Importance of Undergraduate School -GPA and Ranking

Graduate School
1

I am considering two offers for undergraduate schools: Santa Clara University- Presidential Scholar, Honor’s College vs Notre Dame. - with my eye on Graduate School Admissions (MBA). If I were to receive a 4.0 at SCU vs a 3.5 at Notre Dame, how will this impact my chances of admission at a top MBA program? How much emphasis do MBA programs place on the ranking of the undergraduate school?

2

Those are both good schools, and I don’t think either would hurt you in terms of top MBA programs. Santa Clara sounds like a great offer and is a far better choice if Notre Dame isn’t giving you anything.

3

Keep in mind that your undergraduate school is but one of the many components of any MBA application. The best MBA programs are exceedingly competitive. First off the top MBA programs generally expect a minimum of 2-5 years of meaningful work experience demonstrating increasing levels of responsibility. In addition one also needs a great undergrad GPA and GMAT scores, a terrific essay, and excellent recommendations to be a competitive candidate.

I would base your undergrad college decision on fit and finances.

4

Notre Dame is giving me 38,000 this year and probably 25,000 following years given my parents income and my sister’s situation - based on their net price calculator and our meeting with financial aid office when we visited ND.

5

@Sylvestor

And Santa Clara is giving you a full tuition MERIT award. That should be for all four years.

6

Santa Clara is an awesome school in the heart of Silicon Valley. The campus is beautiful and the climate is ideal. There’s a Caltrain station next to campus that will take you to San Francisco Airport, where you can switch to BART.

From my notes of our visit there four years ago: "The top three employers of Santa Clara graduates are:

  1. Google;
  2. Apple; and
  3. Cysco Systems
    48% of the students hired by these employers have non-technical degrees."

I doubt that it would make much difference to an employer if you had a 3.5 at either Notre Dame or Santa Clara. Your post-college work experience, recommendations, and GMAT scores will be far more important.