Supply Chain Management major here, and I overheard a few times people saying business degrees are worthless, especially if it’s not accounting or finance. I also hear that the classes are easy and it doesn’t take much effort.
Thoughts?
It really depends on the school, program, and individual effort. Any major/degree can potentially be useless. Business is one of if not the most popular field, so there are a lot of graduates, but the job field is large as well. Those legions of unemployed business majors you hear about are typically not 21-23 year olds fresh out of school, they’re 40-50 year olds that are undesirable hires.
Ignorance and stereotypes
I imagine business management majors probably have a rough year or two (some at least) right after graduation, as they don’t have any experience so there isn’t much they can prove they do, but business is a degree that you definitely get become more desirable the longer you stay in a certain field (hospitality, moving your way up through management of hotel chain etc)
Do what works for you and ignore the naysayers. If you feel you are in a major you enjoy where you can find a job after graduation then you should be fine.
As with most degrees, there’s a right and wrong way to do it.
Also follows with why most undergrad schools don’t have business programs. Business really isn’t something you are simply LEARN. You can’t get skilled with business simply through learning via lectures, courses, etc. Business is SO broad and in my opinion it’s more useful to have some other kind of expertise but have some sort of business knowledge. From what I’ve witnessed, I’ve seen so many cases of people with other degrees (that are not business) end up doing consulting, investment banking, etc. at companies like Goldman Sachs, while other people who just want to solely focus on business with some business major don’t really get good offers. I even know a chem major who did some IB competitions in her spare time and got offers at IB firms. What I’m trying to say is a business degree is not necessarily “useless,” but the level business expertise is not always something you can define with a business degree. A business degree doesn’t necessarily make you more or less better an applicant that someone who has, a CS degree, per say…it really depends on the situation. This is just what I’ve noticed and have heard from so many others in the past, so you can make the final judgement for yourself.
I wouldn’t call any degree ‘useless’. I’m sure that a business degree at a top rated school is plenty difficult and offers great possibilities in the future.
This being said… I’m a father of 2 undergrad students and I wouldn’t be excited about any one of them wanting to study business. Or pre-law for that matter. Or worse: ‘entrepreneurship’, whatever that is… To me these seem areas of study to supplement something else, more fundamental like sciences, engineering, economics.
I’m active in supply chain management. Many successful professionals in that field have in-depth expertise in another field, engineering, medical science, construction, architecture, energy, manufacturing, etc.
My advice would be to pursue a passion in another field as well. Maybe double mayor or minor?
I would venture to say that close to zero professionals in supply-chain management have degrees in supply-chain management, and it’s not necessary to have a degree in supply-chain management to get a job in supply-chain management. I suppose the issue with it is that it’s a very narrow focus and very vocational, as opposed to studying a discipline that teaches you how to think critically and broadly and can be useful for a professional in any area of business.