Basically I have already completed a BS in Biology and would like to maybe get a 2nd undergrad in business like finance or accounting. But I have called some business schools and they said I can’t because I have already completed an undergrad degree.
Are there any top schools out there that allow a 2nd undergrad?
It just makes no sense to me, if I want to change a career path and do business it seems like I can’t unless some other good schools allow me to. It makes no sense those schools won’t let me… I’ve already proven I can do well in undergrad and am intelligent so why not allow me in…
Am I basically never allowed to become a accountant or do something in finance, etc… just because I already did one undergrad???
Most master’s programs in business require no previous business courses. If you look below the top 50 business schools many will not require work experience for an MBA.
Not top schools, but the Florida 4-public Universities (FIU, FAU, etc.) allows students to get a second undergraduate degree. A know a number of students who have gone back to pursue an accounting undergraduate degree at FAU (Marketing 1st degree) and FIU (Finance 1st degree).
What about the CUNY schools (Baruch, Brooklyn, Queens)?
I think you may be overestimating the requirements to get a job in business. I think you would be better served if you got your foot in the door somewhere and then navigate your career. You may want to supplement your knowledge with some individual classes while you work. But a full second degree is overkill. The actual out of pocket and opportunity cost is huge. Once you get a little bit into your career, they will only care that you have a degree, not your major. I believe, that our CFO has a degree in some type of engineering. This is for a S&P 500 financial services company.
You absolutely do not need a degree in business to get a job in business, and a 2nd undergrad degree is, as @Eeyore123 said, simply overkill.
You take your BA in bio and you do some career homework on how to pull together what you have to apply to jobs that you would find interesting. Assuming that you haven’t managed to graduate from college without some experience- summer jobs? internships? work study?- figure out the ‘labels’ for what you know how to do that line up with what companies look for.
For example, my brother, with a BA in theatre, managed to describe his (substantial) experience in college theatre in terms that got him hired by a name-brand telecoms business. He just had to step back and realize that as a stage manager he was basically doing project management: coordinating the efforts of a number of disparate group of team, towards a common goal, with budget constraints and a hard deadline.
You can do the same with whatever experience you have: look at the job descriptions of positions you would like to have and find the elements that fit, even if you have to re-label them. But you need to change your perspective- ‘oh poor me I can’t change careers unless I get a second degree’ is not going to get you anywhere.
fyi, if you really want to be a CPA, check your state’s rules. In most states you have to have a certain number of hours of accounting and business law classes that you can take at your local university or online (you do not have to be a degree candidate to take them).
The biotech industry has a continual need for administrators and managers and corporate executives who have spent enough time in the lab to understand that part of things. A couple of years at the bench, then moving on to an MBA would make perfect sense.
I guess if I decided to go the route where I work right now and just try to enroll in some business classes, which business classes would you recommend for someone who wants to later do an MBA, or have some knowledge of finance, accounting, etc…?
@goat12 (Tom Brady fan), you would need 150 credit hours to sit for the CPA exam. You would only need certain courses and could do some undergrad and also do a two semester MS in Accounting (graduate) degree. It would work, but you would need another year. You would need 150 hours in any case to become a CPA, so I think what you want to do works, but come up with a plan.
^No, don’t do that. The road to becoming a doctor or a PA is actually longer and far harder than just finding a job, working for a few years and getting an MBA. There are probably some prerequisites you are missing; about half of people who apply to med school don’t get in; and even if you did get in, there’d be 4 years of med school plus 3 years of internship at least. Don’t do that unless you actually are really interested in being a doctor. PAs need 1,000-2,000 hours of direct patient care experience, so in order to be a PA you’d need to first get certified to provide direct patient care (like as a CNA, EMT, nurse, paramedic, OTA, PTA, etc.) and then do a 2-year PA program. That’s about 4 years.
You don’t need to take any additional classes or make life harder for yourself to get an MBA. What you need to do is polish up a resume and figure out what kinds of jobs you might like and be competitive for. Your undergrad’s career center may have services for alumni, so reach back and see if they do. Start out by trying to find a job in business. Lots of people with unrelated degrees work in all kinds of business fields.
After you’ve worked for a couple years - at least 3, I’d say - that’s when you can start exploring the possibility of an MBA. You don’t need to take any classes or anything (unless you really want to be an accountant).
@juillet
I’ve actually done all the pre-reqs and everything needed for med school, just don’t know if I really want to do it and if I’m really just doing it for the lifestyle and money.
And like you kind of said, it would actually take me 9 years total to become a doctor if I start right now because I couldn’t start for 2 years(application process+MCAT) + the 7 other years. And when I think about it if I apply myself for the next 9 years as hard as I would have to in med school but instead in business and really work hard, I would think that I would be able to do just fine in business? Because in those 9 years I could easily work and get an MBA within 4 years… And that’s not even considering the cost of education of med school
But what do you think of the idea of the poster above at all, to just get 30 more credits(1 year) and take the CPA, would that look good on my resume at all or no?
@GOAT12, you really need to stop trying to second guess what will ‘look good’ on a resume and put that energy into figuring out where you want to be. Having a CPA qualification on your resume will look good for some roles, and be completely irrelevant to a ton of others.
To succeed in any of the fields you are tossing around takes a LOT of sustained, disciplined effort. For almost all mortals, that is a much happier thing to do when the effort is for something that actually gives you satisfaction and actually matters to you, Picking out something that sounds impressive or that looks impressive to somebody else is less likely to work.
You say that you believe that your interests are now in business. So go DO business. See where you get. The great thing about it is that you do not actually need an MBA to be successful. There are some jobs that will ask for it, and there are some reasons to get one- but the majority of senior executives that I know do not have MBAs, and many of the ones that do picked them up on the way (most often to pivot from one industry to another). But if you don’t like being in business (which covers a very wide array of types of work), having an MBA or a CPA is a waste of time.
@collegemom3717
I understand that and I still need time to figure out exactly what I want in business, and yes I am in the process with an idea I have to start a really small business. It’s just that business is unpredictable and I would like to have at least something to fall back on, like an MBA, or BBA in accounting/finance, or a CPA etc…