<p>I'm having a hard time figuring out what i want to major in. I do know i want to start my own business fresh out of college once i receive my bachelor's degree. If that fails i need a plan B, so i figured i should major in something that can help prepare me for starting my own business but can also end up being a lucrative degree in the work feild. In this case i would like to find a job in the NBA or maybe even working for ESPN--something involved with sports. I am also naturally inclined to politics so i was thinking about minoring in political science or international relations. This might prepare me for law school in which i too can see myself heading. Any suggestions or help would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>so plan b is the nba?</p>
<p>Plan A is to start your own business and your backup is to work in the NBA? </p>
<p>Working for ESPN or the NBA is NOT a fallback. Those are plan As. Figure out something you can realistically do and make that your fallback. Choose either starting a business or working for sports as your main goal.</p>
<p><em>Everything</em> in the OP’s plans are big risks. None of them are remotely conservative or safe. All of them are “all or nothing,” meaning you end up being a success or a complete failure. The major and minors are unsafe, the business-immediately-after-college is unsafe, the ESPN/NBA goals are unsafe, the political career is unsafe, law school is unsafe, the legal career is unsafe. There is nothing wrong with pursuing one or more of those goals, but if you’re truly looking for some kind of security, none of your plans will give you that.</p>
<p>Here are the majors that will give you some security (pick one that you think you can tolerate in school and tolerate outside of school inbetween main goals):
Accounting, Management Information Systems, Engineering (all of them), Computer Science, Operations/Logistics/Supply Chain Management (not plain “Management”), Finance</p>
<p>For maximum job security, you should choose all your majors and minors from those listed subjects. The only other subject that might be a good second major (though not a primary major), or minor, is Statistics (preferably applied/business statistics).</p>
<p>P.S.
No need to minor in Political Science and/or International Relations unless you just truly want to do so and are willing to sacrifice job security increasing minor(s) and/or delay your graduation. Neither, especially as only minors, will significantly help you get into law school and/or do better in law school once you’re there.</p>
<p>^ good post serious101… i think we can all generally agree this is too much of a risk. I’m doing something similar to the suggestion of serious101. im going to major in accounting. not something i love, but im sure its not too terrible. from there my main goal would be upper level management type of things, opening my own business, or what i really would like is the FBI (accounting being one of the 5 “pathways” of entry). If all those fail, i could always be an accountant in the private sector or open up a CPA office. THOSE are solid plan B’s. ESPN is not. All I’ve ever wanted to do is be a baseball writer/broadcaster, but the odds of making a good, comfortable, secure living in that field are too slim to risk my career potential and 4 years of college costs/lost salary to chase that dream</p>
<p>I appreciate all the feedback. On payscale.com they reported undergraduate accounting majors median salary at $77,500 while undergraduate marketing majors median salary was at $77,300. Would a marketing major with a minor in accounting be a good combination? How much math is involved in accounting? What kind of jobs are there for someone with this major and minor? I know I don’t want to be grinding behind a desk for the rest of my life like a robot. That’s definitely something i can’t tolerate.</p>
<p>I think, from your background, your best choice is to major in Chemistry.</p>
<p>It’s significantly easier than engineering. There’s no math outside of adding and subtracting except for 3-4 classes, so less math than even accounting; though you will need to take math with the engineers, you will almost never use it in your other non-math classes unless you want a PhD in computational or materials chemistry; PhDs in organic, pharmaceutical or bio-chemistry probably even forgot how to add. There’s little reading and memorization, far less than in business; you will never have any extra reading to do, and in fact could graduate without reading a single book outside of the problem sets. Physical chemistry is the only time you will ever need calculus. And you don’t need a business degree to do business but you definitely need a chemistry degree (well, chemical engineering works too to do materials) to do chemistry. Nothing else, with the exception of biology, will provide the instrumentation knowledge necessary to succeed as a chemist; but biology lacks the synthesis part of chemistry, it’s all analysis in biology. It’s a safe degree that allows someone to: start a business, work in sales, management, report on sports, go to graduate/law/medical school, become a programmer or an NBA star. at worst, you may become a chemist, a highly respected career with many options for advancement.</p>
<p>Yes, you will spend hours in lab every day, but it is good training to force yourself to be social, detail oriented and careful, the very traits needed of the successful businessman.</p>
<p>All of you suggesting Accounting are GRADE A IDIOTS. Hasn’t observing the job market taught any of you anything? 3-4 years ago it would have been easy to get a great Accounting job with a great salary. Now idiots like you are promoting Accounting and getting more and more people into the field. SUPPLY IS GREATER THAN DEMAND. SALARIES ARE DOWN. Think about it.</p>
<p>^You are right</p>
<p>Mustangdude most likely got advised to go into accounting and then failed at the interviews.</p>
<p>Agreed. Demand for LOW GPA and/or POOR INTERVIEWING accountants is moderately lower than the supply. Demand for HIGH GPA and GOOD INTERVIEWING accountants is in high demand (relative to practically all other industries), contrary to most other professions/industries. Before the recession, they were in EXTREMELY high demand.</p>