Interesting degrees that can help you become a business consultant
If you are going to have a career as a business consultant you are going to have to get the right education. The question is however just what is the right education, it may not be what you think it is. There are a lot of different degrees that you can pursue if you are interested in being a business consultant.
It would seem obvious that if you want to become a business consultant that you would get a business degree, this may not actually be the case. Certainly that is an option that you can pursue if you want to but in reality the degree that you get will not make a huge difference in your career as a consultant. Very few people are going to hire you based on the degree you have, your work experience will be far more important. As a result you should choose to get a degree in whatever field interests you.
It used to be assumed that a degree in the liberal arts was a dead end that would leave you with few career prospects, this has turned out to not be true. Recent studies have shown that employers prefer graduates of liberal arts programs over those with business degrees and that liberal arts majors actually earn more. The reason for this is that it is generally agreed that liberal arts majors graduate with more useful skills, skills that you will find come in very handy for your consulting career.
One of the problems that business degrees and most other similar types like human resources have is that they are designed to prepare students for entry level jobs in business. They do not however provide solid training in things like analytical skills, problem solving and communications. These are skills that you will find you are in need of far more as you move beyond the entry level jobs. Therefore if you are going into a consulting career you will find that a liberal arts degree will be far more helpful than a business degree. Another option if you are good at math and science is an engineering degree which does tend to provide the same skills as you would get from a liberal arts degree.
The great thing about pursuing a liberal arts degree is that it gives you the freedom to study almost anything that you want. That being said you will find that some degrees can be more helpful than others with your business consulting career. The big thing is to include some sort of a math component, this is why economics degrees are very popular amongst consultants and in the business world in general. You don't have to be a math major but a good grounding will be a huge help. Interestingly philosophy majors do the best on MBA programs, far better than business majors, which would suggest that is a good choice if you are thinking about being a business consultant.