I want to do Business and Finance(hopefully an MBA later) and I have a soft spot for liberal arts and smaller uni like Dartmouth because they focus on undergrads, have professors teaching classes, and have a tight-knit community. Is this a good criteria to base my college decision on? Should I go to bigger unis with a stronger connection/network or located in big cities instead?
You can get a great education at either type of school so go with your personal preference. It sounds like you prefer LACs/smaller universities so I’d go with that.
As @happy1 notes, you can get a great education at either. While smaller schools may have smaller networks, they may also be tighter.
I think the bigger thing to consider is how you think you’d learn best and where you’d be happiest. If you learn better when you can participate more in class and have a relationship with the professors and other students, you might be happier at a LAC where this is the norm. On the other hand, if you prefer some anonymity and having more options, that might not be a good choice.
Business and finance are not usually offered at liberal arts schools. You could major in economics or mathematics and then get your MBA later if you want to go into finance.
A few LACs (ex. URichmond, Bucknell to name a couple) do have business programs and many smaller/mid size universities offer b-school programs (ex. Notre Dame, William and Mary, Emory to name a few),. If the OP wants a smaller school with business is is do-able. The OP can use the supermatch function to get some ideas. And virtually every college regardless of size offers economics (which is a very different course of study than going to a b-school). Also keep in mind that one can have any undergraduate major and go on to a MBA program.
One can go to a small college to get a business degree, but it is not a liberal arts education (BA).
There are very few UG business degrees that are worthwhile. They are generally more lightweight. A school like Dartmouth, a liberal arts school, wouldn’t offer a business degree.
Small LACs with a business major: Washington and Lee, Franklin and Marshall, Skidmore
And others (like Dartmouth, Williams, Hamilton) may not have a business major per se but have great economics programs and good relationships with businesses for recruiting.
You will not be disadvantaged by attending a LAC such as one of these; to the contrary, these schools are highly regarded by businesses and by MBA programs.
Go to the environment you prefer.
@oldfort We will have to disagree on your assessment of an undergraduate business education. I went to Wharton undergraduate and it was not “lightweight” in any respect and in addition to the liberal arts requrements I managed to take a lot of history courses for fun/interest. My S went to Fordham and had a very rigorous education both in the liberal arts (through a large Jesuit core curriculum) as well as a strong business education. IMO there is time to get an excellent liberal arts education and complete a business major in four years of college. And for people with practical concerns (ex.need to get a job upon graduation) as well as an interest in business an undergraduate b-school program can be a fine path. I’m not saying it is for everyone, but that path should not be degraded.
As noted there are LACs and small universities with b-schools.
Dartmouth with over 6,000 students as well as graduate programs is a small/mid-size university not a LAC. Dartmouth does offer a very fine graduate business program (Tuck). It is the school’s choice to only have a graduate b-school program but other fine and even other Ivy League colleges (Penn, Cornell) do choose to have undergraduate b-school programs as well.
But alas, we are far off of the OP’s question which is if a larger or smaller school is best. And I remain steady in saying that the size of the school is really a matter of personal preference – a great education can be had at any sized school.
@happy1 - this is what I wrote:
Clearly Wharton is one of those UG business degrees that’s worthwhile, and I would consider Cornell’s B school to be one of those.
D1 went to Cornell and she took classes at AEM and A&S. She did find AEM courses to be easier, at least for her. Even though she was an A&S student, she was asked to TA at few courses at AEM.
Yes. A preference for smaller schools because of the teaching and community is an excellent reason for shaping your college list. Plenty of highly successful business and finance people went to LAC’s.
@oldfort I would not make a sweeping generalization that business degrees are generally not worthwhile based on your D’s fairly limited experience. If a class is easier it often has something to do with an individual’s aptitudes, the level of the course, the prof. etc. And even if the classes were easier to her, it does not by definition make an entire course of study not worthwhile. And as an aside, I found many of my liberal arts classes at Penn to be easier than my business coursework.
I am glad you find Wharton worthwhile. After visiting a number of undergraduate b-school programs with my S in his college search process I feel confident that there are many many other undergraduate b-school that offer a similarly well-rounded and worthwhile programs.
I absolutely appreciate the value in a pure liberal arts education (the route my D took) but like many things in the college process I feel that each individual has to find the right path for him/her to take – for some a solid undergraduate b-school will be that most worthwhile route and for others it will be another path. There is no reason to knock a path you haven’t taken. Live and let live.
I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this one.
Apologies to the OP for the digression.
I am a strong believer/supporter of liberal arts education, and this is not based on limited experience of D1. I’ve recruited and hired many UGs.
^^^I have hired many UGs (business majors) as well with excellent outcomes. Different experiences, different opinions.
The thing to remember about networking is that you want to build a network of people both inside and outside of your field. If you get an MBA, then your in-field network will naturally grow from there. The advantage to a quality LAC is that your network will likely include future scientists, politicians, journalists, and academics of many sorts. Being able to easily call on a seemingly endless variety of quality contacts will get you noticed in business.
LACs aren’t right for everybody but as others have said, you seem to be inclined towards that. Networking opportunities will be excellent if you go that way.
MBA Preparation (compared to all schools nationally)
Pomona
Amherst
Claremont McKenna
Hamilton
Middlebury
Bates
https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/infographics/top-feeders-phd-programs
Economics
Williams
Wellesley
Middlebury
Wesleyan
Hamilton
Claremont McKenna
Correction: The first link for #17 should appear as follows:
https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/infographics/top-feeders-mba-programs
If you want a top MBA program, your odds are better if you attend a top undergrad. For example, Harvard, Stanford and Penn each admit the most students to their MBA from their own undergrad, followed by the other two schools. A bit of mutual back scratching is going on.
Lehigh is one smallish school (~5.000 undergrads) that has a significant, high quality business program.
@merc81 Never saw that chart before. Thanks ^^