<p>Personally, I think getting a good job out of school is less about your major and more about your connections and your ability to network. Add in motivation/drive and good communications skills. A brand name school helps a bit. </p>
<p>I think business school attracts more practical types…and some of those students think that just getting the degree will land them a job. Well, that may be true for accountants, but the rest need to do the same thing that a liberal arts major needs to do to find a job. Get out there. Make contacts. Communicate clearly. Be persistent. Lots of students don’t know how to do this…or don’t think they NEED to. IMO, these are the students who don’t have jobs when they graduate.</p>
<p>Penn=Ivy=rest my case. In the notheast in particular there are firms that prefer that hiring strategy. Outside that area the value of a general Ivy degree declines markedly.</p>
<p>One company does not a rule make. At Wisconsin’s biz school 400-500 firms come recruiting bizmajors every year. Most of them do not even look at liberal arts majors except some look at econ and econ majors are allowed to use the biz school’s excellent placement office. The placement office for liberal arts has a few major companies and lots of government and non-profits. I think this is typical for most non-ivy schools and similar elite schools. Engineering has its own placement to and draws about 200 engineering and consulting firms. </p>
<p>If anyone can show me other schools above the elite top 25 or so that are heavily recruited by a large number of corporatons please show me. Most schools including the elite don’t even provide such info. Anecdotes about one company not included.</p>
<p>My kid’s job is WAY outside the northeast and his Ivy school was a big help in getting him in the door, so I don’t know what you are saying, barrons. I agree that from Big Ten schools the business majors get the best interviews. My kid did NOT get his job through a Penn interview, by the way.</p>
<p>What do you mean “in this economy?” Are you interested in business, or aren’t you? Why would you make a decision that will affect your career for many years, based on temporary economic conditions?</p>
<p>Decide what you care about, then major in something that will enable you to enter that field. Your passion and competence will make you successful regardless of the economy.</p>
<p>I’m saying what one kid from Penn does means zilch for 99% of the non-Ivy college students looking for work after college. Is that clear enough? Telling somebody from Knox College or an English major from U Nebraska or even U Texas that they will be well employed soon after college is just bogus bad advice. As I said, I’d bet many of the recent Ivy English major grads are not so happy with their employment prospects now that the WS boom is over. There have been numerous news stories to that effect.</p>
<p>This thread is so refreshing- it improves my opinion of business people immensely (it degraded with all of the HS students’ posts about majoring in business on CC)- thank you starbright for your comments. I always considered college as a place to be educated. The responses show me that education still trumps “job skills” in the long run. Reminds me of the decades old RN versus BSN debate- the college educated RNs often needed to catch up to the tech school grads for some skills when they first got jobs, but after the initial learning curve they forged far ahead. Likewise many college students should concentrate on using their undergrad years to study something they actively like and won’t study in depth later instead of just getting immediate entry level job skills that others acquire later and then surpass them at. Here’s a thought- many of the better minds major in their passion then get practical and easily pick up the skills needed to succeed in the business world (accounting and some others being exceptions). Those people get the best of both worlds. I see the attitude of using college for job skills and not an education as an unfortunate, but common, goal of many today. A reason business schools require breadth courses- to force these students to become somewhat educated as well as getting the piece of paper with college grad on it.</p>
<p>Focusing on the OP’s question. Like someone said posts ago- you have to think long term, the economy is always changing. Major in a business field if that is your passion, something else if that appeals to you more.</p>
<p>Barrons, and what thousands of underemployed kids from U. New Hampshire with degrees in Marketing and tens of thousands of kids with degrees in “business” from U Oklahoma tells you exactly what now?</p>
