Top 9 Classes to Transfer from Community College to Ivy League Business Schools

If one of your career goals is to eventually earn your MBA, you would be well served to consider starting your college education at a local community college and transferring to an Ivy League business school. All MBA programs require that you have a solid understanding of essential business concepts that you can learn along the way.

A community college is an excellent place for you to gain this knowledge that essential to your later success as an Ivy League transfer and MBA student. Attending classes at a community college is extremely affordable, and the quality of instruction and sizes of classes at local community colleges often rivals that of regular universities.

Some community colleges even offer a pre-MBA certificate program that you can earn after you obtain your bachelor’s degree. This is an excellent, affordable way to get the business background courses you need to later earn your online MBA or regular MBA degree. (However, this requires already having a bachelor's degree).

If you don't have a bachelors degree already, you may want to transfer from community college to Ivy League business schools or other consider transferring to other top business schools including:

• Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania
• Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University
• Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University
• Sloan School of Business, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• McIntire School of Business, University of Virginia

Below are some of the best classes that you can in order to transfer from a community college to an Ivy League or top ranked business school and perhaps eventually earn a degree at a good MBA school. The exact names of the courses you take will vary, of course, depending upon the community college, but the general content will be very similar:

#1 & #2: Foundations of Accounting (FA 101 & 102)

This introductory course in accounting will provide you with a good working knowledge of the basic concepts and tools that you will use in financial accounting. This type of class will stress the identification and interpretation of important accounting information for making good decisions in a business environment. Some of the most typical foci in a basic accounting class includes the income statement, the statement of changes in equity, the balance sheet and the statement of cash flows.

Other possible subjects in this class includes:

• How to prepare financial statements
• The role of ethics in making decisions in accounting
• Valuation and reporting
• Cost volume profit analysis
• Planning and product costing for use by managers

**I would also like to add that a Managerial Accounting or Cost Accounting class is highly advantages for community college transfers.

#3 & #4: Foundations of Economics (ECO 101 & ECO 102)

A basic course in microeconomics studies individual economic units, such as product markets, individual consumers, and companies. You also will study macroeconomics, which includes the study of broad economic aggregates, including GDP.

#5 Foundations of Marketing and International Business (BUS 101)

This course will give you a solid introduction to the world of international business that includes the nature and concepts of international business, the environment that surrounds international business, opportunities in the international global marketplace, and also many theoretical and applied examples. Such a course also will illustrate how international business concepts are used in product marketing, as well as services for an individual company.

Other potential topics, depending upon the community college you attend, include:

• Customer behavior
• Segmentation
• Targeting and positioning in marketing
• Environmental analysis

#6 Quantitative Methods 

This basic course will give you a strong knowledge of the analytical tools and concepts that are used in making strong decisions in the pursuit the business goals, such as cost efficiency, delivery of services, profit and supply chain management. Some of the analytical concepts that will be covered include the theory of probability, statistics, regression analysis, utility theory and forecasting.

#7 Foundations of Finance (FIN 101)

This basic course in finance gives you the tools in financial management that you need to fully analyze complicated business problems, and to provide logical, alternative remedies. Such a curse will build upon some of the principles that you studied in previous courses on finance and accounting. You also will be introduced to more advanced financial principles, which may include:

• How to use financial statements to analyze liquidity, assets, debts and profitability
• How to do financial forecasting
• Understanding concepts of risk, return, and also valuation of stocks and bonds
• What is the right mix of debt and liquidity in a company’s capital structure
• Understanding criteria of capital budgeting and how to evaluate investment projects
• Issues surrounding mergers and acquisitions

#8 Operations Management

This important introductory program will describe how products go through the value chain. This includes from sourcing, to delivery, to the end user. It also will cover the essential concepts that are related to creation/delivery or products. Some of the most common topics will include:

• Management of the supply chain
• Delivery of goods and services
• Inventory, quality, planning and forecasting
• Application of information technologies

#9 Introduction to Statistics

This basic course is essential to your later success in MBA school. You will learn:

• How to apply vital statistical concepts and computation in the business world
• Determine the need for inferential or descriptive statistics in a certain situation
• Study methods of probability from both practical and applied perspectives
• Analyze data and interpret results using basic statistical tools
• Learn how to gather the data that is essential to answer important statistical questions

**You'll also want to take another statistics course of a higher level that covers forecasting, time series, linear regression, etc.

By taking these basic business courses at your local community college, you will have an excellent foundation to transfer to Ivy League business school and for your later regular MBA studies or online MBA, some with no GMAT options. Further, you will have saved yourself a good deal of money, as well.

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