<p>" Math majors, especially those that have taken economics classes, will do fine in accounting."</p>
<p>You apparently have little knowledge of business recuiting.</p>
<p><em>rolls eyes</em> And I suppose you are the expert, right? I'd ask you to enlighten me with your abundant wisdom, but the fact that you call it "business recruiting" shows that you don't know what you're talking about. "Business" is so broad that you can't put all related recruiting under one umbrella. </p>
<p>So nice try. If you have proof that everything I've said in this thread is wrong (the only way I'd have "little knowledge" on the subject) feel free to post it. Until then, try to actually add something constructive to the discussion, rather than a vague "this person is wrong, but I'm not going to offer any evidence to the contrary."</p>
<p>Accounting (or marketing, or whatever) majors from good business schools have the advantage but liberal arts people with relevant majors from a top school aren't at the bottom of the list like the poster claimed. And all this only applies to entry-level jobs anyway.</p>
<p>Because two posters asked for a list of good schools for marketing and management, here are US News rankings. Just keep in mind that they are only based on peer-assessment surveys. </p>
<p>Marketing</p>
<ol>
<li> University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)</li>
<li> University of MichiganAnn Arbor *</li>
<li> University of TexasAustin (McCombs) *</li>
<li> University of CaliforniaBerkeley (Haas) *</li>
<li> U. of North CarolinaChapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler) *</li>
<li> New York University (Stern)</li>
<li> Indiana UniversityBloomington (Kelley) *</li>
<li> University of Florida (Warrington) *</li>
<li> Univ. of WisconsinMadison *</li>
<li> Pennsylvania State U.University Park (Smeal) *</li>
<li> University of Virginia (McIntire) *</li>
<li> U. of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign *</li>
<li> Univ. of Southern California (Marshall)</li>
<li> Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (Sloan)</li>
<li> Ohio State UniversityColumbus (Fisher) *</li>
</ol>
<p>Management</p>
<ol>
<li> University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)</li>
<li> University of MichiganAnn Arbor *</li>
<li> University of CaliforniaBerkeley (Haas) *</li>
<li> University of Virginia (McIntire) *</li>
<li> Indiana UniversityBloomington (Kelley) *</li>
<li> U. of North CarolinaChapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler) *</li>
<li> University of TexasAustin (McCombs) *</li>
<li> New York University (Stern)</li>
<li> Univ. of Southern California (Marshall)
Univ. of WisconsinMadison *</li>
<li> Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (Sloan)
Ohio State UniversityColumbus (Fisher) *</li>
<li> Univ. of MarylandCollege Park (Smith) *
University of Notre Dame (IN)</li>
<li> Michigan State University (Broad) *
Pennsylvania State U.University Park (Smeal) *
U. of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign *</li>
</ol>
<p>Just a small note - the best possible degree in management bar none is an MBA from Harvard. Harvard:management :: Wharton:finance</p>
<p>Why would I take the time to deconstruct your arguments when Bern and Untitled have already done so? And even with their insights, the most significant condemnation of your argument stems from the falsities in your statements.</p>
<p>hahaha that's what i'm doing ug at wharton (finance & management), MBA from HBS (hopefully)...</p>
<p>and btw themegastud does have a point...a math major with econ can't compete with an accounting major for an accounting job...to get an accounting job you need to know a bunch of small nit picky stuff (all the GAAP, tax stuff, auditing, etc.) that you would not learn as an econ/math major. A math/econ major would be lost on the first day of an accounting job...seriously. </p>
<p>In my opinion the best business jobs that lib arts majors can get are ibanking because in ibanking you only need to learn a few skills very well and they teach them to you in a 10 week training program beforehand. Management consulting, to an extent, is a good route for a lib arts major that has some business knowledge. To get past those case interview you definitely need to know at least some basic business skills (when you get a question like the following you should have a basic understanding of some business principles: Gulf Partners, a private equity fund specializing in leveraged buyouts, has asked you to evaluate an investment in Singapore-based Acme Packaging. Gulf Partners prefers to sell their investments within 5 years with a minimum 40% return on their investment. In order to evaluate whether Acme Packaging can generate high returns, Gulf Partners would like you to assess the growth potential for Acme Packaging. They specifically want to know:Can Acme Packaging double its operating income by year 5 (2006)? What growth opportunities should Gulf Partners pursue to increase the value of Acme Packaging? )</p>
<p>themegastud - More vagueness, lovely. Well then humor me, point out the falsities in my statements, and how you know they're false. Until then, you're <em>still</em> not adding anything valuable here. </p>
