Majoring in Business

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a math major, and one recruiter put it to me this way:

I can teach you the business that [the business major] knows, but I can't teach him the math that you know.

My kid is in college now and so many of the job postings she gets emails about would prefer to see a finance or supply chain major (or explicitly require that) and make no mention of math. It’s bizarre, but it is what it is.

Nothing bizarre about that.
It's surprising someone thinks it's bizarre.

Finance major from good schools (T50-60) is one of the most employable majors, way more than plain Math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a math major, and one recruiter put it to me this way:

I can teach you the business that [the business major] knows, but I can't teach him the math that you know.

My kid is in college now and so many of the job postings she gets emails about would prefer to see a finance or supply chain major (or explicitly require that) and make no mention of math. It’s bizarre, but it is what it is.

Nothing bizarre about that.
It's surprising someone thinks it's bizarre.

Finance major from good schools (T50-60) is one of the most employable majors, way more than plain Math.

At bad schools, too.

[Anonymous]

Supply chain majors are heavily recruited and sitting pretty right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Supply chain majors are heavily recruited and sitting pretty right now.

I believe that's Operations Management concentration at most undergrad business school?

[Anonymous]

DD is in the Smith business school at UMD majoring in finance. They offer many opportunities for specializations. DS is following in her footsteps next year. Peers have gotten internships and jobs without issue for great companies. DD is strong at math and DS is even stronger but they weren’t interested in engineering and they didn’t see a clear path with a math degree (not that you can’t get a great job but the business school provides a very clear plan and connections) for what they wish to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At my daughter’s college, they have to take calculus, finance, accounting, economics, foreign language and marketing.

Which college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my daughter’s college, they have to take calculus, finance, accounting, economics, foreign language and marketing.

Which college?

Almost all colleges with undergrad business programs.

You take the Gen Ed classes(liberal arts) that include calculus, Stat, programming, writing, humanities, etc.
Then business foundation classes - finance, accounting, micro macro econs, marketing
Then you get more into your concentration - accounting or finance, or marketing, or operations management or business analytics, business administration, Entegrener, MIS, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"The kids in the business school at schools that offer it are usually the most sought after in recruiting." You're saying that they'd rather hire someone who took 1 econ class, a marketing class, something called "strategy," and maybe one finance class over a kid who majored in econ or math? Or someone who majored in industrial engineering? Interesting. That surprises me. I looked at some lists of top CEOs and they overwhelmingly had a substantive major as an undergrad and then did an MBA. So maybe it's the rank and file of corporate America who are coming from business major undergrade backgrounds? I may be oriented toward thinking of people in the private sector as needing a strong skill that they bring to the table because of time spent in California and NC where there the tech and finance industries are strong.

Where are you looking for undergrad business that only take 1 Econ, 1 finance, 1 marketing? My DC is a finance major. DC had to take 2 Econs, 1 calculus, 1 statistics, 2 accounting, intro courses in each of the following areas: Finance, management, marketing, Operations and supply chain, Info Systems, HR/Realestate/Entrepreneurship, Data analytics. This was just the "core business reqs". DC then needed 5 Finance courses and 5 additional upper level courses in anything in Business---it can be 5 more finance courses or a combination of anything else that interests you. So my DC has 10 finance courses in addition to the basic core classes for their Finance degree.


So while many people do get an MBA after having a different undergrad degree, there are plenty of strong undergrad business programs. Kids select that because it's what they are interested in. Finance degree is much more specific to business than a Math BS---targeted finance courses rather than high level calculus and theory courses that don't directly apply to most in business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that general business, business admin, or management are worthless majors, but the vast majority of “business majors” are actually finance, accounting, supply chain, marketing, HR, info systems, etc majors.

It’s like engineering. Of course you can’t just major in “engineering.” You choose a specialty like civil or mechanical.

hmmm their is general engineering

[Anonymous]

Yes: Accounting, Business Analytics, Finance

No: almost everything else

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that general business, business admin, or management are worthless majors, but the vast majority of “business majors” are actually finance, accounting, supply chain, marketing, HR, info systems, etc majors.

It’s like engineering. Of course you can’t just major in “engineering.” You choose a specialty like civil or mechanical.

hmmm their is general engineering

*There is, but that doesn’t mean you should major in it.

Folks, universities offer a ton of majors that I would be angry if my kid wanted to major in. The university offers standalone majors in: Publishing, entrepreneurship, pharmacology, criminal justice, criminology, general studies, and many more.

[Anonymous]

Oh, and also, cybersecurity.

[Anonymous]

There are about two undergraduate business programs worth having on your resume, Wharton and UVA.

The rest will get your kid a decent entry level job which will top out at middle management. Forget going to a good graduate business school because they don’t want the kid who studied undergraduate business..

[Anonymous]

*SHRUG*

Nephew is majoring in finance and business analytics. He'll do alright.

[Anonymous]

This. This is not my experience.

Are you the UMiami why poster? So much negativity.