Artsy kid minor in business?

[Anonymous]

DC loves making art but has no interest in doing art for commercial purposes. IOW, they don't want to have to create art to suit a client's needs. They want to major in art, but we think they should do a minor or a double major in something that would help them eventually get a job that pays decently while doing their art on the side after graduation. In an ideal world, they'd get paid to create art or at least work in the visual arts field. But we want to make sure they've got something to fall back on if that doesn't work out.

Some friends have suggested they do a double major with a business degree to be more marketable. But when I look at the curriculum for those programs, it's all just applied gobbledygook courses like Marketing Principles and Business Decision Making. None of this is what DC is into, so I'm hesistant to push for this. And having run organizations, I know that none of that is necessary preparation for leading or working in a corporation, big or small. You could just read a few books to learn it, which is probably why so many successful small businesses are run by people without college degrees. Being a strong communicator (especially in writing) seems to be the main determinant of career success, even for engineers.

Would studying something that "stretches" them academically and forces them to read and write a lot (history? Philosopy?) or develop stronger quant skills (like studying economics), be a better complement to the art major for financial security purposes? Or would having "business management" on the diploma actually open up more doors to future high-paying employers? What signals do these majors actually send to potential employers? Will Fortune 500 businesses not even consider applications from grads without a biz degree? FWIW DC probably won't be at schools with the "top" undergrad business programs because the top art programs are their priority for applications. So, no Kelly or Wharton or those other business schools people talk about for their kids who want to work in the corporate world.

[Anonymous]

If he isn’t strong in math avoid Econ.
I’d suggest a digital marketing or (something like that) minor. It will play to his creative side but stretch him with some data, comms, and analysis (if he picks the right classes).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If he isn’t strong in math avoid Econ.
I’d suggest a digital marketing or (something like that) minor. It will play to his creative side but stretch him with some data, comms, and analysis (if he picks the right classes).

A business minor winks at practicality but the art major will outweigh. I think you need a dual major to balance the art.

Digital marketing is a good suggestion. Marketing is a specialty within business that is revenue generating and therefore has business value. Thinking back to MBA school, some business core courses are not particularly necessary. Financial Accounting is easy to forget if not regularly used. Organizational Behavior is interesting but skippable. Statistics literacy is important but Business Statistics is not likely to be different from regular Stats 101. I liked the Business Decisionmaking class I took but I was already pretty logical about how I structure decisions. Econ and operations management have not been super useful to me. What I recommend is Cost Accounting and any courses with applied project work for real businesses. I took a class called Practical Plant Evaluation that was pretty interesting. And did work for a plastic partmaking company that needed to improve their inventory and process flow.

If you want to develop communication skills then English, Communications, and Journalism are obvious potentials.

[Anonymous]

Know an artsy girl who majored in Business at a school where she had above average scores, and minored in studio art. Now works in fashion operations.

[Anonymous]

So you are willing to pay for a college degree in a hobby that your child has already decided will never be a source of income? Is there a trust fund involved? Otherwise consider an art minor

[Anonymous]

"So you are willing to pay for a college degree in a hobby that your child has already decided will never be a source of income? Is there a trust fund involved? Otherwise consider an art minor"

DC is legit very talented and this is their passion. I know plenty of people who attended T10 schools and majored in dance or art and earn good incomes. They aren't earning that from their art, but they're happy people. I've hired people with art and dance backgrounds to work for my organization and they do just as well as people who studied economics or business.

[Anonymous]

OP, it sounds like your child hasn’t applied to college yet, so this might resolve itself before a major needs to be declared in 3 years. But instead of insisting on a minor or major in something they aren’t interested in, which could backfire, I would consider two other ideas. One would simply be to push for schools with strong distribution requirements. I will paste a link for a site below that might be useful in getting a quick sense of that. (I wouldn’t take the site’s letter grades to signify anything more than the breadth of those requirements.) Another option would be to push for a job this summer. Earning disposable income of their own has a way of improving a high schooler’s appreciation for developing marketable skills.

Good luck!

https://www.whatwilltheylearn.com/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"So you are willing to pay for a college degree in a hobby that your child has already decided will never be a source of income? Is there a trust fund involved? Otherwise consider an art minor"

DC is legit very talented and this is their passion. I know plenty of people who attended T10 schools and majored in dance or art and earn good incomes. They aren't earning that from their art, but they're happy people. I've hired people with art and dance backgrounds to work for my organization and they do just as well as people who studied economics or business.

You are the one who raised the issue of the kids ability to get a job in the first place. If it’s real concern, adding an unrelated minor is not going to make a difference.

[Anonymous]

Business major with art minor
Make capstone project opening a gallery or something

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the helpful ideas everyone!

[Anonymous]

If she excels at what she does and wants to make money, any major would lead to jobs offering good income.

[Anonymous]

If your child wants to major in art with the plan on doing something in a creative field for a living, they need to look into art schools that have strong ties to people in the industry they are interested in.

[Anonymous]

DC in similar situation. Talented in art and is passionate about it (awards, submitting portfolios, etc.)
but strong analytically and is interested in business as well. Plan is to apply as business major / art minor. Might take a flyer on a top art school and see how it goes.

[Anonymous]

Has DC been to National Portfolio Day? DC will get a strong sense of where they stand with regard to college admissions. My advice would be to attend the best college possible by reputation, especially if majoring in art. You can always get an MBA after college. I may be wrong, but it strikes me that top business schools would be more likely to admit, if not eager to have someone for the MBA program who has a BFA from a school like RISD, than it is for RISD to accept someone with a business degree into its MFA program.

[Anonymous]

Mine will be a business major with a dance minor. Right now he plans to take a year after college to pursue professional dance to see what might happen. If that doesn't work out, he'll have a great business degree.