B.Com reputation abroad? (1 Viewer)

choco6

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Could someone tell me whether B.Com is considered prestigious in the UK/US? I am planning to apply for jobs in both the places, but some people have told me that the likelihood of getting a good job with this course is very low?
 

dils1989

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aren't 3 yr degrees not recognised in the US? i think if u do CA/other post grad, then they will recognise it though? or if you go over and do a conversion course which i think takes 18 months - not too sure about that though...


EDIT: yeh i think if u do honours its recognised in the USA
 
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choco6

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well, i have an honours degree, if that makes any difference.the problem is that apparently commerce isn't considered to be a 'proper' subject in the UK & USA.
 

shells15

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Omnidragon said:
It's crap. No one's heard of it.
sarcasm aside, it's true that courses like business and commerce don't have a good reputation in the UK(not sure about the US).
 
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BackCountrySnow

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choco6 said:
well, i have an honours degree, if that makes any difference.the problem is that apparently commerce isn't considered to be a 'proper' subject in the UK & USA.
So what's considered 'proper' in the UK/US?
economics?
 

choco6

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BackCountrySnow said:
So what's considered 'proper' in the UK/US?
economics?
Yeah, I think they prefer the more traditional subjects. I posted a similar question on a UK website. They told me that subjects like commerce are considered 'mickey mouse' subjects there?!
 
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Vagabond

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In the UK AFAIK most people study random stuff as even more technical areas such as accounting don't have uni pre-reqs. So people may study BArts, BEng then take a commerce job. Their CA program doesn't require you to have studied accounting at uni. With other fields such as finance given that even here you don't need to have studied it to practice it (rather you get sent for training) it's a similar case.

I think generally overseas the 'commerce' equivalent falls under the 'BArts' umbrella, i.e. if you were to study economics, finance, whatever it'd be called a BArts.

To increase your chances and recognition my gut would tell me to at least study at a major university USyd, UMelb, whatever because if whoever is looking at your CV can't even put your uni on a map then I doubt you'd have a chance.

That said the main concern I think is that 3 years seems short overseas. Keep in mind though if you get a postgrad like CA - it's internationally recognised; similarly if you do an MBA and especially if you did that MBA overseas as many people do these days..

On a related topic, (yes a tangent but I found this interesting).. To my knowledge I'd say Australia has the greatest competitive advantage in the world with regards to accounting.

You can do a 3-year degree, get your CA within another 2 and be fully qualified. As a trainee by the time you're 24 you can not only be fully qualified but also a Big4 manager (with 4+ years behind you). From what I've seen this fasttracking simply isn't possible overseas, e.g. UK, Canada because their degrees are longer and because they don't give such jobs to highschool kids as they do here.
 
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choco6

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I will do an MBA, but perhaps after a couple of years, not now. There doesn't seem to be any problem with anything else, except that the degree itself isn't considered academic enough there.
 

choco6

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Like I said, both the countries(especially the UK) think that the more traditional subjects are academically more rigourous. And they consider commerce at par with business studies(the business course is taught there at only a few universities, I checked the syllabus and it actually covers a very small part of what is taught as commerce/business here).
I have no idea why they thinnk that way though.
 

Omnidragon

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BackCountrySnow said:
why is it not considered academic enough?
Translating Latin or arguing with A-list students at Oxford about political history is much more academic than memorising a few CAPM formulae or how to account for deferred tax liability on your balance sheet. Period

No sarcasm intended in my earlier post.
 

Omnidragon

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choco6 said:
Yeah, I think they prefer the more traditional subjects. I posted a similar question on a UK website. They told me that subjects like commerce are considered 'mickey mouse' subjects there?!
of course they do. seriously do you really find commerce challenging?
 

shells15

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Omnidragon said:
of course they do. seriously do you really find commerce challenging?
haven't you done commerce yourself? It may not be that challenging, but I'd think it's a good course to do if you want a good job. Anyway, it isn't as easy as you make it out to be.
And although it is not taught in the UK/US, it is in most countries, so how can you say that nobody has heard of it?
 
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Omnidragon

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yea i did... the degree is useful in asia pacific because people recognise it
no one has any idea what it is here in europe
they know about my llb though

as much as i'd like to think my degree is some great thing to ppl over here, it just isnt
 

DexJnr

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Omnidragon said:
Translating Latin or arguing with A-list students at Oxford about political history is much more academic than memorising a few CAPM formulae or how to account for deferred tax liability on your balance sheet. Period

No sarcasm intended in my earlier post.

latin rocks..
 

Charizard

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Omnidragon said:
of course they do. seriously do you really find commerce challenging?
Asian who majored in maths based commerce majors ?

that's my guess.

Or a management major.
 

shells15

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Omnidragon said:
yea i did... the degree is useful in asia pacific because people recognise it
no one has any idea what it is here in europe
they know about my llb though

as much as i'd like to think my degree is some great thing to ppl over here, it just isnt
oh ok.
there's no chance of getting a good job with commerce outside asia pacific then?
 

Omnidragon

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Charizard said:
Asian who majored in maths based commerce majors ?

that's my guess.

Or a management major.
maths-based? gee i find that funny... are you referring to finance, accounting or more towards actuary and statistics? and management?

lets see... you've just forgot to mention economics and marketing. otherwise you'll have the whole field covered

actually the bulk of my subjects were law in case you missed my earlier post... you know like contract law, competition law, corporations law and so forth

and just in case. maths-based majors are the hardest in commerce. love it when kids in HSC try to tell me how to suck eggs
 

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