College majors don't matter, Rankings do

There are a good amount of new articles on MBA related topics popping up on Bloomberg Businessweek this month. Two in particular caught my eye.

The first’s main topic isn’t on MBAs or Business Schools. It is on CEOs that didn’t study anything related to business at their undergraduate institution. I actually always tell young people that ask me for career guidance that choose a major that you like and know you will excel in because in the end your college major really has no bearing on where you end up. The only exception is if you want to be an engineer, you pretty much have to study engineering. As I mentioned in my last entry, Steve Jobs didn’t even graduate from college. He is not the only one: Bill Gates (Harvard) and Larry Ellison (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and University of Chicago) of Oracle dropped out of school as well.

So let’s say you plan on finishing your university degree and not sure what to study. This article provides inspiration for you to choose a major that you want to study as opposed to one you think is best to put on your resume. It even suggests you might be better off going with a degree totally unrelated to business. Just some food for thought for you young people that tend to think your college major really means more than something. A lot of times it’s not as important as you think.

The second article is on MBA rankings and how they pertain to your future salary. Here is an excerpt from the article:

“On average, MBAs from the top 45 B-schools will make around $2.5 million in base pay and bonuses over the course of a 20-year career. But there are great differences between the total compensation of the schools at the top of the list compared with those closer to the bottom, especially as MBAs move deeper into their careers. An MBA grad from Harvard, for instance, will earn nearly $4 million over the span of two decades. A grad from the University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business will earn less than half that. Newly minted MBAs at some top programs, such as Yale, earn high starting salaries but experience only a minimal increase over time. At other schools, such as the University of Connecticut, MBA grads more than double their salaries over the 20-year period.”

Of course there are tons of other factors that come into play, but it is an interesting read nonetheless. The article can be found here.

CNNMoney.com published the top 100 companies business school students most want to work for. Not surprisingly, Google topped the list for the fourth year in a row. Why Google? Well here’s what CNNMoney says:

“Well, who wouldn't want to work for a company that offers free meals, massages, as well as onsite laundry and oil changes? ‘But the creative culture is another big draw. People want to work here because they know they'll be doing innovative work,’ says company spokesman Jordan Newman. Employees are encouraged to learn skills outside of their specific field, by taking French lessons at the company's so-called Google University, for example. Says Newman: ‘There's a strong emphasis on growing here.’”

What was surprising about the list is that 3 investment banks made the list.

“’Being a part of the rebuilding of the investment banking industry is really appealing,’" said Camille Kelly, vice president of employer branding at Universum. ‘The opportunity to work at a company when it's on the road to recovery is a great chance to make an impact at your first job out of school.’”

The full CNNMoney list can be found here.

And speaking of Google…