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A couple of years ago, CJ and business did have some of the highest underemployment rates according to a PayScale study.
I don't exactly agree with the author calling business and CJ vocational. They don't teach a vocation. CJ is a social science, and I think a more appropriate term for business would be "applied." One school I attended used the term "applied professional."
I don't have a humanities degree, but since the job market recovered in Texas, I've never had a problem using my social science degree to land a job that requires a degree. It's all a matter of being willing to work with special populations and depressing situations. I've only had my business degree for a little over a year, and maybe my experience is affected by my past work experience, but having a business degree has done nothing for me so far. Of course, this is just an anecdote.
Accounting and Finance major here. Most business schools (well mine anyway) tend to have four departments; Finance, Accounting, Marketing and Management. We will ignore the newest flavor of the months like ecommerce and supply chain for now. Historically, those four I mentioned have been the staples of the business school. Only two of those tend to give you jobs within your major fairly quickly, accounting and marketing.
Accounting is fairly dry and difficult to most people. Marketing is pure sales, either you have the gift for it or you don't, and since most of those jobs are commission based, you find out very quickly if you are cut out for it or not.
To be brutally honest, most of the other sub sectors of the business school tend to be either sales in disguise (I found that most of the finance jobs tended to be "financial advisers" who have to call people up looking for business, or real estate, which is another sales job honestly). The rest of the business concentrations tend to be pure fluff, and pretty useless as far as getting good paying middle class jobs. Management as a major has always been a head scratcher to me. Which employer in his/her right mind is going to hire a 21 year old with no experience in the business to manage anything? Yet I saw tons of kids flock to this major, mainly because compared to accounting its relatively easy to pass with high grades. Same deal with the MBA honestly. Too many people spend big bucks/loans to get an MBA in management or international relations when they have no relevant prior working experience, then wonder why they don't have a job but now hefty student loan repayments.
So yes, a business major can be useless unless you are very careful in picking your area of concentration.
A lot of people also get the generic business administration degree, which is interdisciplinary. You take a little bit of everything, but not enough to have hard skills in any one area unless you have a concentration. My concentration was in computer information systems, but I never seriously pursued a career in IS or IT.
Accounting and Finance major here. Most business schools (well mine anyway) tend to have four departments; Finance, Accounting, Marketing and Management. We will ignore the newest flavor of the months like ecommerce and supply chain for now. Historically, those four I mentioned have been the staples of the business school. Only two of those tend to give you jobs within your major fairly quickly, accounting and marketing.
Accounting is fairly dry and difficult to most people. Marketing is pure sales, either you have the gift for it or you don't, and since most of those jobs are commission based, you find out very quickly if you are cut out for it or not.
To be brutally honest, most of the other sub sectors of the business school tend to be either sales in disguise (I found that most of the finance jobs tended to be "financial advisers" who have to call people up looking for business, or real estate, which is another sales job honestly). The rest of the business concentrations tend to be pure fluff, and pretty useless as far as getting good paying middle class jobs. Management as a major has always been a head scratcher to me. Which employer in his/her right mind is going to hire a 21 year old with no experience in the business to manage anything? Yet I saw tons of kids flock to this major, mainly because compared to accounting its relatively easy to pass with high grades. Same deal with the MBA honestly. Too many people spend big bucks/loans to get an MBA in management or international relations when they have no relevant prior working experience, then wonder why they don't have a job but now hefty student loan repayments.
So yes, a business major can be useless unless you are very careful in picking your area of concentration.
Disagree. Two of the hottest area in Business now are Supply Chain Management and Human Resource Management. Graduates in both areas are getting good paying jobs, provided they make connections while in College via organizations such as the Institute for Supply Chain Management or SHRM. I know of a couole HR graduates who been out of college less than 10 years making well over 100k. I agree an MBA degree is more valuable if you have some experience. My undergrad is in Accounting. If most students had any idea of what most Accountants do, there would be a shortage of accounting majors. I worked in Accounting during my first years out of College; not a pleasant experience. Economics is often housed in the College of Business. I know of a couple of people with these degrees working as economic consultants who are very well off financially.
A couple of years ago, CJ and business did have some of the highest underemployment rates according to a PayScale study.
I don't exactly agree with the author calling business and CJ vocational. They don't teach a vocation. CJ is a social science, and I think a more appropriate term for business would be "applied." One school I attended used the term "applied professional."
I don't have a humanities degree, but since the job market recovered in Texas, I've never had a problem using my social science degree to land a job that requires a degree. It's all a matter of being willing to work with special populations and depressing situations. I've only had my business degree for a little over a year, and maybe my experience is affected by my past work experience, but having a business degree has done nothing for me so far. Of course, this is just an anecdote.
Actually, MANY do.
If the student intends to use a CJ degree for police work, there is an obvious cap on the salery, depending upon the municipality. The highest payed police in the country earn around $100,000 to start.
If the student is using CJ as a stepping stone to law school, don't. They would prefer English, history, political science - pretty much anything over criminal justice.
Business majors are generally most succesful when mom or dad has a business.
If the student intends to use a CJ degree for police work, there is an obvious cap on the salery, depending upon the municipality. The highest payed police in the country earn around $100,000 to start.
If the student is using CJ as a stepping stone to law school, don't. They would prefer English, history, political science - pretty much anything over criminal justice.
Business majors are generally most succesful when mom or dad has a business.
I'm not following. Many do what?
CJ programs are not training programs for police officers. Police officers do not need degrees. Even among the 1% of departments that require a bachelor's degree, most don't require a specific major. A recent study estimated that around 30% of police officers have a bachelor's degree.
CJ programs are not training programs for police officers. Police officers do not need degrees. Even among the 1% of departments that require a bachelor's degree, most don't require a specific major. A recent study estimated that around 30% of police officers have a bachelor's degree.
I think s/he was talking about federal policing jobs like FBI, US Marshals Service etc.
I think s/he was talking about federal policing jobs like FBI, US Marshals Service etc.
The FBI and several other federal law enforcement agencies do not have a preference for criminal justice degrees. In reality, a criminal justice or law enforcement degree will make one less competitive for a special agent job with the FBI. However, the FBI does value law enforcement experience at the state or local level.
She also mentioned $100k salaries to start, and most federal law enforcement jobs start at GS-9 or lower. The police departments that get you to $100k quickly without excessive overtime are in regions with a very high cost of living i.e. California and New Jersey.
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