<p>Which is better, a BS or MS in commerce?</p>
<p>Also which is better, MS or MBA?</p>
<p>Please state the pros and cons of both.</p>
<p>I’m sure you will hear this more fully vetted with subsequent comments, but the answer is “it depends”. What do you want to achieve with your career? Address that first and the other answers are much easier.</p>
<p>I’m hoping to achieve a J.D. after achieving either an MBA or MS. I’m unsure of which would look better to employers, BS or MS in commerce.</p>
<p>That helps understand the situation better. There are lots of joint JD/MBA programs to consider, but virtually no JD/MS programs. The undergrad degree does not have to be in business to go on for a JD or MBA so that isn’t as much of a concern. If you are considering doing something more specialized than business at the undergrad, it is worth a close look. The technical disciplines are often great compliments to JD or MBA education because it helps you understand a particular industry better than a business only degree holder. For example, if you have a BS degree in engineering, then adding a JD/MBA gives you much better access to jobs at large and small engineering firms (of course from a business or legal perspective). Similarly, a chemistry BS with a JD/MBA opens up options in intellectual property positions. </p>
<p>The better defined the career outcome is, the easier it is to determine the skills and education needed to achieve it.</p>
<p>A joint JD/MBA program sounds interesting. I was asking about the MS in Commerce because my undergrad major will be economics. Therefore I wanted to get the MS to have some business knowledge. Is it uncommon for one to get a B.S. M.S. M.B.A. and J.D.?</p>
<p>Yes, at least one of the masters will be unnecessary if your focus is business. If you are switching from technical backgrounds like engineering or science, then a BS-MS-MBA-JD path could happen.</p>
<p>Econ undergrad with a JD/MBA will take you lots and lots of places, as will an econ undergrad with either the JD or the MBA. It depends on what you see yourself working on in your career.</p>
<p>Of course you can do the MBA and JD sequentially instead of a joint degree. That would let you get work experience before the second school and potentially decide you don’t need the second graduate degree.</p>
<p>One of the things that I’ve found in my own searches on this topic is that it often depends on your geographical location and also on your experience after school. For example, in Europe, or dealing with people from Europe, they will view your MS in Commerce (from UVA?) more favorably than an MBA. Also, if you have no work experience coming from your UG in Econ, then your MS in Commerce will look more legitimate than an MBA which came without having spent 2-5 years in the private sector.</p>
<p>Generally, I would tell you that the MS would be better because it would give you specialized and focused curriculum while the MBA would be more broad based.</p>
<p>Thank you both for your inputs. I was also wondering whether a MS in Finance or a MS in Marketing/Management is more marketable.</p>
<p>They are both marketable, but to different markets. It is tough to compare them on marketability. I would expect higher salaries working in Finance, but potentially more satisfaction in Marketing (depends on what you find satisfying). My ug was finance and I was bored with my career 2.5 years later. After a 30% pay cut and move into marketing, I haven’t been bored a day since. It took about four years to make up the decreased salary.</p>
<p>Sorry about the barrage of questions but it’s not very often you find someone that can answer with experience :P</p>
<p>What does each usually entail? Such as what you would be doing on a daily basis.</p>
<p>That is a huge question and unfortunately can’t be answered with a single person’s perspective or in a forum. It is something you will have to explore with faculty, friends, mentors, career services personnel, and others to develop your own understanding of the many options in each field. They are both big areas with lots of sub specialties, each could be written about extensively. </p>
<p>From my finance experience, I’ll describt finance management development training programs. I sought these and took one option in a Fortune 500 company. The “FMP”, “FLD” programs are firmly part of the culture of some of the largest companies (like GE, one of the most famous programs) and are considered premier entry positions. These rotational programs typically rotate through different business units on a 6 month to 2 year per assignment basis and expose the participant to different job functions like general accounting, cost accounting, treasury, capital investments, sales analysis, etc. The idea is at the end of these programs, the person can go into many areas and have lots of experiences to draw on. Sometimes they require relocation to be in different parts of the company. For my time I was a general accountant at a manufacturing facility and did capital investment analysis, general plant accounting, and some sales support. Then I took a role in a consumer facing division and was a financial analyst doing profit and loss forecasts for proposed sales deals for our large national accounts. </p>
<p>When I moved into marketing it was for the international travel component of my position at the beginning. I never wanted to be in sales. It was soon clear that the data analysis skills from by earlier background really helped with assessing our marketing initiatives, develop better data management policies, and improved processing time in our back end operations. I’ve been lucky enough to deal with lots of other issues since then, like media relations, advertising, social media, experiential marketing, etc. I have not specialized in a particular function and that may be why it has been so interesting. I also realize that marketing and sales are intertwined and each is a component of the other, just like customer service is. I am not a sales expert or a marketing expert, but I see these roles as important at different times and appreciate the skills each side uses.</p>
<p>Enough about me. Get other people you come in contact with in these fields to tell you their stories, what worked for them and why, what didn’t and why. Start drawing your own impression about work and you will be much better informed to make decisions.</p>