Stanford/Harvard Graduate School of Business?

Question

Would I have a better chance of being accepted to Stanford or Harvard's graduate school of business if I went to either college as an undergraduate or would I have a better chance if I went to UPenn: Wharton (ranked number one in terms of undergraduate business schools)?

Great info, but no one has directly answered my question...

Answer 1

It doesn't matter if you went to Penn, Harvard, or Stanford for undergrad. A 3.8 GPA from any of those schools would look impressive to a B school admissions committee.

So the short answer to your question is - it doesn't matter. Don't sweat it.

What does matter is your work experience. Make sure you get about 4 years of solid experience under your belt before applying to top B schools. If you're looking at schools of that caliber, I'm assuming that your academic qualifications will be stellar.

Answer 2

Each university has its specialties. Go to Stanford if you are/were an engineering grad, Wharton for finance, and Harvard for overall networking. BTW, all three schools (and Wharton is not #1 on all lists) require 2-4 years minimum of work experience before going into the program--it makes for a much better MBA experience. Going to any of the UG programs doesn't give you an "in" to that school, except possibly at Harvard.

Shiloh is right, Harvard offers the best networking among alumni, although the alumni network is great at all top schools. Internships often depend on alumni contacts as well. Don't just look at #1 status -- there are reasons to pick each of the top schools. I went to Columbia, and probably would not have been happy at any other school except maybe Stanford (I didn't apply because at the time it was 65% engineers).

Answer 3

If I had a chance to go to Harvard for anything, I would. The name "Harvard" will open doors forever and a day.

Answer 4

I think this is going to vary by employer. Some will look down on it, and others will not care one bit.