The 5 Best Bachelors for Entrepreneurial Students

According to a recent study, 66% of graduates regret having studied their bachelors, even though the number is closer to 70% in some other studies. But this number is not really telling if we don’t contextualize it. As such, the top 10 regretted majors are in almost all cases social sciences and humanities (no sh*t).

We can speculate on the reasons: poor practical skillset, difficulty to get a job, disappointment regarding the quality of the study, regarding the quality of the students…

There have been a lot of work published these last few years on the relevance of academic institutions. Indeed, on top of being expensive, they don’t perform well when it comes to the education of their students which companies refuse to hire if they don’t have any experience.

It is rather telling.

We have therefore the right to ask ourselves: are universities still useful?

Entrepreneurs will hardly answer yes to this question. After all, entrepreneurship is what delivers most of the value within society, and it is also what makes the world moving forward. But it is also an activity that is “unteachable”.

The only school of entrepreneurship is the practical one, it is coming with a solution to a problem.

Entrepreneurship is not something you learn in a book.

That being said…had there been no universities teaching undergrads electrical, mechanical, and computer engineering, the subsequent innovation needed for entrepreneurship to succeed would not have happened either.

As such, the discussion on universities should not focus on the education system, but on the substance of education.

It is not about teaching or not teaching, but about what is taught.

I have already stated that I believe anyone should study if they have the capacities to do so. Yet sometimes, some entrepreneurial students hesitate between going to university, getting experience through internships, or starting their company right away.

The Bachelors to Study

In order to help them make their choice, I have highlighted 5 different bachelor degrees that teach highly sought-after skills needed for entrepreneurship.

That will be one fewer skill to learn.

1. Computer Science

Whatever you want to create nowadays, you will have to deal with technology, software, and computers. While it is certainly possible to learn technology by yourself, you’re gaining a lot of value and control if you have a detailed understanding of computers, networks, and code.

The world is not about to de-technologize itself, quite the opposite. Computer science is therefore an excellent choice for undergrads. It’s a field where entrepreneurship opportunities are numerous and that every business nowadays (be it a tech, real estate, food production, or simple bakery company) needs to integrate into their daily practices.

It’s also a field very few undergrads ever regret having studied and the reason for that is that it’s simply super useful.

2. Engineering

The king of STEM studies, engineering is an excellent choice for innovative students that want to solve problems whose solutions don’t yet exist.

Engineering is the field that pushes science always further in order to gain efficiency and performance. Most of what has been invented was invented by engineers or at least people that had an engineering mindset.

Engineering trains you to find solutions and to look outside the box. It is an excellent degree for up and coming entrepreneurs.

3. Accounting

Rather self-explanatory, every entrepreneur must develop basic accounting skills in order to check that they are paying the right amount of taxes, or that they are not being stolen by their employees.

Studying accounting enables you to avoid the painful task of studying accounting by yourself and will make you save money on accounting services at the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey.

Accounting may be one of the most underrated bachelor’s programs and will always be useful.

4. Law

While there are too many lawyers and attorneys, reading law remains critical for anyone thinking of opening a business.

Since the law provides the framework within which you will develop your company, understanding and knowing the law will help you save on expensive lawyers and attorneys.

Better, you will learn what to do to open a company, how the hiring process works, how the law can protect you as owner and how registering business activities to minimize the taxes you have to pay.

Law is a high-risk degree though. While it used to be prestigious in the past, students studying law are finding it harder and harder to find jobs, which can be nice when one is failing at entrepreneurship.

Make your choice considering this.

5. Philosophy

Philosophy is the major for students that are willing to gamble it all.

Philosophy offers zero job prospects for its graduates.

However, it teaches you several skills highly important in our society, especially for entrepreneurship: thinking for yourself, thinking abstractly, writing, and interpreting societal phenomenons.

If you are a hundred percent certain you want to have your own company and you’re interested in philosophy, go for it.

Peter Thiel and Georges Soros are both philosophy majors.

That didn’t stop them from starting their respective hedge-fund.

Picture credits: Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash