One of my CS friends just added a business minor, and I asked him if he thought it gave him useful skills. His reply was that he thought it was mainly signaling/networking/GPA padding. Do you guys agree?
Disclosure: I’m an engineering major, but I don’t mean to start anything - I also suspect that lots of my engineering coursework is signaling.
I’m a business major (finance and analytics). It can really depend on the program. A lot of colleges have business schools but those schools aren’t necessarily on the upper tier among that university’s undergraduate colleges, so the classes aren’t really quite top notch. Granted, there is a ton of networking wherever you have a business school (OCR is a usually a direct relationship with school prestige) and some classes, like business ethics or organizational behavior, can be easier than others. However, the more gritty stuff, like investment banking, fixed income analysis, and even basic accounting classes can be a considerable workload in which you’ll learn a great deal about economic and corporate environments and how different stimuli can affect macro and micro outlooks, etc.
The stereotype is that business schools are often the easiest, and maybe at some of the state schools, you’ll get a larger party atmosphere among biz majors because business is often many people’s default major (when they don’t have any good ideas for alternatives) and it ultimately suggests they’re just going to that school to get drunk and party.
Ultimately, it just depends on the school you’re going to. Business can be a pretty challenging degree, but the curves and scales can often be a bit higher because a lot of recruiters to reputable banks and other firms have pretty strict GPA cutoffs.That’s why people like your friend might take it to pad their GPA, but it also is a pretty broadly applicable and helpful minor to have.
Hope this is a decent response. Sorry for the long-windedness.