Are business majors really that rare? Forum

[Ronaldo]

Never said it was awesome.

[TrojanHopeful]

No, you did not; however, somebody a couple of posts before you did.

My two cents (if anyone wants it): In all three of my undergrad tax classes (individual, corporate/partnerships, and estates/trusts) the failing rate was that of 60%, which was then curved to around 30 - 40% (still not an entirely forgiving curve); the same pretty much went for my advanced accounting classes. This would lead me to believe that these accounting classes are a little more difficult than some would make them out to be.

[Ragged]

No, you did not; however, somebody a couple of posts before you did.

My two cents (if anyone wants it): In all three of my undergrad tax classes (individual, corporate/partnerships, and estates/trusts) the failing rate was that of 60%, which was then curved to around 30 - 40% (still not an entirely forgiving curve); the same pretty much went for my advanced accounting classes. This would lead me to believe that these accounting classes are a little more difficult than some would make them out to be.

Where do you go to school? Damn... 30-40% failing after curve is insane.

[Ronaldo]

No, you did not; however, somebody a couple of posts before you did.

My two cents (if anyone wants it): In all three of my undergrad tax classes (individual, corporate/partnerships, and estates/trusts) the failing rate was that of 60%, which was then curved to around 30 - 40% (still not an entirely forgiving curve); the same pretty much went for my advanced accounting classes. This would lead me to believe that these accounting classes are a little more difficult than some would make them out to be.

+1

[bostonlawchick]

I go to an okay UG with a pretty good accounting program. Finance majors aren't so lucky. No one from my school goes to work on Wall Street thats for sure.

I was interviewing for Big 4 internships this past fall and hearing horror stories of how much work they do during busy season for like 45k a year, and then I realized I could do the same ridiculously detailed work and the same insane hours and make a ton more money.

That and the more accounting coursework I take the more I never want to hear the words "bond amortization" or "IFRS" ever again....

I never considered accounting (1) because I'm not great at math (2) because my aunt is an accountant and she's boring and depressed.

I interned at KPMG in international tax, and I fully expect to be working much more in BigLaw. I don't think 50 hrs is really bad during tax season and 40 hrs during the summer is really bad. Well wait a sec... I guess they fired a bunch of people because they had too many people to spread the work around, so maybe when the economy picks up it may be more at 60 hrs during tax season.

Maybe tax is different, but most people I know at E&Y and PWC that are in audit are working at least 70 hours a week during busy season. My best friends boyfriend gets to work at like 7 or 8 in the morning and isn't home until 9 most nights. Then again, he apparently got stuck with a pretty awful client.

I don't really know what the starting salaries are around here, I just threw out 45k. I think its probably about 50k where I'm at, but I don't think most of our grads got 55k. Then again, I live in a pretty small market. The point is, much less than biglaw (granted, if one could make it) for the same kind of hours and commitment level.

[bostonlawchick]

Business programs are notorious for grade deflation. I personally took a business class where my 92% average was worth only a B. I never took another business class again- it wasn't worth the hit to my GPA.

Not at most programs they aren't. At my undergrad (a decent, but not elite school) it was almost impossible to get less than a B.

I took business writing from the business department, and in a class filled with business majors, I got an A with no effort. And anyone who reads my posts knows that my writing is a solid step below awful.

From what people in business courses told me, that there were about three or four tough weed out classes (business calc, econ micro and macro, and some other). But besides that it was retardedly easy. They worked the least amount of any majors I've seen, included polisci.

Most business writing classes are a complete joke. In mine, I learned to use spell check, how to write my resume, and that it was bad to use slang in an email. It would be hard NOT to get an a.

I'm majoring in accounting and minoring in poli sci, and I can tell you my business classes are a hell of a lot harder than my poli sci classes. You have to work your ass off (at my school anyway) to come out with a decent gpa in accounting (other business majors, like marketing, not so much). People that want to get a big 4 internship need at least a 3.6-3.7, which is difficult when the exam averages for most accounting classes hover around 60, and most people fail auditing the first go around.

[tesoro]

Business programs are notorious for grade deflation. I personally took a business class where my 92% average was worth only a B. I never took another business class again- it wasn't worth the hit to my GPA.

Not at most programs they aren't. At my undergrad (a decent, but not elite school) it was almost impossible to get less than a B.

I took business writing from the business department, and in a class filled with business majors, I got an A with no effort. And anyone who reads my posts knows that my writing is a solid step below awful.

From what people in business courses told me, that there were about three or four tough weed out classes (business calc, econ micro and macro, and some other). But besides that it was retardedly easy. They worked the least amount of any majors I've seen, included polisci.

