<p>2boysima, thanks for this information.</p>
<p>hmom, I don’t know, but this is why college B is a better option. College A is located in an area that has more unemployment than average. I don’t see it changing overnight. College B is in a state and near a city with much more employment opportunity, even in this economy. He could stay there for a year or two to at least get that first job. Then he could come back to where he grew up, or he could stay put.</p>
<p>Business can be very dry. However, if your S is interested in marketing, he should take a class in marketing research. Not dry or uninteresting, but very mathematical. Also can demand creativity.</p>
<p>Management? What the H… is that? I never understood a major (minor or whatever) in management. What, whom are you learning to manage? Upper mgmt., middle or lower? Profit or nonprofit? My own business or a major corp.? A sports camp or GE?
Management is a Verb.</p>
<p>Again, my recommendation’s get the best gpa and take some difficult courses–math, computer science and accounting and finance if not in the major.</p>
<p>Morrismm, thanks for the advice.</p>
<p>Northeastmom - I never would have pegged D as the accounting type, either. Too quirky. However, after taking the 2 required ACC classes, D has now moved from "Ugh! Accounting! " to “I like this, but I’m too ‘cool’ to be a CPA.” I’m trying to gently convince her that ANY job can be cool (especially one that might actually be marketable.)</p>
<p>hmm. Never underestimate the power of discovering a hidden aptitude.</p>
<p>Well, anything is possible! Thanks for telling me about your D. I just would never currently peg my kid as someone majoring in accounting. BTW, perhaps you can tell your D that with a marketable job she’ll able to afford some ‘cool’ things in life!!</p>
<p>In high school D was all about obscure indie/pink/emo bands and visible anti-authoritarian displays (think pink hair, strange t-shirts, and Converse tennis shoes- no tattoos, but only because of a deep-seated fear of needles.) One of her requirements for college was access to an active underground music scene. (Weird, maybe, but no worse than “access to a big-time sporting atmosphere,” I guess.) So, yeah, I never would have thought “accountant” in connection with her future career path, either!</p>
<p>I HAVE tried to tell her that a steady salary can buy an awful lot of concert tickets.</p>
<p>Scout59, how funny! Well, even people with pink hair might secretly like what some consider boring and stable jobs.</p>
<p>If job prospects are the main reason for considering an undergraduate business degree, the best options are usually top 20 schools (with business, economics, or other major) and business schools associated with a state’s flagship university. Employers want to go where they can interview large numbers of qualified applicants–and, very often, they go to the schools they know best and have been successful hiring at–which means big flagship state schools and top 20 schools. </p>
<p>Neither School A nor School B fits this profile. If there is a concern about job prospects after graduating, which is quite reasonable, I would recommend checking out a major in math or computer science–especially since your son is talented in math. Plus, he might be able to double major with English. </p>
<p>Good luck to your son!</p>
<p>busprofmom, I know that your are right. He is not top 20 material, and he wants a small school, and he is not talented in math. He is just solid in math. He is an average student who is willing to work hard. I am not looking to find a reach that he can get into either. I want a happy kid, one who is finding success in college, and learning. I don’t want him to be over his head. That leaves us with schools like school A and school B.</p>
<p>You don’t need to decide now, right? You can wait until spring to decide, right?</p>
<p>If you don’t need to decide until after you get more scholly info and perhaps another visit to each campus…why not just let time take its course…one may emerge as an obvious first place at some point.</p>
<p>Are they both similar in culture?? For instance…is one more preppy? is one more laid back in dress style? Is one more of a “rich kid” school (lots of pricey cars in the parking lots?)</p>
<p>And hey…LOL…does one have better food and housing? (hey, my kids think that’s important! 