<p>The economy stinks. Telling kids that getting a degree in business is a way to move the needle on a bad economy is bad advice. Especially since many of these business majors would have learned more, challenged themselves more (i.e. gotten a better education) if they’d studied something they were interested in. Remember in the last decade when kids were flocking to major in “E-commerce?” The tech boom sure cleared that up. god knows where those kids landed, but they sure weren’t getting jobs in E-commerce by 2001. </p>
<p>Neighbor of mine is majoring in business with a concentration in “leisure studies” at a college none of you have ever heard of. I would never talk him out of it- he is passionate about the field. But if he’d wanted to study anthropology but did “leisure studies” so he’d be more employable??? How sad is that?</p>
<p>Anyone notice the proliferation of online and night school business degrees available in recent years? You don’t see the availability of many other fields in this format. It seems easy to pick up a business degree at any time, anywhere. Not so with most other fields. Tells you something. BTW- most average (not everyone can be above average) students are likely looking for local/regional jobs- the big name/top firms are irrelevant to them.</p>
<p>I don’t believe that is what I said. I would not tell ANY college student right now that their chances of being well-employed soon after college are good! All I said was that my kid’s major didn’t hurt him and, in fact, many companies are NOT only interested in business majors. I should add that the hires from other schools (non-Ivy state schools included) are not all business majors.</p>
<p>Looking at this thread again and realizing that most people are assuming that most students going to undergrad b school only do so for reasons re employment and don’t have an interest in it. From your/your kids/kids friends’ experiences, do you think that’s true? I personally ONLY had an interest in undergrad b school and wouldn’t look at a university that didn’t offer that because (for better or worse) I knew I couldn’t spend 4 yrs studying english/history/art history etc. But I can’t imagine a kid with an interest in the humanities would change their path to study finance/marketing because of job prospects 4 yrs down the road esp. when so much can change in 4 yrs (personal goals; ability to relocate; economy etc.); if a student feels they want a business degree but doesn’t have a true interest, why not encourage it as a minor or a dual major or encourage them to take a number of business classes so they can say to employers they have some background in finance, acct etc.</p>
<p>well…my business degree certainly helped me start my own successful business 20 years ago…finance, marketing, sales…it all comes together. </p>
<p>Wis75…we totally disagree with the purpose of attending college. I believe in learning specific skills, not a big fan of a liberal arts degree…but that’s just my opinion, everyone is so different.</p>
<p>It depends on goal. My manager, for example, cannot even invite to job interview people w/o 4 year degree, no matter how impressive resume is, it is company policy. Degree is not needed at all in my field. I am in IT department.</p>
<p>An important point. The goal of school is to learn. Some people want to learn job-specific skills, and that’s okay. Others want to obtain general knowledge and “soft” skills, and that’s okay, too. One size does not fit all.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for letting me know that I’ve wasted 3 years of my life and countless thousands of dollars. It’s just great to know that my resume is headed for the trash heap next year. Now I have to figure out how to drop all the courses I’m loving and switch to what? History, English?? And a huge thank you to Starbright. So nice to know that all my professors are liars. I give up.</p>
<p>popsicle. . .i suspect numerous posters will tell you that you may be missing, or misunderstanding, the point. if you love your courses, stick with them. it’s your love of whatever subjects which best sustain and expand your curiosity that will get you through in the long run. developing a sense of rigor, critical thinking, and for standards with which to hold your work – that’s what’s important. keep working and advice on this site with a grain of skepticism;-)</p>
<p>I didn’t say you couldn’t get a job, have wasted 3 years of your life or should switch majors. If your primary goal in college is job training, you’ve got it! I’m sure you will get a job with your degree. </p>
<p>Now use those critical thinking skills you’ve learned in your business courses to actually debate the real arguments made, rather than engage in a straw man fallacy as you are doing here. Case in point, oy.</p>
<p>No, going with the odds is good strategy–you learn that in B school. </p>
<p>BTW there are not 1000’s of marketing grads from UNH unless you are counting decades worth. But even in B school marketing is the major with least respect and more heavily female.</p>
<p>OU has a better job report and about 750 biz grads per year. You can even compare reported jobs by major. </p>