<p>My son is interested in a marketing major. Is he better off applying directly to the college's business school or the arts and sciences school and transferring into the business school afterwards?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Depends on the college, depends on the type of marketing, depends on the business school.</p>
<p>If he’s interested in market research/data analytics/customer behavior, he would be a much stronger candidate for most corporate jobs with a degree in Applied Math from the school of arts and sciences. Or- if he’s less quant but still interested in that segment of marketing, he’s better of a psych major (a very common beginning to many marketing careers) from arts and sciences.</p>
<p>But if he’s interested in advertising/public relations/strategic communications, he may want a BA in Journalism or Mass Communications (if the college offers that). Or English, possibly combined with another language (advertising folks who are fluent in Spanish or Mandarin are in hot demand).</p>
<p>If he’s interested in digital marketing/social media, he may decide to get a BA in Graphic Design with a minor in Computer Science. Very potent combination in the job market.</p>
<p>So without more specificity- I’d always recommend applying to Arts and Sciences first; he can narrow down what he wants after getting a good liberal arts based under his belt. There are dozens of ways to pursue a marketing career.</p>
<p>Thanks! I was just wondering if it was an easier route to get into the college by going arts and sciences, rather than directly applying to the business school.</p>
<p>At some schools, it may be more difficult to switch into the business division after enrolling in another division. Check the specifics on each school.</p>
<p>Colleges are wise to the trick of applying to an “easier” school and then transferring to a “more selective” school, in this case the business school. In many of these cases schools make it exceedingly difficult to do an internal transfer (Wharton at Penn is one good example). If he wants business, I’d have him apply to the business school. If he doesn’t get into one school, he’ll go somewhere else, but at least he’ll be able to study what he wants.</p>
<p>Remember you are not the only one thinking about a shortcut. At the end, it may be as competitive or even more competitive to transfer for a limited quota. Even for Ross at UMich that sophomore transfer admission rate is around double of freshmen pre-admission rate, the applicant pools are very different (HS graduate vs well above average admitted students) making it still very competitive.</p>
<p>I have a kid in that situation, OP. The college of B is very selective, liberal arts less so. He will very likely be accepted into the B college right out of high school, but isn’t sure that is what he wants. He is deciding if it makes sense to start off in the B college and then transfer if he decides he doesn’t want to major in B. I would advise you to think about the relatively selectivity of the two schools.</p>