What’s up, y’all. Remember when I said how impressed I was with the college undergrads who email me? Well, the email below is from a high school senior who is already thinking about getting an MBA. What is it in the water nowadays that’s making young people think about career and educational pathways so early in life? I was SO behind the curve when I was growing up…
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TW wrote:
“Marquis-
I was on Google looking for information on Stanford because I am a high school senior early applying to Stanford and I happened to stumble upon your blog.
It’s ironic that you wrote ” I’m always amazed when I get emails from folks who aren’t even out of college yet,” because I’m still in high school. But I digress.
I noticed that you got an MBA from Stanford but majored in Computer Science in Princeton. My question for you is this:
I too am interested in getting an MBA but have heard repeatedly not to major in business (in fact, Stanford does not allow undergrads to major in business) and to rather major in another field. Considering you somewhat followed this advice (given my highly limited knowledge of your educational path), do you think that this advice is sound? Also, if I should major in a field where I plan to be a businessman for- in my case, biotechnology and nanotechnology- should I focus more on the science courses; albeit the fact that I do not intend to be a scientist, or should I focus more on business/economics courses?
Also, I’ve heard it’s easier to get in if you major in something that not many people major in. A Princeton graduate told me that highly qualified applicants who tell the undergrad admissions office that they plan to major in philosophy has “always gotten in.”
I really appreciate your feedback.
-TW”
———–
My response:
TW,
Thanks for checking out my blog. It’s very impressive to see someone your age thinking about this stuff and you’re putting yourself in a great position to apply to business school later on. I am always cautious about answering questions like yours because I’ve never worked for an MBA admissions office and any response I can offer would just be a guess. I can offer you that guess here, but PLEASE take what I say with a grain of salt because I have never been a part of a B-school application decision.
My quick answer to your question is that I don’t find the advice of not majoring in business to improve your MBA admissions chances to be sound. I’m not saying that you SHOULD major in business to improve your chances either. My issue with this advice is that there are so many factors that go into a B-school application, including your post-undergrad career, GMAT, GPA, recommendations, etc., that trying to game the process by picking a major couldn’t possibly make or break your chances. The average B-school student has worked 3-5 years prior to matriculating, which allows for gathering a large number of experiences that could be unrelated to his/her undergrad major. If I were you, I would choose a college major based on subject areas that interest you. I’m a strong believer that one will perform better if he/she is learning stuff that they enjoy.
As for your question about the types of classes to focus on, I’m going to fall back to my earlier statement about going after what seems interesting to you. When you’re choosing courses for each semester, go for the ones that look like they might be enjoyable. If you end up with a semester where you’re taking a bunch of classes directly related to your major, then so be it. And, conversely, if you end up with only a single class for your major in a semester, then that could be cool too. If you would like to pursue a career in Business someday, I’d suggest mixing some business and econ classes in during your undergrad experience, but don’t short yourself on classes specific to your major. You’ll have to take departmental pre-requisites and required courses for your major, so you’ll get some knowledge of that topic area, regardless of how you focus your overall four-year course portfolio. Just focus on two things with picking your courses: completing your degree requirements within your major and choosing classes that will maximize your learning and enjoyment…the latter one is important because you only get to do college once, right?
Also, I didn’t follow the advice not to major in business, per se, because nothing I did was deliberate (Plus, Princeton didn’t have a “Business” major). I genuinely thought I would spend my whole career doing tech stuff, so I chose CS. It was only after I was stuck plugging away at Java code for years with no way out that I chose to apply to business school. Fortunately, it all worked out for me, but Fate sort of carried me in this direction…it wasn’t any sort of plan I set in motion back in the day when I was leaving high school.
Oh, and I wanted to give you a quick perspective on the advice you got from that Princeton graduate. I might be wrong, but there is a LOT more to a college application than what you plan to major in and I have a hard time believing that majoring in philosophy will improve your chances of getting in. You would still need to get good SAT scores, write strong essays, get some tight recommendations, and knock out the admissions interview. Trust me, picking a major that few others select should be the least of your worries right now. So, as I mentioned above, you’re better off picking a major based on topics you find interesting.
Take care and good luck with your Stanford application.
