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FiRe)
United States98 Posts
1) I know time management is key to college, but do you guys have extra time for yourselves when taking business class, or is it mostly working? 2.) Is it a difficult major, or is it someone that's fun to learn and rewarding? 3.) What is your future when you achieve your degree (specifically speaking)   | ||
micronesia
United States24745 Posts
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FiRe)
United States98 Posts
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IefNaij
Canada291 Posts
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Carnivorous Sheep
Baa?21244 Posts
It is much, much, MUCH less intense than any math/science/engineering major. | ||
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shurgen
350 Posts
I did not go to class, I did not do work, I barely studied for my exams and I was in the top 10-15% of my class (and this is in a relatively decent program). I guess its fun? I personally have never found school fun in any way. I am going into finance (investment banking). | ||
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Gatsbi
United States1134 Posts
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itzme_petey
United States1400 Posts
On August 07 2010 06:36 shurgen wrote: I am a business major and yes, it is much less intense than engineering. I did not go to class, I did not do work, I barely studied for my exams and I was in the top 10-15% of my class (and this is in a relatively decent program). I guess its fun? I personally have never found school fun in any way. I am going into finance (investment banking). I would agree with this statement. However, try to get into the top business programs out there. I think the cutoff is UT McCombs. If you go to a lower ranked program, just make sure you recruit very well. Just curious, are you going into a bulge or a butique? I always wanted to do investment banking, but never had the skills or patience for it. On August 07 2010 06:42 Gatsbi wrote: Just be a math major.. you can do anything you want with it. Business as an undergrad is pretty much a joke major, you dont learn anything important. Actually... you can do pretty much anything with a business degree (except technical careers). Whereas, a math degree is too vague. Who recruits specifically for math degrees? Insurance companies look for actuaries, marketing, accounting, or finance. I'm sure a math major can fufill any of those jobs. Yet, from a recruiter perspective, its much more attractive to recruit business or actuary majors. I'm sure tech companies would love math majors, but if you compete vs a comp sci major. Who will get the job? As far as learning important things.. its true, theres very few skills you learn. The most important skill you learn in college is excel usage and o yea... HOW TO INTERVIEW AND GET A JOB. | ||
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evanthebouncy!
United States12796 Posts
On August 07 2010 05:59 micronesia wrote: Probably not a bad topic for discussion but PLEASE put more effort into the OP. Do a bit of research and outline it here to start off the discussion! Do you want me to give you time to edit it in or do you want me to close the thread? he's going to be a business major, what do you expect!! to OP: please don't do it. | ||
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evanthebouncy!
United States12796 Posts
On August 07 2010 07:06 itzme_petey wrote: I'm sure tech companies would love math majors, but if you compete vs a comp sci major. Who will get the job? I'm double major in cs and math. be afraid of math majors be very afraid! | ||
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itzme_petey
United States1400 Posts
On August 07 2010 07:16 evanthebouncy! wrote: I'm double major in cs and math. be afraid of math majors be very afraid! I think thats the preffered way to major. My friend is both a math major & actuary. Companies love that shit. | ||
CaucasianAsian
Korea (South)11586 Posts
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TheMusiC
United States1054 Posts
the work/reading isn't particularly engaging, classes for the most part are dull, and yes you'll have a lot of free time (at least i find myself with a lot of free time). i put in minimal work and skip a fair amount of classes, not because i don't care, but because i find there are very few classes where lecture is actually worth going to -- a lot of professors i find simply read off of powerpoints and provide little outside information, so for the most part i can get by simply by reading the textbook and downloading the powerpoints online. my GPA has fluctuated from 3.4 to 3.65~ over the past 3 semesters though, so if you want a 3.8+ (or that sought-after 4.0) you'll definitely have to put in some hours to learn the material well (and oftentimes that A will be difficult too, as many business classes are graded heavily on presentations and peer evaluations). honestly, if i could go back and re-do my education i'd major in something that i enjoy OR in something where i'd get to learn cool and relevant shit about the world around me (engineering, nat sciences, etc) and work hard, then apply for a top MBA program afterwards. i'm about to enter my 4th year at mccombs and i feel like i haven't really learned anything intellectually stimulating (or anything at all). the only classes that have come close were my advanced finance/financial economics classes, but i think that's a matter of personal preference more than anything else. actually i think this all is a matter of personal preference, as there are a lot of extremely motivated people who major in business and love it, but hey you asked ;p. anyway, unless you can get into one of the top b-schools like penn, nyu, ucberkeley, etc (you can maybe add michigan, texas, and uva to this list as well), i'd recommend you major in something other than business (so you'll actually learn something in college). | ||
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Initial_H.C.
