Question by ..: If I opened my own business, how valuable would a BBA degree from a top ranking business school in the US be?
I’m looking to get an electrical engineering degree as my “main” degree. I will finish that in 4 years if I take an average of 10.5 hours per semester. I would like to add a business degree if it would help me to become an entrepreneur later on. I am inspired by my former employer who doubled in engineering/business and is now an owner of multiple music lesson studios. I would like to do something like that. She worked hard as an engineer and made it to 6 figures before she became an successful entrepreneur.
My question is then: How much can we assume she draws/drew from her undergrad experience to become a successful businesswoman?
THE QUESTION OF DIMINISHING RETURNS: Doing this would extend my undergrad career for another year at the least.. Maybe even 1.5 years if I cant get as much done as I plan. The college does not offer night courses for undergrad; therefore, I would not be able to get an full time engineering job for a time after graduating engineering. The colllege does however offer an MBA for evening students. This would allow me to get an engineering job while working on my MBA. I’m not sure if MBA programs are geared towards entrepreneurship though, and the BBA entrepreneur degree has 6 entrepreneur specific courses.
GOALS!!! The question is how much am I going to draw from my BBA or MBA when starting my business. I do realize that I will learn a lot from the actual running of a business.
There is also the risk that I wont even get accepted into the MBA program. In which case, I will have no opportunity to take advantage of a really good business school… I’m kinda leaning towards going ahead with the double Bachelor major for this reason.
Best answer:
Answer by PE2008
Better to take a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, then follow it with a MSTM degree in Technology Management (not an MBA).
Any ABET-accredited degree in Engineering will contain enough Business courses to get you started and keep you out of trouble.
ADDED
“Prof” (aka “SergeM”) again “forgets” to mention that there is nothing official about “OfficialMBAguide” and that he in fact owns this commercial site website designed to sell visitor information to dubious MBA schools.
Add your own answer in the comments!
The reason to get a degree is to get hired in a field you enjoy. You do not need a degree to open a business. A business degree teaches you how to run a big business and will actually mess you up for opening up your own business.
Get your engineering degree and then go to a night school course for accounting for small business. The BBA or MBA is unnecessary.
With a degree in engineering and a desire for entrepreneurship, the best choice would be an MBA, preferably from an AACSB accredited school that offers an entrepreneurship concentration. Many students from such programs start their own successful business immediately upon graduation. The chance that an MBA program will not accept you is small if you have good grades and have some work experience. You also need a decent GMAT score. Explore the references below for more information. Adding a BBS would take about as much time as the MBA and would not add nearly as much prestige to you.