<p>^^That should explain mostly everything. But basically, you’ll learn a lot more valuable things with a Humanities or Engineering degree rather than a “Pre-Business” degree because you are diversified. It really depends on what kind of business you want to get into. If you’re looking at an MBA/high company position, getting an UG business degree is what NOT to do. But for a job like accounting or marketing, a UG business degree would be fine.</p>
<p>But a Wharton degree gets you anywhere. Haha.</p>
<p>MIT is not only a top-tier school but also does not offer a liberal arts education by any traditional term of the definition - with over half of all students with declared majors being engineers - yet I suspect that few would argue that the MIT Sloan School of Management does not offer an excellent undergraduate education. Employers certainly seem to agree, paying an average starting salary in 2008 of $64k to Sloan undergrads. That exceeds the $61k salary provided to 2008 Wharton undergrads. {Granted, the year-end bonuses, especially in finance, may ultimately mean that the Wharton grads get paid more in toto.} In contrast, the average UPenn College of Arts and Sciences grad in 2008 made a starting salary of about $49k. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It might be true that you will start at the lowest entry level of management, but that still pays better than what a lot of liberal arts grads are getting. Again, I don’t think the Wharton grads getting paid $61k or the MIT Sloan grads getting paid $64k to start are complaining. After all, that’s a lot higher than the 30-something salaries that the liberal arts grads nationwide are getting paid. </p>
<p>That gets to the real core of the problem: companies just won’t pay liberal arts grads as much as they perhaps deserve.</p>
<p>B Man 22: Did you ever think that some people, like me, who WANT to study business instead of studying humanities all four (or three) years of college? Taking humanities classes is useful, yes, but not at the expense of not being able to take finance, business law, and accounting classes. I want to learn more about business than just AS/AD diagrams and the up-and-down movements of the discount rates (aka basic econ stuff). Just because HYPS doesn’t offer a business major doesn’t mean that a business education is a complete waste of time.
Oldfort: Wharton is not prestigious? Cornell engineering is not prestigious? Cornell architecture is not prestigious? Where have you been? I’m glad that those two Ivies offer business majors, or I wouldn’t have cared to apply to them. A humanities degree doesn’t make one more knowledgeable than a business degree with a strong liberal arts background. You can pretty much learn almost anything humanities related by reading books and going on Wikipedia and read articles (which I do). You cannot do the same for business, because business is about application and trial-and-error without the mess that comes with science labs.
And for people who say that business school doesn’t offer a strong liberal arts education, I disagree completely. Lets look at the core requirements of BC’s business school, where I will be attending:</p>
<h1>1 course in Writing</h1>
<h1>1 course in Literature</h1>
<h1>1 course in The Arts [Fine Arts, Music, Film or Theater]</h1>
<h1>1 course in Mathematics</h1>
<h1>2 courses in History [Modern History I and II]</h1>
<h1>2 courses in Philosophy</h1>
<h1>2 courses in Social Sciences</h1>
<h1>2 courses in Natural Science [Biology, Chemistry, Geology/Geophysics, or Physics]</h1>
<h1>2 courses in Theology</h1>
<h1>1 course in Cultural Diversity (PY 031 for LSOE)</h1>
<p>Not a strong liberal arts background? I dare to disagree.</p>
<p>i tend to think a liberal arts major is somewhat a waste of time and MONEY… sorry if that offends anyone but it seems like it does not get you anywhere…</p>
<p>and in most business schools, the students need to take courses in the university’s college of arts and sciences, making them educated all around as well…</p>
<p>My daughter happens to be at Cornell, so I know how prestigious those schools are for those professions. </p>
<p>Many top traders come from MIT, as well as top rocket scientists. Wharton is prestigious because of the caliber of students it’s able to attract. It can’t be said for other 2nd tier or 3rd tier undergrad business schools. Even at Cornell, AEM is considerably easier than other schools within Cornell. </p>
<p>When you compare salaries, you shouldn’t be comparing the starting salaries. Many engineers’ starting salaries are higher than other majors, but they often top out after a few years unless they go into management track.</p>
<p>IMO, business is a real life experience, it is better to further your understanding of it in school after you’ve had a few years of real work experience.</p>
<p>^^Good article explaining how an LA degree could benefit you.</p>
<p>Personally, I can’t say that I am 100% on business, therefore it would be imprudent for me to get an undergrad business degree. I have a lot of interest in the humanities as well, so I don’t think getting a liberal arts degree would hurt me at all. You can still have the same opportunies as a business major, but they obviously could be harder to get. I just have to work harder to market myself, but it does not necessarily mean I lose any intrinsic value. If anything, I become a lot more valuable because of the diversity of my education.</p>
<p>All of this can culminate into a better app to an MBA program in a top school, where after graduation I would be making a lot more that undergrad business majors with just a few more years added on.</p>
<p>^That article was very useful.