Canada560 Posts
1.) You'll have lots and lots of time but it's up to you whether you use it to study/practice questions or to do whatever you want. 2.) Accounting is not that difficult cause you only use simple math. Not fun and really repetitive. Cases are annoying though. Rewarding because everyone needs accountants, so it is much more practical. 3.) Using my degree to get a professional designation. In my opinion business in general can be boring, unless you get yourself really involved into it. | ||
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Empyrean
17018 Posts
On August 07 2010 05:57 FiRe) wrote: Hey guys I don't have a major yet but I am very interested in business. I just want to ask a few question for some of you business major or someone who knows a lot about business and state what kind of degree your aiming for. 1) I know time management is key to college, but do you guys have extra time for yourselves when taking business class, or is it mostly working? 2.) Is it a difficult major, or is it someone that's fun to learn and rewarding? 3.) What is your future when you achieve your degree (specifically speaking) A "business" major is one of the biggest joke majors at most universities. It's pretty much a glorified communications major that doesn't involve much actual work or studying. If you really want to make it in the business world, you should just be personable, good at networking, and have some sort of useful quantitative expertise - be a math major, or a statistics major, or some sort of engineer, and then go to a business school as a post-bachelor's degree. Seriously. A bachelor in business is worth next to nothing. People who graduate with some generic business-type degree are a dime a dozen, and probably won't be actually contributing much to any companies they might get into. The real prestigious jobs will recruit candidates with actual applied skills (such as computer programming experience, etc.), and can hold their own in a business setting. Pretty much everything you need to know in the business world is picked up on the job, and recruiters will just want to know if you have what it takes to be successful. That being said, who do you think they'd rather take, out of two personable candidates, one of whom majored in "market studies" and one of whom majored in statistics? Hell, banks and consultancies will even recruit engineers who've shown an interest in the business world, because they know they have the dedication and quantitative skills to succeed in a challenging market. Business classes are absolute jokes, and they're neither fun to learn nor rewarding. At most, you'll get classes on accounting and the very basics of financial math (I'm talking ABSOLUTE BASICS HERE). You'll also get some feel-good pop-business drivel that you'll quite readily figure is bullshit. If you're looking for a business job, take courses that prove you're a hard-working, intellectually rigorous individual who's up for a challenge. Instead of taking bullshit like learning how to use Microsoft Excel, take classes like econometrics. Or anything else, really. Even rhetoric courses or molecular biology mean more to industry recruiters than "business" classes (not talking about things such as how derivative markets work...those are econ classes, not business classes). If you major in generic "business" out of any but the top schools (and many top schools WILL make you take rigorous classes, so you might as well major in finance or something), you probably won't end up where you might envision. Seriously. Undergraduate business is about as useful as a women's studies degree. EDIT: Or you could just have some good connections. It doesn't matter what you major in then. But if you're looking to break into banking/consulting/accounting/pretty much anything "businessy," then I would highly recommend not being an undergraduate business major. | ||
flamewheel
FREEAGLELAND26781 Posts
On August 07 2010 06:28 Carnivorous Sheep wrote: Coming from a business major who does pre-med, and whose friends are all engineers, business is like a fake major =P It is much, much, MUCH less intense than any math/science/engineering major. This is why you do a dual math major! And an econ minor. Or should it be Asiatic studies or something like that? Anyway yeah business doesn't seem to take a lot of time, class-wise. | ||
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jon arbuckle
Canada443 Posts
On August 07 2010 07:48 TheMusiC wrote: i put in minimal work and skip a fair amount of classes, not because i don't care, but because i find there are very few classes where lecture is actually worth going to -- a lot of professors i find simply read off of powerpoints and provide little outside information, so for the most part i can get by simply by reading the textbook and downloading the powerpoints online. my GPA has fluctuated from 3.4 to 3.65~ over the past 3 semesters though, so if you want a 3.8+ (or that sought-after 4.0) you'll definitely have to put in some hours to learn the material well (and oftentimes that A will be difficult too, as many business classes are graded heavily on presentations and peer evaluations). honestly, if i could go back and re-do my education i'd major in something that i enjoy OR in something where i'd get to learn cool and relevant shit about the world around me (engineering, nat sciences, etc) and work hard, then apply for a top MBA program afterwards. This rings true. What follows might not be entirely correct, but if so I'd be happy to hear how it's wrong. My two cents on the topic comes from a course I took last year that was crosslisted with the business school at my University. The class was about presentations and a third year course, and with a 50/50 divide between students from the two programs, you could see the divide. Business schools seem to give out presentation assignments like hotcakes, meaning