Having a hard time selecting your Major? MyMajor.com offers free guides and resources aiming to help prospective students select the right major for their career goals.

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Business Major: A Flexible Career Path

Choosing a business major is a great way to get a broad, eclectic education. A business degree can lead to a number of different career choices. Of course, you may choose to focus on a business career, but you might also enter career paths such as:

• Public Relations Specialist
• Market Researcher
• Human Resources Specialist
• Financial Analyst
• Systems Analyst
• Product Manager

People who often chooses a business major will often continue their education to earn their master’s of business administration, or MBA, degree. This prestigious degree has grown increasingly popular in recent years for undergraduates from many different disciplines. It can translate into the ability to take on supervisory roles within an organization and the achievement of a higher pay scale.

The student working toward a business degree at a four year institution will typically spend the majority of the first two years of their education completing their general requirements. This may include courses in the social sciences, math, history, communications, health, and other studies. The completion of these general requirements is designed to give the student an introduction to a broad range of subject matter before they focus more particularly on their major. These courses also assist the student by preparing them for the rigors of the academic life. They are learning to perform research and write papers in a manner that will serve them well as they begin their business education.

In some undergraduate business major programs, the student simply focuses on completing several general business credits. In other programs, the student must declare a specialization within the major. These specializations may include:

• Marketing
• Accounting
• Small Business Management
• International Business
• Finance
• Decision Sciences

The specialization choice will largely dictate the subjects the student will study. However, there are some general courses which most business students can expect to encounter such as:

• Understanding Global Business
• Macroeconomics
• Managerial Accounting
• Statistics of Business and Economics
• Microeconomics
• Communication in Business
• Operations Management
• Applied Decision Making
• Survey of Marketing
• Corporate Information Technology
• Human Resource Management
• Survey of Finance
• Strategic Management
• Ethics
• Legal Issues in Business

The curriculum at any given institution is likely to vary widely from that at another. Before choosing a particular program, the student should carefully review whether they must declare a specialization or not, and read a full course catalog to determine whether the institution sufficiently emphasizes their area of interest.

Students who have chosen a business major may also have the option of taking on a minor in addition to their major area of emphasis. The minor may be any specialization offered by the college like accounting, finance, or marketing. Sometimes completing a minor in conjunction with a major will result in the student taking on additional credits. Other times, the student fulfills the requirements for a minor nearly unintentionally, simply because they have a particular interest in a certain subject, like accounting. Completing a minor course of study can only enhance the student’s employability after graduation. Generally speaking, the more credentials you possess, the easier time you’ll have of finding a job.

The business major chooses a flexible educational path that could lead them to open their own business, find a job in advertising, or eventually become a Certified Public Accountant. The possibilities are as endless as the student’s imagination for recipients of this versatile college degree.