<p>
[quote]
However, the job market for those of areas of study is definitely not that great compared to the medical and business field
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I guess I'm going to throw the burden of proof on you on this one. Doctors can have virtually any undergrad education although Biology and Chemistry probably are by far the most common. Business? Which high end jobs do you believe undergrad business graduates have an advantage getting jobs out of their undergraduate schools? Consulting, management development programs, investment houses, sales programs, etc tend to hire the best and brightest they can find ... irregardless of their undergraduate major. These programs hire top students wherever they can find them (with a concentration on the elite schools as the fishing is good for them at those schools) ... and in my experience the vast majority of these folks went to good to excellent schools where they excelled and there is no pattern to their majors at all. </p>
<p>Dropping to mid-tier schools it probably gets a lot tougher if a students grades are OK (not stellar) and they are in a traditional liberal arts education. Tougher to start maybe ... not tougher long term. Ultimately, workers who can comprehend what they read, write, organize themselves, analyze information, and speak well will suceed professionally ... and there is nothing on that list that is particularly major dependent ... and I could probably make the case that a traditional liberal arts education is one of the best ways to develop those skills as an undergrad.</p>
<p>(from all the typos I was obviously an engineering undergrad!)</p>
<p>"Which high jobs do you believe undergrad business graduates have an advantage getting jobs out of their undergraduate schools? Consulting, management development programs, investment houses, sales programs, etc tend to hire the best and brightest they can find ... irregardless of their undergraduate major."</p>
<p>But what's the point if harvard students keep getting jobs that have nothing to do with what they studied during undergraduate school? It's a waste of time, brain power, and money. Again, only prestige is at work. Our economy would reap greater benefits from harvard students studying business in undergraduate school than linguistics, history, and even economics. People need to specialize in what they will do to yield a more effective and lucrative society. I'm not saying harvard students studying east asian studies won't get a job. They probably can find a handsomely paid job in any field. But whats the point of studying east asia studies? A company will hire any havard student, regardless of his or her study, but the company could benefit so much more if the havard student had studied undergraduate business in harvard. Harvard is obstructing the progress of all mankind.</p>
<p>Nearly every school offers business as a major, if you insist on majoring in business then go to one of those schools. </p>
<p>Why would companies benefit from hiring people who majored in business? What can business majors do that philosophy or econ majors can't?</p>
<p>I hate to break it to you but philosophy teaches you MANY marketable skills, even moreso than majoring in business. In my opinion. Not to mention the average philosophy major is considerably brighter and does much more difficult work than the ave. business major does</p>
<p>"Nearly every school offers business as a major, if you insist on majoring in business then go to one of those schools."</p>
<p>stop being ignorant. youre just making unintelligent statements.
harvard, columbia, stanford, Northwestern University, and chicago are all top 10 graduate business schools. yet, none of them offer an undergraduate business degree.
princeton brown yale caltech Duke University Dartmouth College dont have business majors.</p>
<p>"But what's the point if harvard students keep getting jobs that have nothing to do with what they studied during undergraduate school? It's a waste of time, brain power, and money"</p>
<p>Nothing to do with it? I think we've been trying to say that the skills you learn in other majors can very definitely apply to careers such as business. Business skills aren't that hard to learn if you are an intelligent person who knows how to write, speak, and think. </p>
<p>"Again, only prestige is at work. "</p>
<p>But why do schools like Harvard have that prestige? Because they produce people who can think, write, and speak. Employers assume Harvard graduates are intelligent...because they usually are.</p>
<p>"Our economy would reap greater benefits from harvard students studying business in undergraduate school than economics. People need to specialize in what they will do to yield a more effective and lucrative society." </p>
<p>I disagree. If a person has thte skills needed to succeed, they will succeed even if they don't know the specifics at first. Once again, business skills can be easily learned. I think people who have a broad base of knowledge will be the most successful. If specialization is so great, we should just have trade schools. But universities provide a more liberal education, and I think that's great.</p>
<p>"stop being ignorant. youre just making unintelligent statements.
harvard, columbia, stanford, Northwestern University, and chicago are all top 10 graduate business schools. yet, none of them offer an undergraduate business degree.