as an otherwise drawn-in pseud weenie who is more interested in talking about the elements of rhetoric - logos, pathos, ethos, that sort of thing, which were horribly simplified by my prof - I could see clearly the divide in the quality of presentations, mostly demarcated by professionalism, decorum, and rhythm. My program more or less didn't know what we were doing (having given three presentations in the course of our degrees, if that); the business students giving stupefying amounts in their undergrad. One of the business students whom I got to know quite well, and who was on the verge of graduating, outlined how bland his program has been for him. I had no idea what he had in mind for his future. The course stands as a low point in my University career - both in terms of grade and what I drew from the course. In the current business climate - this comes from my step-sister who works in New York, is well-versed in this sort of thing, and is happily and successfully employed - an undergrad alone doesn't do that much for you. Most employers in that field are looking for a combination of education (undergrad + graduate school) and experience, meaning that coming out of a four-year degree without a combination of these things is going to put you in an uphill-battle situation. (For business students, free time could be well spent doing internships.) I would advise you to do a double-major/major-minor in something interesting to you and commercially viable for your undergrad (e.g. my step-sis did Econ/French). If you have an eye for business school, consider doing an MBA at a stronger institution than where you did your undergrad. Oh and have fun and that kinda stuff. Edit: Empyrean's post above is really good, although why you gotta disparage Women's Studies like that? :'( | ||
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Empyrean
17018 Posts
 EDIT: Just to make it clear, I just want to reiterate HOW USELESS AN UNDERGRAD BUSINESS DEGREE IS. EDIT2: Actually, I should probably ask you what you want your college degree to do for you, and what you plan to do five-ten years after you graduate. Maybe business IS the right choice after all (highly doubt it). | ||
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jon arbuckle
Canada443 Posts
The career-driven side of my degree might as well drop its pretension and call itself "Communications," but I golly well hope it doesn't because that pretension might allow me to parlay the thing into something else rather than the dumb-founded I-got-a-BA-in-Communications-and-I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-it jobless existential crisis that seems really common these days. Edit: On topic this time!: On August 07 2010 08:38 Empyrean wrote: Actually, I should probably ask you what you want your college degree to do for you, and what you plan to do five-ten years after you graduate. Maybe business IS the right choice after all (highly doubt it). Parallel question: is there anything you can do with a business degree that you can't do with another degree? | ||
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Empyrean
17018 Posts
On August 07 2010 08:45 jon arbuckle wrote: I'm not a women's studies major for the record; I just really like gender studies discourse. The career-driven side of my degree might as well drop its pretension and call itself "Communications," but I golly well hope it doesn't because that pretension might allow me to parlay the thing into something else rather than the dumb-founded I-got-a-BA-in-Communications-and-I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-it jobless existential crisis that seems really common these days. Gender discourse may be all well and fine, but have you taken any courses in the subject? I ended up withdrawing from auditing a women's studies course because it simply got to ridiculous for me to continue. No matter how honest and unbiased they tried to present it, it simply devolved into a cacophony of ideologically motivated bullshit that I just couldn't put up with any longer. And yeah, I don't know what I want to do when I graduate either.  EDIT: Parallel question: is there anything you can do with a business degree that you can't do with another degree? You can party a lot more. | ||
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Entropic
Canada2837 Posts
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StripedBlueCrow
United States506 Posts
Don't say I'm going into school to get a BA in Business. Business and finance are not the same thing. | ||
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StripedBlueCrow
United States506 Posts
On August 07 2010 06:36 shurgen wrote: I am a business major and yes, it is much less intense than engineering. I did not go to class, I did not do work, I barely studied for my exams and I was in the top 10-15% of my class (and this is in a relatively decent program). I guess its fun? I personally have never found school fun in any way. I am going into finance (investment banking). What bank you heading to? You going to be in NYC? | ||
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jon arbuckle
Canada443 Posts
On August 07 2010 08:51 Empyrean wrote: Gender discourse may be all well and fine, but have you taken any courses in the subject? I ended up withdrawing from auditing a women's studies course because it simply got to ridiculous for me to continue. No matter how honest and unbiased they tried to present it, it simply devolved into a cacophony of ideologically motivated bullshit that I just couldn't put up with any longer. Yeah, I haven't taken any courses devoted solely to the subject; I just like to read feminist and queer theory, and I've encountered it in bits in other classes. And while I enjoy them and subscribe to both with limits, I can definitely see where you're coming from. I'd ask you to expand on that, but maybe not here (PM?). | ||
