Attending the Same School for Undergrad and MBA

Hi guys,

What would (1) you and (2) the potential employer think about your attending the same school for both undergraduate and MBA? Here, I am talking about HSW, Chicago, Columbia, and Berkeley, exclusively.

I surely want to explore other academic/regional cultures, but at the same time, I really miss my old city/town/school/people.

What would be the benefits and the drawbacks? Thanks in advance for your opinions.

 

I met plenty of people at Kellogg who went to Northwestern undergrad. I don't think it negatively impacts you from a recruiting stand point, but I wouldn't do it because I'd want to experience somewhere else. Apply to your undergrad school, and a few others. Once you see where you get in, figure out your exact career goal, and see what financial aid packages are offered...the decision will be easier.

 

Obviously H/S are the best two, but the other four you listed are all really good. Booth might be the best option for staying in Chicago (Columbia for NYC and UCB for Bay Area).

If you got H or S, I would say go there. I'm still an undergrad, but the people I know who went there really loved their experiences there, and the prestige of both is palpable. I'm interning at a local IB firm and half of the people went to Harvard or Stanford. If you like your old undergrad school a lot, I would consider going there over Wharton, especially if the FinAid package is favorable.

 
Best Response

There are certainly situations where it makes sense but I think your particular reasons may be a bit off. The MBA experience is very far removed from the undergrad experience so everything you're accustomed to will change.

The people will be different -- MBA students are not like their undergrad counterparts and your interaction will undergrads will be limited to non-existent. You'll start to view city/towns differently. What you look for in city will be different. All of a sudden things like rent prices, public transportation, restaurants, proximity to employers, and safety start to outweigh the thing that can make an undergrad experience great. This isn't the case for everyone, but it is the traditional "returning as an adult to find everything is not the same" story.

From a professional standpoint the "alumni network" concern is certainly a real one and probably the biggest. However, if you were a business undergrad I may opt for a different University because some of your class material will overlap and it would be better to get a different perspective than repeating classes.

I'd say generally employers will ignore the fact that you went to the same University as long as it is a great school like the ones on your list (no one would fault a Harvard undergrad from going to HBS).

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 
OpsDude:

Is undergrad Alumni network really that important though? I went to a target undergrad, but after my MBA, I imagine that I'd only be utilizing my MBA alumni network.

I've only personally been in a similar situation a few times (UChicago undergrads networking with MBAs), but I imagine at certain schools the alumni network from the MBA program would still be responsive to someone who attended undergrad there. For example, I'm guessing Tuck MBAs are responsive to Tuck undergrads and Wharton MBAs are responsive to Wharton undergrads, etc. etc.
CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

Just to echo some of the above sentiment, I got into Tuck, Kellogg, Darden, Duke, and Yale. Each one had at least a handful of students I met who came from the undergrad programs. Tuck and Yale especially. So, it is hardly uncommon. With that said, go to the best program you can get into and provides the best fit.

 

Definitely a handful of people in my class at Johnson from Cornell undergrad. Also saw a lot of Duke -> Fuqua, UVA -> Darden, Michigan -> Ross people during my interviews/visits too.

Compbanker broke it down perfectly though - not too much to be concerened about: employers won't care, different people in MBA vs. undergrad, and different expectations of MBA students vs. undergrad students. I wouldn't be worried to return to my undergrad for MBA if the MBA program (1) accepted me, and (2) fufilled what I wanted out of my MBA experience.

 
BigPicture:

go to the best school you can, even if it's the same as your undergrad

That's generally my advice.

The thing is, it's not uncommon. At HBS, those who went to Harvard undergrad tend to make up the largest contingent. Same with Stanford, Wharton (although most are Penn undergrads, not Wharton undergrads), and so forth -- not always the largest, but amongst the largest contingent.

As mentioned before by others, the MBA programs at these universities tend to exist in their own bubble (in fact, most graduate programs at any university tend to exist in their own bubbles - in different buildings or even completely different parts of campus or even different cities - i.e. HBS vs. Harvard University). The experience is going to be completely different. Even at Wharton within the business school itself, the undergrad experience is night and day compared to the graduate program, and there's less interaction between both than you'd think (some MBA elective classes will have a few Wharton undergrads, but for the most part both groups don't really have much to do with one another).

Also, chances are your standard of living (or what you're willing to put up with as a 26 year old who has lived like an adult for a few years with some disposable income, versus the undergrad in you who didn't mind living with 5 roommates and eating pizza every night) will likely be quite different: living a different lifestyle and different perspective. While there's certainly your fair share of fratty type partying that goes on, even then it's still likely going to be different than undergrad -- for the most part how you make friends, how you spend time socializing, what you do and all that will be different (i.e. more trips out of town, eating at nice restaurants, etc).

Alex Chu www.mbaapply.com
 

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