Studying Marketing in University/College

[3points]

Hi, I'm thinking of studying marketing in uni. I'm wondering for those who is studying / studied marketing.

 

1)What is it like?

2)What do you study in this program?

3)I'm not very good at math does this program require high math skills? (Please provide your high school grades of math so I know what you rstandard are like between difficult & easy) 

 

TIA! 

[Seultoria]

I have a minor in marketing (majored in finance), so I may not be the best to ask since I took it just for the credit hours instead of something I actually want to do. I didn't join any of the marketing fraternities/groups either, but I know they do sales competitions and stuff like that at my school.

 

As for classes, it's really more about psychology than actual marketing. There's not much math involved in marketing at all, and when there is, it's very simple math. If you can do simple algebra, you'll be fine. At my school, business majors only had to take some basic level statistics courses. I took calculus I for credit instead of having to take two lower-level math courses, but that was just optional on my behalf and I never met another business major that did that, as they either opted to take the two lower-level math courses or didn't have a high enough ACT score in math to take calculus.

[초췌]

it involves lots of reading from what i've heard

[Schitstainz]

The programs vary from college to college, so your math skill will depend on which college you attend. But, for the most part, you should at least have basic level high school math.

 

 

[3points]

I have a minor in marketing (majored in finance), so I may not be the best to ask since I took it just for the credit hours instead of something I actually want to do. I didn't join any of the marketing fraternities/groups either, but I know they do sales competitions and stuff like that at my school.

 

As for classes, it's really more about psychology than actual marketing. There's not much math involved in marketing at all, and when there is, it's very simple math. If you can do simple algebra, you'll be fine. At my school, business majors only had to take some basic level statistics courses. I took calculus I for credit instead of having to take two lower-level math courses, but that was just optional on my behalf and I never met another business major that did that, as they either opted to take the two lower-level math courses or didn't have a high enough ACT score in math to take calculus.

 

Thank you for the basic insight! Can you also give me a basic insight on what you do in Finance too? 

[3points]

it involves lots of reading from what i've heard

 

I heard that involve of memorization of the economic theory? 

 

Anyway thank you! 

[Seultoria]

Thank you for the basic insight! Can you also give me a basic insight on what you do in Finance too? 

 

Undergraduate in finance is easier than I expected. I had to take three classes in consecutive order, two other required courses, and then some electives. Some of them were typical business classes where I had to do a lot of reading and just take a few exams. I had to do a lot of analysis, so I spent more time actual researching and using models and making reports in my senior year after mainly just doing math problems my junior year. The math isn't complicated in business school, as they usually leave the complicated math to math/statistic majors and just have us focus on analysis and modeling.

 

There were a couple of finance things that I didn't do that are most likely available at your university too. The first one was joining an investments fraternity. They teach a lot that isn't taught in classes. It was held at 8:30 PM, so I never went, since that means it would end at 10-11 pm and I wouldn't get home until 11-12 A.M. There's a few stabbings on campus every semester, so I never stay late if I don't have to. The other was to partake in a class about managing a student portfolio, where you basically do what you would do as a financial analyst. Students are required to interview for it, and it's a two-semester class, and since I graduated in the fall, I wasn't going to double the work for one class to cram everything in during my final semester.

 

Honestly, you really only learn theory in business school, as you need internships for practical experience. I never had any internships because I spent over a year preparing to enter the military, neglecting any opportunity for internships. Though, I do know quite a few people who had internships and they say they learn a lot more from those compared to the classes.

[Candykiss]

Undergraduate in finance is easier than I expected. I had to take three classes in consecutive order, two other required courses, and then some electives. Some of them were typical business classes where I had to do a lot of reading and just take a few exams. I had to do a lot of analysis, so I spent more time actual researching and using models and making reports in my senior year after mainly just doing math problems my junior year. The math isn't complicated in business school, as they usually leave the complicated math to math/statistic majors and just have us focus on analysis and modeling.

 

There were a couple of finance things that I didn't do that are most likely available at your university too. The first one was joining an investments fraternity. They teach a lot that isn't taught in classes. It was held at 8:30 PM, so I never went, since that means it would end at 10-11 pm and I wouldn't get home until 11-12 A.M. There's a few stabbings on campus every semester, so I never stay late if I don't have to. The other was to partake in a class about managing a student portfolio, where you basically do what you would do as a financial analyst. Students are required to interview for it, and it's a two-semester class, and since I graduated in the fall, I wasn't going to double the work for one class to cram everything in during my final semester.

 

Honestly, you really only learn theory in business school, as you need internships for practical experience. I never had any internships because I spent over a year preparing to enter the military, neglecting any opportunity for internships. Though, I do know quite a few people who had internships and they say they learn a lot more from those compared to the classes.

What do you think of majoring in Marketing and minoring in Communications?

[Seultoria]

What do you think of majoring in Marketing and minoring in Communications?

 

I would do marketing and sales instead. At least, that's what every marketing major at my university did. Communications has to do more with media, so if you plan on trying to do public relations, yeah, Communications would be a good minor, but if you don't have a specific career path in mind, I would choose to double major with Sales. Again, it depends on your school and the curriculum you would have to take, though.

 

For example, a lot of people at my university who were finance majors were also double-majoring in accounting. I was originally an accounting major before switching over to finance. When you would rather kill yourself than do a major, it's time to switch. So, take some communication and sales classes as electives if possible, and then choose which one you like better as a minor/double major.

[Miyami]

I've done a minor marketing and i'm not sure how it's at other places, mine was mostly focussed on the internet and management aspect. Math was not a big deal at all for my course. I am terrible at math and had no problems with it, there was barely any during the course.

 

It was mostly about coming up with something creative (ideas), and making a project plan around those ideas that involve marketing techniques so that it could be executed, should it be a real life situation.

For example, my class had to think of their own internet web store, and think of plans who the target audience is, how to approach the audience, how to showcase the webstore to customers, which products to sell, how to sell them via different methods and techniques etc. Just all marketing management centered with some creative/design elements.

[iv7]

I've done a minor marketing and i'm not sure how it's at other places, mine was mostly focussed on the internet and management aspect. Math was not a big deal at all for my course. I am terrible at math and had no problems with it, there was barely any during the course.

 

It was mostly about coming up with something creative (ideas), and making a project plan around those ideas that involve marketing techniques so that it could be executed, should it be a real life situation.

For example, my class had to think of their own internet web store, and think of plans who the target audience is, how to approach the audience, how to showcase the webstore to customers, which products to sell, how to sell them via different methods and techniques etc. Just all marketing management centered with some creative/design elements.

 

I'm not surprised that math isn't the big deal, seeing how many English majors these days end up with marketing jobs because English/literature classes taught them how to really not only sell, be creative, and analyze more than repeating theories you learn in business school. It's also funny that English majors in undergrad score 10%(?) higher on the GMAT than business majors.

 

 

Thank you for the basic insight! Can you also give me a basic insight on what you do in Finance too? 

 

I do portfolio management but this area of investment is also broad. You have to decide whether you're going to work with your company's clients directly and do the asset management, or do the analysis. If you're interested in this,

 

-Understand what job you want. Actual asset management of the portfolios? Or research/analysis? The skill sets required for the jobs are vastly different. Decide and decide fast.

-Understand your interested company's methods/portfolios. Don't show up at the company saying things like I understand bonds/equity and so on. What kind of portfolios, like quantitative equity? What methods do they use? Optimization? Econometric?

 

If you're interested in finance, better make sure your math is on point. Take high level statistics classes, if you're going into finance like investing, you'll need them.