<p>If you don't go to an outstanding business school for undergrad, is accounting basically the only thing you should major in? What I mean by that is if you're looking for a decent career that pays well, and since pedigree isn't as important in accounting as it is for finance and all, is this the only degree to get, really?</p>
<p>For finance, pedigree is very important, so if you major in that, a lot of people tell me that people from better schools will get the job ahead of you. I'm not even interested in investment banking, and in fact I'm more interested in commercial banking or corporate finance, but from what I've read, it's not even worth doing finance from a lower school because of the lack of pedigree .</p>
<p>The other "legit" major people talk about is supply chain, logistics, and MIS, or at some schools like mine, they have ISOM (information systems and operations management which combines both). However, here, I have heard that a lot of people can't find jobs because industrial engineers are preferred.</p>
<p>All the other degrees like marketing, management, etc. are all very difficult to find jobs in, and econ depends mostly on where you get your masters from, although that is another option.</p>
<p>So, my question is, is accounting basically the only degree that will get a you a good career in the future. Perhaps my problems with the other majors are exaggerated, but based on what I've read here, all the signs point towards accounting being basically the only way to go from a state school.</p>
<p>Commercial banks often recruit and hire from local schools. BB&T, a strong commercial bank in the Southeast with headquarters in Winston-Salem, NC, does a lot of hiring from graduates of Wake Forest, UNC-Chapel Hill, UVA, University of Richmond, etc. I am sure many local corporations and commercials banks are very interested in hiring local talent from your region’s best public and private colleges/universities. I’ve found that the best research tool you can use is the HR website of prospective companies and banks you would enjoy working for. Check out some of their entry-level employment opportunities and their requirements. You will find a lot of these entry-level positions are asking only for a bachelors in ‘finance, economics, or other business-related studies’ to quote a commercial bank’s HR website.</p>
<p>No offense but if you are majoring in Accounting just so you can get a job and you have no interest in it whatsoever then you are lame.
And don’t forget but Accounting is definitely a TOUGH major in any business school that offers it.
People on here talk about finance a lot because of INVESTMENT BANKING. They want those rich NYC lives where money means everything to them. There are plenty of other things you can do in Finance, as well as Marketing, MIS, etc.</p>
<p>UW has an excellent accounting program, but since few ever want to leave Seattle, it suffers a little shortfall in national rep. I think your analysis is pretty sound- accounting firms offer new grads a great mix of compensation, continuing education, structured career advancement, and exposure to different industries without the need for an ivy league diploma or big-ticket MBA. All sorts of career options or grad school alternatives open up after a few years. </p>
<p>Th only thing I know that rivals it, if you have the right personality, is detailing (sales) in the large pharma-industry. Great training, advancement and reward opportunities if you’re a high performer. Large money-center banks and big insurance companies also used to have pretty well structured management development programs for finance-accounting types, but I don’t know how well these survived the banking melt-down.</p>
<p>I actually don’t go to UW (long story on the username…actually not really, I’m just too lazy to talk about it). But I dunno. A lot of people here keep talking about prestige this, prestige that, and how even if you manage to get a job, you won’t get into a good MBA since you won’t have amazing work experience.</p>
<p>It’s seriously making me reconsider my business major while there is still time to switch. Even though I really like business, if I can’t get a good in finance (even if I major in accounting, I’m aiming for finance or moving into finance eventually) or operations without majoring in engineering or going to wharton, I dunno if it’s worth it.</p>
<p>Well I heard Accounting is pretty good even if you want to go into Finance but you might want an expert’s opinion on that (professor). You will have to go through classes that may not interest you at all. </p>
<p>Like I said in my earlier post, most of the posters on here want to work on Wall Street, it’s not a bad job but I am trying to be realistic here. You can get a finance job outside of NYC working in corporate finance, commercial banking, investment banking, financial analysis, trading, financial advising, planning, etc.</p>