Anna Reifman ⋅ Arlington Heights, IL Allstate Insurance Company ⋅ 13 years experience

Julian, so, I was faced with that same question when I was doing my BS. In the end, I decided that I would not get a general education, but a specific one, and chose Finance. If you're worried about obtaining general business education, don't :), you'll have plenty of electives to choose from, and you can get your general business education that way. However, even with a Finance major, there's no way that you'll skip out on accounting and marketing and other business courses. So, go with Finance, and not general business education.

Aaron Bernstine ⋅ New Galilee, PA Pennsylvania House of Representatives ⋅ 8 years experience

Julian - What I have looked for when hiring associates who were veterans was the ability to learn and adapt to the environment that they are in. Any type of experience that you can gain during your tenure in the Marine Corps that you can specifically relate to future employment will be helpful. This could include working with officers on budget reports, etc... My degree is in "business management" but I have been hampered by failing to have a more specific undergraduate degree. Pursuing a specific degree in business, such as finance, will serve you well in your future endeavors.

Seth Lynch ⋅ Plano, TX Hewlett Packard ⋅ 15 years experience

Julian,

For your undergrad, general business admin or finance major is going to be the difference in no more than 5 courses, so you can defer the decision until you have taken your core classes and see where your interest/aptitude lies.

Scott Kroeker ⋅ Omaha, NE Lindsay Corporation ⋅ 25 years experience

Hi Julian, I think if finance is where you want to be, then get a degree in finance and maybe pursue a masters in a more specific field that is financed related. A general business degree is ok if you are unsure if finance is what you want to do, then maybe look at a masters in a field that you find intriguing after the BA.

Cedric Cook ⋅ Richmond, TX IBM ⋅ 19 years experience

Hello Julian -

My first admission is that I don't work directly in either of these fields per se.. I work in IT full-time and also own and have owned businesses. In either case, my background in Business Administration (MBA) has helped me to structure and manage my entrepreneurial ventures.. While I've obtained classroom knowledge/training, the only true way to learn business is to become a practitioner. Have you considered how you might apply the education e.g. Owning your own business or working for a company?

In my opinion, having a degree in Finance would help you with the technical aspects of money-management and provide you with a background to make good economical decisions for (a) business or your own business. So, there is definitely a benefit in getting the Finance training.

My experience also says that having a general understanding of business (Business Administration), provides you with knowledge of different disciplines in a business structure e.g. Finance, Management, Operations, Human resources, etc. which kinda answers the question of where and how do I start.. This has personally helped me as a business owner.

Ultimately, you will need to decide how you intend to use the degree(s) to be most effective. The worst-case is that you get a degree and figure-out that you don't have a place or desire to use it --make sense?

Also, if you're considering 9 years out, I'd suggest you google or look for Surveys about most popular careers.. These surveys sometimes provide insight about what may be in demand over time..

Hope this helps!

Semper Fi!
Cedric Cook