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I don't know which courses to take (University)

Student4736

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Hello guys,
I am currently studying Business Administration and I have to choose a specialization for my last two semesters. I have no preferences and I am still very unsure about my choice. I have read MJs Fastlane & Unscripted and in it he emphasizes again and again how important marketing is for every company. But I'm unsure whether the marketing I learn in my university will be really applicable. I am in the process of teaching myself programming as my first skill (thank you Fox :D) right now. For this reason I am also considering computer science but I don't see how it will benefit my coding skills. I'll just add below which topics each specialization contains and maybe you can write what course would benefit me the most to work as a freelancer. Please don't get me wrong, I don't want you to take the decision for me, but I've learned a lot in this forum and would love to hear your opinions. And maybe it is interesting for some of you to see what we get taught at European universities. Thanks for reading and your time.

1. Organization and Computer Science
CONTENT:
  • Organization and IT Management
  • IT Strategy
  • Enterprise Architecture Management
  • Digital Business Models
  • Project Management Tools
  • Computer Supported Cooperative Work
  • Industry-specific MUS
  • data mining
  • Integrated Information Processing
  • Operational Systems
  • Strategic Business Process Management
  • Interdependencies of business decisions
  • Modelling of interdependencies and simulation of decisions
  • Structure of company-wide databases
  • Use of databases for corporate management purposes
  • data warehouse
  • OLAP
GOALS:
  • Knowledge of the essential organisational structures in companies and their consequences for management
  • Knowledge of the essential legal provisions on data protection and the associated effects on business operations
  • Understanding of the structure and functionality of database systems
  • Practical capabilities for querying and managing database systems
  • Interface between specialist department and IT department
  • Ability to convert tasks into project plans, to name task packages and to control their processing

2. Marketing and Sales Management
CONTENT:
  • Sales Management
  • sales process
  • sales controlling
  • Distribution Management
  • Customer Relationship Management
  • Marketing Management
  • strategic marketing
  • Product and Price Management
  • marketing communication
  • market research
GOALS:
  • Analysis of foreign markets
  • Analysis of companies, divisions and departments
  • Design and optimization of the marketing mix
  • Control of international sales structures
  • Development and maintenance of customer relationships

3. Marketing
CONTENT:
  • services marketing
  • distribution concepts
  • trade marketing
  • B2B marketing
  • client management
  • communication marketing
  • Media planning and selection
  • agency work
  • advertising impact models
  • Communication strategies and measures
  • Online advertising and social media communication
  • Selected below-the-line instruments
  • marketing controlling
GOALS:
  • Providing practice-oriented and scientifically sound marketing training
  • Ability to handle complex marketing decision situations
  • Identifying and assessing opportunities and risks in markets
  • Ability to develop strategic plans and translate them into detailed market development measures
If you have made it this far, what do you think which course could be the most useful for being a Freelancer? Thank you :)
 
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ZCP

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I used to balance course selection between

area of focus / tough professor / learn something

and

pretty girls / scenery.

As with anything in life, research who is teaching each course. Go talk to them. Ask them which course you should take. Talk to people in your major that are about to graduate. Get reviews. Then make your decision.
 

Jeff Noel

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I used to balance course selection between

area of focus / tough professor / learn something

and

pretty girls / scenery.

As with anything in life, research who is teaching each course. Go talk to them. Ask them which course you should take. Talk to people in your major that are about to graduate. Get reviews. Then make your decision.


I can say I definitely would've went for the Police Academy course instead of Computer Sciences in college if I had to balance things the way you do hahaha (still took me a while to choose).
 

ZF Lee

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OK, my personal opinion. My university has a different system, but I did touch these subjects or similar before...

This year, I have to take compulsory core subjects for my business course- Accounting, Data Analytics, Marketing, Business Law, Economics and Management.

Honestly speaking, Management and Marketing were bullshit. Bloody lipsticking theories plus paper assignments that actually encouraged circle-jerking, something like what happens around here sometimes.

Econs was also bullcrap, with all the ceterus paribus sing-song dance. The few courses that I considered very important were Accounting, Data and Business Law.

