Want To Go Into Some Marketing Function (cliffs at bottom)

College Majors Business Major
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>So I've been a long-time lurker on this site, and it seems like a common theme is that you have to go to a "target" school to have any sort of career in business. If you don't, then you are basically stuck with accounting since that's the only area where the top firms don't just recruit from a handful of the top schools.</p>

<p>Well, my situation is that I know for sure that I want to do something in marketing, and eventually get my MBA from Kellogg. More specifically, I want to get into the managerial/quantitative side of marketing (i.e. brand management, consulting, market research) as opposed to the pure advertising side. The problem is, I don't go to Wharton. I go to a school that is respected in my region (my region isn't exactly a hotbed for finance/business anyway), but isn't a target, so is it a bad idea to do marketing since I don't go to an ivy? I absolutely WILL NOT DO ACCOUNTING (I hate my accounting class so much), and aside from my minor in econ, which is basically set, the only other field I would be willing to pursue outside of marketing is finance, so is it possible to get into marketing with a finance degree? Basically, I don't want to get a marketing degree and end up with a 40k sales job that has nothing to do with the area of marketing I'm interested in, and then be screwed out of a top-tier MBA. </p>

<p>So what should I do:</p>

<p>Major in marketing, minor in econ: take some extra quant classes (I'm thinking CS rather than math or some more stats) to show I'm not like most state schoolers in marketing and pray I get a good job in something that isn't sales or advertising.</p>

<p>Major in finance, minor in econ: try and break into marketing (if possible with finance degree), or else do a job in finance, pray I get into a good MBA and use the MBA to make a career change.</p>

<p>Otherwise, if all of this goes to ****, I think I'll just get a MAcc from a program designed for non-accounting majors and just be a damn accountant if that's my only other option.</p>

<p>One more question: Aside from marketing, can people with marketing majors also pursue strategy/operations consulting as well?</p>

<p>thanks</p>

<p>Cliffs:
-Don't go to target, read on these boards that you have to go to target for good jobs.
-Want to get into the non-sales/advertising part of marketing, but don't go to target.
-Hate accounting, refuse to do it, willing to do finance major.
-Need help deciding between finance w/econ minor or marketing w/econ minor in terms of which offers more opportunities in quant marketing, and if I can do marketing from finance.
-One more question: would marketing majors be able to do strategy or ops consulting in addition to marketing consulting, or is that restricted to finance/supply chain people?</p>

<p>thanks</p>

2

<p>Well IMO (I’m no expert), you need to decide at this point if doing what you love or what will earn you more money is more important to you. There will be a ton of people here that will say to just get the accounting degree and play it safe (and quite honestly, that’s not a bad option…go for a good accounting firm, get a good name on your resume if possible, and then try and go to a top MBA to make a career change if possible), but I am a firm believer after talking to some alumni at my school (I’m not at a target either) that if you are good, you’ll make something happen. You might not start off with as glamorous of a job as your peers in acct/finance, but marketing is also less competitive of a field, so you could rise through the ranks much faster than they will, and end up out earning them.</p>

<p>So basically, you can either play it safe, get the accounting degree (don’t bother with finance if you don’t go to a top school) and then hope that it’s good enough to help you get into a top MBA so that you can get a great marketing job. Or, you can take a slightly riskier route by taking the degree you want, hope to strike gold with a good firm, or rise up quickly through the ranks in a field you like and pray that it’s good enough to get you into the top MBA so you can coast after that. Either way, it’s really going to come down to the MBA, it’s just that accounting would be more likely to get you to the good MBA (although getting the Big 4 is not easy and then getting into Kellogg with only Big 4 vs i-bank experience is going to be hard as well), but you might hate your life until you can get the MBA and make a change.</p>

<p>The choice is yours. Good luck. (Btw, like you said, if you go with option 2, and marketing is just not working out, apply to a MAcc for non-accounting majors and just be an accountant like most of the people on this forum are trying to be lol)</p>

3

<p>Marketing is, in my opinion, the third (though smaller) major part of the brain of a business after accounting and finance. However, it is similar to finance in that only the best programs place students in the best jobs. There might even be fewer schools where you can land a high marketing job than there are where you can land a high finance job, so you’ll definitely have to work your way up, but it is doable if you’ve got what it takes.</p>

<p>My school does send quite a few marketing majors into strategy consulting. However, my school is ranked #3 for marketing.</p>