So I just got accepted into the business administration major at my school, and I am trying to determine which concentrations to choose. I am interested in a career in Operations Consulting or something in Supply Chain Management.
I was considering doing a dual concentration in Supply Chain Management and Management Information Systems. However, I could also consider doing Supply Chain Management and Finance. Aside from that I already have a Psychology minor from previous classes I have taken, although that isn’t too relevant to this topic.
My main concern is picking the concentrations that will put me in the best place to get a job in Operations Consulting or SCM out of undergrad. What do you think my best choice is?
I know that for Consulting, engineering or hard science backgrounds are highly desirable but those are not options for me at this point. My school is not a top 20 school or Ivy-league or anything like that. However, it is a top 50 undergraduate school and does have a great co-op program (I will complete 2, 6-month co-ops by the time I graduate). Any thoughts are greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Short answer is that it won’t matter. Consulting firms care more about your problem solving ability and communication skills rather than your major.
Hi @TheSpartan! Thanks for the response. That makes sense to me. Would they be judging your problem solving skills solely off of performance in math courses you’ve taken? I have seen this type of thing in a few posts regarding consulting before. I performed poorly in the math courses I took freshman year (B- in Calc 1 & C+ in Calc 2) although I believe those grades were more due to a lack of effort than ability.
Are there other ways to display problem solving ability? I do have strong problem solving abilities and believe myself to be someone who thinks similar to the way engineers do but I just don’t have the engineering coursework to back it up. Any thoughts?
A friend of mine told me that it might be a better move for me to pursue the concentration in SCM and just do a minor in Indistrial Engineering. His thinking is that the math courses and problem-solving courses will be better for consulting and very relevant to SCM. Any thoughts?
Minoring in IE could be a solid option.
Quantitative classes are one way to judge problem solving skills, but when you get into an interview it is more about the projects you work in in your SCM courses and internships and the steps you took to come to a solution.
Quantitative skills are important, but my understanding is that it is just as important that you are able to understand what information is relevant to a given problem and what your results tell you about the problem (ability to understand the big picture).
If you think that minoring in IE will help you sharpen your quant skills, do it if it won’t sacrifice your GPA.