I am curious does it matter what undergrad i went to if I get into a prestigious target school?
I am from canada, and I go to a non target school 3.8 gpa and was wondering if i get into lets say University of Toronto's MFE or Queens Mfin will it really matter what i did in my undergrad?
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Yes. A) It is basic pre-selection, B) Masters programs are much easier to get in to, C) If you were good you would have gotten a job out of undergrad
There's no one size fits all answer.
You adopt your grad school if your undergrad was "worse." That's usually how most people will see it.
Obama did his undergrad at Columbia, but his grad at Harvard. Everyone just says he went to Harvard. Granted, both schools are good, but nobody cares about your undergrad.
What's the point of worrying about something you can't change? Just be a badass at whichever MFE program you pick.
I went to a non-target undergrad and to a target grad school.
I think it does matter if the hiring managers or the HR use a certain method.
I know for sure that some hiring managers have the undergrad institution name as an elimination criterion. One MD once told me that in order to reduce the pile of resumes, he looks at what isn't good (e.g. non-target undergrad/grad, no experience, bad GPA, etc.). Only then does he look at the pile of say 20 resumes and selects 5 strong resumes...
I think it's a retarded method, but you can't do anything about it... plus for every position they receive about 200-300 resumes and I kind of understand them.
HOWEVER, if you go to a target grad school, it's an accomplishment and it will add points to less robotic hiring managers that can accept the fact that non-target undergrads can be decent candidates for top jobs. Also, you will be part of a target school network, which will make the networking easier.
I've interviewed with every BB for SA and full time ( both for positions that I qualify and those that I don't qualify for... lol)...
It seems like I will never escape going to a non target undergrad school. I could just imagine the first week of grad school would be like "what is someone from ____ doing here"
Once you get an interview, it all depends on how you spin it... it can show that you are determined that you went from non-target to target (especially if your majors weren't related)
One guy once told me to push my education section to the bottom... I will do it once I get some decent experience...
And, I wouldn't worry too much now about this. Experience is all that matters... get a couple of good internships before you join the program, get top GPA in your program and every company will want to interview you.
your UG will still be on your resume so yes, you will unfortunately be judged for it by some and it will not look as good as going from target---->target. But at the end of the day you still have a great opportunity for OCR and more importantly you have access to the network your target school will provide you which will give you a shot of breaking in if you use it correctly
Network and impress recruiters at information sessions, I would say. But in general, undergrad -> 2yr work experience -> target MBA would be a better path I think.
Yes/No. It will, as jss09 put it, still be on your resume, but it will overshadowed by your grad school.
For an MFE/MFin, I don't think no experience & non target UG would be a significant ding against you. If you're talking about an MBA, then yes, definitely. Comparing MFE and MBA recruiting is like comparing apples to oranges -- it's not the same at all.
DrexelAlum11 is 100% incorrect in regards to all of his points.
WallStreetStandard, yes, once you land a job you should push your education down towards the bottom. When you're working, experience trumps school.
One piece of advice to all, don't be cocky about what school you're going to or went to, employers don't like it. I went to interview some kid for a summer analyst position and he started the interview, completely unprompted, with "So when I was at Exeter...". I stopped him mid-sentence, laughing, crumpled up his resume and threw it out in front of him then asked: "I can waste my time for 20 minutes listening to why you think you're qualified, or I can leave now. What should I do?" Haha -- he wanted me to stay, which annoyed me more, so I left anyway.
Nobody really gives a shit about your undergrad school because your grad school overshadows whatever you did undergrad.
Once you get into a top MBA uni does ugrad school matter? (Originally Posted: 05/25/2007)
I'm going to try to transfer out of my non-target next year but in case I'm not able I realize my path to IBD and on will be a bit tougher. But say I do get to a good bank will the ugrad matter to the MBA schools? Furthermore, once I graduate from a top MBA will ugrad matter at all?
(I've tried searching this exact question to no avail)
Undergrad university wont matter at all once you have your MBA. Your program of study in undergrad and work experience will matter so much more. In my interviews they all basically focused on my work experience.
