Son accepted into Undergrad Business School

As someone involved in talent development from K12 to HigherEd to Corporate, I promise you the type of degree (unless it's engineering and a couple others) will matter less in the coming years than it did when we were in school. He'll need to show evidence of a developing skill set, the ability to learn new things, and people (former employers) who'll attest to both. Whatever school/environment gets him closer to optimizing that portfolio, that's my suggestion. Again, it depends what type of role he'll seek out of undergrad, but more and more I see employers who openly state and seek self-directed learners, thinkers, and problem solvers.
Not sure we’re disagreeing. I think the type of degree matters for both the individual and prospective employers. Not that there is only one valid type for either group. And agree that it has to align with a person’s interests to work. But employers have plenty of choices and make quick screening decisions. Grades, name on the degree, and course of study are all screens. Experience and demonstrated commitment to a field or career path also matter. While they don’t guarantee anything, and some people can overcome a lot in an interview, the reality is you’re going to get fewer chances for an interview, and have more to overcome, if you are trying to compete with people who appear to be more focused and committed and knowledgable than you look to be from the perspective of a potential employer.

Doesn’t require a business degree. Engineering is a common choice for kany people today. There are others. Also, selecting your peer set matters all along the path in life. That’s part of what you do when you pick a degree focus. Not just the relationships, but the culture and behaviors, they’re absorbed.

Now, if your interest isn’t business or management, then an undergrad business degree isn’t really very relevant.
 
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Not sure we’re disagreeing. I think the type of degree matters for both the individual and prospective employers. Not that there is only one valid type for either group. And agree that it has to align with a person’s interests to work. But employers have plenty of choices and make quick screening decisions. Grades, name on the degree, and course of study are all screens. Experience and demonstrated commitment to a field or career path also matter. While they don’t guarantee anything, and some people can overcome a lot in an interview, the reality is you’re going to get fewer chances for an interview, and have more to overcome, if you are trying to compete with people who appear to be more focused and committed and knowledgable than you look to be from the perspective of a potential employer.

Doesn’t require a business degree. Engineering is a common choice for kany people today. There are others. Also, selecting your peer set matters all along the path in life. That’s part of what you do when you pick a degree focus. Not just the relationships, but the culture and behaviors, they’re absorbed.

Now, if your interest isn’t business or management, then an undergrad business degree isn’t really very relevant.
Agreed. Especially the two bolded portions. Don't think we were disagreeing at all? My response was to ATL. Did I miss something?
 
Badge matters.

If your son is set on pursuing a business degree then Mich > Miami.

It isn't that close and I graduated with a business degree from Miami.
 
If your son is interested in finance or real estate I suggest he read Wall Street Oasis, a website dedicated to the finance industry. There is a sub forum on colleges and you will find that Miami is a nontarget for most financial institutions. This will make it much more difficult (not impossible) to secure front office roles in major financial markets.

Congrats to your son and, if he does end up at Miami, tell him to work his **** off and network like crazy. It can be done.
 
Great post.

For the OP, I'll add a few things from various perspectives and experiences:

- I went to UM Business School undergrad (before leaving elsewhere and then returning for law school), but only because I got to go there on a scholarship. Multiple peers, who were also Finance/Marketing undergrad students, got opportunities in NYC (Morgan Stanley, etc.) and other internships. If your son is interested in that route, the UM business undergrad is unlikely to stop him from some of those opportunities.

- Depending on what your son wants to do with the business degree, it's also sufficient (assuming GMAT) for acceptance into all grad schools. Plenty of friends went IVY for grad school.

- The UM network is strong locally. As other posters have mentioned, internships are the real value. The network matters, but it's completely different than years ago. Skills matter more and companies look at interns from FIU and other schools, too.

- The far more interesting part, in my opinion, is the growing technology scene (and, yes, some of it is superficial still, but some is real) in Miami. Multiple big venture firms have moved to Miami or opened a decent-sized office here in the last year. After law school, I worked in Health Care for the better part of a decade, but have spent the last 5 years in the education technology industry and can attest the startup scene is starting to evolve from hype to [more] substance.

- If your son develops a useful skill set or has the right attitude, the UM business degree and the network it brings with it will be valuable to those of us looking for talented interns. I hired 18-20 last summer, for example. More than the school they attended, here are the skills my company sought: evidence of adaptability, willingness to learn, reliability, and polished communication skills; creativity and willingness to learn new platforms. I know those are general, but you can't imagine how many sophomore or junior kids have zero problem solving (social or emotional) skills and want an internship to "chill."

- My biggest suggestion is to prepare your son with guidance about a new workforce and different expectations than the old paradigm.

Really good post
 
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I have my undergrad and MBA from the UM B-School.

