Top Feeder Schools for Business Students

As with some other fields, business has a feeder system built upon prestige and name recognition. You can get into business from multiple starting locations, and go on to have a productive and successful career. That said, certain undergraduate schools do give you an advantage when applying to top financial firms or top tier MBA programs. 

In this article, we’re going to examine both why this is, and which undergraduate programs do the best job of positioning you for a job with a top firm. While you can succeed in business outside a top firm, the appeal of working at one is clear. Let’s get started!

How Feeder Programs Work for Business

Business, especially at the highest levels, is an incredibly insular field. Many top firms hire exclusively from a short list of undergraduate schools and top MBA programs. Their belief is that the admissions standards for these institutions act as an initial filter system, a pre-screening of candidates if you will.

Not all firms do this of course, but the most notable financial and consulting firms do. The fact that all of the employees of these firms are graduates of these programs already only adds to the insular nature of the field. Alumni of a school are already predisposed towards their fellow alums due to their shared experiences and understandings, and these firms simply enhance this effect. 

MBA programs work in a slightly similar way; many of the students at top MBA programs either come from top undergraduate business schools, or worked previously in business. While an MBA can help your business career generally, most top firms only care about degrees from the top echelon of schools; exactly the way they only recruit from select undergraduate programs.

These MBA programs often have very low acceptance rates, but are still easier to get into than some of the top firms if you did not otherwise attend one of their designated feeder schools. While this system isn’t fair, and can be called elitist, there are no signs of it changing. After all, the system seems to function currently, so there is no impetus for change. With that understood, let’s look at the undergraduate programs that best position you for top business careers. 

What are the Top Feeder Schools for Business?

To evaluate this, we’re going to look at undergraduate university placements both at top 10 MBA programs, and job placements with top Wall Street firms. This data is collected from LinkedIn, and so is not all-encompassing, but does give a good idea of the trends which exist.

Note that these results are not corrected for the size of the college, so larger schools do have an advantage. You can still have a great career in business if you attend a smaller liberal arts college.

One thing to note is that we organized this list based on placements at top firms, rather than acceptances into top MBA programs. First, because getting into a top firm right out of undergrad allows you to get started with your career sooner, and second because it is easier to get into a top MBA program from a less competitive undergraduate program than to gain a seat at a top firm.

You may also notice that a lot of students are attending Wharton, and that there are only a small number of MBA programs mentioned at all. This is intentional; there are only a small number of MBA programs which are considered truly elite, and top students tend to concentrate in these, as they give the largest boost to your career prospects. 

Finally, you will note that most of the colleges above don’t offer a business major at all, even among the ones with a top MBA program. As we explain in our guide to business, you don’t actually need to major in business to pursue it as a career. 

Is an Attached MBA Program an Advantage? 

There are only a small number of truly elite MBA programs, all of which are attached to top undergraduate programs. The obvious question then is whether attending one of those undergraduate programs can give you a boost when it comes to either applying to the MBA, or when applying for a career in business. 

The answer is yes for both. First, and most importantly, many of these colleges (though not all) offer joint or five year degrees to undergraduate students, where they can directly continue their studies in a Master’s program. Unlike law or medicine, combined master’s programs are quite common, and frequently have much lower barriers of entry for current students, so long as you have shown yourself capable in your current studies. 

In addition to combined degree programs, many of these schools allow undergraduates to take classes directly in the business school. While you usually can’t take upper level coursework, you can still enroll in graduate level business courses. Of course, this is not the full MBA experience, but can give you a broader view of business, and valuable tools when applying for a job in the field. 

This doesn’t mean you need to attend an undergraduate school with an attached elite MBA program if you want to pursue business, but if you are deciding between two schools that are otherwise equivalent in your eyes, this can be a deciding factor. 

How Does This Impact You?

If you simply want to pursue a career in business to find a stable career, or because the thought of accountancy excites you, then you can and should pursue whichever college best suits your needs. If you have the goal of working at a top financial, investing, or consulting firm, then you may want to narrow your focus. 

A very small number of top undergraduate colleges provide the vast majority of recruits at these firms, and some only recruit from certain select programs. Now that you know this, you know which colleges you need to focus on with your undergraduate applications. 

Of course, these colleges are all very competitive for admissions, but that is a significant reason why these companies recruit so heavily from them. They see this admissions process as a first round of screening for their future employees. If you can succeed here, you can succeed anywhere.

Final Thoughts

Business is a very popular career aspiration for high school students, and business programs are often among the most competitive for admissions at top colleges. While this article does not go over the pros and cons of every great business program, it does demonstrate that the college you attend can influence your chances of ending up working for a top firm.

It’s a lot of pressure to think this far ahead in the future, and think your whole life may be impacted by where you end up going to college. We want to reiterate that you can get a great career in business regardless of where you attend undergrad. That said, if you are looking for advice on applying to one of these top programs, we have a lot of experience in doing so. Schedule a free consultation today to learn about how we can help you with your educational goals.