<p>i'm trying to narrow down my choice of colleges and i don't know if i should consider liberal arts schools or not. if i went to a non-liberal arts school, i would major in marketing & psychology and would go job-searching immediately after i get my bachelors. is it possible to go to a liberal arts school and go into a business career without going to graduate school? i've heard that many graduates of liberal arts schools are very successful in the business field even without going to graduate school, but i don't know if that's true or not. i've also heard rumors that liberal arts graduates are paid more than students that actually studied at a business school (like stern or olin).</p>
<p>i know that at some liberal arts schools you can cross register at other universities nearby (at haverford you can take classes at upenn, for example). can you study business at a liberal arts school that way???</p>
<p>please help, i'm so confused! what do you guys think?</p>
<p>btw, some liberal arts schools i'd consider are williams, swarthmore, amherst, and haverford.</p>
<p>Yes, there are many liberal arts schools that offer a business major. And many business majors go straight into business. Others go to grad school first or go later. Look at each school for the quality of their business program. Also, remember, that there are many different majors that can provide a good background for business, e.g. economics, psychology. other social sciences, etc.</p>
<p>what are some e xamples of liberal arts schools with good business programs? i was looking into majoring in econ and psych in a liberal arts school. do econ majors from liberal arts schools find as much success as graduates from specific business programs? i heard that companies like liberal arts majors because they are more broad and can adapt to the job -- i don't know if thats true.</p>
<p>I went to a LAC, & back in my day it was very common for econ graduates of LACs to go directly to Wall Street, into banking, etc. I think that's still true today.....of course many end up getting an MBA after a few years. Most LACs, I believe, are going to have an econ major rather than a business major.....you won't get the same kind of "pure" management, accounting, and marketing courses, but there should be plenty of finance-related & pure econ courses.</p>
<p>One other consideration.......many of the Northeast LACs in particular have strong connections to the business world, e.g., alumni networks, & going into "business" after graduation is very much in the mainstream.</p>
<p>i am definitely considering getting an MBA, but its good to know i won't have trouble getting a job after going to a LAC if i decide not to go to graduate school!</p>
<p>First of all, you pretty much can't get into any decent MBA program any longer without first having work experience. So while your undergrad degree matters, not so much as you first gotta go out and work before most of these programs will consider you.</p>
<p>As far as a degree from an LAC, cannot possibly see where that is any possible negative going into the work force out of college. Actually, I think the best education can be had at a good LAC. Typically they are smaller, so smaller classes and more attention to you. they are all about the undergrad experience, so more attention to you. there are no grad students to take reseach assignments or to teach classes, so more attention to you. Your professors at an LAC can really get to know you, allow you to develop more concrete relationships and "contacts", once again, all the better for you.</p>
<p>you can fashion your studies around econ and develop your communications skills (english and other classes) and with a little imagination as far as electives, can form as strong, if not stronger foundation than with a business major.</p>
<p>Internships and alumni networks are very useful in developing immediate post-undergrad work. And personally, I think that the academic work that supports an econ and psychology liberal arts program builds at least as good, if not a better foundation for a business career. </p>
<p>If I had your goals, I'd head for a strong LAC and package a psych/econ double major (or major/minor) and at least one solid summer or post-grad corporate internship. In the psych program you want as much social and organizational psychology as you can get, plus a cultural anthropology course (or two) and maybe an appropriate sociology course (or two).</p>
<p>Hey man check out Claremont-McKenna. They have a strong undergrad business program and allow you to cross enroll at the other claremont schools (Pomona, scripps, Harvey Mudd and Pitzer). Pomona has a really strong psych program so it would fit you well in that regard, but Claremont has a very strong econ/business angle with great ties to the marketing community.</p>
<p>I'll be a sophomore this fall at Middlebury College in Vermont. They don't have a business program but it would be possible to do a joint, double, or major/minor in economics and psychology, both of which are strong programs. We have an excellent Office of Career Services with an extensive alumni network that will get you summer internships or postgrad internships and jobs. A liberal arts education is generally highly respected in the academic and business world, so you have nothing to lose.</p>
<p>My first job right out of school was in marketing. I had majored in journalism. That didn't matter to the hiring company - they wanted someone with strong writing and research skills and they wanted to train me. It will be similar with many entry level marketing jobs. Few, if any, of the people I've worked with in marketing over the past 30 years have had specific undergraduate degrees in marketing. It can be a plus, but it is not absolutely necessary. </p>
<p>I would recommend anyone interested in a marketing career take classes that stress writing and research skills. A class in statistics would be very useful, as would classes in psychology focused on human behavior. Classes in economics are also very important and useful but it is not necessary to major in economics if you want to go into marketing. All of these are classes that you can find at any good liberal arts college. </p>
<p>I would supplement these classes with as many summer internships related to marketing and/or sales as possible. Volunteer to help in a community organization's marketing or public relations department. Or, get a work study job in your school's marketing/communications/admissions department or get involved with promoting student government events -- you'll learn plenty about marketing in any of these places! If you feel it's necessary, take a basic marketing class or two at a local community college over the summer. It also wouldn't be a bad idea to get a student membership in the American Marketing Association and regularly read publications that focus on or cover corporate marketing strategies. Two examples would be Advertising Age and Business Week, both of which are probably readily available in many college and local public libraries. </p>
<p>The thing you DO want to check out if you look at liberal arts colleges is the type of employers that recruit on campus. I'm sure schools like Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, and Haverford get their share of employers who recruit students for entry level jobs. If good sized corporations recruit on campus, ask about what types of jobs they recruit for: most likely, many will be for entry level marketing and sales jobs.</p>
<p>Just a correction: Babson is not a liberal arts college. It is a business college --- with a few minor exceptions, they do not offer degrees in traditional liberal arts subjects, only in business.</p>
<p>thanks for the great advice carolyn. what kind of work do entry-level marketing jobs entail? what are the salaries like and how often/much do beginners get promoted (or how much do their salaries increase in a given amount of time)? i may sound like i'm only in it for the money, but i am really interested in marketing and hope that it will work out for me. what kind of work did you do and what happened to you career-wise after the job you mentioned?</p>
<p>What about Drew University in Madison, New Jersey? My brother went there and had a wonderful experience academically and socially. He was an econ major and participated in a unique program called Wall Street Semester, which I'm sure is described in more detail on the school's website. Before he graduated last year, they also revamped the entire econ/business curriculum. It's a solid bottom tier 1 LAC and it's only 45 minutes or so from Manhattan; it got a lot of attention last year when their president Tom Kean hosted the 9/11 Commission Hearings there.</p>