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

[Anonymous]

Old timers should stop posting with way outdated information/experiences.

[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.

+1000. Rice just added a Business Major. So did Brown. The value of a standalone Liberal Arts degree has declined tremendously. The Fortune 500 is looking for Business, Computer Science and Engineering Majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Agree with this. My DC is at a school where there are two career fairs... one for the gen pop... and one specifically for the Business School Undergrads (actually two - one in fall and one in spring). The Business School also has its own dedicated Career Center which the other undergrads cannot access.

[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.

Ross at University of Michigan had an 8.8% acceptance rate for class of 2027, Williams was 9.8% Amherst 9%, Swarthmore 6.7%, sounds pretty similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Liberal Arts is such a broad term.Applied math or CS can also be considered liberal arts majors.
If you can, go ahead, they are great majors lol
If schools have undergrad business programs, they are usually harder to get in and more valuable.Econ is commonly an equivalent major where there's no undergrad business program.
You need to look at each school and majors.
I don't think you have a good understanding of what you are asking yet.
Good luck.

CS is not considered LA. Seriously?

At Michigan you can get a CS degree in LSA or Engineering. A few years ago they differed by 2 classes.

[Anonymous]

Yes it’s a disadvantage. Don’t you need 21 credits of accounting and 9 credits of math to even get in the door at half the accounting type jobs around here?

[Anonymous]

Glad to read positive opinions about business programs. My son is a freshman in college, business major ; he hasn’t specialized yet. So many options which makes it appealing for many students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks to all the PPs who responded.

- I don't want to helicopter too much, but business school for undergrad seems like a big commitment. I would say DC is undecided but curious about business - what if they change their mind!
- Helping DC think through this as they put together their list of where to apply (current junior and not "white male").
- It was helpful to see what majors are listed in business internship listings.
- If DC doesn't go straight into a business program, they will probably look into econ as a major.
- If they can find a program that is a mix of liberal arts plus business classes, that could be a viable choice.

Couldn't you say that about any major though?

It is MUCH, much easier to transfer from business school to lib arts than vice versa, so take that into consideration as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about this: DC gets into a good mid-tier university that has a good business college, but DC applies as a liberal arts major. DC gets there, takes some business classes and see if they like it. If so, can they change to be a business major??

As stated above, I would think it is harder to get into a good business school than getting into the same school as a liberal arts major.

Nooo, this is the opposite of how you should do it. A lot of schools, it is REALLY hard to get into the business school, especially if you aren't auto admitted as a freshman. I would start in business college, takes a year of those classes under their belt, and then switch to lib arts if they don't like it. Anyone can switch to liberal arts, but most schools have selective admissions for the business school and many take the bulk of the class as incoming freshmen. For example, Ross at Michigan takes 80% of their students as incoming freshmen and you have to have a really good GPA (3.8+) if you want to transfer in as a sophomore.

[Anonymous]

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.

I disagree wholeheartedly. If you are at a school w/o and undergrad business school, then Econ is fine. But if your university does have a u/g business school, that would be the route to take in almost every scenario. Look at the recruiting coming out of say, Michigan Ross vs. Michigan LSA or Smith at Maryland vs. College of Arts and Humanities or Notre Dame Mendoza vs. Arts & Letters. Not even in the same stratosphere.