Business Major

[Varun00]

Any b major's up in here? I need some advice/someone to help guide this young grasshopper

 

[Hand of Godard]

I'd be happy to help. Wasn't a business major but I work in a business school. It's not a North American school though, but I am familiar with your system.

 

[Navkarn]

*raises hand*

 

[Armaan]

yeah, but what exactly do you need help with?

 

[Varun00]

Saweet. Alright so here are some questions that I have (i'm an incoming freshie):

- What are the main differences between a business and economics major?
- If I decide to do a concentration, can I do just one, or multiple? (Management and Marketing)
- I was doing some research and read a lot about a just a B major not being enough. Is that true? and if it is, is it worth double majoring?

For now that's it. If you have any advice or anything on things I should do in college (organizations, ways of taking it on, etc) that would deff help out a lot. Thanks in advance

 

[Armaan]

A economics major is more driven towards the science of decision making (Some schools actually have a separate degree in this science) but yeah. That means everything from simple supply and demand concepts to more complicated concepts such as macro effects of small scale incentives to the global markets.


A business major is more driven towards management and/or managing an organization. Economics does in fact coincide with this except not to that great of an extent as it would learning it alone. Business also has many subfields such as accounting, marketing, supply chain, operations, finance, etc. As a business major you usually take intro courses to all the subfields, and then further extend your coursework into one or two specific subfields (For example I am concentrating in Finance & Accounting).


I personally recommend doing at least 2 concentrations. The reason for this is that it simply gives you an advantage when your out there looking for a job. For me, finance and accounting are similar, yet when knowledge of both subfields exist, pretty much all kinds of number crunching and data analyzation skills are developed, giving you an advantage in both fields. Finance jobs pay VERY well, and accounting jobs are ALWAYS available as accountants are always in demand and are generally not affected as much by economic downturns. Someone always needs to manage someone's finances.


Some people say business majors alone are not enough, but that is nonsense. It is all what you make of it. If you go for a business major and don't give your full effort, you will not be repaid as nicely when you look for a job (unless you have insane connections and get VERY lucky). If you give your full effort, do well (solid GPA and appropriate intern experience) you will leave college with ideally a good job. By all means if you feel like majoring in something else as well, go for it, however the workload does become very intense and you do not want to sacrifice your GPA potentials for a double major. Always aim for a high GPA along with average to challenging coursework and some internship experience and you'll be set.


By the way, what school are you going to haha

 

[Hand of Godard]

[quote author=Varun00]
What are the main differences between a business and economics major?[/quote]

Quite an open ended question. Could you be more specific please? Crudely, an economics major is an early specialization in a discipline. Majoring in business is vaguely akin to preparation for a "vocational" career (at least it is marketed that way).

If I decide to do a concentration, can I do just one, or multiple? (Management and Marketing)

Depends on your school but I'm guessing they will allow it. You just have to be diligent in structuring your timetable to get all your necessary credits.

I was doing some research and read a lot about a just a B major not being enough. Is that true? and if it is, is it worth double majoring?

It depends on your career goals. Personally, I feel that for either a career in business or business academia, you should be grounded in a discipline (be it economics/mathematics (finance), sociology (org theory), psychology (org behaviour/marketing) etc etc etc.). I'm guessing you'd like a career in business, but I don't think it's really an advantage to have "Major: Business" on your diploma (unless you're at someplace like Wharton). At the end of the day, a specific major really counts for little. You may find yourself taking courses you don't see a need for just to fulfill requirements. Take the business classes that interest you the most and if that leads to a major then great. But along the way acquire marketable hard skills which can be verified by your transcript...at the very least statistics courses from the math department, programming classes, that sort of thing.

For now that's it. If you have any advice or anything on things I should do in college (organizations, ways of taking it on, etc) that would deff help out a lot. Thanks in advance

Yes, definitely, get involved in school. Get your internships. It's a much better signal of your interest in and, more importantly, aptitude for a business career than solely earning a business major.

 

[[Sher] Imran]

B-School for undergrad is useless. Depends what school you go to, I went to a top-10 business school for undergrad and it definitely helps with job hunting. I would recommend you get something in quant, if you wanna make money in finance you should get a minor or double major in math and holler at financial engineering for grad school, pop out of there and go into a hedge fund and start banking it

 

[psoni1]

what are u planning on doing after undergrad? im a business major, concentration in finance, but i have profs who are adament that in this economy accounting is the way to go...but im applying to law school so it doesnt really matter either way

 

[Pooja]

B-School for undergrad is useless. Depends what school you go to, I went to a top-10 business school for undergrad and it definitely helps with job hunting.

I disagree that it's useless...and I feel like this statement is contradictory? It's useless but it helped you with job hunting?

