OOS with EFC of zero?

CFB53B
Sun, 15 Jan 2012 11:52:56 +0000

It’s not even really a factor for MBA admissions which was your favorite example.



Of course research doesn’t impact MBA admissions. You attacked my discussion of professional schools with discussion of research degrees, so I addressed that. Now you’re back to MBA admissions.

If you’re interested in an MBA at a lower tier school such as Kennesaw State, then your undergraduate school does not matter. However, if you look look at top 15 programs, you’ll see that their classes have two things in common: they all come from top schools (Harvard, Yale, and Penn top all 15 schools) and they all worked for the same companies (MBB represented 40% of Harvard’s class last year). To get into a top program you need one or both of those factors along with a strong GMAT. You won’t get that at a lower ranked school.



Truth be told, rigor at higher ranked schools isn’t so different from lower ranked public schools, and professors/admissions know this.



We’ve gone around and around on this issue. They do care, it is factored in. Coming from a lower tier school can be overcome, but it puts you at a disadvantage out of the gate. That’s something you need to weigh when choosing schools.

Think about it. If school didn’t matter in graduate school admissions, why would anyone pay for a top ranked undergraduate program? Why wouldn’t everyone just go to their local, cheap school then go to a top MBA or MD or MS or JD program? They don’t because the world doesn’t work that way and overwhelming evidence has connected undergraduate school to salaries, graduate schools, and future earnings.