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TheMusiC
United States1054 Posts
a lot of it can be learned on the job, yes, but if you intend on going into a heavy banking/investment management career post-undergrad then i do think the foundation you're given in a good business school can help quite a bit, as the things you're asked to do are based heavily on economics. | ||
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itzme_petey
United States1400 Posts
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Orlandu
China2450 Posts
However to claim that undergraduate business degrees are generally useless is simply wrong, at least in the sense that it's no more useless than most majors out there. Personally, I came from an engineering background and switched to business later (not because I couldn't handle it ), and while I admit that classes were much easier (mainly because the professors didn't have a superiority complex like many engineering professors do, and the content was more immediately applicable), they were also a lot more useful and actually opened up a lot more opportunities, both in terms of a future career and various other aspects of life. The reason things worked out that way had a lot to do with my particular fields of study, and what I wanted to do, so it's in no way true for every circumstance. But it's proof enough that business degrees are not universally worthless.That said however, it is very easy to go into business and take away absolutely nothing. Many people do just coast through the classes without knowing anything. But if you truly understand what you're doing and take classes that actually have something to do with the kind of work you'd like to do, some of the information is really quite valuable. A lot of my former classmates graduated and got NICE jobs right off the bat, with only an undergraduate's degree. Some of them were making more money than their parents just working a co-op, before even graduating. You can do that with other majors too of course, but that's not what we're discussing here. Anyway, ultimately what matters is what kind of person you are and how you use the information that you've been given. Hopefully you enjoy what you're studying too, because that will make a huge difference. The best advice I can offer is to find a nice balance between interest and usefulness, and if you're lucky enough to get both, then congratulations | ||
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shurgen
350 Posts
On August 07 2010 07:06 itzme_petey wrote: |I would agree with this statement. However, try to get into the top business programs out there. I think the cutoff is UT McCombs. If you go to a lower ranked program, just make sure you recruit very well. Just curious, are you going into a bulge or a butique? I always wanted to do investment banking, but never had the skills or patience for it. Most likely mid-market, but I am definitely aiming for BB (UBS most likely). It would be nice to get into PE straight from undergrad though ^^. On August 07 2010 09:02 StripedBlueCrow wrote: What bank you heading to? You going to be in NYC? I'm still relatively young, so there is still some time between now and when I would be looking really hard to find that ever important BB internship. | ||
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Empyrean
17018 Posts
On August 07 2010 10:29 TheMusiC wrote: actually i kind of disagree with the notion that an undergrad business degree is completely useless - it just depends entirely on what field within business you study. with the exception of accounting and finance (imo), yes the other majors are fairly useless, but the world we live in today needs good accountants (enron made sure of that), and if you go to a top 20 business school they generally put their finance majors through pretty rigorous advanced market/portfolio analysis courses (financial economics basically, which might as well be an entirely different field). a lot of it can be learned on the job, yes, but if you intend on going into a heavy banking/investment management career post-undergrad then i do think the foundation you're given in a good business school can help quite a bit, as the things you're asked to do are based heavily on economics. Then why not major in economics or finance instead of business? I seriously can't think of any advantages an undergraduate business degree would give you over an undergraduate econ/finance degree. On August 07 2010 11:26 itzme_petey wrote: I do not agree with Empyrean's opinion at all. Too extreme, generalized, and filled with hateful bias. I wonder what he does right now. I'm sure he is smart, but does his education match is career success? I'm an undergrad stat major thinking about business school after working for a few years. I plan on applying to all the big consultancies and maybe some insurance companies/accounting firms and perhaps some banks (though I'm not really into finance. Still taking financy classes, though. Taking applied stochastic processes in the grad school next semester). But yeah, I know way too many of my friends who simply couldn't decide what they wanted to do with their life, and just went into "business" without any sort of direction. They then went on to take gen ed classes and learned pretty much nothing in their collegiate career. While I think an MBA is useful (if only for the network, really), an undergrad business degree confers virtually no competitive advantage in anything. If you're going for one of the big ibanks or something, you might as well major in something more quantitative. | ||
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TunaFishyMe
Canada150 Posts
I believe in commerce, unless you are top 10%, you probably wont get a great job. If you are bottom 75%, it will probably be tough to find a job in the area. That's my opinion from what ive seen. | ||
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TheMusiC
