Economics or BBA

<p>Does it make a huge difference if one majors in economics and then goes on to get an MBA, as opposed to someone who gets a BBA then goes on to get an MBA? I am specifically referring to the University of Michigan. Also, what kinds of jobs does an economics major get right out of college, as opposed to a BBA major. Thanks!</p>

<p>Ross at UMich is a fantastic, very highly-ranked business college. Recruiting options might be better if you enroll in Ross.</p>

<p>In general, it doesn’t make much sense to have a BBA and an MBA, especially if the MBA is from a school that has about the same or lower reputation compared to the undergrad school. In fact, if you look at the profile of the top 20 or so MBA schools, you’ll see a large majority of the students who don’t have an undergrad business degree. Many engineers, for example, use the MBA to advance to management or go into different line of work. It’s hard to answer your question. What’s your career goal? Your major/concentration etc.?</p>

<p>I am not exactly sure what kind of business I am interested in yet, I am just looking at the best way to plan my college degree. For example, would an economics major close me out from a lot of recruiting, as opposed to a BBA. I am confused because to get a high level position at a firm, dont u need an MBA? And therefore it does not exactly matter what you major in?</p>

<p>Well, it takes whole lot more to be high level in a business organization. None of my directors has MBA, for example. You can go to business school undecided and see what you like the best, rather than trying to spin your head around some unknown thing. Economics gives you a wider background and an unspecific set of skills. Afterward, you can be trained as a salesperson, then advanced to a sales manager, then to a regional manager and so on. Or, you can be trained as a data researcher, then you ended up as an IT manager, then a department head. Or, you might end up doing some menial jobs because you just can’t find anything suitable. These are just examples. Basically you can do a lot with an econ degree. On the other hand, an accounting major would almost make you an accountant with some decent entry level salary and you’ll go from there. Same with IT, supply chain or whatever else that is highly specialized at the business school. I’d avoid management, legal studies, international business etc. For those, due to their generality, economics degree would probably serve you better.</p>

<p>Thanks, I am leaning towards economics as long as I could get a job straight out of college and then pursue an MBA</p>

<p>There are fewer people with degrees in Economics. BBA’s are almost becoming over-saturated. If you know anything about economics, fewer people with degrees in the field is more beneficial for you.</p>

<p>I’d recommend pursuing a quantitative degree in Mathematical Economics, if you have the ability to do the high level mathematical analysis. That will separate you from most BBA’s that only take business level math (which is a lot easier).</p>

<p>You can always get a MBA later in life if you feel you need it in your professional career. There’s no prerequisite undergrad degree for most MBA programs.</p>

<p>I agree wholeheartedly with OminousRun and what he says is a part of the reason I am an economics major. In addition, an economics major allows for more flexibility, not only in your selection of college classes, but in your career afterwards. And you should really look into getting advanced math training. Those with highly developed math skills paired with an applied specialty (think engineers, quants, actuaries) are in great shape for a good career.</p>

<p>True, i do plan on getting an MBA, so maybe it makes sense to major in economics and then possibly throw in a minor in a field like computer science</p>

<p>The recruiting out of Ross is better than LSA-Economics. Also, you don’t ‘major’ in a specific field like finance or accounting; rather your degree is a Bachelors in Business Administration. Ross, however, requires that you take 9 credits in a specific subject (iirc, they don’t call this your ‘concentration’ for some reason, or maybe they did and I have this backwards) like International Business or Quantitative Analysis. Also, Ross gives you A LOT of flexibility in getting a minor (something like 39% or 44% of all BBAs are pursuing a minor I think) so that’s not just limited to being an Economics major. I’m reasonably sure you only need 45 credits within courses offered at the business school in order to get the BBA, so that gives you a lot of credits to do things you want to do. I’m coming in with 30-35 credits already so I’m looking at pursuing a dual-degree anyway.</p>

<p>Also, another thing to note is that you are only allowed a maximum of 20 credits (which is still a decent amount) from courses within the Business School if you’re not currently in the BBA program, and you aren’t given priority for classes at all, regardless of whether you’re an upperclassmen or not. You should check out all of the threads on the Michigan forum and do a few searches, and if you don’t see any answers just post a thread there. A lot of people know a lot of stuff about the program, a whole lot more than I do.</p>

<p>Thanks, but how hard do u think it is to get into the Ross School?</p>

<p>I dunno lol. Not easy? When we went to orientation and we broke off for the preferred admission group, the person speaking said we were ‘the best and brightest of the accepted class’ though obviously that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But he gave us the admission statistics and something like 2300 people applied for preferred admission, 1200 of those were accepted to UMich (the rest rejected), and of those 1200, around 325 were accepted into Ross; 110 matriculated. However, this is just for preferred admission.</p>

<p>Most people gain admission through the regular admissions cycle applying during Freshmen year, which is a lot easier, though still quite competitive. The average GPA is 3.65 and they accept 30-40%.</p>

<p>ohhh thats selective for pre admits lol, do u know what courses they wanna see you take freshman year?</p>

<p>For preferred admission or for prospective applicants?
For the PAs, they just require you take a Calculus (or stats if you’ve already taken calc I/II/III which most of us have) and Economics 101 or 102 or something like that, regardless of AP/IB credit + plus the First Year Writing Requirement (FYWR) which is your typical freshmen english class. A lot of us are coming in with 20+ credits already so it gives a lot of flexibility in terms of class selection.</p>

<p>If you’re applying to the business school freshmen year, then they require the same courses as the Preferred Admits (I THINK, not entirely sure since I haven’t really looked at the reqs haha) and they also want to see a challenging course load as well. However, they want a high GPA too, so you don’t wanna take an exorbitantly difficult course load, so you wouldn’t want to take 18-20 credits or something stupid like that. But basically you just need a math course (generally Calc II or III), an economics course (101 or 102, or 401/402), the FYWR, some take a language, others take a philosophy, some take sociology, biology, chemistry, etc. So out of the 27-30 credits you need over both semesters, theres only 12 or so credits that are required.</p>

<p>ohhh interesting, i may try logic, but is it more important to maintain a high gpa than to take what are seen as appealing classes to the ross school?</p>

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<p>Most often, yes the high GPA is more important. I mean, you don’t have to take a 300 level language, Math 255 (Fundamental theories of calculus which sounds pretty difficult lol), Physics, Orgo and your FYWR to get in. But then again, they don’t want to see you taking Math 105 (intro to calculus/graphing), English 100, Astrology and Geology (I actually don’t know if those classes are hard - they just sound like they’d be easy.)</p>

<p>hahah thats true, so basically normal classes, but are there any in specific that would impress them?</p>

<p>any ideas?</p>