Going into a business career from an undergraduate business program vs a liberal arts program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Traditionally, a Business Administration degree has always been looked down upon. But these days, there are quite a few very desirable undergraduate business schools - Penn, NYU, Michigan, Berkeley, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Indiana and a few others. I would not get a business degree from a random school. Typically, people will study Econ with maybe a minor in something else that's relevant. But be mindful that Econ is very math heavy. Most schools, regardless of major, will require a liberal arts core of classes.

Except that at a random school, business degree especially accounting, finance, analytics, MIS are still much better than history psychology English communications. etc. or even econ

I have read that an accounting degree from a random college will get you an accounting job, no need to seek a prestigious college for an accounting degree. Maybe not with the Big 4, but not everyone wants that route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid has no idea what he wants to major in (11th grade) and I’m trying to understand what sorts of jobs kids get after college. It sounds like people are talking about investment banking, finance (but not becoming an accountant?) and management consulting. Is that right? That is not the path my kid will want. I think he may end up starting/owning/running a sports-related business, if I had to guess.

There simply aren’t that many jobs on walls street etc to justify all these business majors, right? What to these kids do when they graduate?

It has to do with every type and every single business. So ton of different types and amounts of opportunities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has no idea what he wants to major in (11th grade) and I’m trying to understand what sorts of jobs kids get after college. It sounds like people are talking about investment banking, finance (but not becoming an accountant?) and management consulting. Is that right? That is not the path my kid will want. I think he may end up starting/owning/running a sports-related business, if I had to guess.

There simply aren’t that many jobs on walls street etc to justify all these business majors, right? What to these kids do when they graduate?

It has to do with every type and every single business. So ton of different types and amounts of opportunities

So you a kid will get hired as an entry level project manager at a construction company, or an insurance company or a hospital or something? Perfectly fine jobs. But you can also get those same jobs with a BA in marketing or communications or biology. Am I misunderstanding?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has no idea what he wants to major in (11th grade) and I’m trying to understand what sorts of jobs kids get after college. It sounds like people are talking about investment banking, finance (but not becoming an accountant?) and management consulting. Is that right? That is not the path my kid will want. I think he may end up starting/owning/running a sports-related business, if I had to guess.

There simply aren’t that many jobs on walls street etc to justify all these business majors, right? What to these kids do when they graduate?

It has to do with every type and every single business. So ton of different types and amounts of opportunities

So you a kid will get hired as an entry level project manager at a construction company, or an insurance company or a hospital or something? Perfectly fine jobs. But you can also get those same jobs with a BA in marketing or communications or biology. Am I misunderstanding?

Assuming the same school, you'll have tougher time finding a job with those majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Traditionally, a Business Administration degree has always been looked down upon. But these days, there are quite a few very desirable undergraduate business schools - Penn, NYU, Michigan, Berkeley, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Indiana and a few others. I would not get a business degree from a random school. Typically, people will study Econ with maybe a minor in something else that's relevant. But be mindful that Econ is very math heavy. Most schools, regardless of major, will require a liberal arts core of classes.

Past is irrelevant.
Humanities degrees are looked down upon in our times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has no idea what he wants to major in (11th grade) and I’m trying to understand what sorts of jobs kids get after college. It sounds like people are talking about investment banking, finance (but not becoming an accountant?) and management consulting. Is that right? That is not the path my kid will want. I think he may end up starting/owning/running a sports-related business, if I had to guess.

There simply aren’t that many jobs on walls street etc to justify all these business majors, right? What to these kids do when they graduate?

It has to do with every type and every single business. So ton of different types and amounts of opportunities

So you a kid will get hired as an entry level project manager at a construction company, or an insurance company or a hospital or something? Perfectly fine jobs. But you can also get those same jobs with a BA in marketing or communications or biology. Am I misunderstanding?

Assuming the same school, you'll have tougher time finding a job with those majors.

It would depend on the project, but generally, a PM role with a business background would be much more valuable than someone who has an undergrad in English. The construction company, insurance company, hospitality companies are all businesses. If you have some basic understanding of business concepts, that would be very helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Traditionally, a Business Administration degree has always been looked down upon. But these days, there are quite a few very desirable undergraduate business schools - Penn, NYU, Michigan, Berkeley, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Indiana and a few others. I would not get a business degree from a random school. Typically, people will study Econ with maybe a minor in something else that's relevant. But be mindful that Econ is very math heavy. Most schools, regardless of major, will require a liberal arts core of classes.

Past is irrelevant.
Humanities degrees are looked down upon in our times.

+1 why do you think LACs are now offering business degrees, and why this degree is usually an impacted major in most of the colleges?

^PP still lives in the past.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid has no idea what he wants to major in (11th grade) and I’m trying to understand what sorts of jobs kids get after college. It sounds like people are talking about investment banking, finance (but not becoming an accountant?) and management consulting. Is that right? That is not the path my kid will want. I think he may end up starting/owning/running a sports-related business, if I had to guess.

There simply aren’t that many jobs on walls street etc to justify all these business majors, right? What to these kids do when they graduate?

Some schools have Entrepreneurship as a concentration within the business major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, many small liberal arts colleges offer business majors these days. Look into those. Skidmore, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Puget Sound, Union, Claremont McKenna, Beloit, Bucknell, W&L, Rollins, F&M, etc. No need to apply to one specific program, he’ll get a grounding in the liberal arts with room to change his mind, but he can also major (or in many cases minor) in business.

