<p>My daughter is planning to apply to colleges for business or econ this fall. She is quite artsy, a top level percussionist, and state winner in 4-H art and speech and science. She is decent in math with a 33 on her math ACT but an 86 in a very tough pre-calc class. (My son had the same teacher and got a B in the class and a 5 on the AP exam). Her highest scores are 35 in English and 34 in reading. Her non-weighted GPA is 3.95, weighted 4.5. She is very good at talking, her English teachers have asked her to take the class when they are absent and she is routinely chosen to make speeches to the school board, etc. She teaches percussion and piano to students whose parents have sought her out. This year her favorite class was AP Physics B, but other years it has been English or History, it seems to depend on the teacher.</p>
<p>Here's the problem. We are a family of art and music majors with an occasional engineering degree thrown in for flavoring. We know next to nothing about business. Would accounting be too dry for her? She wants to earn a good salary and use her social skills. What would be the best business major for her? There is an older girl from our church who makes a six figure salary in consulting, travels all over the country and has very nice suits...and that is appealing to her!</p>
<p>Our state school is Illinois, which has a good accounting program, but she has also been getting marketing letters from Harvard, Chicago, UCLA, NYU and the like. She also has an interest in UCBerkley, tho I don't know where that came from! I doubt we could afford to send her to one of those schools, but I told her she could apply. (We are in the category of people whose EFC makes private schools unaffordable.)</p>
<p>The most creative side of business is marketing communications–the departments responsible for advertising, pr, web design, brochures, direct mail, point of purchase displays, etc.</p>
<p>I do understand that Marketing Communications might be a good fit, however, I have read that majoring in Marketing is a very bad idea if you have expectations of getting a job when you graduate…other than sales clerk.</p>
<p>I have a sister who majored in graphic design. It was a good major in 1985, but no longer. She used to make $60,000 but is now a dental receptionist after 3 design firms she worked for folded. Another cousin who is a graphic designer has a relatively low paying job designing college T-shirts. A third is now in sales for a graphics software company and makes a decent salary.</p>
<p>We don’t know many people involved in business, but those who are say to choose Econ, Accounting or Finance…or you might just as well choose English.</p>
<p>Please correct me if I’m wrong, but even if you were looking for a job in marketing, wouldn’t you be better off majoring in accounting and minoring in communications?</p>
<p>Accounting doesn’t seem like it would suit her, but there are more ‘social’ parts to that major. Auditing, for example, requires speaking with, interviewing, and counseling clients, as well as the testing that might already come to mind when you think of accounting. But creativity isn’t something that is fostered, necessarily, in accounting, at least from my experience. You’ve mentioned that she seems interested in consulting. There are consulting arms of public accounting firms, so accounting is a possible choice (besides the more ubiquitous avenues) if that’s the route she would like to wander.</p>
<p>Marketing isn’t considered as strong of a major as econ, accounting, finance, or SCM, but there are jobs out there for those majors (although reading this forum might lead you to believe there aren’t). They just have to be strong candidates and be proactive in searching for internship opportunities while still in school.</p>
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<p>No. Accounting has very little to do with marketing except that both are taught in business school. I mean, a semester or two of accounting can help EVERYONE in business, but any more than that and it is not useful unless you want to work in the field of accounting. And based on your description, that doesn’t sound like a fit.</p>
<p>The problem with graphic designer is that computers have made it so easy for people to do it themselves or hire someone very cheaply to do it for them. Agree that is also not a good fit because of the job market.</p>
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<p>This is not exactly the greatest reason to major in business… but given that, business is a VERY broad field. There are so many different kinds of jobs in the corporate world. Some of the types of jobs that someone with an undergrad business degree might get could be in:
- sales (a marketing degree & communications minor might be a good mix for this). Note that many people with marketing degrees want more of the brand management type job, but those are harder to wrangle unless you go to a top school – way more marketing majors end up in sales. Which can be very lucrative for the right personality, and be a stepping stone up in the company.
- Buyer (retail companies need someone to help them purchase products – a good sense of style is helpful :))
- a research analyst (my D got that job with a consulting firm right out of college – she wasn’t even a business major, but did take a few econ classes and had very good research skills – she said taking statistics in college would have helped her, too)
- an entry level consultant with one of the bigger consulting firms (on the consulting side, D’s boyfriend works for Deloitte – he was an econ major. Some computer skills are also valued in many consulting companies, so a comp sci minor or management information systems classes would be good.)</p>
<p>Sometimes a student can parlay another interest combined with a business degree into a job with the right company. Biology & business? Pharma companies could be interested. Computers & business – companies are begging for people to bridge that divide. It is possible to be very successful finding a way to fill a gap or a seam between two areas.</p>
<p>One thing that can’t be emphasized enough is the importance of internships and summer jobs as building blocks for skills needed in the workplace. The candidates landing the best jobs are working at internships no later than their sophomore years. One of my kids went to a school that had a semester internship program in DC (we paid regular tuition, the college/program provided DC housing and some support in finding an internship, and with some extra coursework through the program while in DC the kids got a semester of credits at the college). Although a lot of the internships were political, there were plenty that were business focused (eg, one of her friends was a financial analyst at the Dept of Agriculture and went on to a consulting career). My D also did a couple different summer internships and had one unpaid internship part time during the school year during one semester. She landed her consulting job before college graduation in 2012.</p>
<p>Marketing is a good major. Your daughter should really pick something you love though. This statement still holds true. If your daughter majors in accounting and she hates it the rest of her life she will be unhappy. And most b-school programs make will make her take intro classes in all the business majors before choosing one. Personally, I don’t know your daughter so it is going to be a dry statement. My high school president was only elected because everyone knew they did nothing and no one cared, I am not saying this is the case but in general from where I am from no one really cares about the high school president. It is good she is getting involved though. But you have to remember there is a difference between English class and preparing speeches than being charismatic and being able to influence and persuade people. And as far as consulting goes it will way easier if she has a high GPA (which it seems like she will) AND knows someone. My uncle who had a decent GPA and did not major in business (poly sci) got into I-banking because of his natural charisma and his ability to be a people person. He also went to Boston College. That’s why people say to major in something you love because you will get a high GPA and you will more than likely be successful in life. If you don’t have a high GPA she better hope she has the charisma of Bill Clinton to get into consulting or connections. But marketing is a good career especially if she wants to do market research <a href=“http://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/market-research-analysts.htm[/url]”>http://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/market-research-analysts.htm</a></p>