United States1054 Posts
On August 07 2010 20:34 Empyrean wrote: Then why not major in economics or finance instead of business? I seriously can't think of any advantages an undergraduate business degree would give you over an undergraduate econ/finance degree. because at most schools finance degrees are offered as concentrations within the business school (and even then they won't always offer "finance" as a degree, only a specialization within your BS/BBA). whether or not econ is offered through your business school varies widely depending on what school you're at, i've seen it offered as a major at some business schools while others only offer it through their university's school of liberal arts (separate from the b-school). | ||
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Empyrean
17018 Posts
On August 08 2010 00:12 TheMusiC wrote: because at most schools finance degrees are offered as concentrations within the business school (and even then they won't always offer "finance" as a degree, only a specialization within your BS/BBA). whether or not econ is offered through your business school varies widely depending on what school you're at, i've seen it offered as a major at some business schools while others only offer it through their university's school of liberal arts (separate from the b-school). Well then obviously in this case you'd major in business with a finance concentration. I was talking about choosing between a generic BBA and some sort of quantitative business-related degree. Should've been more clear, my bad. | ||
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MetalMarine
United States1559 Posts
On August 07 2010 07:57 Initial_H.C. wrote: Majoring accounting. Lectures are ridiculously boring but tutorials are useful as hell. 1.) You'll have lots and lots of time but it's up to you whether you use it to study/practice questions or to do whatever you want. 2.) Accounting is not that difficult cause you only use simple math. Not fun and really repetitive. Cases are annoying though. Rewarding because everyone needs accountants, so it is much more practical. 3.) Using my degree to get a professional designation. In my opinion business in general can be boring, unless you get yourself really involved into it. I'm also doing accounting. I'm going to be transferring to a university this fall. Really excited. I was going to do global supply chain business, but my sister is a senior accountant at her company making 90K+ a year. She was like get an accounting degree and you can make as much as me. So i jumped in. Hope it isn't too hard though. Good luck to all business majors. Edit: And whats with all the hate on business majors. Businesses is one of the things that makes the world go around just like any other field of work. | ||
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itzme_petey
United States1400 Posts
On August 08 2010 02:35 Empyrean wrote: Well then obviously in this case you'd major in business with a finance concentration. I was talking about choosing between a generic BBA and some sort of quantitative business-related degree. Should've been more clear, my bad. Well based on this last part, then yes, I agree 100% with the uselessness of a BBA w/o a specific concentration. I think what sparks our debates is the large difference in college programs we all went to. | ||
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FiRe)
United States98 Posts
Since I don't want to make another blog Is Bachelor of arts a good? I don't understand what it saying but it says Art - Plan I (Art Education) Art - Plan II (Studio Art) Art - Plan III (Art History) Art - Plan IV (Graphic Design) Art - Plan V (Graphic Design and Marketing) I don't want to be an artistic drawer, but want to do something with graphic design, this is my second choice of my major that I'm interested in lol. | ||
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ieatkids5
United States4628 Posts
A bachelor of arts is just a degree - for a lot of stuff, not just 'art'. Might be easier to pick what major you want to be by looking back at what classes you enjoyed throughout highschool. Or what kinds of hobbies you have (several of my friends went into mechanical engineering because they loved working with cars/bikes/motorcycles, that sorta stuff. They constantly toyed around with that stuff). And they're enjoying what they do in their classes. Figure out what you like. | ||
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FiRe)
United States98 Posts
On August 08 2010 04:40 ieatkids5 wrote: Do you like graphic design? Do you like visual editing (photoshop), or doing computer graphics? Do you just like drawing and designing so much you wanna make a career out of it? A bachelor of arts is just a degree - for a lot of stuff, not just 'art'. Might be easier to pick what major you want to be by looking back at what classes you enjoyed throughout highschool. Or what kinds of hobbies you have (several of my friends went into mechanical engineering because they loved working with cars/bikes/motorcycles, that sorta stuff. They constantly toyed around with that stuff). And they're enjoying what they do in their classes. Figure out what you like. yes i've had experiecne and it is quite enjoyable, i was supposed to be 1st major but i thought my college that i wantedto go to (csu san bernardino, i know not a top school but w/e) didnt have it, but i checked it again and there it was. also i wanted to do something with animated studio stuff, not sue which one but i also like film. and what is studio art? | ||
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ieatkids5
United States4628 Posts
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illu
Canada2531 Posts
If you have faith in your academic abilities and your work habits, choose something harder. | ||
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