Here's the reality. The degree is fine. It's not Harvard/Yale, but not many are. There are plenty of internship opportunities in Miami when your son would be in school, just due to the sheer size of the South Florida business community, and the fact that UM is the best school in the region. However (and I'm not sure how this will change post-Covid), you do not always get the largest number of recruiters to come down to Miami to recruit/interview candidates. Maybe, going forward, a lot of pre-screening/recruiting/interviewing may be moving to computer-based systems, and the geographic barriers may go away.

Anyhow, I was just having this conversation with a friend, and comparing UM to UF. While UF may have a marginally higher ranking for their Business School, and may have more alums out in the world, WHILE YOU ARE IN SCHOOL, you simply won't have as many spring-fall opportunities to work/intern if you live in Gainesville compared to Coral Gables. So you have to maximize your summer opportunities.

Let me give an example. When you look at large accounting firms (Top 10-15 in size), they need interns all year long, not just in the summer. I have seen Spring and Fall interns be given the chance to continue working beyond the original end-date of the internship, whereas "summer interns" usually have to be back in school at the end of summer (which was a bit of a challenge on the Tax side, as we had 9/15 and 10/15 filing deadlines, so we would have preferred to keep the summer interns a bit later into the year).

I will say this, I have seen a rise in businesses needing people with international-type experience. So if your son can speak another language and/or take a bunch of the international business courses at UM, it might help to get him more interviews if the recruitment is being done via computer submission on a national level.

If a company wants a Harvard grad, there's not much that can be done to change that. But if a company is looking for someone who has a particular skillset, then the Miami degree is not any sort of detriment. Good grades are important, highlight the relevant coursework, try to have some language and/or computer skills that stand out, and get involved in some activities that show interest and/or initiative. And learn social skills. The interview is the key.

Another good post.

Remember this about Ivy League MBAs: there are more top-notch positions to be filled, way more, then there are people with MBAs from those top 10 to 15 schools.

Miami is a good and recognizable brand. And as many have mentioned here, once you get past your first job, and your first few years in an industry or in business, it’s your work accomplishments and your networking that will carry you forward.
 
From the title you can tell that we recently received some good news about our son. He is still weighing some options.
Has anyone on here graduated from the b-school or have any opinions on how strong that program is in S Fla, and regionally? We did all our research but rankings only tell a small part of the story and often don't tell how a school or program within a school is perceived by the community.
Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide.

The best advice I can offer is tell your son to learn "R", "SQL", and "Python" now, in addition to having a good GPA an he will get a ton of paid internship opportunities as well part time job offers to get him out of your pocket while in school. An long term having the experience from top tier internships will open more doors for career positions or management programs. Congrats an good luck.

Go Canes
 
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Factoid: About 55% of Harvard undergrads are on scholarship. In fact, 20% of the students are on total scholarship where their parents pay nothing.

No doubt, some certain % students are “legacy” admits whose families have a history of support for Harvard. Legacy does not = stupid, however. LOL. Children of Harvard alums are not likely to be dunces. Harvard legacy is not like Olivia Jade at USC faking her status as a crew coxswain to get into college as a Trojan.

(full confession: two people in my family went to Harvard. Hence the detailed data).


👆Considering the pool of applicants, would appear to be statistically impossible. That is not to say all of them are deficient or undeserving, but again the "I did it on my own argument" is far fetched at best.

Connections and networks are a part of life.

Take with a grain of salt, but watch the Netflix documentary on Rick Singer scandal. Interviewed FBI agent makes a telling observation about families who can bribe/incentivize "side door" avenues for $500K-$1MM (with lower level staff) vs families who just outright smash the front gates down with $50MM "here is your new library" donations that are supported by University Presidents and BoT members "what dorm would little Johnny like to stay in?"

The proof will be in pudding 10-20-30 years from now. IF the elite schools are falling prey to "money now and we take unqualified kiddo" vs "kiddo deserves to be here and will thrive" the results will absolutely show up in a declining "success rate" of those same graduates. Less success = less donations, less clout, less network, etc...

Time will tell.
 
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The best advice I can offer is tell your son to learn "R", "SQL", and "Python" now, in addition to having a good GPA an he will get a ton of paid internship opportunities as well part time job offers to get him out of your pocket while in school. An long term having the experience from top tier internships will open more doors for career positions or management programs. Congrats an good luck.

Go Canes
IMO, SQL is the biggest single tech skill, followed by a scripting language (Python or Powershell). R is great for statistics.
 
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IMO, SQL is the biggest single tech skill, followed by a scripting language (Python or Powershell). R is great for statistics.

Being able to pull your own data ( with SQL) and analyze it with R, Python, or etc was invaluable to me over the years an I am middle aged lmao. **** using excel and power pivot (dax language) has landed countless sucessful projects. I love the look on people's faces when I presented my models, because I never had your stereo typical quant's physical appearance.

Go Canes
 
I loved going to the University of Miami and the school of Business, but I'll be honest when it comes to business unless you are studying possibly Finance, it really does not matter what school you attend if you are not attending an Ivy school. The school you attend for business will only help in your first job, but tbh if you are interning then that experience will be what most helps your first job. The school will then only effect if you get the internship.

