<p>Please reply. NEED ADVICE!!! I recently just got accepted into Penn State University park into the Smeal school of business for marketing. I hear from the University of Delaware soon for fashion merchandising with an FIT connection, an amazing program as well. If one is looking to go into fashion marketing, is it a better idea to get the broad marketing degree, in my case, at Penn State, or the fashion business degree at Delaware? I love both schools and I am stuck on making a decision. I want to choose the best program for me. Any advice is well appreciated. HELP!</p>
<p>If you know you want to go into fashion, I think you’d be better off with the program that is focused on your interest. If you are not sure you want to go into fashion, the broad marketing degree might be preferable. </p>
<p>In order to help you decide, you might look on each school’s website to get an idea of the actual courses you would need to take for each degree. Penn State Smeal, for example, will require you to take calculus and a variety of general business courses and general educations requirements in addition to your major courses in marketing
[Marketing</a> — Smeal Undergraduate Student Exchange](<a href=“http://ugstudents.smeal.psu.edu/academics-advising/degree-requirements/majors/marketing]Marketing”>http://ugstudents.smeal.psu.edu/academics-advising/degree-requirements/majors/marketing)</p>
<p>I don’t know if Penn State offers any specific courses on fashion merchandising but you could call and check with them.</p>
<p>Thanks so much!! I know there is not any fashion merchandising courses but the reason I am contemplating the two is because of the huge network of alumni at psu and the internships. I was thinking about doing a fashion internship from there but my real question is about the degrees themselves for future jobs, the broad marketing degree or fashion degree.</p>
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<p>I’m a marketing major at Penn State University Park. I hope I am not too late before you made your decision, but I would go for the marketing degree at Penn State. Not only is Smeal one of the top business schools in the country but the alumni network is amazing. I can’t tell you enough how many times I’ve spoken to recruiters who attended Penn State or have children, cousins, brothers etc who have. I didn’t know I wanted to merchandising until after I applied to PSU (i think i always wanted to but never actually knew that was a major) I found out that you don’t need a merchandising degree to actually get a job in merchandising. For example, I was at an interview with Toys R Us’ head director of Brand Management for their “girls world” brand and I was telling her how Penn State is going to come out with a certificate for merchandising (don’t think it’s out yet) and how I’m thinking about taking extra classes for it and she told me that I should waste my time with it because every company will have their own way of merchandising that school will not teach you. The only thing is having retail experience - specifically in the field you want to work for. If you want to work for American Eagle — go work for a young brand like AE, ANF etc because believe it or not they teach you a lot about visual merchandising and provide a basic understanding of what it takes to bring products to life in the stores. There is the Penn State Marketing Association (one of the biggest orgs at PSU) they have a retail division where they work with top companies like Target, Kohls and Dicks Sporting Goods and having that on your resume alone will help you get an internship and a full time job. </p>
<p>– take it from my experiences, I interviewed with AE, ANF, ROSS STORES, LIZ CLAIBORNE(for Juicy Couture), THE CHILDRENS PLACE, toys r us (which i will be working for this summer) and they were all for merchandising related positions and the reason I got the opportunity to interview for these positions is because i’ve had retail experience and leadership experience, not because I had a merchandising degree. </p>
<p>Marketing is so broad that you can do so much with it. What if someday you realize you don’t want to retail/ or can’t get a job and you have to maybe start applying to marketing, advertising, sales (ehhh), brand management— youll have a much better chance getting hired in different fields if you have a broader major. </p>
<p>I just want you to understand that you don’t need a retail merchandising degree to do merchandising. Also, Penn State alone is one of the most amazing places on Earth! If you haven’t visited you must!</p>