Top undergrad vs top MBA?
Which do you consider more impressive? I feel like MBA is more impressive given the amount of wealthy families who send their kids to top undergrad.
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Top undergrad and MBA degrees send different signals IMO. Undergrads tend to be smarter than business school students in an academic sense as undergrad colleges have higher admission standards for the age group, have much lower acceptance rates than business schools (Harvard undergrad is 3-4% vs 12-14% for HBS), and don't screen for academic ability to the same degree because it is not a trait required to be successful in business. It's also true that the best and brightest high school students all get undergrad degrees, but many of those top students skip an MBA, even those interested in business, because the MBA has a fairly niche use case. However, MBAs have higher earning potential given their interests.
I'm not really impressed with either in a vacuum and tend to emphasize real-world accomplishments more. There is obviously a strong correlation with having elite degrees and accomplishment (you wouldn't have been accepted if you didn't do something great prior to applying), but starting a successful business/getting promoted quickly/having an elite job etc. >>>> simply having a HSW MBA or HYPSM undergrad degree to me.
It's worth noting that I went to an ivy for undergrad and was admitted to H & S for my MBA so I've spent a lot of time around both groups (will mention that there are tons of children of wealthy people at the undergrad AND grad levels as both admissions can be gamed with $). The sheen wears off if you spend enough time around them as you realize that they are just regular people with above average work ethic, luck, and intelligence. My views are different from those of "layman" and most layman don't differentiate between grad and undergrad degrees. HBS gets as many wows as Harvard college in my experience, but no one really cares for more than 2 seconds.
Depends on what you consider impressive. If it's raw intellectual horsepower I'd go w/ the undergrads. I went out on a date with someone who'd graduated from Cal Tech and it was as if she were speaking a foreign language when she dived into her interests. If pure intellectual ability is what you consider "impressive" then it's the gunners whose attention to detail is so great they make mockeries of standardized exams and then pile on a bunch of APs in their spare time, then excel at like 20 extra-curriculars.
If it's actual real-world relevant accomplishments then I'll go top MBAs w/ strong technical backgrounds. These days I'm more impressed with someone who can develop a comprehensive project plan and keep us on budget, or take a startup to C series funding, than someone who can quote Keats
As for my own purely silly rankings - it's HBS / Stanford MBA --> H --> Oxford --> YPMS --> W --> W MBA --> Who cares? / anyone else who may be smart
HBS MBA at the top more than HYPSM UG? That's a hot take... A lot of the H (and W) MBA profiles these days are good, but not that good.
For me: it'd be GSB MBA = H/S/M UG > Y/P UG > HBS > W MBA. All splitting hairs at the end of the day between HYSPM and HSW.
Only on wallstreetoasis would we be debating this.
No one cares, but to add my 2 cents, Top MBA + Top Undergrad > Top Undergrad > Top MBA. Biased towards intellectual ability because success in school has has always been about who is the smartest / hardest working. Hard to separate the association between school and intellect because it has been drilled into my head since kindergarten. Agree that Top Undergrads > Top MBAs in average intelligence so that influences the order. Cal Tech / MIT > HYPS > Stanford GSB > HBS (GSB is just much harder to get into) > Wharton >>>> everything else, purely on what I'd personally be be most impressed by school wise. But I hear that many GSB and HBS students have ivy undergrad degrees anyway.
From someone who did both....
No girl cares where you went to school unless its some asian chick from rural america who's never seen money. What matters is how much you have in the bank.
Undergrad ivy kids are smarter intellectually, but most have poor social skills. Lot of these kids are naturally/brilliant born geniuses, if they got in without money.
Top ivy league MBA grads are not as intelligent, but GENERALLY have a better EQ hence will make more money in the long run (on average). Most of my friends these days are from my top MBA. They're much more chill and down to earth.
Its much more impressive to do ivy league undergrad if you are unhooked.
Top MBA... not so much. Could get in with a decent corporate job out of a state school, with a good gmat and gpa.
Looking back, I regret doing ivy league undergrad. Would have went to a party school. My undergrad experience was way too intense. Top MBA was a ton of fun though and has helped me out in my current business. I didn't need it, but it did help.
Looking only at acceptance rates / how hard it is to get in is a bad measure. Think of the pool of people applying to undergrad vs grad school. Everyone applying to grad school has an undergrad degree. Everyone applying to undergrad has a high school degree. Everyone takes the SAT/ACT. Only those with a college degree take the GMAT. Comparing acceptance rates or score percentiles doesn’t make sense.
There’s no quick rule for this question. Sloan is not as good as MIT undergrad. Yale SOM is way different than Yale undergrad. HBS / GSB is pretty similar to their respective undergrads. It’s all highly dependant.
Is YLS = SOM = Yale? How about Yale College = Stanford Law = HBS?
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