Most business writing classes are a complete joke. In mine, I learned to use spell check, how to write my resume, and that it was bad to use slang in an email. It would be hard NOT to get an a.

I'm majoring in accounting and minoring in poli sci, and I can tell you my business classes are a hell of a lot harder than my poli sci classes. You have to work your ass off (at my school anyway) to come out with a decent gpa in accounting (other business majors, like marketing, not so much). People that want to get a big 4 internship need at least a 3.6-3.7, which is difficult when the exam averages for most accounting classes hover around 60, and most people fail auditing the first go around.

Yeah I wasn't saying that business classes are or aren't easy. I was just saying that the curve and grade deflation are crazy. If a 92% was a B, then anything short of absolute perfection was going to seriously harm one's grade. I was an EE major who stopped taking business classes because an intro to management class and accounting class were tanking my GPA. Photonics and electromagnetics are insanely hard, but if I make a sign error it's not going to cost me a letter grade or more.

DF your business school sounds a lot less strict grade-wise than the one at my UG was.

[ApexChaser]

Business programs are notorious for grade deflation. I personally took a business class where my 92% average was worth only a B. I never took another business class again- it wasn't worth the hit to my GPA.

Not at most programs they aren't. At my undergrad (a decent, but not elite school) it was almost impossible to get less than a B.

I took business writing from the business department, and in a class filled with business majors, I got an A with no effort. And anyone who reads my posts knows that my writing is a solid step below awful.

From what people in business courses told me, that there were about three or four tough weed out classes (business calc, econ micro and macro, and some other). But besides that it was retardedly easy. They worked the least amount of any majors I've seen, included polisci.

Most business writing classes are a complete joke. In mine, I learned to use spell check, how to write my resume, and that it was bad to use slang in an email. It would be hard NOT to get an a.

I'm majoring in accounting and minoring in poli sci, and I can tell you my business classes are a hell of a lot harder than my poli sci classes. You have to work your ass off (at my school anyway) to come out with a decent gpa in accounting (other business majors, like marketing, not so much). People that want to get a big 4 internship need at least a 3.6-3.7, which is difficult when the exam averages for most accounting classes hover around 60, and most people fail auditing the first go around.

Yeah I wasn't saying that business classes are or aren't easy. I was just saying that the curve and grade deflation are crazy. If a 92% was a B, then anything short of absolute perfection was going to seriously harm one's grade. I was an EE major who stopped taking business classes because an intro to management class and accounting class were tanking my GPA. Photonics and electromagnetics are insanely hard, but if I make a sign error it's not going to cost me a letter grade or more.

DF your business school sounds a lot less strict grade-wise than the one at my UG was.

You picked the wrong classes. Always look for ones that involve globalization and international policy. Business classes were what propped up my GPA and gave hope to continue with engineering. My school has a top 10 business school and I don't think there was any grade deflation in the "fun" electives; if anything there was grade inflation; but that's just my perception. I will say Intermediate Micro/Macro were not the vacation courses I thought they'd be.

[Mickey Quicknumbers]

Obviously, you never looked into accounting or MIS. I got straight A's in all my liberal arts classes. My only Bs came on my business courses (accounting, advanced econ and fin).

Different strokes for different folks. I never got lower than a 94 in any accounting class but a B in introduction to poetry.

Could it be possible you did not take the "introduction to poetry" class seriously and therefore got a B. I doubt that if you can get an A on accounting, you can't get an A on poetry.

I'm a terrible poet apparently but I "get" accounting, i'm just saying that for some students certain classes are easier than others, you can't broadly generalize all accounting to be difficult grade-busters.

[TheBigMediocre]

I think the disconnect between various posters here comes from the variety in difficulty of the accounting program at each school. Even some "top schools" don't necessarily have "top accounting programs". My school has an extremely rigorous accounting program and I can say without a doubt the majority of our classes are grade busters. I can post GPA distribution going back 6 years for classes if need be.

[Fark-o-vision]

Business school kids are always trying to convince you that their school was tough. They are, without fail, lying.

[Ragged]

Business school kids are always trying to convince you that their school was tough. They are, without fail, lying.

That's probably true. If a person doesn't do well it helps to think that it was just tough and not them being stupid. Or if a person does do well they think that it will help them look even smarter.

[bostonlawchick]

I'm not saying accounting is as hard as something like engineering or physics (given that I switched to accounting after being miserable doing both), but that I'm surprised that people here think that it's such a cakewalk given that the majority of law school applicants majored in things like history or poli sci, which are notoriously easy (at least all the classes I've taken). Then again, the difficulty of programs differs between schools. My school has a rigorous accounting program and pretty much ignores liberal arts majors.