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What degree to take?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
hi. i want to be like steve jobs, bill gates, richard branson, or any rich powerful business leader. what degree should i take?
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • JsTJsT Posts: 18,268 Skive's The Limit
    Business would be a good start. In theory it doesnt always matter what degree you take, might as well take something you enjoy.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well.

    Branson didn't go to University.
    Jobs dropped out of college after one term.
    Gates did Computing at Harvard.


    So what does that tell you? Nothing. One of them has a degree and that was from the best university in the world (though MIT is better for computing).

    What they do have in common is an entrepreneurial spirit which cannot be taught. You're either born with it or your not so the answer is; there is no degree that will automatically make you a successful businessman.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    degrees are good if you want to be a highly paid wage slave, you'll need more than a piece of paper if you want to be rich and powerful.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ^Yup. Those people are entrepreneurs, they got something they're good at and worked at making it successful. They weren't taught how to do it, although of course you can be taught things that will help make you successful such as the Bill Gates Computing degree example.

    I'm taking Business and Entrepreneurship atm and for the first year I was forced to take "Creativity and Innovation" as part of the entrepreneurship bit. Quite frankly, it was the biggest load of utter bollocks I have ever had to sit through in my entire life.

    Just do something you're good at it and use the theories and whatnot to make yourself successful.
  • **helen****helen** Deactivated Posts: 9,235 Supreme Poster
    Well.

    Branson didn't go to University.
    Jobs dropped out of college after one term.
    Gates did Computing at Harvard.


    So what does that tell you? Nothing. One of them has a degree and that was from the best university in the world (though MIT is better for computing).

    What they do have in common is an entrepreneurial spirit which cannot be taught. You're either born with it or your not so the answer is; there is no degree that will automatically make you a successful businessman.

    :yes: you might find our article - be an entrepreneur - helpful :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    getting a degree unfortunately doesn't guarantee you getting a job...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    being a sucessful entrepeneur isn't very easy either - alot of it's good tactics and luck
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I knoe one guy from school who got crappy GCSEs, crappy A-levels, didn't go to Uni, scraped together what money he could, moved to Spain, worked in a bar for a while, was so good at it that the owner offered to sell it to him when he left. So he took out a mortgage on the bar and has been there for 5 years, works in the UK during the winter and makes an absolute packet. Something in the region of £30-40k a year. Not bad for a 23 year old.

    Yet I also have friends who got great degrees from Oxford and Cambridge who can't get a job for love nor money (though some of them think that just by going to Oxbridge gets you a job).

    Entrepreneurial spirit and your degree are generally mutually exclusive.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i want to be able to invest on companies, buy and sell companies, buy companies to expand etc.? what is best to take?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i want to be able to invest on companies, buy and sell companies, buy companies to expand etc.? what is best to take?

    Business Studies will teach you how to identify good and bad companies. More precisely it will teach you how to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of companies, markets and suchlike. Though I am in my second year of Business Studies at a rubbish uni and so far I've learnt fuck all about the stock market and trading companies, but I could identify which companies I would invest in.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The BA in Business Enterprise mentioned here http://www.entrepreneur.strath.ac.uk/ sounds good! This is probably the sort of thing I would be looking for if I wanted to do a degree but utilise my passion for an entrepreneurial career.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i want to be able to invest on companies, buy and sell companies, buy companies to expand etc.? what is best to take?

    Probably a business degree that teaches you corporate finance. Loughborough is very good for financial degrees.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    In my opinion there appears to be too many people taking degrees in economics and business at the moment. As thunderstruck says a degree isn't really necessary if you have your ambitions set and a good mind for what you're doing. Essentially doing business at uni could expand your knowledge but it may do you no good at all. At the end of the day Bill Gates got to where he is now by getting a deal that was probably right place right time. Although the Google owners made it from university. Make sure you study something you have a real flare for.

    Im probs rambling, gd luck by the way
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    mrbox99 wrote: »
    In my opinion there appears to be too many people taking degrees in economics and business at the moment.

    There very probably are, but the big financial institutions need people who have some experience, and doing a degree with a year in business is becoming more important as it teaches you the knowledge you need.

    Though you, and the other posters, are right- entrepeneurship cannot be taught, you either have it or you don't. And even if you are talented it doesn't guarantee success- whilst Gates and Branson are talented businessmen, so are lots of other people, and luck really is an important ingredient.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    get out in the real world with a good business idea. - thats it. a degree is not going to make you like any of the people you've mentioned.
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