<p>Well I've really just started thinking about what kind of college major I would like to go for, and I think I've settled on business. However the numbers of different focuses has made the picture less clear for me. What I would like to do is run companies, I enjoy the idea of building a company, managing it. I know these are high apsirations, and I'm willing to work for them. What I'm not really sure about is what kind of focus I would need in college. </p>
<p>Really what I'm asking for is help in understanding business majors, and what career oppurtunities they would provide. I seem to have these preconceptions, such as that a business management degree will not lead higher them running a generic office, and I feel like there may be more to it then that.</p>
<p>Also I have seen from the forums that many consider Econ or accounting to be the better choice. What kind of jobs would an Econ major lead to? I'm not a fan of math, but I'm decent at it, and could probably labor through it. I would rather be an Econ major with a job then a business major without one, but I don't know if such a major would help me achieve what I ultimately want to do which is not spend my life filing other peoples taxes.</p>
<p>Anyways, sorry for the long vague post, but any help would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Also in response to what someone said in the draft thread, I recognize that this is something I have to figure out on my own, however I’m just looking for a rundown of the possible majors as a starting place. I’ve got a lot on my plate so I figured starting here would save some time.</p>
<p>Do know that I’ve still got some time, but what I decide may affect what colleges I apply to. I also would prefer to go into college with a semblance of a plan, like what a premed or prelaw would have.</p>
<p>Don’t major in any business field. Such a bad idea. People all assume you’re a moron unless you have a strong GPA, and you don’t learn anything. Your GPA as a business major will be inferior to that of nerdy females with low IQs, just like it was in high school.</p>
<p>Management: you do a little bit of everything
Marketing: you study pricing, producing, placing, and advertising
Finance: you work with numbers, money, economics, and accounting
International Business: you do a little bit of everything and pick up a second language in the process
Accounting: you learn how to present financial information to investors and managers</p>
<p>Those are the biggies and a very, very general rundown of what’s up with each. Most of the career fields should be self-explanatory. Management people tend to fill in the gaps. If you want to build a company up and run it, you could literally major in anything. Or not even go to college - lots of people do that. You say that you like managing, but the important question is managing what - money (finance)? people (HR management)? projects (marketing)? Your best option if you’re not comfortable with picking an emphasis is to go in as a general business major, sample some stuff, then declare later down the road. </p>
<p>As for economics, you need to realize that this is very different from business. Business majors must understand general economic facts, but economics majors do research into why people do the things they do with their money. Econ is a social scientific field - the skills you will learn as an econ major are pretty different than those you will learn as a business major. Econ majors, like most social science majors, can go on to do a broad range of careers (just like business majors can, for that matter).</p>
<p>Accounting is the language of business. Talk to people in high places and they will all agree that it is probably the most universally useful in the business world.</p>
<p>Finance is important to any business, especially a growing one. You need to be able to find ways for your company to invest in its future and show investors that you know how to do so.</p>
<p>Marketing is about making your products, your company and even yourself seem as good as possible to as many potential customers/investors/partners as possible.</p>
<p>You will likely take a couple classes of each of the aspects of business as well as economics to complete your degree no matter what you chose to major in. When starting your own business, success is about having good ideas and leadership skills, and your management technique will improve and adapt as your company grows.</p>
<p>“Your GPA as a business major will be inferior to that of nerdy females with low IQs, just like it was in high school.”</p>
<p>lol. well, if you want to compare college with high school, knock yourself out. maybe that speaks volumes about how seriously people need to take whistleblower1’s comments.</p>
<p>remember, business people run this country and define capitalism. they are decision makers (like politicians) that impact other people’s lifestyles. frankly, on a grand scale, engineers, doctors, and other professionals do their jobs to support and carry out those decisions that business folks make. doctors and engineers need to be very brilliant in order to be competent at what they do, but they are only pieces on a chessboard. </p>
<p>on the other hand, knowing that they have “low IQs,” business people delegate hard tasks to smarter professionals so they can focus on the bigger picture. this is why many of them make just as much money, if not a whole lot more, than scientists and those in fields that require lots of “IQs.”</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies, they have helped me get a better picture.</p>
<p>I think whistleblower’s ideas are not too radical, I have seen around the forums and heard elsewhere that majoring in business may not be concrete enough to provide a relatively good job starting off, like accounting would? Is there any truth behind this?</p>
<p>Also, Econ, Finance and accounting seem sort of interrelated, what sets them apart? And what kind of math workload would there be? </p>
<p>Economics is the study of how people behave with money - it covers everything from microeconomic decision-making theory at the grocery store to international monetary policy. As a social science, economics is a research-oriented degree. The math requirement will probably be Calc II at the highest, and some pretty heavy stats (linear regression, game theory, etc.).</p>
<p>Finance is the study of making wise financial decisions. Finance is more focused on concrete financial operations (obtaining credit, investments, retirement planning). This study is obviously reliant on a knowledge of broader economic trends, but it is not concerned with the study of human behavior. Finance might require Calc II based on the program, and stats will be pretty heavily emphasized again.</p>
<p>Accounting is the study of how to prepare and present financial information. At the undergrad level you’re essentially just learning procedures (at the grad level you will venture into how to use accounting information in decision-making). Finance relies heavily on accounting, but accounting does not rely as heavily of finance. The math requirements for accounting are minimal.</p>
