Picture this. You are a young high school graduate packing up your bags to be shipped off to college and enter a new stage in life. You’ve always had a dream of becoming a business owner or starting your own. Since junior year of high school you have read countless articles on how to choose a major for success. The stereotypical route for future business owners is to choose a major related to the areas of business or marketing. Although this has been the long standing tradition, tides are turning and other non-conventional majors could possibly better prepare future business owners for success.
Many skills from majors in other areas such as the graphic and performing arts can provide valuable skills that upper-level business classes might not provide. Many majors in the arts require exceptional time with hands-on projects, whether it be a sculpting project or a musical composition collaboration. This in turn requires the student to dedicated large amounts of time toward a single project. Later in life these students are far more likely to have the dedication required when starting a business. In addition, humanity majors generally require the student to have a sense of boldness and adventure since they start into the specialized area of study the first semester. This immediate transfer into the specialized area of study is drastically different from business majors who do not start into their major until about 2 years after their first semester. According to a recent study by Academically Adrift, 45% of college business majors do not retain much information during their first two years and learn the least in college compared to other majors in the humanities (cbs news).
In addition, running on the coattails of the college major’s title, such as Business Administration or Marketing, might actually be harmful to the students business and monetary success. Because everyone assumes the free pass to success lies in the title of their major, the marketing is crawling with business majors with rose-colored realities of success. In contrast, humanity majors are often overlooked as non-structured artists. Quite the contrary exists considering how much dedication, work, and effort is required to draw audiences’ attention to an area of life, such as art, that is technically not necessary for survival. The humanities are a unique and driven group if majors that instill certain qualities, such as dedication and endurance, necessary for a start-up business owner.
Ultimately, a business major might not be your one-way ticket to a successful business career. Because the market is overrun with business majors who think their area of study will provide them with every tool necessary to become a successful business individual, the degree title is worth much less in the broad spectrum. Other majors in the humanities are often underrated due to the hypothetical sense of freedom and lack of structure in the field of arts. Although a little research proves a major in the arts can provide the student necessary life skills to become a successful business owner. So next time you think participating in an art class is worthless, think about how much dedication it takes to make people pay attention to an area of life that is not necessary for survival.
Source cited:
O’Shaughnessy, Lynn. “8 Reasons Not to Get a Business Degree.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 20 Jan. 2011, www.cbsnews.com/news/8-reasons-not-to-get-a-business-degree/.
