<p>@Keepchow</p>
<p>I’ve been involved in international business my entire career. If your daughter is interested in international business and wishes to pursue an MBA in the future, you might want to check out where I went to graduate school. That will be several years in the future. Let’s get the undergraduate degree first. Anyway, for future reference check out [Thunderbird</a> School of Global Management](<a href=“http://www.thunderbird.edu%5DThunderbird”>http://www.thunderbird.edu)</p>
<p>This school specializes in international business management and is ranked #1 globally in the specialty of international business (US News 16 consecutive years, Financial Times 5 Consecutive years). Very cool place. Here are the rankings <a href=“http://www.thunderbird.edu/about_thunderbird/rankings/index.htm[/url]”>http://www.thunderbird.edu/about_thunderbird/rankings/index.htm</a></p>
<p>OsakaDad, thanks for all input. It helps a lot.</p>
<p>My pleasure. International Business is not an easy pursuit. However, it can be unbelievably rewarding in life experience and financially if you are entrepreneurial. I’ve been lucky enough to travel in over 30 countries and develop friendships all over the world. My career has made me proud to be an American but also a dedicated Global Citizen. If that is what your D wishes to focus on then I strongly encourage her to go to a business school that also has decent foreign language, international studies, and political science departments on campus. What she will need in International Business is a very strong background in accounting (in particular financial statement analysis, managerial accounting and tax), finance, marketing and political science. She will also need courses in cross-cultural communication, international political economy and very importantly multilingual capabilities. She should choose the languages of the cultures that she feels most drawn to. Then she needs to get experience. International internships are very important and she will need to get used to the idea that she will have to “create” her own job throughout her career. That is get into an organization or create her own firm and then go after international opportunities that make financial sense.</p>
<p>Here is a simple formula to build what is needed for International Business:</p>
<p>Business Skills + Language Skills + International Studies = Global Career Preparedness</p>
<p>Then add passion, creativity, mental toughness (no joke) and experience to make it real!</p>
<p>Sorry for all the postings…but international business a passion of mine and the skill set is not normally taught at the undergraduate level. Since my kid is engineering all the way, I never looked into the business department. At the undergraduate level you will have to create your own curricula for a complete education needed for international business. Cal Poly seems to have what is needed to do this.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>They have an international business concentration WITH the all too often ignored cross-cultural management course. [International</a> Business Academic Areas](<a href=“http://www.cob.calpoly.edu/academic/management/international-business/]International”>http://www.cob.calpoly.edu/academic/management/international-business/)</p></li>
<li><p>They offer modern languages. They have German, French and Spanish majors and minors and also teach elementary to intermediate Mandarin Chinese and elementary Japanese and Italian. I must admit that I wish that they had more advanced courses for Asian languages. But, from my personal experience most languages can not be learned in school to the level of business fluency. You must go and live and work in the target country to truly be fluent. [Cal</a> Poly CLA - Modern Languages and Literatures](<a href=“http://cla.calpoly.edu/mll.html]Cal”>http://cla.calpoly.edu/mll.html)</p></li>
<li><p>Let’s not forget political science. Cal Ploy offers good courses in international relations as well. <a href=“http://cla.calpoly.edu/pols/curriculum/major_minor.html[/url]”>http://cla.calpoly.edu/pols/curriculum/major_minor.html</a></p></li>
<li><p>That brings in the last most important step. Actual international experience. Your D must have lived and studied abroad to be seriously considered for an international career. Cal Poly offers great study abroad opportunities. [Study</a> Abroad Students - Home - International Education and Programs - Cal Poly](<a href=“http://www.iep.calpoly.edu/study_abroad_students/]Study”>http://www.iep.calpoly.edu/study_abroad_students/)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Additionally, they do have entrepreneurship courses as well. The point is that Cal Poly seems to be well-equipped to offer an education in international business for your D. However, from my almost 30 years in working exclusively in this field an international concentration is wholly inadequate to make it work. She will have to create her own curricula and manage it herself no matter where she goes. That is what I did at the University of Arizona. At the graduate MBA level, Thunderbird is the only school that I know of that brings all these elements together. That is why it is ranked so highly. In summary, you have to have comprehensive business skills that equal or exceed your colleagues, you must speak foreign languages fluently, you must be open to understanding the culture of the folks you are doing business with and adapt your approach and products to fit those cultures, and you also have to understand the economic and political environment of the countries that you are working with. Maybe this is overkill, but the research was fun for me. I hate to see people fail in international business and it happens so often due to lack of preparation. If international business is what she really wants, expect to stay in school for a minimum of 5 years to do it right and take extra courses.</p>
<p>OsakaDad,</p>
<p>WOW, your info. are good stuffs. I am not sure if any college professors can provide this.
I am a pharmacist myself, so I’m totally ignorant in International Business field.</p>
<p>UCI dosen’t have any international business or entrepreneurship concentration. But they emphasize international experience, I believe they are mandatory for study abroad and have a program to help business students in this area. Will check it out.</p>
<p>Again, thanks a lot and will keep in touch in this post.</p>