You’re right, an MBA would make more than an undergrad business student. However, you forget that an undergraduate business degree can also feed into law school. Business students tend to have higher GPA’s (except NYU) than the rest of the student body, and do very well on LSAT’s due to their critical thinking skills.</p>
<p>And math majors make more money directly out of undergrad in business related fields and also do way better on the LSATs. Interestingly, if you don’t include “economics” as a business major, finance is the next one that pops up at number 14. It’s not surprising to me at all that many other concentrations prep you more for critical thinking, most of them being things you’d find in liberal arts colleges/schools within larger universities.</p>
<p>Personally, I think going to college is about getting a well-rounded education. Business school is not about learning: I’m not discrediting it, but it’s where you learn how to do your job. Sure, people from Wharton or Stern might wind up with high-paying jobs, but who knows if they’ll be able to maintain an intellectual conversation with friends. College is about making friends, finding out what your intellectual interests are, and learning how to live independently. I think learning how to do your job should be left to graduate and professional school, not undergrad. 17 or 18 years old is when we decide where to go to school… IMO this is still way too young to have your mind set on a specific career that business school will prepare you for. Companies would rather see an MBA than a BS from an undergraduate business program, even if it’s of the ilk of Wharton, Stern or whatever.</p>
<p>Is that the path you are planning to take? (UG Biz -> LS)</p>
<p>While that could work, it’s pretty unconventional and not as logical (at least to me) as some different degree paths. If you got an undergrad business degree, wouldn’t you be set on entering the business world? While I do agree that learning critical thinking with undergrad business degrees would be great for the LSATs, I don’t think you get as much writing/english as an liberal arts major.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to insult someone who decides to major in business as an undergrad, but it is just my thoughts about what I want to do and how logical degree paths would be, as well as what I am learning, inside and out.</p>
<p>I think that some of the postings were right about going for a business degree in the 90s, but now MOST, IF NOT ALL GREAT Business school have a lot of Liberal Arts. </p>
<p>I have read similar articles about this and well…you are dating yourself if you think that business does not giver you the critical thinking piece.</p>
<p>^^Then UG Business->Law is the best path for you, vinnyli. That path makes a lot more sense now, lol. But I would still say that the way you are going is the exception, of course a fine one, but definitely not the norm of what people usually do with UG business degrees.</p>
<p>Nope, not in the slightest. Very few schools offer a four-year degree in the general area of “liberal arts”, but physics/math, philosophy/religion, economics, international relations, chemistry, government/service, anthropology/geology, history, english, biology, “other social sciences”, and foreign languages-- twelve of the thirteen categories above finance, would be found in the typical College of Arts and Sciences/College of the Liberal Arts at most institutions.</p>
<p>I have to interject into the LSAT score-majors correlation. Modestmelody is correct: rarely do you have a general “Liberal Arts” major. Within the liberal arts, you major in something like Philosophy, IR, or English.</p>
<p>I’m personally going into business because I think it provides students with a more pre-professional model of education compared to a liberal arts education. It leaves people more well prepared for work after college but also sacrifices a more well-rounded education (See below). However its not like business students don’t have to take gen-ed courses so it really isn’t that big of a deal.</p>
<p>I also personally believe a liberal arts education is a waste of time (Unless you want to be a teacher, doctor (For bio/chem), or lawyer), but that’s just me. I know the argument and stated it above so I don’t want a huge backlash for stating this.</p>
<p>Nobody is precluding anybody from getting a bachelor’s in business and still later getting an MBA. Heck, many people do exactly that. For example, nearly 20% of the entire 2010 MBA class at the MIT Sloan School were former business undergrads, and surely many of them were former Sloan undergrads. {MIT has always been a highly incestuous school.} </p>