What can I do with a business administration degree vs an economics degree?
#business #finance #management #accounting
4 answers
Cody’s Answer
Hi Armani,
This is a really good question, and one that I struggled with when I was first entering college. The first thing to understand is that they are both outstanding options that can set you up for rewarding careers. I ended up majoring in business (accounting and finance) and minoring in economics. What I found was my business courses tended to be more related to the problems and work that business encounter and solve on a daily basis whereas my economics classes provided a really good theoretical foundation on both macroeconomic theory and why business make the decisions they do at a high level. In other words, both were very helpful!
https://www.petersons.com/blog/economics-degree-vs-business-degree/
In terms of jobs you can obtain with a business degree vs an economics degree, there is a lot of overlap. Many of the firms that recruited at Penn State where I went recruited both majors and in fact prided themselves on having this academic diversity of academic backgrounds. I will say that if you are planning on obtaining your masters of PHD in Economics in the future, I would recommend majoring in economics or at a minimum taking a few calculus classes, as most reputable postgraduate programs will require these.
https://www.bestvalueschools.com/faq/what-are-the-prerequisites-for-a-masters-in-economics-degree/
Jessica’s Answer
Economists get to juggle numbers and discover theories that might be earth-shattering in the field of economics, but have little impact or interest for anyone not closely following the subject. Meanwhile people who study business administration will probably spend the vast majority of their time dealing with practical, often pretty tedious problems that have to be overcome to keep a company functioning.
Ann Gianoglio Burk, MBA
Ann’s Answer
Hi Armani,
There is some overlap between the two, as it is important to understand the economy to operate a business, but economics is focus more so in mathematics. I am going to include a few links in the next steps to help give you an insight into the differences. The first outlines the differences between the two, the second gives you insight of what economist do, and the third are some of the careers you can go into with a BS in Business Administration. I hope this helps!
Ann recommends the following next steps:
Yeskendir (Alex)’s Answer
I would say that a business degree provided me with more workforce ready skills, because a lot of classes I took required working in teams, doing project management, business forecasting, etc. I had friends who took Econ, and I remember them saying that once you move into 300 level classes econ loses it applicability to most work you will be doing after college, so I suggest going with business if you are not trying to get a doctorate in economics or pursue a career as an economic consultant.