<p>A friend of mine told me that people who major in business administration, management, etc. are always taking bull$hit courses and they don't really learn anything. Is this true? Does what you learn in your business classes become obsolete once you get some real experience from work?</p>
<p>...you should try searching through the threads. There is always somebody who posts this question or one very similiar almost every day.</p>
<p>change your topic, unless you are refering to accounting and finance majors are well which aren't bullsh1t1.</p>
<p>change your topic, unless you are refering to accounting and finance majors which aren't bullsh1t1 courses</p>
<p>I'm going to have to agree... I'm a business administration/finance major and I just took a year of economics and I'm afraid I couldnt tell you much on what I know when it comes to economics. There are a lot of fluff courses like various management, marketing and general business classes you have to take but I havent got that far yet. I think though if your specialization or major is in finance then your bound to know a lot of finance but for the general aspect of all the other general business crap youll just forget it over time after you complete your classes.</p>
<p>That's scary. What if you have to apply something you learned from this "useless" class into your job in the future. You'd just look at your boss and be thinking to yourself, "what the heck is he talking about" and then it dawns on you, "Crap, I should've paid more attention"</p>
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There are a lot of fluff courses
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<p>Your entry level business courses are usually just general overviews of different aspects of business... which, yes, are rather fluffy. Once you start to get into the "specialization" aspect of your major it can be rather technical--especially in finance and accounting.</p>
<p>Whether your classes are "fluff" or BS is going to have more to do with your college/university than it does with business in general.</p>
<p>In my four years, I cannot say that I have taken a single "fluffy" business course. They were all challenging and required a significant amount of time both inside and outside of the classroom. </p>
<p>The schools that have fluffy business courses tend to structure them as they would any introductory course (readings from a textbook, homework assignments, lectures and exams). There's not much about general management that you can learn from reading a textbook (at least productively). As a result, those classes tend to be very boring and fluffy. The strong undergrad business programs tend to use textbooks as supplementary material--you read them so that you understand the basic content; however, the real meat of the course comes from team projects/presentations and case-based dicussions. My introductory course, at least, was very interactive and I learned quite a bit from doing rather than reading (though there was also quite a bit of reading). When we covered marketing, for instance, we didn't just read about market research--we actually went out and did it (collected 200 surveys from customers of the retails stores we were analyzing) and then used the data as part of a larger project.</p>
<p>"Does what you learn in your business classes become obsolete once you get some real experience from work?"</p>
<p>Again, I think it depends on your particular school, but, in general, no. For instance, last Saturday I sat for the Business portion of the CPA exam. For this particular part, I had to recall just about every single thing I've learned during college (from Information Systems to Finance to Strategy to Business Structures). Content changes and researchers' focus changes; however, I wouldn't say that the things you learn become obsolete.</p>
<p>Yes that is basically what I was getting at, your specialization is what your should know like the back of your hand, every business major (including accounting) have to take a bunch of "general/intro" business courses in a bunch of different fields relating to business (marketing, management, CMIS, finance, accounting, international business etc).</p>
<p>Im not really worried about the other classes outside my specialization, Ill do good in them, everyone should, theyre rather easy (an easy grade) for instance computer management & information system classes, I had to take one (got an A in it) and I basically forgot much of everything in that class after it was over. For you specialization though, you build from each class and reinforce ideas (its like a foreign language) so you should have no problem with remembering that.</p>
<p>"Yes that is basically what I was getting at, your specialization is what your should know like the back of your hand, every business major (including accounting) have to take a bunch of "general/intro" business courses in a bunch of different fields relating to business (marketing, management, CMIS, finance, accounting, international business etc)."</p>
<p>I disagree more. Business functions do not operate in a vacuum--they are interrelated components of a system. A good business school should give you a strong foundation in each function as well as general management skills. You should be somewhat adept at each area--those other courses should not be fluff courses or easy grades.</p>
<p>When you work in business, you're not going to soley deal with accountants or marketers or computer people. Most work is done in inter-departmental teams. If you, as a marketer, don't understand what's going on in finance, you're going to have a hard time doing your job.</p>
<p>ryanbis is right... business is an interrelated discipline, and unless you have an understanding of marketing, you can't be a good financial manager, and you will suck as a sales manager if you are completely oblivious to the pricing structure of your company, etc. </p>
<p>I will have to say that the only "fluff" class I took was an intro to business class as a sophomore that didn't require a textbook, because we just did most of the stuff from cases out of the wall street journal, harvard business review, and were required to read two business books and watch one business movie and write a paper about it. </p>
