Is a business degree from SDSU worth it?

Colleges and Universities A-Z San Diego State University
1

<p>I was admitted to San Diego State University (SDSU) for fall 2011 and I’m planning to get a degree in finance. I’m just really worried, however, about what the actual value of my degree will be. How do potential employers view a business degree from SDSU and will they look down on it because it is not as prestigious as degrees from other universities. I’m just really scared that my degree won’t mean anything and I’m considering just going to the community college for two years and trying a more prestigious school later.</p>

2

<p>SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY
SIGNIFICANT RANKINGS AND DISTINCTIONS</p>

<ul>
<li>SDSU is ranked among the nation’s best undergraduate business programs according to U.S. News and World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges 2011.”</li>
</ul>

<p>*SDSU’s College of Business is also listed among Princeton Review’s best business schools - 2010.</p>

<p>*SDSU is ranked among the nation’s best graduate schools in business, according to U.S. News and World Report’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools 2012.”</p>

3

<p>For entry level business graduates, employers look at undergraduate internship experience. In order to be accepted into non-paid prestigious summer internships you must have a high gpa. At undergraduate business schools that do not have Co-Op programs, the internships are extra competitive. SDSU does not have a Co-Op to my knowledge so if I were you I would go to a community college for a few years and then transfer to a more prestigious school that has a Co-Op program. </p>

<p>If you factor in the costs associated with non-paid summer internships, you might as well go to a prestigious school that has a mandatory Co-Op program as part of the undergraduate curriculum (Northeastern University, Drexel University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Northwestern). For most of these schools you are in a 5 year program where you do a paid Co-Op every other semester or so ranging from $18-25/hr (or even more). The semesters that you do not go to school you do not pay tuition! If you factor that in, these schools are a great value. Plus, the mandatory Co-Ops usually mean 100% job placement upon graduation (because you have to work in a Co-Op where you make connections with employers who end up hiring you when you graduate). That is a good thing in this economy when the job market is extra competitive. You could also shoot for the voluntary Co-Op programs (function more like a generic non-paid summer internship style but are better):</p>

<p>Clarkson Univ
Drexel Univ
Eastern Kentucky Univ
Johnson & Wales Univ
Kettering Univ
Lane Community College
Long Island Univ
Merrimack College
Miami Dade College
Univ of Cincinnati
Univ of Mass-Lowell
Univ of Toledo
Wentworth Institute
GeorgiaTech </p>

<p>Basically, for a business undergraduate degree shoot for a Co-Op Program (unless you have connections in high places that can get you a degree upon graduation).</p>

4

<p>“(unless you have connections in high places that can get you a degree upon graduation)”</p>

<p>Typo; meant to say unless you have connections in high places who can get you a job upon graduation.</p>

5

<p>I think it really depends on your work experience more than where you got your degree. A lot of employers are also looking at degrees from CSU’s in different ways; people from SDSU and other CSU’s come more from the working class instead of the upper class (who can afford privates and other prestigious universities). In other words, a lot of employers prefer hiring from CSU’s because they know the work ethic of the students, since these are students who grew up in families where they had to work. </p>

<p>If however, you think that you can transfer to a top school after community college, that might be a better path for you.</p>