
Ask HN: Why does a bachelor degree in business sucks so much? - pedrodelfino
I truly think that majoring in business is a really bad choice. I was discussing this topic with a friend and I presented a few arguments. However, I would like to listen to HN community. I think most of you will agree with my position. If so, which arguments would you use?
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mindcrime
_I think most of you will agree with my position._

You might be surprised. I personally don't see any problem with majoring in
business _depending on what your goals are_. I mean, if you want to analyze it
simply in terms of "expected lifetime economic return", then majoring in
business probably actually comes out ahead of majoring in computer science
when you consider that most CEOs of large companies come from a "business"
function within their enterprise, and not engineering. And CEOs tend to get
paid a LOT more than engineers.

Of course, there possible exception is the "founder / CEO" who has a tech
background and founds a startup and remains CEO. So there are clearly multiple
paths to success, depending on how you define success.

All of that said, I think there's a lot to be said for having both engineering
knowledge/skills AND business knowledge / skills. In my ideal world, I'd have
liked to have gotten a B.S. with a triple major in like C.S., business (or
marketing) and applied mathematics (or maybe statistics), or something like
that.

Of course, one could always get an undergrad degree in a technical field (cs,
ee, math, etc.) then go back and do a separate degree in business - perhaps an
"executive MBA" for the time crunched.

Anyway, I'd put Business ahead of "women's studies", "medieval history" and
any number of other majors in terms of economic value. BUT... again, for any
given individual, economic value may not be the sole criteria they're
evaluating things on. So it's really down to the individual.

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mswen
Getting a technical/scientific undergraduate degree teaches you to think more
logically and gives you the tools to understand the technical underpinnings of
the modern world.

I have a friend with a BS and MS in Software Engineering and now his company
pays his tuition as he pursues an MBA and he is managing a team of about 15 to
20 engineers and developers within a Fortune 500 company. It feels like that
combination is really powerful.

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alexandercrohde
"Conjoined triangles of success." Enough said. (note I'm software engineer and
a business major)