+1

Solid list

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Traditionally, a Business Administration degree has always been looked down upon. But these days, there are quite a few very desirable undergraduate business schools - Penn, NYU, Michigan, Berkeley, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Indiana and a few others. I would not get a business degree from a random school. Typically, people will study Econ with maybe a minor in something else that's relevant. But be mindful that Econ is very math heavy. Most schools, regardless of major, will require a liberal arts core of classes.

Past is irrelevant.
Humanities degrees are looked down upon in our times.

+1 why do you think LACs are now offering business degrees, and why this degree is usually an impacted major in most of the colleges?

^PP still lives in the past.

+1 even the Ivy Leagues are starting to offer more undergraduate business opportunities. Whether that's a new UG business major, an undergrad business minor, a business certificate, the opportunity to take classes within the MBA program...it is clear that there is high demand for business skills and knowledge among both students and the workplace. If you want to work in business (whatever that may look like) and your school has a business program for undergraduates, you should definitely go that route if you are looking to maximize recruiting opportunities. Econ is OK, but at schools with UG business programs, it is definitely seen as a fallback major for students who did not have the chops to get into the b-school. (If you're at a school without an undergrad business program, it is a good choice.)

(Yes, THOSE precious Ivy Leagues are stooping so low as to offer a *gasp* vocational business degree! (/certificate/minor/what have you))

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BS in Econ from a top liberal arts college will include accounting and is typically much more rigorous than a BS in Business Admin. The difference is in amount of calculus required. Econ majors at my DC's school go straight to Wall Street and major banks. Unless you're studying at Wharton, I recommend an Econ degree over one in Business Admin in almost every scenario.

You are totally wrong.
If the school has undergrad business program, it's usually more difficult to get in and more valuable.

I disagree. You clearly heave never studied admission stats for top SLACs vs business programs. You also clearly haven't looked at the curricula. Research is key BEFORE you speak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, many small liberal arts colleges offer business majors these days. Look into those. Skidmore, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Puget Sound, Union, Claremont McKenna, Beloit, Bucknell, W&L, Rollins, F&M, etc. No need to apply to one specific program, he’ll get a grounding in the liberal arts with room to change his mind, but he can also major (or in many cases minor) in business.

Claremont McKenna offers an Econ major NOT Business Admin. It's an amazing program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BS in Econ from a top liberal arts college will include accounting and is typically much more rigorous than a BS in Business Admin. The difference is in amount of calculus required. Econ majors at my DC's school go straight to Wall Street and major banks. Unless you're studying at Wharton, I recommend an Econ degree over one in Business Admin in almost every scenario.

You are totally wrong.
If the school has undergrad business program, it's usually more difficult to get in and more valuable.

I disagree. You clearly heave never studied admission stats for top SLACs vs business programs. You also clearly haven't looked at the curricula. Research is key BEFORE you speak.

SLACs don't have good engineering or business programs.
Check the stats for top business programs like MIT, Cornell, Upenn, CMU, GU, ND, Berkeley, UMich, etc. and come back.
Stats for top schools that don't have business like Harvard, Yale, Duke, etc. etc. also have higher stats than SLACs.
I don't think you know what you are talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BS in Econ from a top liberal arts college will include accounting and is typically much more rigorous than a BS in Business Admin. The difference is in amount of calculus required. Econ majors at my DC's school go straight to Wall Street and major banks. Unless you're studying at Wharton, I recommend an Econ degree over one in Business Admin in almost every scenario.

You are totally wrong.
If the school has undergrad business program, it's usually more difficult to get in and more valuable.

I disagree. You clearly heave never studied admission stats for top SLACs vs business programs. You also clearly haven't looked at the curricula. Research is key BEFORE you speak.

OP wasn’t asking about top SLACs. The question was about mid-tier” liberal arts programs compared to undergrad business programs.

I can tell you having worked at multiple places that do a large amount of on-campus recruiting, outside of the Ivy/Ivy-level schools that don’t have undergrad business programs, it’s a *significant* advantage to have majored in business. If anything, the advantage is getting downplayed.

Why? Because at most schools with undergrad business programs, the on-campus recruiting is heavily (if not entirely) restricted to business majors. This means that an economics major or a liberal arts major cannot just make up the difference by taking a few business classes on the side. Way too many people have way outdated information based on what happened many years ago or random anecdotes. For most on-campus recruiting, the firms say, “We want to interview ABC majors with an X GPA or higher” and the liberal arts majors don’t even have a chance.

Once again, it’s different at an Ivy/Ivy-level school or a place like Amherst/Williams, but the vast majority of people aren’t attending those types of places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BS in Econ from a top liberal arts college will include accounting and is typically much more rigorous than a BS in Business Admin. The difference is in amount of calculus required. Econ majors at my DC's school go straight to Wall Street and major banks. Unless you're studying at Wharton, I recommend an Econ degree over one in Business Admin in almost every scenario.

You are totally wrong.
If the school has undergrad business program, it's usually more difficult to get in and more valuable.

I disagree. You clearly heave never studied admission stats for top SLACs vs business programs. You also clearly haven't looked at the curricula. Research is key BEFORE you speak.

The above poster is wrong.

Entry into undergraduate business majors/schools is tough, but valuable & worthwhile.