International Business major

[Pieceofsand]

As I'm approaching the end of my junior college education, I have just about a little bit over a year to decide which business program to consider when I transfer out to a University . I've met with my advising counselor twice, and I had not made any certain decision yet about what business programs I want to transfer out to. As for the past couple days, I've been doing some rough research on International Business as a college major, and it seems to me that it is something I'd like to pursue. For most I can gather that, the market is behaving on a global scale, and there are deep potential to invest effort into. A few people that have experience with this personally suggest that it's recommended to have a specialty along with a major such as IB, i.e. Accounting, or Finance etc. I've taken a couple of account courses and I've done okay, but accounting isn't something I'd like to do as a career, so I was wondering if anyone here could shine a few insightful knowledge on the subject about IB as a major and the possible potential that it brings.

Thank you for your time.

-Lu

 

[Joffrey]

International Business major is as useful as a Management major. There are no intl business jobs and you won't learn how to manage a business in college. So what exactly do you see yourself doing ideally after college? What kind of company? Performing what kind of tasks? International Business major won't hurt you but it won't necessarily help you stand out (depending on what kinds of jobs your looking for).

 

[Pieceofsand]



International Business major is as useful as a Management major. There are no intl business jobs

I'm gonna call you BS, buddy.

Please, offer more constructive insights. That was worse than an attempt.

 

[globetrotter]

as the other poster asked - what do you want to do? I sell internationally. there are people who do international accounting, or investing, or shipping. what do you want to do?

I have seen what is tought in some schools for international business, and I don't understand how it is supposed to be relevant, frankly. I think that you need to be good at a business function, have some good multicultural skills, and then some very solid character traits to make it in international business. and then, of course, you have to be able to convince somebody that you have these skills and traits.

 

[Flambeur]



I'm gonna call you BS, buddy.
Please, offer more constructive insights. That was worse than an attempt.

 

[kasper007]



I'm gonna call you BS, buddy.
Please, offer more constructive insights. That was worse than an attempt.

unfortunately, as Joffrey has said, intl business is a useless major. and that comes from someone who initially wanted to actually major in intl business and has been working mostly internationally (investing) since graduating 5 years ago. Pick whatever you'd like to do (finance, marketing, logistics, etc) first. going on exchange abroad and acquiring language skills will be 10x more useful in your career.

FYI, the reason i choose not to major in intl business and pick finance instead was when i attended an info session with the head of the intl business faculty and he CLEARLY said that without being combined with actual skills, it was a completely useless major. and then i took a closer look at the curriculum of the courses offered and never looked back, there was nothing in there i would qualify as remotely relevant.

 

[Joffrey]



I'm gonna call you BS, buddy.
Please, offer more constructive insights. That was worse than an attempt.

Smart guy... try rereading my post and you'll grasp my point (that Globetrotter and Kasper elaborated on but was staring you right in the face). Good luck!

 

[RedScarf7]

When I was in school we made fun of the international business students because their field of study gave them no real discernible skills. Take finance or accounting, you'll actually learn something useful.

 

[globetrotter]

I was at a party a while back, and was talking to somebody who is a kellog proffessor in int business. honestly, I didn't understand what he teaches the kids. I asked him a few times, because I really wanted to understand, but it just wasn't clear to me. he teaches a lot about currency rates and the different costs of commodities in diffeerent places and stuff like that. in my world, totally irrelevant stuff.

 

[Flambeur]



I was at a party a while back, and was talking to somebody who is a kellog proffessor in int business. honestly, I didn't understand what he teaches the kids. I asked him a few times, because I really wanted to understand, but it just wasn't clear to me. he teaches a lot about currency rates and the different costs of commodities in diffeerent places and stuff like that. in my world, totally irrelevant stuff.

Sounds like international finance to me?

In any case, international business may be ok as an easy elective class, but god bless anyone who actually majors in it. :foo:

 

[JayJay]



Take finance or accounting....

+1. Finance, accounting, or marketing as a major and international business as a minor, if you need a minor.

 

[Lord-Barrington]

International business is as useless as political science. And I studied political science!

Both degrees are probably less useless than a humanities degree because they at least teach you research/statistics and writing but neither of them leads to any real job or field. Which means graduates coming out of both have to do some major legwork to land a job.

 

[Ebichuman]

It's a perfectly fine major. These days the true differentiation starts higher up, at graduate level. Chances are that the OP, if ambitious and hard working, will end up in grad school after a few years of experience. In that scenario, the major is acceptable as long as grades and the subsequent work experience are good.

If no grad school, then a variety of additional paths is open: CPA, CFA, etc. Having a broad-based major is OK here, too but one may have to take additional courses to catch up with some of the requirements.

Still, at this stage, I'd suggest the OP goes for it and while finishing college thinks ahead of what's next.

PS. I graduated with Int'l Relations BA and went the grad school route later. Worked out fine.

 

[Pieceofsand]

To know what specific type of work you want, doing what task and for what company, initially I thought it was an unrealistic question, you couldn't possibly expect people to answer that question. However If you weren't offering any sarcastic intent in your question I will go ahead and let you know that I do not know at this moment.

Now for those who said that International Business major have no job and it's useless, I'd like to hear more elaborated answers with that statement with cited sources if possible. Maybe it is a useless major, maybe it isn't, I don't know, maybe you do, so I'd like raise the question: How you do you know? Is this a strictly opinion or is it a testable statement? Did you major in international business? When you say it's useless, do you mean it's useless in 2012? What about 5 years from now? 10 years? Will it still be the same?

About my current major, I'm currently a marketing major and I'm looking it possibly getting IB as a minor. Or maybe vice versa.

Thanks for your feed backs.

 

[Lord-Barrington]



To know what specific type of work you want, doing what task and for what company, initially I thought it was an unrealistic question, you couldn't possibly expect people to answer that question. However If you weren't offering any sarcastic intent in your question I will go ahead and let you know that I do not know at this moment.
Now for those who said that International Business major have no job and it's useless, I'd like to hear more elaborated answers with that statement with cited sources if possible. Maybe it is a useless major, maybe it isn't, I don't know, maybe you do, so I'd like raise the question: How you do you know? Is this a strictly opinion or is it a testable statement? Did you major in international business? When you say it's useless, do you mean it's useless in 2012? What about 5 years from now? 10 years? Will it still be the same?
About my current major, I'm currently a marketing major and I'm looking it possibly getting IB as a minor. Or maybe vice versa.
Thanks for your feed backs.

Most people telling you this are in the workforce, so don't take their opinions lightly. I graduated with a non-technical, broad major (poli sci) and busted ****** to find a job after graduation. I did and things have worked out well but there definitely wasn't anyone begging me to come work with them with my poli sci degree.

My best advice would be the following: If you want to work in business, figure out for what kind of business (defence, pharma, consumer goods, etc.) and in what role (marketing, supply chain, sales, etc). Now head over to the career website of one of the major players, pick a job function, and look at the job titles and what they require. It will be a much more valuable experience than just asking people about their personal experiences and anecdotal evidence.

The more closely you can define what you want to do, the easier it becomes to figure out how to do it.