<p>Also, bern was speaking from his experience as a Wharton grad working in investment banking, which I acknowledged was true but also was a special case. The Wharton name is a Wall Street powerhouse. But econ degrees from schools like Dartmouth and Chicago do just as well as finance degrees from other business schools. My main argument with Untilted was also based on a misunderstanding (he thought I was saying an psych major+MBA was better than a biz major+MBA, when I meant that a the former was better than only having an undergrad biz degree).</p>
<p>All I am trying to say here is that an undergraduate business degree is not the only path to the business world. In some cases it gives you an advantage at first, but thinking long term, most people must eventually go for an MBA (i-banking is sometimes an exception to this). A common misconception is that the undergrad biz degree is an MBA-replacement, and anyone applying to business school must understand that that's not neccessarily the case.</p>
<p>bern - I'll concede the accounting point to him, but his stating that my entire argument is a crock shows that he has less of a clue than he thinks I do. Good luck with HBS when the time comes. Wharton finance and Harvard management...doesn't get much better than that. :)</p>
<p>Also, I'm wondering what exactly you consider my "argument," megastud. If you mean certain individual points like the accounting one, fine, I'll go ahead and concede them without you having to refute each one (except the econ v. finance on Wall Street thing). But surely you're not denying that, thinking more long term, someone who pursues liberal arts (or engineering for that matter) as an undergrad and an MBA later will be at no disadvantage compared to someone who studied business from the beginning? If you are, please, I'd LOVE to hear why you think that's the case.</p>
<p>BTW, do you always sound so pretentious? Just wondering. It's a weird contrast to your handle.</p>
<p>ok let's just settle this...majoring in engineering/lib arts/business are all good paths into the business world. Various degrees have advantages in different industries but in general one can fare extremely well with any of these degrees (look at the heads of ibanks,management consulting firms, private equity funds, hedge funds, major corporations, etc. and you'll find a mix of degrees from Wharton finance to Claremont McKenna econ, from MIT compsci to UT-Austin accounting, from Pomona english to UIUC mech engineering.) On Wall St. no undergrad degree really has an advantage. You have to come from a top 15 Univ. or a top 15 LibArts school and have done well in your studies. If you can prove that you did well at an elite university they will hire you, train you, and then you'll be set (then you can go get an MBA)...the only exception is Wharton because it is an ibanking factory. That's why Wharton proportionally has more students working in I-banking than say schools like AWS,HYP,etc. Really to succeed in business you need to know how to work with people, you need to know how to be a leader, you need to have business savvy, you need know how to network, you need to know how to take risks, you need to be able to learn from your mistakes, and you need to be ambitious. If you have these (and other qualities) you can succeed in business no matter if you went to Harvard, Yale, Wharton, Iowa State, Kentucky, Howard, Pitzer, Purdue, you name it. It won't really matter. Going to an elite school definitely opens doors up at the beginning but then it's all up to you. No matter what degree you have you won't be at a disadvantage or have an advantage. </p>
<p>seriously just go and look at the execs of major corporations, ibanks, hedge funds, LBOs, whatever...you'll find a huge mix of schools, degrees, etc.</p>
<p>mmmm, good advice there. Although I'd prefer to go to a school where ibanks recruit at..........:) rather than Oklahoma state or something</p>
<p>Tsk tsk bern, you forgot the Bill Gates drop-out-of-school-and-found-your-own-empire path. :p</p>
<p>I'm with Untilted. I think with i-banking, there is an advantage to going somewhere on their recruiting list. Though it's not a neccessity of course. I worked at an investment banking firm last summer and my boss was a chem major from Texas A&M. lol, talk about random.</p>
<p>BTW, I want to apologize to megastud if I came off sounding like a rhymes-with-witch. I had a leftover piece of graduation cake for breakfast today (genius, right?) and have had a bad stomacache since, so I'm not in the best of moods. I still think you were kind of hard on me, but it's no big.</p>
<p>" I worked at an investment banking firm last summer "</p>
<p>as a high school student? WOW!</p>
<p>Yup. :) I'm working there again starting Tuesday. It was such a hassle to get all the paperwork sorted out. My boss would call people up and they'd be like "She's how old??" lol.</p>
<p>It was awesome though. I got to go to an analyst meeting with the CEO and CFO of McCormick (the spice company). I thought it was interesting, which bumped up i-banking in my list of career options. It also helped ease my mind about choosing Duke over NYU Stern. Even if I won't be a finance major, I at least have this connection that should help me when it comes time to job-hunt.</p>
<p>I'm jealous with hatred! j/k :)</p>
<p>don't be jealous, feel sorry for us. working 90 hrs a week is not fun :( When you're working from 6am to 12pm (sometimes 2am) it's not the greatest thing in the world.</p>
<p>If you want to go to grad school I would recommend an Econ degree. If you want to go directly into work, then major in business.</p>
<p>Is an accounting major/minor better, worse, or equal to econ for i-banking?</p>