<p>So I'm interested in heading into the business field. Currently I'm undeclared and I am in need of changing my major, should I wait and try to switch into business admin? Although I hear its really hard to do that, or are there any other just as good options?</p>
<p>It’s pretty much impossible to change into Business Admin at UCI. They only enroll around 150 students per year, and accept less than 10% as transfers. If your keep your GPA really high, you might be able to transfer as a junior. </p>
<p>However, there are some really good alternatives you could look into. You can major in Business Economics, which isn’t part of the Business school and therefore isn’t exclusive, and can minor in Accounting or Management.</p>
<p>@cacophonous Can you please explain the difference between Business Admin and Business Economics please? Currently I’m taking econ and I find it to be quite boring</p>
<p>Business Admin is more geared toward management/accounting/finance/marketing. It’s also the path that someone should consider if they want a MBA in the future.</p>
<p>That being said, majoring in Bus. Econ does not mean that you can’t get a MBA. However, it’s focus is more on economics. Economics doesn’t have to be related to business, but it can be. There are two minors that anyone not in the Merage business school can pursue, accounting and management. These are already built into the curriculum for Business Admin. If you took Business Econ and minored in one of these specializations, you could still do the same things as if you had a degree in Business Admin.</p>
<p>In general, business is more theoretical, as in supply, demand, monetary police, etc. Business is more practical and broad (can encompass marketing, finance, etc.) Either one is fine and you can probably get similar jobs. Work experience/internships are really much more important, but maybe some nuances will have you choosing one over the other.</p>
<p>@cacophonous Oh okay, thank you very much! So are there really like no freshmen or sophomore enrolled with the Business Admin major at UCI? So generally either finishing my GE’s the first two years, and then getting into the Business Admin major my 3rd year (if I can) or majoring in Bus. Econ and minoring in accounting would be around the same?
I really don’t like economics… so I’d like to get into business admin but since it’s so hard it pretty much sucks for me hahaha</p>
<p>You can choose to drop out now and go to a CC then transfer to another school that offer biz admin.</p>
<p>There are freshmen, sophomore and juniors in the business admin major currently.</p>
<p>What is it that you really want to get into? If its accounting, then you don’t even have to major in business economics or business admin. Just as long as you have a minor in it, you’ll be eligible to sit for the CPA, and you can always major in something you really want, and just emphasize your minor.</p>
<p>@awwoki</p>
<p>I’m going to UCI as freshman for Bus. Admin. ;D
Although, I’m not really sure I deserve the spot as my GPA really wasn’t that high compared to some other people’s.</p>
<p>@junshik i’m trying to get my MBA eventually, and I really don’t want to major in bus. econ since I don’t wanna put up with a lot of economics. I think Business Admin would be very nice for me. Is there a way to change my major before submitting my SIR?</p>
<p>@awwoki, There’s no way for you to change your major into Business Administration as an upcoming freshman. There is one situation where someone in this thread had it as their first choice and initially was accepted as their 2nd choice major, but before starting school they notified her saying that she was in Business Administration. However, I think her situation is probably really uncommon, and don’t count on it.
Also, if you want your MBA, you don’t actually need a business specific major for it. There’s such thing as the 3-2 program at UCI too, where you apply to grad school basically while you’re in college as an undergrad, and get 3 years of undergrad education and 2 graduate school, so you get your masters after 5 years of college. Any major is eligible I believe.</p>
<p>Moey is right. If anything, try to get in touch with the paul merage undergrad dept, <a href=“mailto:UGPROGRAMS@merage.uci.edu”>UGPROGRAMS@merage.uci.edu</a>.</p>
<p>As for the 3-2 program, I believe its where if you can finish all your requirements before your 4th year, then yeah you can do it. However typically people work a few years before getting their MBA. And if you’re going into accounting, then you wouldn’t necessarily need the MBA since you’ll be eligible to sit for the CPA anyway from the minor. I say this because many students tend to go for the Macc because they don’t have enough hours to sit for the CPA (they weren’t enrolled in an accounting program).</p>
<p>@junshik What exactly is the paul merage undergrad? and what’s a CPA and a Macc haha. Sorry I really don’t know what any of these are, I just know that I want to pursue my dream as a CEO and I don’t want to take economics</p>
<p>Paul Merage is the name for the business school at UCI. Therefore, a Paul Merage undergrad is an undergrad studying at this school (which the only major they are currently offering to undergrads at this point is Bus. Admin).</p>
<p>CPA stands for Certified Public Accountant, which is a title you get after passing an exam and having a certain amount of credit from accounting classes. If you wanted to become an accountant, you basically would need to earn this title to boost your career chances/earnings quite a bit.</p>
<p>Pretty sure macc is a Masters in Accuonting, which you earn in grad school. Pretty sure it’s about a year long, and most people take it before the CPA exam because they need the hours. The CPA exam isn’t just a test, it’s a set of requirements such as passing the test, and completing a certain amount of courses.</p>
<p>You don’t need a degree in Business necessarily if you want to become a CEO, only if you want to become a CFO (Chief Financial Officer) or something similar.</p>
<p>I see, thanks cacaophonous!</p>
<p>So basically if I can’t get into bus. Admin which I most likely won’t, the best suggestion for me is to do bus. econ and minor in accounting?</p>
<p>There’s a good chance that you can transfer in as long as you have a competitive GPA. They do accept very few transfers, but I’ve heard that with a GPA of around 3.8 you can get in. Bus. Econ with Accounting could be an alternative, but you can minor in accounting with any major. For example, you might consider other majors like quantitative economics (even though you don’t like econ, maybe you like math).</p>
<p>Alternatively, are you considering any other schools? They might have business programs there, or you can always transfer.</p>
<p>None really. I’m planning on going to UCI and hopefully a good grad school for business. Does having bus. admin as your major make a difference in the classes you take your first two years anyway? Like would I be behind just because I ended up switching into business admin maybe my soph or junior year? (If I did)</p>
<p>Nope, it would suck if people were “behind” if they were transfers. The first two years, to my knowledge at least, are mostly GEs so it doesn’t really matter anyway. </p>
<p>I guess I’ll be seeing you at UCI!</p>
<p>Yeah for sure, haha. Are you doubling or tripling for dorm?</p>
<p>I don’t think you can transfer into Business Administration until the end of your sophomore year. It somewhat does make a difference to be in Business Administration, because most people in the major end up taking upper divisions by the time they are a sophomore. However, you’ll still be fine if you change your major but haven’t taken upper-divs yet.
As a non-major/minor you can’t enroll in these classes either unless they happen to still have a lot of space after the normal enrollment window, which they generally aren’t. So if you really want these classes, I suggest you take the pre-reqs for the minor asap - management or accounting minor, so that you can get into the minor quicker and then start taking MGMT classes. Another tip would be to take summer school, because that’s when the major restrictions are dropped for the school of business. </p>
<p>Also, please don’t go into UCI thinking that you’re definitely going to transfer into Business Administration. You really do need at least a 3.8 GPA and you need to meet the pre-reqs for the grades. This past year there were only around 11 change of majors. Also, for the Accounting minor, you should have around a 3.7 GPA as well. A lot more people are getting interested in it, so it’s been getting really competitive lately. (I’m not sure about management though, but I think you still need at least a 3.5)</p>
<p>But really, you can do Business Economics and minor in Accounting and you can be just as competitive to recruiters as if you did Bus Admin</p>
<p>I’m probably going to double, I heard tripling gets really crowded. How about you?</p>