What major/concentration within business requires the least amount of math, specifically calculus? I definitely think my personality and strengths are suited for the business world but am not a big fan of math. Thanks.
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Some examples: accounting, economics, finance, marketing, statistics. Which requires the least math and more writing, logic, and critical thinking?
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You can look up the curriculum’s for each major at your target schools and compare. The majority of the colleges will have writing, logic and critical thinking courses are part of their GE’s so again you can compare these GE courses also between schools.
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The math in accounting is not the issue (it’s very easy math). The concepts and complexities of the subject make it challenging. Traditionally marketing has been very light in math (generally just the cores of a business degree) but some programs are getting more involved with analytics, big data, etc which requires math and programing.
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Anything else?
Bump!! Any more ideas? Business-related majors that require LEAST math (especially calculus), and more writing, critical thinking/analysis, etc.
Before I answer your question, I want to address this:
“I definitely think my personality and strengths are suited for the business world”
“The business world” is essentially any for-profit company that…well, does business. They vary wildly in culture, mission, business model practices, and other things. You could love one culture and hate another; you could love one sector (beauty, fashion, tech, consumer packaged good, transportation, etc.) and hate another. Furthermore, you certainly don’t have to major in business to work in the corporate/for-profit world. People who work at businesses have majored in all kinds of things. What’s more important is what you want to DO in the business world.
Majors vary a lot from college to college, and you’ve gotten the excellent advice to take a look at your college’s curricula for each major and determine for yourself how much math. At one school, the management major may be light on math but at another, the math requirement might be heavier, so you really do need to determine for yourself.
Typically speaking, as already stated, marketing and management is a little lighter on the math. Accounting is heavier on math, but it tends to be basic math. Finance is heavy on math and much of it is calculus-related. Statistics is, of course, based on math, as is any kind of analytics majors (business analytics, data science, etc.) Information systems/sciences can be a toss-up; it depends a lot on the school. Economics doesn’t have to be math-heavy at the undergrad level, but most of the lucrative positions that want economics majors want those who have specialized in the math-heavy skills and courses, and that requires a lot of calculus.
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What’s your actual situation with math?
Have you taken Calculus AB and not gotten an A? Or do you mean you struggled all year and scored a 2? Or that you’re currently in precalculus and drowning?
Finance will generally require more Calculus.
Marketing used to be light on math but since nowadays all marketing rests on Data Analysis you need applied Calculus for that (although the math is going to be statistics, it’ll be Calculus based Statistics, so you need to have the basics down pat). Accounting is math-like: it’s not Calculus at all but requires that type of thinking at a very high level.
Business uses Calculus differently from engineering – as a signal: can you handle something abstract and difficult, work at it even if you don’t know the exact point, persist, and succeed?
(Yes you need Calculus and statistics for business, especially as you specialize, but you can handle many professional tasks that require a business degree even if you can’t handle Calculus to save your life; in fact, directionals and lower ranked colleges where the first math course is precalculus may only offer a light version of Calculus to business majors, or even no Calculus. And these kids do find jobs. Not high powered jobs, because they lack the “signal” but middle class jobs nevertheless.)
Beside being a signal, it’s also a good way to weed out all the would be business majors at large universities.
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