I too went to a top 10 undergrad B school - they teach you a lot of things you wouldn't learn in a non B school environment...and the classes are more specific and there are more options. We didn't have an option to major in "Business" it's more like choose Finance, Accounting, Marketing, Operations, Mgmt, MIS, etc. etc. Career wise - I learned very well how to make a resume, market myself, network, etc etc. Join a business fraternity - it's a good way to network!

I'm an accountant/CPA...and because of SOX there was a huuuuge need for accountants...and the job market is better than some (although last year had some major downs...) so Accounting is definitely a stable choice - but...it can be boring if you don't like it haha!

If you want the money and you want it quick - Finance is the way to go...but those high paying jobs don't go to every Tom, Dick, & Harry...gotta do really well!!

 

[terabaap]

I completed an undergraduate degree in Econ.
What do you want to do with your life?


I find that having a business degree is a good way to round out ones education and will help separate you from others. Having said that, don't do quant. Unless you are from a top-5 school, the market is way over-saturated with quants.
Please answer my initial question.

 

[[Sher] Imran]

I should clarify, my b-school was a 4 year program, i think some schools like Haas (Berkeley) have a 2 year program. In the first 2-2.5 years you learn the groundworks, like basic financial/managerial accounting, basic corporate finance/marketing etc., but I think the value kicks in during upper-div, where (depending on your school) you can take specialized courses. For example I took classes on derivatives, employment law, strategic mgmt consulting, etc. Unless you come out with a specialized major (like accounting), I don't find business school to be that rewarding for the amount of tuition I paid. The job hunting help I received was more on the connections that the school has with the top consulting companies/bulge bracket banks/etc- certain school names go further than others. Basically Im just bitter that college costs so much haha.

 

[Varun00]

Thanks for the replies!

I'm going to NC State, which definitely isn't in the top 10 or 20 business schools. My plans are to either get to working after undergrad (in management), get some work experience and then get my MBA. My goal is to one day open up my own multimedia company, which is why I want to have a concentration in marketing. I was initially thinking computer science, but i'm not so sure I can handle a double major (comp sci and business admin). For now my mind is set on business with a minor in comp sci and psych, but you never know.

I plan on taking a diverse range of classes during my first year to kind of get a feel for what I want to pursue. Any class recommendations?

One of my main worries are the way the economy affects what I do. I realize that most jobs are affected by economic downturn, but again im looking for something fairly stable...

i'm confused.

 

[Hand of Godard]

[quote author=Varun00]
I plan on taking a diverse range of classes during my first year to kind of get a feel for what I want to pursue. Any class recommendations? [/quote]

If this is accurate, then it doesn't look like you have much to choose from for your first year.

im looking for something fairly stable...

Accounting.

 

[Ashqe]

Haha yo that's a crazy coincidence I'm gonna be a freshman next year too at Uconn with a major in Business/probably a minor in Comp Sci or Psych. But I was thinking about Management Information Systems as a concentration because of the focus on computers.. I don't want to steal your topic but does anyone have any experience with that at all?

 

[kinnell]

Haha yo that's a crazy coincidence I'm gonna be a freshman next year too at Uconn with a major in Business/probably a minor in Comp Sci or Psych. But I was thinking about Management Information Systems as a concentration because of the focus on computers.. I don't want to steal your topic but does anyone have any experience with that at all?

A minor in Comp Sci will be so much more beneficial than a minor in Psychology.

 

[psoni1]

A minor in Comp Sci will be so much more beneficial than a minor in Psychology.

definitely.

Haha yo that's a crazy coincidence I'm gonna be a freshman next year too at Uconn with a major in Business/probably a minor in Comp Sci or Psych. But I was thinking about Management Information Systems as a concentration because of the focus on computers.. I don't want to steal your topic but does anyone have any experience with that at all?

MIS is not really the same as Comp Sci...it focuses more on the business aspect of computers and technology particularly operations and efficiency, business costs, managing your technology, etc...while in comp sci you might learn more actual programming and what not

In my experience, if you want job stability and immediate employment in the current market (and aren't into accounting) then MIS is the way to go...I've talked to employers who say that there's way more demand than there are MIS grads

 

[GSingh]

A minor in Comp Sci will be so much more beneficial than a minor in Psychology.

definitely.

Haha yo that's a crazy coincidence I'm gonna be a freshman next year too at Uconn with a major in Business/probably a minor in Comp Sci or Psych. But I was thinking about Management Information Systems as a concentration because of the focus on computers.. I don't want to steal your topic but does anyone have any experience with that at all?

MIS is not really the same as Comp Sci...it focuses more on the business aspect of computers and technology particularly operations and efficiency, business costs, managing your technology, etc...while in comp sci you might learn more actual programming and what not

In my experience, if you want job stability and immediate employment in the current market (and aren't into accounting) then MIS is the way to go...I've talked to employers who say that there's way more demand than there are MIS grads

That's what I'm going into lol.