those schools give me better opportunities for work during the time after college and before business school, than if I had gone to Binghamton? (In terms of either higher paying jobs, or just better upwards mobility.) Because that’d be a considerable factor in my decision as well.</p>

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<p>First, your undergrad institution has little or no influence on your b-school admission - you do have an edge when applying to the Johnson School as a Cornell alum. How well your undergrad are recruited influences your post-college career path which in turns influences your chance at top b-schools.</p>

<p>Recruiters (usually alums) do make an effort to recruit at Ithaca despite it is somehow difficult to reach (i.e. limited direct flights). I suspect, so are Binghamton, WM and UNC (to a lesser degree). You need to dig in on the career service departments.</p>

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<p>I agree with dallas808. Graduate Business schools mainly consider one’s work experience, GMAT score, essays, interview, and undergrad gpa (probably in that order…albeit, to get into a top business school u want to be strong in all of those areas).</p>

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<p>Thanks for the responses. Yeah, I guess I’ll look into the recruiting that’s done at each school to see what kind of careers I could get by going to each one…</p>