Sabia
Which Business field of study is best suited to cover the Business Career?
When it comes to taking classes in the Business field, I struggle to figure out which is best to cover all the business majors such as Entrepreneur, Marketing, Administrator, or Accounting?
#business #entrepreneurship #marketing #administration #accounting
4 answers
Ann Gianoglio Burk, MBA
Ann’s Answer
Hi Sabia,
If you want to study all aspects of running a business, I would strongly recommend either a business administrations or general management degree. In these degrees, you will typically be required to take management, accounting, human resources, marketing, finance and economics. I would do your homework as to the specific course offerings the schools you are interested in provide. Some will have small business or entrepreneurial courses and others will not. Accounting or economics will cover some of this, but not to the aspect of knowing how each department runs in depth. Hope this helps!
Michael Langlais
Michael’s Answer
Hello Sabia,
John is absolutely right - business isn't so much a career as a decision to enter the private sector. There are too many areas of expertise to count!
Fortunately, many commerce programs offer a broad base of foundation courses that will expose you to many disciplines, and help you decide what path you'll take. Don't get too wrapped up in the decision; professionals work across disciplines all of the time. The most important part will likely be your work experience! Seek a program with co-operative, internship, or fellowship opportunities with multiple different organizations, so you can get a sense for each environment and where you perform the best.
If you don't have access to a formal co-op program - just do it yourself. I took several breaks in my degree to pursue work opportunities that took me around the world. That isn't necessarily the right decision for everyone: coming back to school is always hard, and gets more difficult every time. However, the knowledge I gained from my work experiences directly related to my academic success, and vice-versa.
To sum up, I recommend thinking less about fields of study, and more about studying in the field! You might also consider other degrees or technical training in areas that interest you, and then bringing those ideas to market as an entrepreneur - that is the real foundation of business.
Best regards,
Mike.
Michael recommends the following next steps:
Michael,
I agree with you on this point. The only way a person can actually get a clear idea of how to run or work for a business, is to have that hands-on experience. I have worked for my parent's business ever since I was 11 years old and I got the idea of how the business is established. I believe that having experience is the key to gaining more knowledge than going to school to learn. I know a few people who were getting a degree in early childhood development and as they got into that career and work experience, they were astonished to know what they haven't learned from college as what they are learning from their work experience.
Sabia
John Biebel
John’s Answer
Hi Sabia!
Great question.
I think the answer to your question depends on what you mean by a "business career". There are a wide variety of career types/paths that can come as a result of studying a major within your University's business school. Additionally, I think that there are also majors such as Math, Economics, Statistics, and Computer Science that while may not be within a "Business Curriculum" also can lead to careers within "business".
For instance, I was an Economics major and worked in both banking and consulting.
If I had to name most "typical majors" seen within a business school I'd say these would be them:
-Finance
-Accounting
-Marketing
-Information Systems
-Supply Chain Management
Feel free to respond to my answer, and if you can provide some more detail around what type of "Business career" you are referring to I can share more insight
.
John recommends the following next steps:
I am striving towards getting my Bachelor's in Business Administration and I was just wondering if this career path I am looking towards, will it help me get any job in Business field such as accounting, financing, & ect. People have told me to try and get a minor in another field. I feel like it will be too much on my plate if I take on another degree. What do you think? How many years does it take to get something in a minor?
Sabia
