Advantaged of habing a Business degree

[aaa123]

What are the perks of studying business degrees with specialisation in finance or marketing etc? Are there any jobs that exclusively hire only students with business degrees?

 

[Havok_ex]

No. Although it is easier for biz grads to enter the finance sector. Engineering, science and even arts grads enter the finance sector all the time. Its not rare at all. While the reverse is almost impossible, a biz grad cannot be an engineer.

 

[Nicholas92]

Business is a general degree; there are no jobs which are available exclusively to Business graduates, although naturally marketing/finance positions would tend to prefer those from the relevant specialization.

Jobs which require specific degrees include professions like Medicine (To become a Registered Doctor), Law (to join the Singapore bar), Dentistry (to register with the Singapore Dental Council)

Other jobs that would greatly prefer to the extend of essentially accepting only specific degrees include fields which require very specialized/technical knowledge like Engineering, Science and Computing.

A business graduate would be completely clueless in a laboratory.

 

[Darkzi0n]

from a prof in NUS on biz students...
"why would anyone spend 4 years learning nothing?"

 

[agenda]

The most important thing is logical thinking and aptitude to learn. If you have both, it's matter what you study.

 

[arcanum00]

What are the perks of studying business degrees with specialisation in finance or marketing etc? Are there any jobs that exclusively hire only students with business degrees?

That is, not general business degrees?

 

[MoxLotus]

That is, not general business degrees?

that is what general biz degree teaches lol..

 

[arcanum00]

that is what general biz degree teaches lol..

I think, a degree programme may carry the name Bachelor of Business, or perhaps Bachelor of Commerce or Bachelor of Science in Management, but it may be pretty much specialised. This is usually so when the Bachelor of Business programme comes with specialisations. For example, the NTU Bachelor of Business programme.

While I do agree that many business degree programmes are indeed general in content, but I would take a further look into the syllabuses offered in the degree programmes before classifying them as general business degree programmes.

 

[Havok_ex]

I think, a degree programme may carry the name Bachelor of Business, or perhaps Bachelor of Commerce or Bachelor of Science in Management, but it may be pretty much specialised. This is usually so when the Bachelor of Business programme comes with specialisations. For example, the NTU Bachelor of Business programme.

While I do agree that many business degree programmes are indeed general in content, but I would take a further look into the syllabuses offered in the degree programmes before classifying them as general business degree programmes.

While it may have 'specialisations', nothing at the undergrad level truly goes deep enough to be considered a specialisation. Not to mention employers don't really look at what modules you took and such. From the employer's perspective(which is what OP is asking), your specialisations don't really mean as much as your class of honours. All business degrees are general degrees. Even NBS specialisation is only 6-7 modules in that area. That's like saying if I take a minor(5 modules) in computer science, I am now specialised in comp science.

 

[MrSinkie95]

biz degree is at a disadvantaged. hard truth

 

[ohohohohohh]

Well.. you can definitely find an office job in government or private sector. That is certain. Pay is stable as well.

 

[SevenSeals]

biz degree is at a disadvantaged. hard truth

Explain more?

 

[arcanum00]

While it may have 'specialisations', nothing at the undergrad level truly goes deep enough to be considered a specialisation.

Quite agree.

Not to mention employers don't really look at what modules you took and such. From the employer's perspective(which is what OP is asking), your specialisations don't really mean as much as your class of honours.

Most of the time true, I think.

All business degrees are general degrees. Even NBS specialisation is only 6-7 modules in that area.

Don't really agree. I think we may have some differences in our definitions of 'specialisation'.

For the NBS specialisations, I based my disagreement on the Actuarial Science track.

While I heard many from the Actuarial Science track did not gain full exemptions for the CT modules from the Actuarial Profession, the trainining from the 7 or more modules are deemed sufficient to qualify for the full exemptions, subjected to a certain marks being obtained. And Actuarial Science is a specialised trade.

Of course, one may argue that many graduates from non-cognate disciplines such as Engineering, Computer Science, Physics or Mathematics took the Actuarial Profession exams and went into the same trade. That, I agree. And I also agree that it is usually difficult for graduates from Business to switch to the abovementioned disciplines, or even allied disciplines like Economics. But to say the Business graduates from Actuarial Science specialisation are not specialised for its industry, I disagree. At the minimum, the industry recognises that.

That said, I was surprised that Actuarial Science was read under a Business degree programme in Singapore. I was under the impression that mainly mathematics and statistics courses, and only few Business-related courses, would be included.

TS mentioned Marketing, which is something specialised but often seen not as difficult in acquiring the knowledge. Hence, it doesn't seem to add much value to the graduates. Simply put, it is good to have one with Marketing qualification for marketing positions, but it's not necessary. Moreover, the professional societies for Marketing, internationally or locally, don't seem strong in campaigning for its field.

That's like saying if I take a minor(5 modules) in computer science, I am now specialised in comp science.

That's not really a good comparison, I feel. To sufficiently cover the required body of knowledge in Computer Science, it would usually need to include many courses in the commonly seen degree programme structures. Furthermore, Computer Science is not a cognate discipline to Business, while Marketing can be considered part of Business (or sometimes, Management).

TS mentioned Finance. I go along with you on this, as Finance, I think, emcompasses quite a lot of things. Many programmes will include mainly Business Finance or Personal Finance with some accounting courses to call the programmes a Finance major or specialisation, which may have its roots somewhere but I personally just don't really agree. Even as specialisations, Business Finance or Personal Finance, like Marketing, may add little value as an Accountant could do almost the same job.

My point is, again, while I do agree that many business degree programmes are indeed general in content, but I would take a further look into the syllabuses offered in the degree programmes before classifying them as general business degree programmes.

 

[Nicholas92]

Oops. Totally forgot about you guys.

Yea NTU Business (Actuarial Science) isn't a general degree.

That's one exception out of the bunch.

 

[Darkzi0n]

Study actuarial sci, cannot become actuary, end up also considered as general degree.

 

[ChocolateCat]

If Business is such a disadvantageous course, makes you wonder why so many straight As students flock to it every year.

 

[maicowpeh]

If Business is such a disadvantageous course, makes you wonder why so many straight As students flock to it every year.

Cuz they nvr think abt it?

 

[arcanum00]

Study actuarial sci, cannot become actuary, end up also considered as general degree.

It seems that when we discussed here on whether Business degrees are general, or not, we are actually discussing whether the skills picked up are transferrable to another field, and whether it is generally easier to pick up skills from the other field.

For Actuarial Science graduates from NTU who can't or didn't become actuary, some of their quantitative skills may be portable to say, industries which require skills in which involved OR/MS, I guess.

I can't speak the same for other specialisations, though. I would think that many such specialisations are 'over-specialised' in a narrow domain that hardly anything is portable, or of value, to another field.

It seems that, the more quantitative, and in a sense more 'scientific', a discipline is, the easier it is for its graduates to go into another discipline.

 

[WestgateTower]

If Business is such a disadvantageous course, makes you wonder why so many straight As students flock to it every year.

Argumentum ad populum.

we used to have many straight As students flocking to life science too and look at the state of the industry now.

 

[FrostWurm]

we used to have many straight As students flocking to life science too and look at the state of the industry now.

where's the sauce??