A broad liberal arts education, which includes a general education component (the College Core Curriculum) and a major in a liberal arts discipline or interdisciplinary field, provides a sound foundation for many careers in business. The skills and perspectives of the liberal arts are practical as well as personally enriching. Liberal arts students can enhance their preparedness for business by also completing a small number of applicable courses. In consultation with the Undergraduate College of the Leonard N. Stern School of Business, the College of Arts and Science has identified a set of such courses, some offered by CAS and some offered by Stern. By completing the Business Studies minor, students acquire core knowledge and quantitative skills that are invaluable assets for success in the business professions.
Intended especially for students interested in the humanities, the minor in Business Studies is administered by the College of Arts and Science and is available to all undergraduate students at NYU.
A Business or Liberal Arts Education?
A business degree offers valuable preparation for positions in business at both the entry and executive levels. Many executives, however, feel that today's complex corporate environment requires skills that are not necessarily developed in the undergraduate business or MBA curriculum: cultural awareness, critical reading skills, creative and logical thinking, solid writing proficiency, and the ability to understand and interact with people. A liberal arts education develops these skills to the fullest.
A recent CAS English major is now an analyst at Morgan Stanley; a Politics major is now a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers; and a Journalism student is a production assistant at Simon and Schuster. In 2007-2008, the jobs listed by the Wasserman Center for Career Development numbered well over 37,000 (9,000 part-time jobs, 8,400 internship opportunities, and more than 20,000 full-time jobs), and over 88% of CAS students held part-time jobs or internships during this time. The hottest fields were management consulting, software and website design, health care, and financial services.
The College prepares students very well for today's and tomorrow's world of work. This is done through courses which develop fundamental skills (i.e., the Business Studies minor) and by providing integral professional experiences that employers look for in their candidates, such as internships or part-time work, opportunities for leadership and service, and international study.
Courses
Skills which are important for a business career fall into four basic categories: quantitative and computational, critical and analytical thinking, communication (both oral and written), and collaborative/interpersonal skills. By completing a liberal arts degree, students address all of these skill sets. The College Core Curriculum, for instance, provides opportunities to analyze, write, discuss, and compute.
In addition, the Business Studies minor provides liberal arts students with a small number of applicable courses, some offered by CAS and some offered by the Stern School of Business. By completing the minor, students acquire core knowledge and quantitative skills that are invaluable assets for success in the business professions.
Internships and Employment Experience
Through the Wasserman Center for Career Development, students have access to about 20,000 internship and part-time employment opportunities. The Wasserman Center also provides individual career counseling and offers workshops on a variety of topics including self-assessment, career decision making, resume writing, interviewing skills, and job hunting. Finally, the Wasserman Center offers On Campus Recruitment where organizations from a wide variety of for profit and non-profit industries visit the Wasserman Center and interview undergraduate students for full-time employment after graduation.
Leadership and Service
Extracurricular activities such as undergraduate clubs and publications, advisory boards, student government, and athletic teams offer students the chance to show their ability to work together, manage projects, take initiative, budget resources, and obtain results. Similarly, community service demonstrates concern for others, a quality which is essential to being both a leader and a team player in any organization, and is also increasingly important to both public and private sector employers. For information on volunteering, please contact the Office of Civic Engagement.
International Study
In a world where organizations are increasingly multinational in their personnel, structures, and activities, a multicultural, global perspective is essential. In addition to language and area studies courses, NYU offers the opportunity for study abroad. For more information on NYU programs and exchanges abroad, please visit the Study Abroad website.