I am a junior in high school and starting to narrow down my college choices. My passion is computer science, but I also enjoy aspects of business such as finance and economics. I may eventually want to open up my own software development company and I think a background in business would be extremely beneficial in helping me succeed. I could also see myself working in finance if for some reason computer science does not work out. Would it be better to obtain a double major in computer science and another business related major, or should I just stick to computer science and get a job after I graduate without having to attend more college. Going straight into the job market would likely help me return to school sooner and get my MBA rather than having to work more before returning to school because I earned a double major. Or, are both things valuable enough that I should plan to earn both a double major and an MBA. The reason I am curious is because I am looking at some colleges that are very strong in engineering, but do not have a business programs. As a result I want to know if I should avoid them because I wouldn’t be able to double major.
Decide what you want really want and work backwards - speak to people who do what you want to do, you can reach out to people via LinkedIn and career fairs and find out what is most important to know, study and do. Also, look at your self…do you have ideas in software development upon which you can build a company or would you rather be a manager at a software development? Coding may take precedence over business if you have ideas but business may take precedence if you want to manage.
And maybe someone with actual experience may answer this thread.
If computer science is your passion, major in computer science, go to a top computer science program. Unless your school is one of the top ranked undergraduate business schools, your finance major is not going to carry much weight.The exception I think is MIT. However, its computer science is a very challenging program and I do not advise a double major unless of course, once you get there you find you can handle heavy courses easily.
If computer science somehow does not work out, I would advise getting an MBA after working for a few years.
I think if your goal is merely to have an understanding of business in order to eventually start your own company, a full business major isn’t really necessary. Are there some business classes that you would be allowed to take – not necessarily as part of a major, but perhaps as a minor or even just to take without any degrees at all? One thing I advise people is that they don’t really need to be fully conversant with every detail of accounting, finance, etc. to be good business people.
However, they do need a base level of understanding to be able to communicate with professionals in these fields on a coherent level. You don’t want to be like the stereotypical millionaire who hands over his entire life to some adviser who ends up losing or embezzling all of it under your nose solely because he can’t read a bank statement and doesn’t know why the bank keeps sending him letters about “overdrafts”. However, you can learn the basic ins and outs of how money flows through an organization without double-majoring in finance and computer science.