Best major mashups?
(Undergrad) I'm looking to get into MBB at some point in my career, and I don't know for sure if I'll get into a target. One school I am definitely thinking about is Ohio state. I realize it isn't a target, but at least it has Bain recruiting and has T2 hiring + ways to get ahead in a huge school. My thoughts are either majoring in BA/IR or BA/IT or BA/Information Systems. OR I could go to Michigan state and major in Supply Chain (#1 program). But also, I don't want to limit myself to just SCM. Thoughts :)
Bain does not recruit at OSU
They'll accept applications from anywhere, doesn't mean that they recruit from anywhere.
I know that, but I can't bank totally on getting into an Ivy which is like 30x as hard now as it was back then. It's a crapshoot, I might as well pick a school I will for sure get into that I can work hard in and excel in. And, yes they do. Bain does recruit on campus at OSU lol
What I meant specifically was target, I do see that OSU has recruiting contacts for Bain, which is a good start if you end up there. Not sure why you think it's either an Ivy League or some giant state school with 50+% acceptance rate. There are a ton of fantastic schools in between that would be target schools.
OSU is a better option for consulting than MSU. McK recruits on campus, and Bain/BCG have active alumni that are helping get a few students per year in. Some B4 and EY-Parthenon are recruiting on campus. Alumni in other T2s as well
It's an uphill battle coming out of OSU to get into MBB/T2, but if you work really hard and build a great well-rounded profile, it's doable. If you can get into the consulting club BUCC you'll have access to a lot of good opportunities that others do not
Major-wise, if you can get into the honors integrated business and engineering program (IBE) - which is extremely hard to get into - that's your best bet by far. Integrated Systems Engineering (ISE) is a good major choice as well. In the business school, I'd probably say you're best off with finance as your major, at least judging by past success. Business analytics is a good second major, but as a first major non-OSU people won't understand it very well
Again though it's a lot more work to get into MBB/T2 out of OSU vs a target - crank on ACT prep and go to a target if you can
SAT isn't a problem, I have a 1500+ score. Nowadays, grades/SAT aren't enough :/. I don't have the world class extracurriculars I need to get in where I want. I have a great GPA + scores + hard class rigor, but I didn't cure cancer and my parents aren't legacies :(. I could get into a semi target W&M, but holy crap their academics would wreck my GPA and therefore my chance at applying anywhere. I'm applying everywhere in the hopes that I can get into a target tho. I was thinking about IBE, but the problem is even though I am good at math/science; I struggle really hard in them to get an A, so I feel like my GPA would be shit if I even got in and did the program.
1500+ SAT with high GPA, shoot your shot and apply to some great schools. It's a myth that you need to be an incredible person to get into a top ~10-20 school - there are always people with underwhelming backgrounds at every school. Don't not-try because you're afraid of rejection
I'm not saying OSU is a bad school to go to if you're smart - being a state flagship with 50k people, you're going to have clusters of seriously smart people. However, again you'll really need to work harder and do more to get an MBB/T2 offer vs if you went to a target
> I don't have the world class extracurriculars
I don't know what you mean by world class, but if you're feeling the mistake of not doing enough outside of the classroom now, don't make that mistake again in college
> I feel like my GPA would be shit if I even got in and did the program
Then just do finance. But given you won't be going to a target and it won't be all that hard to get a good GPA in Fisher undergrad, you're going to need to overindex on things outside the classroom
What are you intellectually interested in? I have very few post-undergrad-level colleagues who were business majors; lots of engineers, economists, policy studies majors, etc. You can certainly recruit as a business major, but it's not a requirement and likely not much of an asset.
Fine Art… so yeah not happening hahaha… other than that classics or international stuff so like IR or international biz. Also like Spanish. Econ is the route I'll go if I end up at a LAC. I do like Econ tho v interesting
Then double major. Primary major either econ, IR, or international business. Secondary major art history or english. That'd be an interesting combo and wouldn't be too challenging academically.