-Marquis
P.S. By the way, Stanford doesn’t offer an undergrad “Business” major, but its version of a traditional business UG degree is the “Management Science and Engineering” major…if you’ve got an interest in business and end up at Stanford, look into that joint.
———–
TW wrote:
“Marquis-
I was on Google looking for information on Stanford because I am a high school senior early applying to Stanford and I happened to stumble upon your blog.
It’s ironic that you wrote ” I’m always amazed when I get emails from folks who aren’t even out of college yet,” because I’m still in high school. But I digress.
I noticed that you got an MBA from Stanford but majored in Computer Science in Princeton. My question for you is this:
I too am interested in getting an MBA but have heard repeatedly not to major in business (in fact, Stanford does not allow undergrads to major in business) and to rather major in another field. Considering you somewhat followed this advice (given my highly limited knowledge of your educational path), do you think that this advice is sound? Also, if I should major in a field where I plan to be a businessman for- in my case, biotechnology and nanotechnology- should I focus more on the science courses; albeit the fact that I do not intend to be a scientist, or should I focus more on business/economics courses?
Also, I’ve heard it’s easier to get in if you major in something that not many people major in. A Princeton graduate told me that highly qualified applicants who tell the undergrad admissions office that they plan to major in philosophy has “always gotten in.”
I really appreciate your feedback.
-TW”
———–
My response:
TW,
Thanks for checking out my blog. It’s very impressive to see someone your age thinking about this stuff and you’re putting yourself in a great position to apply to business school later on. I am always cautious about answering questions like yours because I’ve never worked for an MBA admissions office and any response I can offer would just be a guess. I can offer you that guess here, but PLEASE take what I say with a grain of salt because I have never been a part of a B-school application decision.
My quick answer to your question is that I don’t find the advice of not majoring in business to improve your MBA admissions chances to be sound. I’m not saying that you SHOULD major in business to improve your chances either. My issue with this advice is that there are so many factors that go into a B-school application, including your post-undergrad career, GMAT, GPA, recommendations, etc., that trying to game the process by picking a major couldn’t possibly make or break your chances. The average B-school student has worked 3-5 years prior to matriculating, which allows for gathering a large number of experiences that could be unrelated to his/her undergrad major. If I were you, I would choose a college major based on subject areas that interest you. I’m a strong believer that one will perform better if he/she is learning stuff that they enjoy.
As for your question about the types of classes to focus on, I’m going to fall back to my earlier statement about going after what seems interesting to you. When you’re choosing courses for each semester, go for the ones that look like they might be enjoyable. If you end up with a semester where you’re taking a bunch of classes directly related to your major, then so be it. And, conversely, if you end up with only a single class for your major in a semester, then that could be cool too. If you would like to pursue a career in Business someday, I’d suggest mixing some business and econ classes in during your undergrad experience, but don’t short yourself on classes specific to your major. You’ll have to take departmental pre-requisites and required courses for your major, so you’ll get some knowledge of that topic area, regardless of how you focus your overall four-year course portfolio. Just focus on two things with picking your courses: completing your degree requirements within your major and choosing classes that will maximize your learning and enjoyment…the latter one is important because you only get to do college once, right?
Also, I didn’t follow the advice not to major in business, per se, because nothing I did was deliberate (Plus, Princeton didn’t have a “Business” major). I genuinely thought I would spend my whole career doing tech stuff, so I chose CS. It was only after I was stuck plugging away at Java code for years with no way out that I chose to apply to business school. Fortunately, it all worked out for me, but Fate sort of carried me in this direction…it wasn’t any sort of plan I set in motion back in the day when I was leaving high school.
Oh, and I wanted to give you a quick perspective on the advice you got from that Princeton graduate. I might be wrong, but there is a LOT more to a college application than what you plan to major in and I have a hard time believing that majoring in philosophy will improve your chances of getting in. You would still need to get good SAT scores, write strong essays, get some tight recommendations, and knock out the admissions interview. Trust me, picking a major that few others select should be the least of your worries right now. So, as I mentioned above, you’re better off picking a major based on topics you find interesting.
Take care and good luck with your Stanford application.
-Marquis
P.S. By the way, Stanford doesn’t offer an undergrad “Business” major, but its version of a traditional business UG degree is the “Management Science and Engineering” major…if you’ve got an interest in business and end up at Stanford, look into that joint.