Especially marketing. For one assignment, we had to analyse a certain company's marketing strategy from the OUTSIDE, by looking up on its social media and marketing materials. I would say this is stupid, because marketing materials, especially online, can change in a drop of a coin. And what earns profit today can screw you tomorrow. Students are likely to have a fixed mindset on how the shit works. And the entire course was like an English comprehension class rather than a strategic discussion.

You can learn marketing from experience or from books (got to be careful, especially when you pick books on B2C marketing, can be fluffy)

If you have made it this far, what do you think which course could be the most useful for being a Freelancer?
Had some offers to become a sales rep for a small online company on Upwork. Didn't have enough time for it, so I rejected it. Had good pay though. Forgot the exact amount, but its enough to live simply and save a bit of capital, plus inside knowledge of an industry.

I think so far, its the school of hard knocks to learn sales, but when you are dealing with bigger corporate clients, maybe a bit of theory on how their structure works isn't a bad idea.

Data is good. I'm thinking of retooling myself in this area for freelancing. Would probably need either python or Rcode. The need to identify errors or opportunities in businesses just never dies out. You help them earn more money or save more money. Period.

Depending on your strengths and past background, you can take either of the first two specialisations.

I used to balance course selection between

area of focus / tough professor / learn something

and

pretty girls / scenery.
Pretty girls? WTF?

But yes, professors are great help. I used to think statistics was bunch of formulas to be feared until I met a very witty Business Analytics lecturer who turned all that rubbish into great stories and conspiracies (lol).

Why government projects reported on the newspapers are jokes.

Why average folks are more F*cked than they thought they already were, economically speaking. And so on....

He inspired me to pursue a major in that area.

I remember that Warren Buffet was inspired to get into finance by his professor, Benjamin Graham?
 
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becks22

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I love marketing but 99% of the marketing classes I took under undergrad and my MBA were pointless. Business law and my accounting classes probably taught me the most real-world information. Also see if your college has an entrepreneurship track. My college added one a few years after I graduated. It's a class but you only meet once a week and the rest of the time, you develop your own business.
 

Student4736

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Econs was also bullcrap, with all the ceterus paribus sing-song dance. The few courses that I considered very important were Accounting, Data and Business Law.

I could also do Accounting or Business Law, but it's not my strength and honestly, it's not much fun for me compared to the other courses.
I love marketing but 99% of the marketing classes I took under undergrad and my MBA were pointless. Business law and my accounting classes probably taught me the most real-world information. Also, see if your college has an entrepreneurship track. My college added one a few years after I graduated. It's a class but you only meet once a week and the rest of the time, you develop your own business.

Yeah, my University offers a course on entrepreneurship and I will choose it as my first specialization. Just couldn't decide for the second one yet. I will go with the first course because it's never wrong to know the technical aspect of a business. Marketing, on the other hand, I can teach myself easier because what we get taught is more the theoretical models. I don't see so many advantages in this compared to the other course.
Thank you all very much :)
 

ZF Lee

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I could also do Accounting or Business Law, but it's not my strength and honestly, it's not much fun for me compared to the other courses.
Not my strength as well, practically speaking. I have not done business with fully-fledged lawyers/accountants yet. Theory is well, theory- just bamboozle through the papers lol.

But know enough how to begin talking to the accountant or lawyer.

A basic test of understanding might be to pop by at a public roadshow for a call for retail investors (not accredited kind), which may provide financial statements and company report. If you can read all the legal shit without glazing over, as well as laugh at some of the financial figures put forth, you've got some understanding there!

For accounting, that would be the ratios, financial statements, importance of cash flow, variances and financial valuation approaches. Basic but important stuff.

Business law is more on logic and morality, as well as evidence.
Think of the law as a means to protect consumers, as well as maintaining and safeguarding the fruits that businesses or agencies enjoy in a free market economy. A balance is struck between.
For my unit, we only looked into contracts acts. Contracts are very fundamental, representing a bridge of acceptance and duty of care for the folks to exchange value. However, there are also branches into partnership acts, employment law, goods and services law, digital law and all other stuff.

You might get to look into these topics in your entrepreneurship unit. And in your organization and computer science, you might run into accounting or legally-questionable data sets that definitely need extra knowledge outside just mere math and statistics to form an initial inkling or hypothesis. Gotta give the numbers an identity.
 
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