The BBA-MBA Combination: Pierson, Gordon and Howell Revisited

Many prominent MBA programs use the undergraduate degree as a criterion for admission purposes and attach less value to candidates with undergraduate degrees in business. These programs have been influenced by two classic studies on business education: the Gordon and Howell report and the Pierson report. The authors probe the wisdom under which these programs operate and conclude that admission policies should be re-examined. To examine these issues the authors conducted two studies. In one study, 70 on-campus recruiters at a major midwestern university participated in an experiment designed to examine industry attitudes toward alternative undergraduate preparation for MBA students. A second study surveyed recruiting directors of two sets of firms: Fortune 500 companies and on-campus MBA-recruiting companies at a major midwestern university. The investigation indicates a dramatic shift in tile perceptions of tile BBA-MBA combination by employers over the last 20 years. Employers now either have a strong preference for MBAs who have an undergraduate degree in business administration, or equate them to MBAs with other undergraduate majors.