Never have I been asked about my school experience or had hour plus interviews that talked about anything other than my job experience even when I was starting out. Obviously in a situation where there are two identical resumes the schools may matter, but lets be frank there are a ton of things that would matter like personality, fit, and more that probably make as much of an impact.

In my opinion if money is not an issue, like it isn't for 95% of people that go to the U, then go, it is the best school in the nation to attend. If it is and you will have to get any sort of loans don't go, its not worth it go to a public school near you.

Most of my coworkers, including bosses, in the jobs I have had, which are pretty good Digital Marketing jobs, graduated from schools I had no idea existed and in no top rankings. The person and most importantly CONNECTIONS matter the most when it comes to the business world.
To build on what he said here, I’m not from Florida, but got accepted to Miami. I ended up going to a school in Michigan, by where I’m from because my school was paid for, and I would’ve had to take loans at Miami. Anyway, like he said above, I don’t believe it really matters where you go to school unless it’s an Ivy League type. I got my first job out of school making 90k per year with a marketing degree (I was in automotive sales at a big supplier in Michigan). I now trade full time, so I guess I’m unique in that sense. All about money and being smart IMO. If your son can avoid debt, do so
 
Badge and GPA matter the most when looking for jobs out of undergrad. No one cares what your major is because you learn 95% of what you need to know on the job. If you want to work in finance outside of Miami, then a UM degree carries no weight at all. In fact, it will be looked down upon by many people working on Wall Street. The truth is the Ivy League is one big fraternity. I know many firms that exclusively recruit HYPSW, won't even give any other candidates a look.

If you go to UM you can absolutely work on Wall Street, it will just be 10x harder than someone from an Ivy or T-15 school.
 
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Actually, a very true and relevant point. These days, kids admitted to Harvard/Yale seem to fall heavily into one of two categories, either a "legacy" or a kid with insane qualifications who can get into every other school in the country anyhow. There are plenty of other kids outside of those two categories who merit consideration.
Does that have anything to do with development offices wanting donation upon graduation?
 
Personally if they were my kid, I'd have them get a great liberal arts degree of some sort, study the classics, history, philosophy, sure, some econ... have them develop themselves as a well-rounded person of the world in college, and worry about a business specialization when it comes time for graduate school. Unless you want to raise your son to be a quant, business is done on the golf courses, at dinners, and in art galleries as much as in the boardroom anyway, and that's where being knowledgable and having things to bond over is invaluable.

College is really the last part of your life where you have the liberty to just LEARN, and I won't want to take that away from my kids. And kids change their majors and careers so often anyway... there is a better than 50% chance you will be pushing them down the wrong road.

Oberlin, Lehigh and Michigan are fantastic schools. Congrats to your son. I'd consider them very strongly.

Most importantly though, what does your kid want to do?
His interest, for now, is in Finance and Economics. But he’s 18 so that can certainly change as it did for many of us.
‘I’m trying to figure out the very subject you are on; what is the value of an undergrad business degree vs. a liberal arts degree with a major in economics or Finance. It’s a hard question because there are so many factors.
 
Just stating my opinion but Miami and Michigan are the two he should be between. Both have their merits. Maybe it’s just my network from the northeast, but I often hear regrets from people who went to a small school. I very rarely hear it from those who went to a larger school. Better to take the leap, go big, and decide it’s for you than to never take that leap at all. He could do a lot worse than Miami and Michigan
i attended Miami and Michigan and I love the fact that I run into alumni from both schools And received my first job as an attorney because I was wearing a Michigan sweatshirt while working out and a Michigan grad saw me and we developed a relationship which resulted in a job. That’s just harder to do from a 2500 student liberal arts school.
 
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His interest, for now, is in Finance and Economics. But he’s 18 so that can certainly change as it did for many of us.
‘I’m trying to figure out the very subject you are on; what is the value of an undergrad business degree vs. a liberal arts degree with a major in economics or Finance. It’s a hard question because there are so many factors.
In today's world i'd highly recommend getting an MBA. There's just too much competition. But, it really comes down to relationships, getting to know people in the industry and really applying yourself when you get an opportunity.
 
In today's world i'd highly recommend getting an MBA. There's just too much competition. But, it really comes down to relationships, getting to know people in the industry and really applying yourself when you get an opportunity.

@AtlAtty

Miami also has some accelerated multi-degree programs, which allow you to pursue both the undergrad and grad business degrees in a planned fashion:

 
From the title you can tell that we recently received some good news about our son. He is still weighing some options.
Has anyone on here graduated from the b-school or have any opinions on how strong that program is in S Fla, and regionally? We did all our research but rankings only tell a small part of the story and often don't tell how a school or program within a school is perceived by the community.
Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide.
Congrats! If he does come here and is looking for a job, I am always looking for intramural officials. I oversee the program and will definitely need some since we havent really had any officials in a year.
 
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