Business Degree vs Other Degrees
Your degree sets the foundation for your career. It needs to set you up for long-term success, meet your personal goals, and open up doors for further advancement.
Business degrees can do all of that, but not for every student. The value that a business degree offers may not align with your particular needs. It’s important to know when that is the case so that you can make an informed choice.
What is a Business Degree?
Most business degrees have a secondary element, such as HR, finance, accounting, and marketing. However, the specific courses available may vary depending on the university.
While all business degrees cover the fundamentals of business, courses with attached elements prepare students with specific skills and knowledge. For instance:
Human Resource Management: This degree explores organisational dynamics and people management. Students are taught the best practices in recruitment and talent management. A key focus is to understand the role that employees play in a company's success.
International Business Management: International business degrees teach students to manage global businesses, preparing them for jobs in companies that operate around the world. The curriculum covers key topics like corporate governance, ethics, economics, and business finance.
Business and Marketing: In marketing degrees, the emphasis is on understanding the consumer. Students learn to analyse market trends, develop effective marketing strategies, and ensure that products and services meet consumer demands.
Business graduates have both specialised knowledge and broadly applicable business skills. This is one reason why business graduates are sought after in the workplace - It makes them suitable for roles across many sectors.
Why Opt for a Business Degree?
Transferable Skills: Students learn core skills applicable to many industries, including leading teams, making decisions, and analysing data effectively.
Flexibility: With a business degree, students can enter multiple sectors, such as finance, marketing, or HR. This wide range gives them the freedom to choose their career direction.
Broad Opportunities: The diversity of the business world allows graduates to choose from many roles, switch sectors, or even take an entrepreneurial route by launching their own businesses.
Global Perspective: Knowledge of the intricacies of global markets, trade dynamics, and international strategy prepares students for the globally interconnected business environment.
Real-World Application: Business degrees emphasise practicality. Courses frequently integrate hands-on projects, case studies, and internships, ensuring graduates are job-ready and prepared for real-world business challenges.
Networking: Universities open doors to valuable networks. Meeting and working with professors, guest speakers, and peers provide valuable opportunities to build strong business relationships.
Leadership Development: Business curricula prioritise nurturing leadership qualities by focusing on team projects, presentations, and strategic thinking.
High Ceiling for Income: The income potential for entrepreneurs is limitless. While anyone can start a successful business, business graduates are arguably the best positioned for success because of their training.
Career Development: Graduates can land a good entry-level job right out of university that allows for advancement from day one. The advantage of business is that career advancement does not always require further postgraduate qualifications. Nevertheless, further education is a good way to command better salaries and strengthen job applications for senior positions.
For instance, ARU London offers a number of postgraduate business courses, such as a Master of Business Application - International and a Master of Business Application - Health and Social Care. These specialised courses teach specific skills and knowledge related to their fields.
When Business Isn't the Best Choice
While a business degree offers breadth and versatility, it’s not suitable for every career. For those with specific professional trades in mind, directly aligned degrees would be a better option than a business degree.
Specialised Professions
Many professions are served better by subject-specific degrees. Examples range from Law, Medicine, and Engineering, to Architecture, Fine Art, Music, Theatre and Performance.
We’ll focus on three: law, medicine, and engineering.
Law: In the UK, the fastest way to enter the legal profession is via an undergraduate Law degree. Such a degree guides graduates to the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) or the Bar Course for those aiming to become barristers. It is also quite common practice to enter the legal profession via non-law undergraduate degrees but this requires extra steps in the form of conversion courses (or other requirements) that take time and cost extra.
Medicine: To become a doctor in the UK, a direct Medical degree is essential, followed by a training residency. This degree ensures students receive the rigorous and dedicated training necessary for patient care.
Engineering: Those pursuing careers in engineering should seek degrees specific to their desired discipline, whether it's Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, or others. These specialised degrees offer the essential technical foundation and industry-specific expertise for roles ranging from structural engineers to electronic design engineers.
While a business degree offers broad applicability across many sectors, there are professions and industries where specialised degrees are required.
Bridging Business with Specialised Fields
Medicine, engineering, or law often require specific degrees. But with the right additional training, a business degree can open doors in these fields too.
Business in Law: A business degree with a few modules on corporate law or regulatory affairs is helpful in jobs with a legal aspect. Examples include a legal analyst or contract manager - both could work in firms that require a blend of legal knowledge and business skills.
Many graduates with non-law degrees apply to law schools. Some law firms prefer non-law backgrounds because they bring a more rounded experience.
A business graduate can easily enrol on a law conversion course like the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), which can fast-track conversion into the legal profession, putting you on the same footing as law graduates.
(Note: A new qualification, the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) is currently being phased in to replace the Legal Practice Course (LPC) and (GDL) routes to practise. Currently, the GDL and LPC are still viable entry points but will fall away by 2032. Check here for more details about the SQE)
Business in Medicine: Health is big business, and there are plenty of options for an astute business graduate to operate in this industry. Business graduates interested in healthcare can work as healthcare administrators. Take charge of policy and budgets to create better patient experiences at hospitals and healthcare facilities.
Business in Engineering: A business graduate interested in technology, management, and supply chains, could work as a technical product manager, overseeing the lifecycle of engineering products. Another alternative is to work as an operations analyst in tech firms, ensuring efficient processes and supply chain logistics.
Making the Choice
These are the essential points to keep in mind to make a good degree choice:
- Take a nuanced approach when evaluating the merits of a business degree vs other degrees. You should know all the relevant details.
- Know your priorities and align them with your future career ambitions. It is only against those ambitions and priorities that you can really begin to assess how valuable a business degree will be for you.
- Know what qualifications are necessary for your desired profession. Plan out the required path to your dream job. Not all jobs will need further qualifications.
- Recognise alternative paths that lead to working in your favourite industries. The skills taught in a business degree can offer a unique perspective in specialised sectors like medicine, law, and engineering.
If you follow the above tips and have a clear plan in mind, then you will be in a strong position to choose the right degree for your future.
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