princeton brown yale caltech Duke University Dartmouth College dont have business majors"</p>
<p>You're the one being ignorant. Yes, those schools don't offer business degrees, but there are over 4,000 4-year schools and <em>gasp</em> most of them offer business as a major. There is a reason why 300,000 people per year graduate with a bba.</p>
<p>ok fine substitute the word "business" with medicine. maybe business isnt hard to learn but what about other fields</p>
<p>"Nothing to do with it? I think we've been trying to say that the skills you learn in other majors can very definitely apply to careers such as [medicine]. [doctor] skills aren't that hard to learn if you are an intelligent person who knows how to write, speak, and think.</p>
<p>I disagree. If a person has thte skills needed to succeed, they will succeed even if they don't know the specifics at first. Once again, "medical" skills can be easily learned. I think people who have a broad base of knowledge will be the most successful. If specialization is so great, we should just have trade schools. But universities provide a more liberal education, and I think that's great."</p>
<p>Pre-med isn't a major, it's a set of requirements. Many doctors majored in non-science fields. My uncle is an MD and his undergrad degree is in Poli Sci</p>
<p>pre med (and pre-law) isn't a major. It is a set of classes you take so that you can get into med school. You can be any major and be pre-med (or pre-law), though certain majors obviously help.</p>
<p>Yes, medicine and law are different than business. You can't (and shouldn't) go into them right after undergrad. But that's what grad school is for.</p>
<p>yes i know
he wasted his time and brain power studying political science
sure, studying poli sci didnt prevent him from becoming a doctor, but wouldnt he have been a better doctor if he had studied medicine in undergrad?
drew, answer this question
how will studying anthropology, east asian studies, philosophy, and classics during undergraduate college benefit you more than studying the field in which you want to get a job in? assume that all undergrad colleges offer medicine, business, linguistics, etc.</p>
<p>"how will studying anthropology, east asian studies, philosophy, and classics benefit you more than studying the field in which you want to get a job in during undergraduate college? assume that all undergrad colleges offer medicine, business, linguistics, etc."</p>
<p>To begin with, no colleges offer or will ever offer undergraduate medicine. Second of all, you can learn many skills in these majors that can help you in your future endeavors. And last, most people who major in the humanities and planning on going into business. Most aren't sure what they want to do with their life. How are you expected to know what you want to do with the rest of your life when you're 18 or 19? Most are bright kids who value education and decide to study a subject they are passionate about.</p>
<p>"sure, studying poli sci didnt prevent him from becoming a doctor, but wouldnt he have been a better doctor if he had studied medicine in undergrad?"</p>
<p>A. No
B. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS UNDERGRAD MEDICINE.</p>
<p>stop insulting my intellgence and turn off the caps
ok fine i get it
theres no such thing as undergrad medicine
big whoop
and gj with your answer
i understand now that most undergraduate colleges cater to students who don't know what they want to do by teaching them anthropology, east asian studies, and art
is this right?</p>
<p>Not that I agree entirely with Master's argument, but...</p>
<p>In some European countries, including the Netherlands, one is able to choose medicine or law from the first year of undergrad. Medicine takes longer than other degrees to complete, but law is just like any other major. (plus the articling and bar association stuff) </p>
<p>If I knew for sure that medicine was my passion, I would not want to be studying other stuff just because my university forces me to.</p>
<p>So in the case that a first year undergrad knows exaclty what they want to study and what they want to do, the North American system is unfortunate and inconvenient (which is why I chose to do undergrad in Europe). I can develop as a rounded person on my own time, without having my hand held by university administrators.</p>
<p>On the other hand, first year undergrads don't always (usually don't?) know exactly what they want to study or do with the rest of their life. Flexibility to study a broad range of subjects exposes them to fields they may not have even known about, fields in which they may develop keen interest. Having people study something costly only to drop out because they hate it is even worse for overall efficiency than the current situation , don't you think Master?</p>
<p>And about undergrad business - who cares? There are a thousand different schools that offer it. Harvard doesn't offer it, so what? It's a private institution and they can offer (or not offer) whatever they want. If you don't like it you are free to study someplace else. </p>
<p>In conclusion, I think Master raises an interesting question: Why aren't law and medicine offered from the undergraduate level for those who know they are interested? The argument in favor of Harvard undergraduate business is weak though. There is no shortage of BBA programs, nor graduates of these programs. Harvard is free to offer or not offer whatever programs they choose.</p>
<p>Oh and a good friend of mine was in East Asian Studies, at a good but not top-tier school. Now he's being trained by the State Department to become a diplomat. Useless major? I think not.</p>
<p>
[quote]
But what's the point if harvard students keep getting jobs that have nothing to do with what they studied during undergraduate school? It's a waste of time, brain power, and money. Again, only prestige is at work.
[/quote]
I guess we should agree to disagree ... because it seems to me the companies find that when hiring these new hires they find students who have challenged themselves and learned to learn, manage time, and communicate ... and the particular major does not matter ... but a major that pushes students to develop these skills. This is much more a function of the intensity of the learning experience versus the actual major. Your mileage may vary.</p>