<p>Classroom stuff consisted of discussions about the STEEEEP factors, and watching "Tucker: a man and his dreams" and "Other People's Money" while discussing entreprenuerialism and financial markets. The class was fluff IMO, because there wasn't really a set of high level memorizations or anything, just concepts and understanding... but I did learn a lot, and still use it to this day.</p>
<p>"The class was fluff IMO, because there wasn't really a set of high level memorizations or anything, just concepts and understanding... but I did learn a lot, and still use it to this day." 311Griff</p>
<p>Catch me if im wrong... but shouldnt a class be based on the "concepts and understanding" more so than the "high level memorizations"... shouldnt one understand the fundamentals of the business structure before looking at the Concrete memorizations....</p>
<p>To me, at least by looking at that comment, i dont see that course as being fluff at all..... in business as in life, it seems to me that the Concrete world changes while the fundamentals behind them does not</p>
<p>I think that's what a business degree is all about... understanding why different industries can be seen in the same light.. mayb not at first glance, but in how they are working at in their core... i dunno thats just how i see it</p>
<p>KG, and you are absolutely correct... businesses are fluid. What is an effective format for business today, will probably be a lost art in 10 years, but the fundamental concepts are always there (increase revenue, decrease costs, etc.)...however, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, some majors (accounting and finance) require that you have a good knowledge of technical information that includes memorizing ratios and mathematical formulas (maybe not the exact formula, but at least its appropriate application). Accounting also has other aspects to it that require a good amount of memorization.... but business, as a whole, is very conceptual, I'll give you that.</p>
<p>About $50K to start.</p>
<p>I was wondering if other people out there had opinions on the debate about the value of an undergraduate business program. I ask because I am struggling a bit in deciding the course I will take in my undergraduate studies. On the one hand I could apply to my school's undergrad business program (McIntire at UVa) and double major in finance and econ, or I could skip the undergrad business, concentrate in economics and mathematics (with a financial concentration) and pursue the more "practical" studies of business in graduate school down the road possibly...Just looking for some thoughts I guess. I'm quantitatively orientated so I think I could do well either way.<br>
Oh, by the way, I'm interested in working in the world of investing - maybe wall street initially, and ultimately I would love to run some type of sophisticated investment pool (hedge fund basically).
Thanks, any input would be appreciated.</p>
<p>As a non-buisness major, this is what I think:</p>
<p>A business education alone will probably not make or break your chances into wall street after graduation. First of all, a lot of the big firms have training programs, so as long as you know something about business and math, you'll be fine in terms of ability even if you studied history. I've also seen some investment banks that say "all majors" welcome in their job descriptions (for real IBD jobs).</p>
<p>With that said, the business school can be valueable because the feeling of being in a buisness school can help you develop the "business character" (which goes a long way) and help you better prepare for your career. Business programs also train people better in quantitative skills. Depending on the school, the business program can also get your connections. However, if you can show the recruiter that you have all the skills and ability that the top Wharton/Mcintire/ross/stern/etc. guy has, it won't make a difference whether your an buisness, econ, or english major.</p>
<p>An econ major is probably gonig to be easier. A buisness major can actually be harmful if the environment is too competitive. So the bottom line is that you should chose what you feel is best for your case.</p>
<p>I'm coming from a unique perspective but I'll give it to you anyway. I went to Wharton, concentrated in Marketing and Management, got a Masters in Education and now I do MKTG/MGMT-y things for Wharton Undergrad.</p>
<p>I definitely took "fluff" classes as a part of my degree, but they weren't Wharton classes. There were definitely easier classes you could take in Wharton, but you still learned a lot and it wasn't "fluff." </p>
<p>But, a lot of folks who are in business programs will consider non-business classes "fluff" while the opposite holds true for students who are in liberal arts programs.</p>
<p>Personally, I feel like I learned a lot - and sure you will forget things, as you would with any education - but I apply what I learned on a regular basis at my job and I work in education. </p>
<p>In the end, it is best for you to choose something that you actually want to study. You can graduate with any kind of major and end up working in some area of business so that is less important. But I knew that I wanted to study business more than I wanted to study liberal arts (even though I got a lot of liberal arts with Wharton) so I chose a business program.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate all the input.
Aside, I was doing some more thinking on the subject of what I want to study and the idea of a major and double minor popped into my head. I have figured out that it would be possible, based on how many semesters I have left, the necessary requirements, and those that I have already completed for each concentration. Hypothetically speaking, I would major in Commerce (McIntire) and double minor in economics and mathematics. I'd just like to get some of your thoughts (maybe compared to a double major instead, and which would be more beneficial).
Thanks</p>
<p>b238, this is a no-brainer. If Wallstreet is what you want, you should go to McIntire if you can get in. One of the benefits of an undergraduate business school at most Universities is access to a seperate and better career services system. Most corporations also prefer business degrees given that they are an assurance of a serious committment to a business career. I'm not going to get into the "broadness" versus "applicability" issue, the cold, hard reality is that you will have a better shot at Wallstreet coming out of McIntire than in the general population.</p>