<p>My mom made me take this major and I assume it would be best for me. Still I don't understand what is the possible future job for students majoring in International Business? I mean, it's too general I don't exactly know what job requires this...
Please give me some ideas....</p>
<p>Happy new year to everyone</p>
<p>No job requires this. Doing business internationally isn’t a job title and for every job that requires you to travel internationally on business, you will have a greater chance of being hired with a more useful degree. Do accounting, finance or even marketing. Tell your mom it’s because you like burgers, but don’t think you could make a career out of flipping them.</p>
<p>Well I’ve thought of doing Accounting or Finance and I even like Marketing a bit… but my friends all say being an accountant is a very boring job. Finance is quite the same as International Business and Marketing is not very useful in my country…
If no job requires this major then why do they have this major in their Business program and why do people choose this major?</p>
<p>Accounting has a lot of stereotypes, but you can get just about any business job with a degree in it and even jobs with accounting titles can vary greatly. Finance is not like international business because it gives you an actual, useful skillset and can put you first in line for the best jobs if you go to a good school. Even marketing gets good jobs at the best schools. However, I’m just saying what I know of American business majors.</p>
<p>What country are you from?</p>
<p>To answer your question about why they offer this major: it is because college is a business. Just as students compete to get into top colleges, colleges compete to get top students, and there are some really smart kids out there who are dead set on attending a school that offers international business. There are other reasons for it, too. Since a university is a place for academics, it is an academic study of business relations between different cultures. In that sense, it exists for the same reason an anthropology major exists: academic interest. However, neither the student interested in doing only what they think sounds fun or the student interested in simply playing in academia for a few years has future marketability on thier mind, otherwise nobody would want to be an international business major and universities would stop offering it.</p>
<p>its actually a very marketable double major in this day and age. I suggest you double with somethign else. Many schools will offer it as a co-major only requiring a few credits added on to another busienss major. Look into it.</p>
<p>Dude, any entry-level job is boring. That’s the reality of it. I think accounting gets a particularly severe reputation for being boring because its usually assumed to be math (even though it requires hardly any advanced math)/tax research, which hardly sound interesting. Ask an entry-level investment banker how much he loves his job in terms of pure satisfaction/enjoyment, and I guarantee it won’t be much better than a Big 4 or any public accountant. </p>
<p>What I’d look at more is what the upper-level people handle, and honestly, accounting can be great at those levels (especially if you move into Controller/CFO roles). Don’t let an entry-level job and stereotypes based on hearsay turn you away from something YOU may enjoy. Research the field for yourself and then decide.</p>
<p>But getting back to your point, I’d say tell her that its a very general degree and its better to specialize (that’s pure economics right there). If that doesn’t work, go to indeed.com, monster, etc. and show her jobs for CFO positions, etc. I guarantee that most of them will say accounting, finance, or econ degrees are wanted/preferred. The proof is in the pudding, and if you can show her the requirements of real jobs, I GUARANTEE that she will change her mind (although then she’ll push you into accounting of course). If you want to have an international focus, try and use contacts to get internships in different countries, and learn more about a particular place you are interested in (i.e. the language, culture, etc.). That’ll be much more marketable than an arbitrary degree like international business.</p>
<p>def454, double-majors actually don’t bring much to the table in this day and age, and international business is possibly the worst business major to add (aside from general management perhaps). I don’t know where you read that, but it certainly wasn’t from any fortune 50 recruiter I’ve talked to.</p>
<p>@openedskittles: I’m from Vietnam…
@creamgethamoney: Thanks for the precious advice… I know international business is not a real major. I think it’s the same as management… It’s too general and that’s what I’m worried about…What is CFO btw?..
The thing is, now I have to choose between the 2 : Accounting and International Business… I’m a freshman and I know it’s not necessary to choose a major right away. However, if I choose International Business, I will stay at my school (University of Missouri St.Louis) b/c it has pretty good international business program…If I choose the other, I will have to transfer to UIUC. Each choice has its own advantages and disadvantages…</p>
<p>If I choose International Business,
-I will have to go home (Vietnam) because it’s not possible to look for a job here with that major and my parents have secured a job for me…And my parents want me to go home
<p>If I choose Accounting,
<p>The thing is, I’m not sure what I want… I don’t know if I should stay in America or go home… That I like Accounting or international business. I actually have no idea what I should do… I’m so so confused… I like Art but it’s too late for me to do it…</p>
<p>UIUC is one of the top 2 or 3 schools in accounting. If you can get in, that’s a good thing. </p>
<p>Also, remember that you can still go home if you study accounting in the US. American companies in Vietnam still need accountants who know GAAP. You might not be able to do the specific job your parents have lined up for you.</p>
<p>The CPA test is the same everywhere. If you get your CPA in one state they’ll recognize it elsewhere, but if you move to another state(i.e. not just go there to work on a project for a few weeks) you’ll need to satisfy the CPA requirements there too. Most states have similar requirements so this isn’t a problem unless you are in one of the few states with very low requirements(like just a bachelor’s degree not 150 hours of credit). </p>
<p>You could probably convince your parents(or have a trusted family friend who knows about accounting job prospects do it) that UIUC is a good move and will get you a great job back in Vietnam. That’s of course assuming your family isn’t so well connected there that the job they have lined up for you isn’t better than you could ever get on your own.</p>
<p>@jonahrubin: Thanks for the advice… If CPA is the same everywhere, why does it matter where we study Accounting? If I want to study finance then u think I should stay here or transfer?.. Is it necessary to study in a famous school if we’re in undergraduate level?
