I’m graduating from the University of Utah in May, and, as a senior (with a decent amount of free time), I’ve given a lot of though to my college career and the things I have and have not done.

I am majoring in Political Science, and I couldn’t be happier about my choice. People give me a hard time about it being a cop-out, or too easy, or a cesspool of future lawyers. While some of these may be true, I feel like it has taught me skills that are not easily learned in other departments. Things like thinking logically about an issue and being able to communicate those thoughts through writing.

All this leads me to believe that undergraduate general business degrees are becoming irrelevant, and in fact leave those with majors in business administration at a significant disadvantage when it comes time to find a job. Not because business knowledge isn’t important, but because it is more important than ever. To get a job, I need to know the things that undergrad business majors know. And I do. I’ve learned them outside the classroom.

To be certain, I’m talking about the non-specialized business majors. Finance, accounting and IS teach marketable, specialized skills. Management, I believe fits into my theory, but only because no one is going to hire someone without any experience out of undergraduate school into a position where the skills learned are actively used.

Back to the point at hand, however. General business degrees leave individuals with those degrees at a disadvantage because they have no differentiation or specialization. They have the basic business knowledge that everyone needs to get a job – and nothing more. While my social science degree may not be specialized, it differentiates me from the masses of general business majors, and also lets someone know that I have gained extensive training in logic and writing.

From what I can tell, this is a relatively new phenomenon, and I believe that everyone knows that major has little correlation with success. I am writing strictly about the utility of an undergraduate general business degree when finding a job.

So am I right? For those of you that hire, are undergrad general business degrees actually a disadvantage when it comes time to find a job? Or is this just to make myself feel better because my GPA was too low to get into the business school?

(Dean Brittain, your thoughts would be very appreciated!)