I'd really suggest against international business. I don't know why, but international business tends not to be a great major in terms of placement. It also doesn't help that there really aren't "international business" jobs in the same way that there are e.g. finance jobs, so it's hard to get a first good internship. Maybe it also causes some recruiters to feel the candidate is flighty since they'd really want an international job, while the job they're recruiting for is not an international job
Double-majoring in a College of Arts & Sciences major along with a Fisher major will be more or less difficult based on the extent to which your AP credits satisfy the additional Arts & Sciences requirements. I was originally planning to do a double major with an Arts & Sciences 2nd, but it wasn't going to be worth the massive number of incremental credits to me. That's why they make minors (and note - you don't have to full stop taking classes in a subject once you have the minors required classes)
Also, coming out of a non-target, the "major doesn't matter for recruitment" rule doesn't apply in the same way it does at a target - you'll need a stronger profile vs somebody at a target school, and good luck getting a F500 finance internship your sophomore year with a social sciences major from a mid-ranked state school
Keep in mind it's been a number of years since I've been at OSU, so some things could have changed
I second that business + engineering or some form of IT can be valuable, but don't sleep on biology either. Healthcare consulting is a growing sector across large, small, generalist and specialized consultancies meaning those skills are always in high demand. You don't need a PhD to do well at all (most people I work with that don't have one do better than their academic counterparts) but having some knowledge sets you ahead of the pack. If there is an option to consider BA + biology or biochemistry I would consider it (provided HC is a sector of interest to you)
HC management (forget what the cores are for that) sounds cool to me, idk about bio. Sounds interesting but the physics and chem that comes with..haha… and my best choice so far seems like IT. I have relatives who also do it so I'll ask for help when I need it.
Computer Science and some sort of ad hoc Social Studies / Philosophy / Literature major. I swear on my balls that is the most elite thing ever, bridging new world tech skills with old world gentlemen's degree. If you could pull that off with a magnum cum laude, some sort of student body senator / president, consulting club / finance club president, that would be a jaw dropping resume even from whatever school you mentioned in your post.
Sounds interesting… only problem is I would be utter ass at CS. Is there any techy sort of thing that could fill that role? Like could I do IT in place?
IT is not elite, if anything, IT is practically trade school
It sounds like you're in high school- first take a breath and enjoy your life a bit. OSU has the better business school, but I would also look at IU, UMich, Wisconsin, etc.
Coming from MBB, you're major is really irrelevant. Obviously business majors are the best prepared to enter consulting and generally attract the consulting personalities, but we really look for STEM and liberal arts majors too. You still need to be able to do case interviews, but I'd rather have a History or Chemistry major in my team than yet another business major. If you have any questions feel free to PM.
Haha yeah I probably should slow down… I am considering UMich but it would run me about 60k a year… I haven't heard much about UWM, would you be able to tell me more?As for majors I'm thinking of double majoring in tech and business or business and liberal arts
Yes please slow down, for your sake, nobody likes a hardo :-)
I don't know much about Wisconsin, it's got a decent business school but it certainly doesn't compare to OSU or IU. UMich is definitely not worth 100k in debt, and a spot at a top consulting firm is not guaranteed.
My personal opinion: I think tech majors are a bit overrated, since heavy programming is outsourced and MBB's main focus is not tech consulting. Double major is not always necessary, but a business minor is definitely important. Chemistry/Bio/Physics/Engineering/Medicine are always impressive and can bring a lot of value to teams (and are valued in recruiting), History/Politics/Philosophy/Law are also good as long as they can operate well in the "practical" world rather than "theoretical" world. I expect foreign language skills on my teams, even if you're American. It teaches you a lot about effective communication and it gives you a healthy sense of global understanding and project mobility.
I did Undergrad recruiting for my MBB. It sounds like you're considering schools in the Midwest Region. If that's the case here's a shortlist of those schools by recruiting representation:
Target (e.g. in offices everywhere): Northwestern, UMich (mostly Ross kids), U Chicago, Notre Dame, WashU
Semi-Target (e.g., notable presence in one or two offices): Indiana University (Kelley kids), Illinois, OSU
Non-Target (Met some/heard of some of these guys, but never in notable numbers): MSU, Penn State, Wisconsin
I will toss out the disclaimer that I'm only absolutely certain about the targets because, well, we explicitly had meetings on how to best target them lol. The Semi-Target and Non-Target groups are just my experience based on teams I worked with and who I saw in the cohorts that came in during my tenure
I'd definitely go to Umich if their aid was decent… as for the other ones I'm applying but don't know if I'll get in. As for IU, there's something I'm just not a fan of. For OSU, popular majors are way more spread out, IU is extremely business heavy which means more competition. Also prefer Ohio, but I understand IU kids have better rep. Thanks for your insight, very interesting!
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