Do you think it’s a good idea to spend that much money if we get just the same CPA?.. Somehow I kinda hesitate to spend my parents’ money…</p>
<p>Do you think I can study Accounting here at my school, doubled with International Business ('cause the International Business program here is ranked 15 nationally, it would be a waste if I don’t pick that major…), and then do MBA in a different school (more famous school)?..
GAAP is Accounting Principles, right?..</p>
<p>P/S: English is not my mother tongue so please forgive me if I make any mistakes…
What is your major btw?..</p>
<p>There’re some terms I don’t understand…like
What is the Big 4? and what is the fortune 50 recruiter?.. CFO?..</p>
<p>That’s not something that we should be helping you with. That’s really something you have to figure out on your own.</p>
<p>Take your business classes and find out what you are interested in.</p>
<p>I know that but I have to decide if I should transfer or not right now…So I have to figure out what I want to major in…</p>
<p>Not every school has an accounting program that has classes that meet the CPA requirements. You need to check to see if your school does. </p>
<p>What schools are you considering transferring to at the moment?</p>
<p>shiny-there are few jobs where it actually matters what your specific college training was. i was a corporate financial analyst…having earned a degree in psychology. don’t get too worked up about that. a degree in international business will not shut you out of opportunities. more specific degrees, such as in accounting, will open other doors perhaps, but not MORE doors. the difference in tuition versus scholarship is huge. that alone should tip you one way-to stay your course. i disagree that having a double major has no value. i would go for it and round out with something you feel might be more substantive. i don’t think you NEEd to, though, a good degree in international business will give you many options-you just have to seek them out. it does sound as though you need to get the piece with your family in vietnam worked out.</p>
<p>CFO-Chief Financial Officer
fortune 50 recruiter-Fortune magazine names 50 largest companies annually</p>
<p>The Big Four are the four largest accounting firms(#5 is much, much smaller than #4). Virtually all of the largest public companies in the US have their financial statements audited by the Big Four. Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst and Young, and PricewaterhouseCoopers are the Big Four. US law requires audits of financial statements and even if it didn’t, shareholders and bondholders would probably want them anyway. If Intel, for example, hired KPMG to audit their statements, that would require KPMG to have auditors everywhere Intel had substantial operations. If Intel had a chip foundry in Vietnam, they could either send auditors from America to audit the place or have local employees do it. Accounting standards have to be applied the same throughout the company and that includes foreign operations, so the auditors in Vietnam would have to know GAAP(the American accounting standards).</p>
<p>The Big Four are the most selective so having Big Four experience will put you above those without it because people will assume that you had to be smart and hardworking to get the job in the first place. Also, because CPA’s in other firms never have the opportunity to do work with the biggest corporations you’ll have experience they don’t. That’s the idea anyway. </p>
<p>You might want to see if you can check out the situation in Vietnam too. See if the Big Four even operate there(they might have a different local brand name).</p>
<p>@dowzerw: So you’re saying I shouldn’t transfer?.. Actually the university I’m attending now has AACSB accreditation so I guess it’s okay to stay…And my parents don’t have to deal with the financial pressure.
My friend once said it doesn’t matter where you get your bachelor’s degree as long as your major is not Pre-Law or Pre-Med because it’s not very different among different schools… I want to make sure if it’s true or not…
@sp1212: I’m thinking of transferring to UIUC…</p>
<p>@jonharubin: Thanks for the information… I just asked my mom and it seems like if those big 4 are international accounting firms it would have their branches in Vietnam…
But what I’m trying to find out is that if there is much difference where we get our undergraduate degree in Business?..I don’t know if I should stay or transfer… UMSL (University of Missouri St.Louis) has a good Business program and their accounting program is accredited (according to my advisors)… but its rank is too low and UIUC is too expensive… I can still pay it but is it worth paying that much if there’s not much difference between the 2?..</p>
<p>I just checked. KPMG operates in Vietnam…^^</p>
<p>To be honest I don’t think its worth the extra tuition fee, you will read from many posters that you can go to any accredited AACSB university and still get an accounting job (provided you have a decent GPA, above 3.4,3.5…I don’t understand why your dad thinks you can work less just because you are a girl…makes no sense)…mostly regional work however. Big 4 firms visit universities all over the United States…check your current university’s career service placement and see how the accounting firms recruit.</p>
<p>Also because you may be planning on going back to Vietnam for work (other than accounting) I don’t think going to your current university or UIUC will make a difference…most employers in Asia only know cream of the crop universities and the Ivy League Schools (Harvard, Yale, Standford, etc.) they really won’t know the mid to high tier schools, hence a degree from either schools should suffice, given that you are capable of doing the work. I doubt the two schools will give you an advantage or disadvantage. </p>
<p>UIUC has the better business school, but in your case it really makes no difference and is not worth the extra thousands of dollars.</p>