Lord-Barrington
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<----- Bachelor of Business Administration here. From my first hand experience it is a toxic waste of a major to be avoided at all costs.Originally Posted by Satorialist
The BA route made sense at the time because like so many others, early-on I absolutely knew I wanted to 'be in business' but without knowing precisely what type of business or role...
It was a mistake.
If I could turn back the clock and star over, a thought I have at least once a day, then I'd have selected a specialty degree such as Finance, it's all the rage now considering how much the US economy subsists of Finance sector jobs (the consensus among my posh circle of friends both then and now is you're either 'in Banking/Finance or a poor peon,' and with the high-moneyed dream jobs they have now, they were right); Economics, a major that gives a far superior understanding of business and how the world works than a BA ever will or could; or Engineering and Mathematics, both eminently respectable and useful. Each lends you levels of instant credibility and open doors that the BA absolutely does not or can not.
Hell, even Psychology is a better degree, I think. Basically, ANY OTHER specialist degree is superior.
The BA is a master-of-nothing degree. Literally. The moral of all this is: Specialize, specialize, specialize. Stay away from generalist degrees. The poster who earlier described the BA as meant for people who end up being the "manager at XYZ box store at the mall" and never end up doing anything else.... that's painting with a broad brush but is closer to reality than anyone cares to admit. That's how I view the BA degree. If you aspire to anything greater, you had better have a solid plan and have built a golden personal network (should have this anyway but doubly-true with BA degree).
This will tell you everything you need to know; if choosing between two identical resumes, one having a Bachelor of Business Administration and the other Economics or Finance, which do you call back?
The Bachelor of Business Administration sorely needs a complete overhaul in terms of purpose and curriculum in order to stay relevant, let alone competitive, vis-a-vis other business degrees because the BA teaches nothing of significance that isn't already common sense and isn't challenging in the least.
It's funny how those who hang around these types of people are always miserable. If my entire life consisted of comparing my material success with my "friends" I'd probably be in constant agony as well.