You could still have a substantial alumni network depending on where you went to undergrad (but it can't hurt you after you have the MBA).
alumni networking is an entirely different subject. I can't find ANYONE here.
Nope..doesn't matter much at all. It washes all your sins away.
Once you've got a job at a BB and want to apply for an MBA, I doubt undergrad will matter at all. This is assuming that you went to a school that has a half decent program in your course of study.
After business school does where you went to undergrad matter anymore? (Originally Posted: 02/07/2012)
If you went to HWS for business school will employers still look down on you if you don't have a prestigious undergrad degree?
Not a crappy one. Just not a prestigious one.
Edit:Sorry made a typo.
sadly if you're an ethnic minority they might chalk it up to affirmative action
What the hell is HYS? (Not rhetorical).
Was going to say this.
Maybe op meant HWS? Certainly not Harvard-Yale-Stanford for b-school...
^ Harvard, Yale, Stanford... Doesn't even make sense in a b-school setting.
fruit loops, stop posting the same thread all over the fucking forum. Your undergrad school will only matter in that it may have determined the type of pre-b-school experience you have, and your network in general.
Seems you didn't read the Q&A.
Sorry, I meant HWS.
I didn't mean to post all over the forum. This thread was different though.
You will soon learn in the real world that success is largely predicated upon your ability to stop giving a fuck what other people think about you.
HYS is for law school. Yale has never been bumped from #1 and Harvard/Stanford flip-flop between #2 and #3.
Depends on strength of pre-MBA work experience and industry you're recruiting for. Maybe a little bit.
Doesn't seem to. There may be a small subset of firms who are brand whores no matter what, but I think you'll find that if you're at a top program you will be very competitive. I went to a complete non target ugrad (top 40 maybe), and always enjoy looking around to see I'm surrounded by HSPY ugrad kids who were private schooled all the way... good feeling.
Nobody gives a shit where you went to undergrad basically the day you show up to work.
Undergrad will carry some cache for about 5 years following graduation, but only among social circles. At work nobody gives a shit. Seriously.
Also post MBA nobody even remotely gives a shit where you went to undergrad.
.
Importance of undergraduate school after MBA (Originally Posted: 11/10/2015)
After getting an MBA from a top MBA program, would someone from a top 10 undergrad still have an advantage over someone from a top 25 undergrad? (For jobs in a competitive industry like PE). Any thoughts are appreciated!
Usually no. People who went to HYPSM undergrad tended to do bit better in consulting and banking recruiting at my MBA business schools">M7 school...but they also tended to have the best work experience and usually were on scholarship. Likely the work experience / raw intelligence was the differentiator more so than their undergrad institution.
Yup. HYPSM selects those who already possess the intelligence, ambition, work ethic, and savvy to excel in the real world. No surprise that they are dominating at b-schools and in life.
Thanks for the reply! I'm attending a Top25 undergrad now and I'm think about transferring into a better school. It seems like school name doesn't really matter. That's good to know!
it doesn't hurt because of the alumni network that you can still tap into after MBA.
It's also important that better school significantly improves the odds of top MBA.
Would you recommend transfer from a school like Berkeley/UVA to a school like Columbia/Duke?
Importance of Undergrad (Originally Posted: 01/19/2007)
If you get ur MBA at a top school and try to enter I-banking as an associate, does it matter where you went to undergrad.
No.
not at all
after your MBA at a top school, do you think it would be hard to get into banking as an associate even though you worked in PWM before your MBA?
If you go to a top MBA program it's not difficult to get an IB job. Period. Doesn't matter what your background is. There are tons of people at top MBA programs (esp top 5) that are going for IM, PE, VC, real estate, etc.--i.e. jobs that are a hell of a lot tougher to get than IB. I went to a top 5 MBA program and don't know a single person in my class who tried to get an IB who could not get one....
So if I don't get into IB right after college, could I work for a Big Four firm for a couple of years then go get my MBA at a top school and hopefully get a position as a analyst or associate from there?
Thanks!!
big 4 is not a path to top MBA programs. If you are working in big 4, the best thing you can do to improve your chances is get a new job
whats a Big Four firm
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