)</p>
<p>I’m a business school professor, with MBA and PhD and I teach/have taught undergrads, MBAs, PhD students, and executives. Both Ivy and state but have also visited and worked at a ton of schools in many countries over the past 20 years on sabbaticals, giving talks, etc… I’ve also served as an external examiner for AACSB on occasion. </p>
<p>In a business school (as opposed to a school that offers some business courses), typical majors include marketing, operations & logistics, management (ie. strategy, human resources, organizational behavior), marketing, accounting, management information systems, international business, finance. These are the predominant ones but you’ll find others, or specialty type majors, depending upon the school.</p>
<p>Most opinions on business schools/courses comes from stereotypes or hearsay. Who can say what one finds boring? Personally I would be bored getting an undergrad in business, but I assure you it appears most business students really like it and find it both challenging and fun. To each his own. But it is not more or less interesting whether you go to Wharton or X State-- wherever you go, it is basically same curriculum, courses, core material, texts, cases etc. One exception is whether the pedagogy is primarily case based or not (depends upon school) and of course the quality of the students. </p>
<p>Like others on this thread, I’m not at all a fan of undergraduate business majors (with a few exceptions, such as if one has a dream to be an accountant while in HS…). Like most of my business school professor colleagues, I’d much prefer my kids to get a more ‘mind expanding’ or diverse or intellectual education for undergrad. In fact, I don’t think most of us think UG makes any sense at all-- but there is a market for it, so we do it. But it doesn’t make a lot of sense teaching business to students without business experience. They have nothing to hang the material on, and oftimes they focus on practical, technical skills for an entry level job, with (understandably) no appreciation for what they really need to know. It’s not supposed to be vocational job training but many business students would be more than happy if it was. Teaching MBAs and executives however, is a completely different story because they ‘get it’, they understand why they are learning what they are learning, what they know and need to know, and they can integrate the material into a whole (and, as importantly, they learn so much from each other sharing experiences from such diverse backgrounds and industry experiences). </p>
<p>I would care about accreditation. A good business education is far more than a school offering what it considers some business courses; it should be a whole package of courses and standards and AASCB helps to ensure the product is what it is. But I should add, it’s far more than courses that makes a good business school. It’s the industry guest speakers, the coops and internships, the workshops from public speaking to resume building, the many business clubs and networking opportunities, the CEOs and industry experts that come to give talks, the case competitions, the industry field trips, the endless team work, the firms that host receptions for students, the integrative strategy capstone courses, and on and on and on. And perhaps most importantly, the career center with its extensive guidance and long list of well-established relationships with the business community which runs all year long. Forget about prestige and ranking: find out who recruits from the school and where the graduates go (usually one will be pleasantly surprised to learn that the big banks, the Fortune 500s, interview and hire every year from 150 schools not 3 schools).</p>
<p>“Another vote for Liberal Arts degree with graduate business degree…after working for a few years…if any interest in business…Jobs right out of college in Finance are obtained by economics majors with strong math skills - as often, if not more often, than finance undergrad majors…”</p>
<p>Ironically, posts such as these in fact make the argument for some kind of professional or quasi-professional focus in undergraduate school. The point is to obtain some sort of marketable skill or at least the rudiments of some economically viable expertise. Thus, finance, accounting, economics, math, engineering and computer science all add value in the business marketplace, while marketing, history, English, anthropology, etc. do not.</p>
<p>Small voice in the wilderness here . . . . </p>
<p>If I recall correctly from the OP, the kid currently plans to major in a humanity. It sounds to me like the kid is humoring his mother about considering a business major. </p>
<p>This is all very interesting and may help someone else, but I don’t think mom is paying attention to the kid. </p>
<p>I’ll be quiet now.</p>
<p>OP here…I don’t think that my son is humoring me. He says that he’ll probably change majors and that he does not sure as to what he wants to do. He can very easily say NO to business. He knows that we will still send him to college, and that he won’t suffer any consequences for speaking his mind.</p>
<p>Starbright, thanks for posting. Does AACSB accreditation matter a lot when it comes to acceptance into a business graduate school program?</p>
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<p>If you don’t need to decide until after you get more scholly info and perhaps another visit to each campus…why not just let time take its course…one may emerge as an obvious first place at some point.</p>
<p>Are they both similar in culture?? For instance…is one more preppy? is one more laid back in dress style? Is one more of a “rich kid” school (lots of pricey cars in the parking lots?)</p>
<p>And hey…LOL…does one have better food and housing? (hey, my kids think that’s important! )
<<<<<</p>
<p>Your son is applying to both schools right? He doesn’t have to decide which to attend until spring, right? Maybe time will provide the answer…</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, I think that the packages might help with the decision. As far as the kids, well neither is a real preppy, rich kid dominant culture. Both schools are down to earth. Thanks for posting.</p>
<p>AASCB not relevant if applying to graduate business programs, and absolutely no requirement to have ever taken a single business course. The major doesn’t matter either. MBA programs will look for a high-ish GPA, high GMAT, work experience, and fill their classes with students from diverse educational backgrounds (and with the assumption that no one has any business education…all you need to know in terms of course work will be taught during the MBA). </p>
<p>And don’t worry about school for that either. As I pointed out elsewhere on this board recently, have a look at Harvard’s current MBA class profile. You will see students who did their undergraduate at places like Arizona State and University of Calgary and a host of schools not recognized on CC.</p>
<p>starbright, this is really important for me to clarify. Are you saying that having gone to an AACSB accredited school for an undergraduate business major is unimportant in admissions to a business graduate program? If that is what you are saying, what is the importance of AACSB accreditation? As I understand it, it takes quite a lot of time, money and effort to earn that accreditation. Why do schools want it? Is this accreditation important to employers when hiring business majors?</p>
<p>OP</p>
<p>If your son wants an MBA, the last thing he should do is a business undergrad.</p>