A question about Business Degrees

[avant-garde]

Is a business degree a stable way to go? Are things like entrepreneurship, financial analysis, MIS, investment banking, etc safe when there is an economic crisis, like now? I'm just wondering because I want to get an MBA one day, probably go to Stanford but if it hinders me from having a stable life I'd rather not have it. Should I do engineering instead if I want a good, stable income?

 

[lubuntu]

You should probably do something your enjoy regardless... either choice will be lucrative enough if you are good at what you do

 

[Astronuc]

Is a business degree a stable way to go? Are things like entrepreneurship, financial analysis, MIS, investment banking, etc safe when there is an economic crisis, like now? I'm just wondering because I want to get an MBA one day, probably go to Stanford but if it hinders me from having a stable life I'd rather not have it. Should I do engineering instead if I want a good, stable income?

A business degree could be stable depending on the industry/business in which one lands a job. An engineering degree could also provide the basis for stable job.

Some universities have programs that encourage engineering students to do what is effectively a minor in business. Engineering and business management can be lucrative professions.

It's good for an engineer to have a background in business, and it is good for a business manager to have a background in engineering if he/she is a manager at a technology company. To be an effective manager requires knowledge of technology in order to have an effective understanding and reasonable expectations with respect to R&D and product/market.

 

[Choppy]

These days, I think the best advice career-wise is to develop and maintain an up-to-date skill set that is likely to remain in demand for the forseeable future. Chances are, you will change careers in your life, multiple times - so it's best to develop the attitude that you are essentially a contractor. The days of the long-term stable job are diminishing. I know people who worked in General Motors and had stable, well-paying, unionized jobs for most of their lives, but are now worried because if the corporation goes bankrupt, their pensions will be in jeopardy.

That being said, the economy won't be in the same situation it is now when you graduate in four (or more) years. And no one can really predict what the "hot" fields are going to be over the next forty years. Consider that people retiring now started working in the 1960s - it was a totally different world back then.

 

[Astronuc]

Bill Gross founded Idealab in March 1996 and has served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer and as a Director since that time. Mr. Gross served as President from March 1996 to March 2000. Prior to Idealab, he founded a number of companies. Mr. Gross started Solar Devices, a firm which sold plans and kits for solar energy products and he patented a new loudspeaker design and formed GNP Loudspeakers, Inc. After graduating from California Institute of Technology, . . . . Mr. Gross serves on the boards of directors of numerous companies and is also a member of the Board of Trustees of California Institute of Technology and the Art Center College of Design. Mr. Gross received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from California Institute of Technology.

from http://www.idealab.com/about_idealab/board.html

 

[harvellt]

My good friends brother,(who convinced me that physics degrees are a realistic goal and got me to go back to school), graduated with a gpa of a 3.2 with a BA of physics. He just got a job working for a very large supermarket chain as a efficiency annalist. He beat multiple people who graduated from the same university with much better grades as business majors.