<p>They’re all interrelated but Wikipedia says: (I say: It is correct but not complete)</p>
<p>Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek οἰκονομία (oikonomia, “management of a household, administration”) from οἶκος (oikos, “house”) + νόμος (nomos, “custom” or “law”), hence “rules of the house(hold)”. [1] Current economic models developed out of the broader field of political economy in the late 19th century, owing to a desire to use an empirical approach more akin to the physical sciences. [2]</p>
<p>Finance is the science of funds management.[1] The general areas of finance are business finance, personal finance, and public finance.[2] Finance includes saving money and often includes lending money. The field of finance deals with the concepts of time, money and risk and how they are interrelated. It also deals with how money is spent and budgeted.</p>
<p>Accountancy is the collection of techniques for communicating financial information about a business entity to users such as shareholders and managers. The communication is generally in the form of financial statements that show in money terms the economic resources under the control of management.[1] It is the branch of mathematical science that is useful in discovering the causes of success and failure in business. The principles of accountancy are applied to business entities in three divisions of practical art, named accounting, bookkeeping, and auditing.[2]</p>
<p>I say:</p>
<p>The math depends on what subjects you study and the depth. Anywhere from simple addition and subtraction to Calculus. Including Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, and Statistics.</p>
<p>But engineering is the most common degree among fortune 500 CEOs. It’s not a bunch of meek H1-B nerds at the mercy of self-aggrandizing BBAs out there. By majoring in business, you preclude yourself from engineering. By majoring in engineering, you actually set yourself up well for MBA admissions if that’s the road you decide to go. A college entrant should explore his interests, not naively pursue the illusion of easy money. Not enough 17 year olds realize this, which is why hyperbole is a must while discussing these things on the internet. Any college entrant who isn’t past a certain socioeconomic status should strongly consider either engineering or not enrolling. It’s a lot easier to say this to someone who isn’t in college yet, because after a time inside the bubble of college, people become too self-deluded to be reasoned with. Once they reach the point of no return, you start hearing things like, “my psychology degree taught me to critically think, an education is not merely a means of attaining a job”. 17-18 year olds can be reasoned with, 19 year olds cannot be reasoned with, that’s just how it is. And that’s why I drop insane amounts of truth on every 17-18 year old I encounter. If this thread were made by a 2nd semester freshman, I probably wouldn’t have even replied, since it’s practically no use at that point.</p>
<p>As a b-school professor, I entirely agree with whistleblower here (with just a few exceptions, such as you are going into accounting). I don’t know a single business school professor who would advise their own offspring to spend money on an undergrad degree. We’d almost universally suggest getting a real education first, working a few years and then getting an MBA. I know this sounds like we are hypocrites, but it is indeed a big money maker for universities so everyone wants to offer it.</p>
<p>What’s a real education? Universities seem way too eager to offer plenty of even more ridiculous non-business educations(i.e. anything that has “Studies” in the name). I understand the value of philosophy, political science, history, etc as well, but were I dictator I would not want millions of people pursuing those types of degrees. Particularly given how idiotic the course offerings have been at the three universities I’ve attended. Not everyone is going to be an MBA and not everyone is going to go to the kind of school where English majors get jobs on Wall Street.</p>
<p>A euphemism for an engineering degree basically. Even if that market is semi-saturated and one fails in it as a career, it’s still so much more relevant in today’s society to know how stuff works than anything else, because there’s just so much technology it’s mind-bottling. Not to mention the positive externalities of a more scientifically literate populace that’s somewhat productive and knows how to solve problems, instead of giving up immediately at the sight of adversity. You just can’t shove stuff like AGW in the face of a scientifically literate skeptic (e.g. Michael Crichton) like you can with a scientific illiterate (e.g. Al Gore).</p>
<p>“if that market is semi-saturated and one fails in it as a career, it’s still so much more relevant in today’s society to know how stuff works than anything else”</p>
<p>there are way to much “stuff” out there these days that even einstein wouldn’t be able to know how all of them works. on the other hand, from a perspective outside of one’s career, knowing the basics of finance and accounting keeps one financially afloat. this country got itself into the huge finanical crisis largely because a lot of people out there lack the most basic concept of managing their money. trust me, getting a financial education is one of the best things you will do for yourself. </p>
<p>for example, knowing how to fix a car, while impressive, would not be beneficial in reducing interests on your car payments. however, it would help for one to have the business background to weight out different options, do some cost-benefit analysis, and figure out a strategy to borrow the most amount of money at least amount of interests. again, this is the type of intelligence that a lot of people, even highly educated professionals in other fields, do seem to have in this economy.</p>
<p>The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax. Albert Einstein</p>
<p>The guys at the top of the heap in Wall Street were among the most self-deluded. One of the guys who profited most because he saw the collapse coming was Michael Burry, a jerk with asbergers from California. He did so in part by betting against Wall Street firms, who were not aware that their ponzi scheme was on the verge of collapse.</p>
<p>While knowing how to get a car financed is nice, it’s not something any reasonably intelligent person screws up on to begin with. And to further my point, a mechanically inclined individual can use his technological knowledge to purchase a heavily depreciated early 90s Volvo for a pittance, saving ~1000% more over the life of his vehicle than some guy who bought a new car because he was scared to buy used. If frugality is a concern, no one should be financing any car purchase whatsoever, it’s just an incredibly poor financial decision to buy new. When it comes to buying a home, there are people with business backgrounds who will still get a 10-year mortgage.</p>
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<p>I can only assume that he’s talking about the fact that it was levied, not the process of calculating it.</p>